Do you set academic goals with your students? What about language goals for your English learners? I compare goal setting with creating a road map. We are at point A and need to get to Point B. So, we identify and target an area of need, then systematically work towards improving that area, tracking progress along the way. For students, this "road map" provides purpose. They know WHAT they need to do AND identify specific steps for getting there. Let's look at how setting specific language goals can help get ELs to the next level in their language acquisition journey. Where to Begin Before we start setting goals, we need to know our students. What are their current levels in each language domain? I work in a state that uses the WIDA ACCESS to annually assess language proficiency with English learners. At the end of the school year I receive a report that lists each student's scores in the four language domains: listening, reading, speaking and writing. So, the first step I take in setting goals is to analyze my students' score reports. If your state uses a different assessment, then you’d use your own state/district scores. I then make a list of all of my students current scores in each domain, as well as, their scores from the previous year, if available. I can then see trends, areas of weakness and domains that need additional attention. These will be the areas to target. It is good practice to also conduct your own assessments, such as a writing prompt, reading assessment, oral interview and listening skills activities. Once you have a good idea of where your students are currently, and what they CAN DO, the next step is to determine where they need to be by a given time. My timeline is generally the end of the school year, and I typically set goals to improve one whole level up in a given domain. For example, if a student is a level 2 in writing, and this is a weak language domain for him/her, I am going to set a writing goal to get him/her to a level 3. Student names covered for privacy. Generally, I set one or two main goals with my students. If a student is progressing at an appropriate rate in reading and listening, but is weaker in writing and speaking, my focus with that student will be to create a writing and speaking goal for the year. Of course we will still work on reading and listening skills, but the goal is to measurably increase the weaker skills. If they are progressing in all areas but one, then they’ll have just one language goal for the year. If I set two goals for a student, then I usually split the goals up focusing on one goal during the first half of the year, and the other during the second half. I have many small groups that I meet with throughout the week, and most are grouped according to need, so I find that setting a "group goal" can be more practical in the sense that the goal setting process is simplified and goes much quicker because everyone is working towards a similar goal. I still track individual student progress, but the group as a whole is working towards a common goal. Ultimately, when setting goals, you'll do what works best for you and your students. How it looks from one group to the next might look very different. Creating a Goal After I analyze each student's scores and I know the area(s) that need targeting, I use language descriptors to help create their goals. The descriptors are formatted with two levels side by side. Once I determine where my students or groups are, I then choose skills from the next level up to create a challenging, yet attainable, goal. I'll write the goal on the board for the students to copy on their own goal setting sheet. This sheet gets glued into their notebooks or their folders. We then, together, come up with skills we can work on that will help them reach that goal. I lead this discussion but they are definitely part of this process. Once a couple of strategies/skills are decided upon, I'll write them on the board and the students copy them on their goal setting sheet as well. This will be a reference throughout the year as we keep focus on what their goals are. I keep the language descriptors page, one for each student, in my binder. As we work, I check off the various skills and take anecdotal notes on how they are doing. Here, I want to get my student(s) from a level 3 in Speaking to a level 4, so I use the descriptors to help create a challenging yet attainable goal. Measuring Progress I keep track of my students' progress throughout the year, but at the beginning, middle and end of the year I use summative assessments to measure progress towards student goals. These scores become part of my official data collection. The assessments are typically a writing prompt, a speaking or listening activity and/or a reading assessment. After these assessments, I make time to meet individually with students to conference on their progress. For the students, or groups, that I have tracking their own progress, it is during this time that students shade in their graphs. Charting their own progress provides a great visual and is highly motivating for most students. This too will look different depending on your students. You may find that this is also a good time to revisit the steps needed to reach their language goal(s). I do not have my first graders chart their progress, nor do I have my newcomers. I usually add charting progress with my second or third graders and higher grades. My 1st graders know that we are working on goals because I post a learning target poster for each group, but they don't track them, I do the tracking. I'm not suggesting that you don't let your "firsties" track their own progress, I just choose not to. I have spoken with teachers who do and they have great success with it. You have to decide what works best for you and your students when setting goals. For newcomers, I show them at the end of the year how much progress they've made. They are usually amazed to see how far they've come. In the End... My number one piece of advice when setting language goals is, keep it simple! It can easily become overwhelming, but if you know your students' needs, and you group them accordingly, you can set one goal for the group. If they have multiple needs, give them one goal at a time to work on. You can always give a second goal later. When goals are clear and an action plan, or "road map", is in place, students (and teachers) are set up for success! Your students will love seeing their progress from the beginning of the year (BOY) to the end of the year (EOY). For the students who track and chart their own progress, this process can be highly motivating. They love pushing themselves, IF they know what they are working towards. My Language Goals resources below have all of the components necessary to help you start planning and setting goals with your ELs. Data Collection Sheets - get to know your students and their needs Descriptors for Each Language Domain - levels formatted side by side Goal Setting Sheets - for students Goal Planning Sheets - for planning or language goal posters Progress Monitoring Graphs -students actively participate in tracking their progress Cover Pages and Divider Pages - for creating a personalized "Language Goals" teacher binder It's never too late to set goals with your students. Click HERE to find my Language Goals for English Learners!

