Ten Dogs in the Window

Most teachers I know find getting ready for a sub one of the dreaded activities of the school year due to the added time it takes to prepare. I am certainly no exception. Over the years, I have an assortment of books that are my go-to resources every time I find myself with little time to get ready for a substitute teacher to visit my classroom.

So I thought to share with you one of my very favorites: Ten Dogs in the Window by Clarie Masurel and Pamela Paparone. The text is very basic with a nice repetitive and rhythmic pattern, so you can use it even with beginner students. The book is about 10 dogs in a pet shop window display that leave one by one with different people. The fun thing is to guess or predict which dog each person will choose. In one page, you see a person approaching the window, in the next page the same person is leaving with one of the dogs as the next customer approaches the store. It really is for small children but, the older students enjoy guessing and explaining their reasoning behind their prediction. It is also good for making a arguments. The sentence frame I use is:

"I predict this person will choose the _________ ________ dog because ________."
"I don't think he/she would choose the ______ _______ dog because ___________________.

A way to add complexity is counting -- subtracting the dogs; reviewing Math vocabulary using questions like "How many dogs will this person take away?" and "How many dogs are left?" etc.

Another way to use it is as an informal assessment for describing by having the students make their own guesses or predictions to the question: Which dog do you think he/she will choose? The students describe without a scaffold in order to identify those still struggling with the adjective-s+noun pattern. When a guest teacher is given an assessment task that is easy to do and record, they really appreciate it. Nothing like "fresh ears" to help you make sure students reach mastery in this basic skill. I just have them mark in the student's list, next to their names a - or + or for every time a student had a turn to describe using a complete sentence. "-" means struggling; "+" means experienced. Hesitations count as "struggling". For me, this skill should come automatic to count it as experienced.

What a fun book for a 30 minute session pull-out group! I find it ideal for K to 2nd grades, however 3rd and even 4th graders enjoy the guessing game too. I love reading this book, but I resist using it throughout the year, so whenever I find  myself short with time preparing for a substitute teacher it is a go!.

What are your go-to books for subs?

http://img1.imagesbn.com/images/112110000/112116775.jpg

Energy island : how one community harnessed the wind and changed their world

Looking for a fresh book to read for Earth Day? Need a text to teach Persuation? I have a great suggestion: Energy Island : how one community harnessed the wind and changed their world; by Allan Drummond. This is a non-fiction book I absolutely love because it "kills two birds with one stone". The first bird is that it deals with very relevant environmental issues. In addition, it tells the story of a teacher: Søren Hermansen and the process of persuading. 

Energy Island is an amazing story told by children for children about a life changing lesson. Their teacher asked his students what can they do different to better use their natural resources. The children came up with several good ideas. This unraveled a process where Mr. Hermansen, the teacher, talked to different members of their community and told them his idea. The members of the community answered their concerns. Some believed they could change. Most of the people didn't. Eventually, the benefits the changes and innovation of the few, made the many think this through. Now, Samsø is known internationally for their Energy Academy and all the fruits it has bore not only in Denmark, but throughout the world.  

The exchange of ideas presented in the text, is an excellent example about how persuasion works. One page shows the teacher bringing up an idea and listening to the objections of his audience. A few pages later, he comes up with arguments that defend his position and hopefully persuades his interlocutors. The subject of course, is the environment!

I used this book for the first time early Spring this year with my groups from 2nd to 5th grade in Intermediate and Early Advanced levels. It was very successful to help me introduce a new function: Persuading. Simultaneously, tapping into the students' schema. The illustrations work wonderfully and the subject is presented in  simple manner for the ELL students to be able to focus and don't get confused. Both elements; the environment and persuasion are very well outlined and isolated in the text. 

I hope you use it and would love to hear about your teaching experiences using this text. http://www.amazon.com/Energy-Island-community-harnessed-changed/dp/0374321841/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342482498&sr=8-1&keywords=samso%3A+energy+island

In addition, I am including a youtube link where Søren Hermansen  himself talks about his project and his homeland. The title of the video is: Samsø: Energy Academy. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIRRIGIsJdk

Apple Trees

From Learner Publications, there is a life cycles series on their First Step Nonfiction books. It is a wonderful series that has all I love in books for English Language Learners. The pictures are beautiful uncluttered and specific. This series is great for all Levels. I like to use it for levels 1and 2 students in the 4th and 5th grades. It is a great way to give them rich content in a simple and straight forward way. The Glossary is very well explained but, most of all, I love the facts page that help the students research further. Also, the cycle pictures are excellent for them to practice re-telling and sequencing words. We just finished studying the Apple Life Cycle and the students had a blast! We've practiced simple present tense/third person as well as past tense verbs in particular. Sequencing, Verb Tenses and Literary Skills - nonfiction. Three birds with one stone!


http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/apple-trees-lerner-publishing-group/1013821861?ean=9780761340713&itm=2&usri=apple+trees

Valentine's Day: Candy, Love and Hearts by Elaine Landau

Valentine's is my favorite holiday! I don't know why but, ever since I was in Kindergarten I have asked my mother to buy candy and Valentine's for me to give to my friends and teachers. Now, I do make a big deal about it with my students. So far, I haven't had any complaints. This book is one of eight books from a series called Finding Out About Holidays. All the books are great but I like the Valentine's Day one in particular. It is very complete because it gives you a couple of versions about the origins of this Holiday. Particularly cool for the ELL students is that it includes a chapter of "Valentine's Day Weddings" with pictures from couples from different countries and faiths. It also explains the typical Valentine's staples -- candy, hearts, valentine cards. It even includes a craft. The one thing that I love though, is the list of "I love you" in different languages. It 's a great opportunity to have students share their native languages and talk about a splendorous thing! If you use it, I'd love to hear how you like it.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/valentines-day-elaine-landau/1004953403?ean=9780766017795&itm=1&usri=valentines%27+day%3a+candy%2c+love%2c+and+hearts

Except the Color Gray by Arlene Alda

The color gray is a hard one to practice. This book gave me the idea to have students find something they like that is gray in color or has some gray in it. So simple, isn't it? It is great for Kindergarten students at the Beginner/Early Advanced levels but, the pictures are so good it really is a great book for anyone who loves to read about colors.

Another great thing about using this book is teaching the meaning of the word "except". This story clearly explains what "except" means. I am sure your students will love it!

On an interesting note, the author is the wife of the actor: Alan Alda :)

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/except-the-color-grey-arlene-alda/1101168245?ean=9781770492844&itm=1&usri=except+the+color+gray

Job Site by Nathan Clement

Job Site describes in wonderful drawings in interesting perspectives about the vehicles needed in a construction site. I read this book when I need to go beyond SUV, space shuttle and tractor. It has good specific information about this type of vehicles, but the illustrations are fantastic because they clearly show each action described in the pages. I use it with I/EA level Kindergarten students mostly but, it can also be used with beginners in upper grades. The language is basic but specific. Besides vehicles, I use it to practice looking for things that are gray. It's just a delight! Check it out!

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Job-Site?keyword=Job+Site&store=allproducts

Books in different languages

Hello everyone, I have been working on building a Multilingual Library in my classroom. It has been a great experience but, it has taken a lot of time. One of the challenges is finding books in the languages my students speak. Most of the students I teach speak Spanish, Russian and Vietnamese. Then Chinese, Laotian and Swahili. There's a lot of great books translated into Spanish but not the other different languages I mentioned.

I found a great site where you can find a small selection of bilingual books in several languages, not all, though. It is called Language Lizard. Another source is the Librarians Association site where you can find a list of the Newbery winners and the languages in which most of these books have been translated but it's not current.

If you are looking for books translated into different languages, you may want to start by going to your public library or bookstore.

Growing Colors By Bruce McMillan

If you click the title above, you'll be able to see the cover of this book. It is a very simple picture of a leaf. Each letter in the word "colors" introduces you to the genius of this book, in my opinion. The photographs are beautiful bright and simple! You get to see only two main ideas in each page, the color which pops immediately as you turn each page and the vegetable or fruit. I find that books that are visually simple are the best tools to work with newcomer or beginner students. No matter how old they are, these pictures are just great, Either to show the color or the vegetable or fruit, this is a great resource. I imagine if you are reading this, you have some sort of experience working with people who speak a second language, perhaps someone brand new to English who communicates with you only through gestures. How do you explain colors without words? Well, in a classroom, perhaps color pencils are the easiest way. You can also go around pointing at things that are red or green, for example. I find not all books are the best tools for this because there is so much color in them most of the time. This book in particular is excellent for practicing colors, however! There is no confusion about what you are talking about. Most of all it is beautiful to look at. I hope to hear what are your favorite ways to teach basic concepts like "colors" without words.