Helping K-2 Teachers Like You Save Time, Grow Instructional Skills, and Teach With Confidence!

Learn about what oral language is, and how to use task cards to increase English Language Learners oral language skills.

Helping K-2 Teachers Like You Save Time, Grow Instructional Skills, and Teach With Confidence!

The following infographic offers some simple Dos-and-Don'ts for how to teach vocabulary in any content area.

ELLs need to have access to diverse books. Here is a collections of Diverse Books for ELLs. Come find some great books to share with your students.

#teacher #teacherfollowteachers #teachersoftiktok #students #teachersfollowteachers. Mina Tafoya · Original audio

Writing/Literacy centers are pretty common in mainstream American classrooms but how about for ESL students? Hands-on activities are still very helpful and possible for students just beginning to learn English. I just finished introducing all the letter sounds with my students. And we are working on putting those sounds together to form 3 letter words.

Learn how to use picture matching activities to help ELLs improve their reading skills. Students can also match pictures and words to improve their vocab.

Need to help your students get more hands on practice for their vocabulary words? I've got 5 fun vocabulary games you can use right away!

10 Ideas to help students learn science vocabulary words10 Ideas to help students learn science vocabulary words-- awesome for 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade

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Checking for Understanding Formative Assessment Exit Slips

270 Common Homophones List, english homophones words list; 1.abel — able 2.accede — exceed 3.accept — except 4.addition — edition 5.adds — adz 6.affect — effect 7.affected — effected 8.ale — ail 9.all ready — already 10.ax — acts 11.axel — axle 12.axes — axis 13.aye — eye — I 14.ayes — eyes 15.baa — bah 16.baal — bail 17.bass — base 18.baste — based 19.bate — bait 20.bated — baited 21.bawl — ball 22.been — bin 23.beer — bier 24.beet — beat 25.bell — belle 26.berry — bury 27.berth — birth 28.better — bettor 29.bib — bibb

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Post sight words and vocabulary words around the room to help ELLs. When you display vocabulary and sight words, this will help ELLs learn new words.

Looking for some great literacy assessments for your Kindergarten, first grade, or second grade students? In this blog post, I'm sharing 5 of my favorites!

Several years back all the K-6 and special education teachers in our districts participated in the Language Essentials for Teachers of Language and Spelling (LETRS) training. One of the beginning sessions introduced the the five key areas of reading instruction proposed by the National Reading Panel. Phonemic awareness and phonics are two of these components. […]