To add complexity to the teaching of colors, check this site out.

Children of the World Say "Good Morning" By Herbert Mc Clure

This is not the newest book in the shelf but I just love it. I imagine if you've been around the ELL world, you have found that greetings in different languages are beautiful ways to acknowledge people, make remarks of the weather or time of day but, most of all being kind to others. This is a great book that reviews different languages and the way they say "good morning". Each greeting includes a phonetic pronunciation under the spelling of each phrase. Each word is printed in the corresponding alphabet, which includes Japanese, Chinese and Arab. It's a great resource to discuss greetings. I have a lot of students from different Asian countries and I haven't found texts that include languages like Laotian, Kamai (Cambodia), Thai or Burmese, though. If any of you know of some books, let me know!

Who am I? by Aylette Jenness

OK, so let me start by saying that I was so surprised to find out this book costs so little money. You can check for yourself if you click on the title. I think this is such a precious book to talk about how we all have a cultural and ethnic heritage to be proud of. This realistic fiction book is about a Caucasian student seeking to participate in "Family Heritage Day" at his school. I love to read this to my ELL students because it shows them that all people have a cultural heritage. I'd love to hear your comments about this one in particular. What is your own ethnic heritage? Do you find your ethnic heritage is a hook or a hindrance to teach English Language Learners?

Anno's Counting Book by Mitsumasa Anno

Click on the title to see this book.

I wonder if you know Anno's Alphabet by the same author. This is as beautiful and practical as the former. An excellent book for newcomers in the upper elementary grades 3 - 5. It is great for practicing numbers, counting as well as learning the vocabulary included in the pictures. The addition of the items not only helps with the mathematical concepts of adding and counting but, as things appear it leaves no doubt of the meaning of the words that are being said and repeated. Perfect for Beginner or Early-Intermediate students in the K-2 grades.

I would recommend this book as a must for the ELL classroom library.

Color Farm By Lois Ehlert

You can see this book by clicking on the title!

This is a great picture book for beginner students. It is simple yet fun! The student can look at the colors, the shapes and animals. The best visuals for ELL students are pictures with "real" things, I think. However, this book's design of the animals is pretty accurate. I particularly love the cut-outs inside so you can see the same shape in three different colors, so when all you can practice is "square" or "green" over and over, you get variations.

I also find it useful to show all students how drawing is all about shapes.

I recommend this book for the classroom library.

Anatole. By Eve Titus. Illus. Paul Galdone

Anatole reminds me of the hard working mouse in the movie Ratatouille and the courageous Desperaux. Anatole is a much older character, though. I picked this book up from my Public Library because it has a 50th anniversary seal on its cover. The illustrations look old but, the story is as fresh and relevant as ever. Anatole is faced with an existentialism crisis. This search takes him from a happy existence as a "trash collector" to an honorable and reputable position as vice-president in charge of cheese tasting at the Duval Cheese Factory.

I used the book to talk about occupations. We also did a character study. This book is a great book to discuss character traits because the main character is rich with them. I find this a useful thing to review because the concept of traits is a complex one and can be easily confused with "treats". Just this school year, I've had two students who've read the word as "treats".

The language is rather complex and formal. I would advice to use this book as a read aloud or a book to study and compare other mouse characters.

The Pencil By Allan Ahlberg, Illus: Bruce Ingman

Click on the title to see this book.

The Pencil is a wonderful book for all levels. It is a Fantasy book about a pencil who starts drawing a fun and wonderful world that most students can relate to. There are wonderful basic phrases like: "What's my name?". As well as complex language like leopards and tigers.