When I was a brand new teacher, I thought the quality of my teaching was ultimately tied to the quality of my resources, so I spent hours searching for great materials. I believed that if I had quality resources, ones that my students enjoyed and were engaged with, then that would make me a good teacher. Well, I still believe that having quality resources is extremely important, but over the years I've also come to realize that being a good teacher is SO much more than the tools in my toolbox. Everyday has a million moving parts that need our constant attention, focus, knowledge and skills of best practice. So even though I now believe that being a good teacher is more than the quality of my teaching materials, knowing that I have a good variety of kid tested and teacher approved resources at my fingertips allows me the time and energy to focus on other aspects of my teaching day. So today, as a follow-up to my original "favorite resources" post, I want to share with you MORE of my "go-to" resources that I consistently use in my classroom with my students! Build a Sentence I love this resource, and so do my students! This resource gets beginning and intermediate ELs speaking and writing! First, a photograph is posted. Then students generate a word bank by telling what they see in the picture. I ask for one word at a time. No matter the level of my ELs, everyone can come up with at least a word or two. I get additional details by asking about colors and quantities of items they see. Once our word bank is sufficient, they use those words to create varying lengths of sentences. They are asked to create a 3 word sentence, then a four word sentence, then a five word sentence, and so on. I'll ask, "Who thinks they can come up with a 4 word sentence?" My students all start thinking and counting on their fingers, then quickly a hand shoots up, then another. They love it! This activity is heavily scaffolded for beginners. Students orally create the word bank and sentences, but I write the words and sentences on the board using correct spelling and grammar. Then they copy. I am a big believer in modeling for beginners, and I model a LOT! This activity is a definite favorite among my students. They practice their oral language skills as well as their writing skills. I do this with my small groups at least once a month. Writing with English Learners I created this resource to prep my students for the writing portion of the annual language proficiency assessment. In Virginia, where I'm from, ESL students take the WIDA ACCESS each winter. Being that writing is the literacy skill that usually takes the longest to develop, I wanted to explicitly teach the skills students needed to be most successful on this assessment. In my lesson plans, I incorporate a listening, reading, speaking and writing focus each week. For the writing focus, I usually pull from these two resources. Whether I am teaching how to stretch out words, write a story, explain a process or analyze information, this resource allows me to choose the skills my particular groups need to work on. For my intermediate and advanced ELs in grades 3-6, I focus on "language formats" found in writing. Whether they are asked to describe, provide an opinion, analyze or compare and contrast, understanding and applying the language with that format is key. 5 Ws and H - A Writing Resource for Adding Details This resource is a new favorite! It teaches students to add meaningful details to their sentences. I often ask students to "tell me more." This writing activity gets them in the habit of giving more information in their sentences by adding thoughtful details. This resource is designed for gradual release. The first set of activities can be done in a whole group setting. A photograph is projected and students are asked to answer the 5W & H questions about the picture. This information is then used to write two thoughtful sentences. As students become more proficient with adding details to their sentences, the next set of activities can be done in either a small group setting or as an independent activity. The last set of activities are writing prompts that students can independently respond to in their notebooks. Posters are included which add a great visual reference for a classroom display. Restate the Question This is a simple, yet effective, activity that teaches students to restate the question or prompt in their answers, both orally and in writing. As a writing activity, either project a prompt on the whiteboard and have students write their responses in their notebooks, or print out the question and have them glue it into their notebook. This takes modeling the first several times, but afterwards should be a quick independent activity. For a speaking activity, pull out a card and ask the question. Students take turns answering several of the questions. This works great in a small group setting. My students often ask if we can keep on "playing." VIDEOS! VIDEOS! VIDEOS! Incorporating videos into my lessons is a MUST! When I plan a new unit, one of the first things I do is to scour the internet looking for fun and meaningful videos. My go to place is YouTube. There are some real gems out there, but it does take some looking. When I find a goody, it goes into my collection and I use it again and again. Here is a blog post that I wrote about using short films to teach reading comprehension skills. I continue to add to the list as I find new films. Click on the image to see the list! Check out my Short Film Bundle here. Monthly Themed Vocabulary This is an great resource to use with primary learners and beginning ELs. Each month contains 20 vocabulary words. I love this because it's relevant to what's happening around students at the given time of year. Along with the terms, which I use as a monthly word wall, matching cards, writing activities, a vocabulary booklet and BINGO games are included. In closing... As I create my weekly lesson plans, these "tried and true" resources are many of the activities that my students use throughout the school year. Having a collection of reliable and engaging materials available frees up the time I'd otherwise spend searching. I'm sure you have your go-to resources too. Happy teaching!! (Affiliate Link)

Close reading, broken down with a FREE planning page that works for any text

Grab some free resources and learn about strategies and activities to scaffold grade-level content for your English language learners.

Have you ever seen this substance come out of a tree? #knowledge #education #history #explore #trend #discovery #explorepage #viral #research. Unknown Facts · Original audio

When it comes to teaching reading and spelling, there are three terms that are used often: phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and phonics. But what do they mean? How are they the same? How are they different? Do I really need to know the difference? How do you teach each one? Such great questions! Let’s explore ... Read More about Phonological Awareness, Phonemic Awareness, & Phonics

In my last post, I shared briefly about a strategy that I use to build vocabulary for my beginning English Language Learners (ELLs) called the K.I.M. Strategy. Today I want to share with you in more detail about what this strategy is, why I use it, and how I differentiate it to meet the needs of ALL students. The K.I.M. Strategy is a low prep, high yield strategy that supports ALL levels of learners across ALL content areas. Now, you can't get much better than that! What is it? It's a direct vocabulary instruction strategy. The acronym stands for Key word, Important information, Memory clue and Sentence. I have my students do this right inside their notebooks (no-prep), but you could also use a graphic organizer or vocabulary booklet (low-prep). K.I.M. strategy in a science notebook K. I. M. Strategy Graphic Organizers FREEBIE! Vocabulary Booklet - Click HERE! Why I use it! I use it because it's effective in building vocabulary, and my students enjoy it. As vocabulary grows, so does comprehension. I teach English language learners who happen to be of low socio-economic status. Those are two subgroups who come to school with significantly lower vocabulary knowledge than their English only and higher SES peers. I believe explicit vocabulary instruction is a crucial component of instruction, especially for kids in these subgroups. However, as we know, every child benefits from direct and purposeful vocabulary instruction. I say purposeful because looking up definitions in a dictionary is not purposeful, or meaningful, IMO. How I use it! In my students' notebooks, I have designated a section to vocabulary. This includes notebooks across content areas (math, science & social studies). The K.I.M. Strategy format is easily modified to meet the needs of students. For example, my beginning English language learners build their basic vocabulary using K.M.S. because they are new to the language, I do not have them add "Important information;" I simply want them to learn words and what they are. My "new to English" students learn monthly themed vocabulary each month. My intermediate and higher students always include K.I.M., and usually add "S" for a sentence as a follow up activity. A typical vocabulary lesson looks something like this... Before I give my students a word, I show them examples, pictures or drawings of the word. Then I'll say, this is a "_____." So, what do you think "_____" means? I let them explore the meaning first based on the visuals that I provide. I then steer them to the important information that they need to add in their notebook. Here's a recent example with my 6th grade math group. They were starting a geometry unit and needed to learn some new vocabulary. I used the document camera to project my notebook. The visual of my notebook provides them with a scaffold to ensure accuracy with their spelling and the "important information" of new terms. Memory clues and sentences are independent activities. First, they drew 6 KIM boxes for their 6 new words... ... then, I drew various sized and shaped quadrilaterals on the whiteboard. I said, "These are all quadrilaterals. What do you think a quadrilateral is?" Hands shot up and students shared their guesses. With teacher support, we narrowed down the information to the most important information. Students then filled in the Key word - quadrilateral, the Important information - 4 sided shape with 4 angles, then they drew a quick picture for a Memory clue. Next, I drew several examples of parallel lines and told them that these lines are parallel. "What do you think the word parallel means?" Again, hands shot up. After that, a right angle, and so on... On this day I did not have them write a sentence because of time constraints, but that could be a follow up activity at a different time or day. When I do direct vocabulary instruction, I typically teach about 5 new words in a lesson, but that can vary. I also typically add a fun, kinesthetic activity as an exit ticket. Recently I needed to teach my students just 2 words, "ascending" and "descending." We did the K.I.M. Strategy for those 2 terms, then towards the end of class we did a quick human number line activity! I passed out index cards with a percent written on each, then told them to get into "ascending" order. Once that was complete, I mixed them up and told them to get into "descending" order. "descending" order - exit ticket to reinforce new vocabulary For the follow up activity of the geometry terms, I wrote each term on an index card, and corresponding pictures on another. I randomly passed out all the cards and told them to find the classmate who has the matching term or picture for their card, then stand next to each other. That was their exit ticket for that day. We are a good ways into the school year now, so my students know the process and expectations of using the K.I.M. strategy, however, when the strategy was first introduced, I did provide an anchor chart for students to use as a reference. K.I.M. strategy anchor chart If you are looking for a new way to incorporate direct vocabulary instruction into your lessons, I think you'll find this strategy to be effective, engaging and super easy to implement. I also think that your students will find it to be a fun way to learn new vocabulary. It's my go-to strategy this year for teaching new vocabulary. If you have a great strategy for direct vocabulary instruction, I'd love to hear about it!