I used it to talk about occupations with all my groups. We talked about the job of a pencil and a paintbrush. The conversations carried us into some interesting and valuable teachable moments. Additionally with the 4th and 5th graders I used it as an example for descriptive words or character traits in this genre.

With my kindergarten beginner's group, the pictures tell the story so well that not reading the text didn't matter. The students understood the problem and practicing "What's my name?" was a blast!

I strongly recommend this book as a must in the ELL classroom library. I am sure you'll be able to use it in so many other different ways! I'd love to hear what you do with it.

Welcome to 10-11 School Year!

Just a quick hello and welcome to the 10-11 school year eveyone!! I can't believe September's almost over... I honestly mean this. I haven't been able to write here I've been so super busy with all the beginning of the year preparations, etc. How about you? Have you been as busy as previous years?

A new thing for me is that I have a new wonderful teaching partner, so we've been collaborating and learning each other. I am very thrilled about our plans and our students! Simultaneously, I'm sure you are already guessing.... I am missing my previous partner. She retired so that's great - for her, but I find myself thinking about her often and wanting her input and wisdom. So it's also been a tad bit emotional. Anyway, hope your year is going great and exciting. I have a couple of books to share with you soon, so stay posted!

Signing Off for the Summer Break

The end of school year is always an exciting event. I am very happy to be over with all that and move on to Summer. I will be traveling and looking for books I can share with you here. So to all of you,happy, fun and peaceful one! We'll see you in Septemer!

The Disappearing Alphabet By: Richard Wilbur

Click on the title to see this book.

Nancy Willard praises The Disappearing Alphabet " To put Richard Wilbur's rib-tickling verses into the hands of children is to give them a love of language that only the best poetry can isnpire. The nonsense and the rhymes in The Disappearing Alphabet is irresistible."

Alison Laurie says "This original and delightful new alphabet book should appeal not only to children but to everyone who loves words."

Have you seen this book before? This is the kind of book I pay hard cover price for. I love this book! The author shares his witty ideas in poem form about what would happen if we didn't have letters. How would our words look like without the "E"? Would we call lphant? or big boy? What about no V? How would we call "'V' formation"? Without the "M", well, you get the idea. It's just fantastic!

This alphabet book is not for beginner students. It is not for the very young, although you know your students better than I do, I haven't used with little ones but, with primary grades groups; older children who don't like the idea to read and "alphabet book" at first, but once they hear the first couple of poems they are hooked. This is a book you can use for tons of reasons. My favorite is for reviewing sounds. Discussing about them in a fresh and new way. Talking about how would a word sound without a letter sound is quite funny too, so it's a win-win situation.

This book provides a great playground for vocabualary analysis, just words, talking about words, how do you spell them how you don't spell them, what do they mean? If you like words, you'll love reading this book, furthermore, you'll help your students see how cool it is to carefully look at words.

Little Prickles

Little Prickles is a porcupine that longs to have friends. When his classmates cautiously commented about his quils, he became sad and grumpy. He would not want to play with others because he was too prickly! He hated his quils even though deep inside him, he knew they made him who he was. One day at school, the teacher explained the best way to write well, was to have a sharp and thin stick. Little Prickles eager to make friends, decided to give away his quils until his beautiful pink skin looked like a tasty dinner. What would he do now that his natural protection was gone?

This is a wonderful book for many reasons. It is a "Kids are Authors Award" winner; it's written and illustrated by children. It has very nice sentence patterns that help introduce new vocabulary beautifully complimented by the great illustrations. The story deals with the issues of Friendship, Self-Confidence and Identity; something most immigrant students or bicultural students deal with at some point in their lives - we all do for that matter. Reading this book will take you to many directions. A carefully crafted goal will assure your success not only in the lesson at hand, but in the future use of this same text. I love the fact that I can use it as a book to teach topics like animals (nouns), or adjectives and adverbs. I can talk about literary elements, (story problem) or children as writers. Also, it's a great book to go straight to the point and talk about identity. What makes you who you are?

I like to start with the latter, because that way, the deep insights and conversations are dealth with to start with. In the next ocassion, we can focus on the grammar elements this book richly provides. It's a great ELL classroom nugget!
It's a great book for the beginning of the school year too!

I'd love to hear what your experiences are using this book with your students!