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10 ESOL Teacher Must Haves. Check out these items to make your teaching job easier.2

Assessing student learning is often boring, but this post describes creative and fun ways to assess student learning - especially for formative assessment!

Reading fluency is so important for our early readers to eventually ensure comprehension. Strong letter sound fluency equips students to decode CVC words effortlessly, fostering a smooth transition in their reading journey. While readiness varies among students, consistent practice significantly aids their decoding abilities. While I know for some students, it is developmental and there may be a readiness that they may not have, many students are able to and need that extra practice to help them with decoding and can empower students to decode CVC words effortlessly, facilitating a smoother reading journey. I have always compared fluency practice to running in my own life for my students. I would run half marathons and have to work up that stamina and "practice" every day to become a better runner. I noticed that many of my students, without given the practice, will just continue to struggle. How we practice fluency in kindergarten? As a kindergarten teacher, it was important for my students, especially those who were struggling to practice fluency to help them become better readers. Without providing them this opportunity, I knew many of them would not be practicing letter names or letter sounds at home. By practicing and having a resource in the classroom or sending a fluency resource home and explaining to parents the importance, I have seen tremendous gains for students. I always use a simple and easy practice for my students. I have used whole group, small group or with a partner or even sent home. I use fluency probes that are similar to AIMSweb or DIBBELS letter name and letter sound fluency. (A sample is included at the end of the post) Students are given a fluency probe based on the skill they are working on. We practice letter names and letter sounds using these probes and I also have them available for CVC words, nonsense words and onset and rime. Although I feel "practicing" nonsense words may not be best for some students, for other it may help them become more successful and give us a better picture of where they are as a reader. As we know, there are a limited number of CVC words that students do read and a lot of times, they just have regular CVC words memorized from kindergarten stories and work. To assess a students true ability to decode, this is why we sometimes switch to nonsense words. My strongest readers, we always able to decode these nonsense words without struggle and were able to just read them as words, since they have such strong phonics skills. Classroom Use In my classroom, I copy all of the probes in advance and have them bound. The resource has 14 different probes available and I will have them all ready for the whole year. This then becomes a resource I use for the whole year in my students hands that we often use. I copy all 4 probes with my students: letter names, letter sounds, CVC words and nonsense words, week by week. Usually before Christmas, I will use onset and rime instead of CVC words. In the classroom, I have the students use the same probe for the week. We will sometimes do it whole group or in small groups and set a timer for one minute. Students use a different color crayon each day and just circle the letter that they stopped on (most of the students are usually pretty honest about this. ) They then work to do better the next day. While I don't do whole group practice every day, I often will have students practice close to Aimsweb testing so everyone is ready. In my class, I was also required to progress monitor my students and we would graph their results monthly when I progress monitored as a way of students tracking their data which was stored in the fluency booklet. Partner Practice I may also use with resource for partner practice for students. Once my students understand how to practice their fluency, I would also sometimes have students partner up with each other to practice. Although this partner practice will not work for all students and the students who struggle the most will be practicing with me, this works really well for most students and they love it. I usually use sand timer (affiliate link) for this which are one minute each students has a probe and one student will monitor (like I would for errors etc) while the other student practices. Take Home Fluency Practice Another amazing way to use this resource is to copy and send home with students based on what they are working on, especially for my students who are struggling. I usually send it with a letter about the importance of practicing at home and asking parents to set a timer for one minute and record where students stop. It is amazing to see the growth that so many students will make with that little extra practice! I usually will model how to do this at conferences to work with parents as a team. I have a freebie of one week of letter name, letter sounds, CVC words and nonsense words available in my TPT store with a link at the end of the post. This is easy to copy and send home to parents over breaks or if a student is struggling and needs a little more practice. In my Fluency Packet there are 12 additional weeks of letter names, letter sounds, CVC words and nonsense words with graphs for students to track progress available as well. I always made little books for my students and we would work on a new probe every week. You can find my fluency packet here, with everything you need to help your students become more successful readers. You can also find my one week freebie here: Free Fluency Practice

These fun reading games are quick to make - and so effective for learners in kindergarten and first grade! Such a great addition to your language arts instruction. #teachingreading #kindergarten #firstgrade