ESL Teacher Resources for Elementary Education
Classroom Instruction that Works
The following print resources are a must have for any mainstream and/or ESL instructor! Some of the books provice strategies, others provide worksheets, either way you must have them in your collection!
If you only have one book on your teaching shelf, this should be the book! This book provides useful strategies for all types of learners, not just ELLs. It provides information on how to make your classroom exciting and welcoming to all students. The strategies that are provided in this book are elaborated on and very inclusive. The second and third parts; Helping students develop understanding and helping students extend and apply knowledge (respectively) are especially useful for ESL instruction.
Although this book is geared towards older elementary students (fourth through eighth grade) the strategies can be applied to all grade levels. This book offers worksheets and strategies to guide students into independent reading. The first section of the book focuses on ways to motivate students to read, while the second part of the book focuses on ways to make students comprehend what they have read. The last section of the book is perfect for ELLs because it offers strategies that deal in word study.
PRINT RESOURCES
50 Reproducible Strategy Sheets that Build Comprehension During Independent Reading
This book is specifically geared towards the ESL classroom and consists of 15 easy to follow units. The units cover basic math and science skills and feature numerous activities to go with each unit. Some of the units include hands-on activities like constructing foldables, while others are aimed more towards vocabulary instruction. Each unit includes multiple, reproducible work sheets that help you check for understanding.
ESL: Actve Learning Lessons
Notice & Note is a great book for all types of classrooms. This book helps teachers make sure that students are reading for a great understanding and not just because the text was assigned to the class. This book provides great information in how to differentiate your text based on the students needs, as well as how to make the text interesting to keep them engaged. This book also does a great job at helping teachers adjust to teaching reading now that the Common Core State Standards have been introduced.
Notice & Note:
Strategies for Close Reading
Reciprocal teaching is a great strategy that should be employed in every reading classroom. It is a great way to get below-level readers more confident and motivated to read. This book provides numerous strategies on how to enforce reciprocal teaching in the classroom. It also breaks up this technique into three separate areas: whole class, guided reading groups, and literature circles. This way you can implement this strategy regardless of the class size.
Reciprocal Teaching at Work
This book is a great resource to have in any classroom because it helps you understand how to assess higher-order thinking. Most teachers think they are doing a good job of assessing their students thinking skills, when in fact they are not. This book clears up many misconceptions that teachers have about the assessment process. Any teacher, at any grade level, must use this book!
How to Assess Higher-Order Thinking Skills
This book is also another great resource that all classroom teachers should have. The SIOP model has been proven to be a great instructional model for teaching ELL students in the mainstream and ESL classroom. This book gives you an intricate understanding of how to use SIOP and how to implement the strategies. This books covers all aspects of Sheltered Instruction and is a must have for all teachers! The resource disc is also a great tool because it provides videos and lesson plan templates.
Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners - The SIOP Model
Once you have a full understanding of teaching using the SIOP model, you must add this book to your collection! Each section covers ideas and activities related to the SIOP model. From lesson planning ideas to building background, each section helps you plan your method of instruction. The great thing about this book is that it covers topics in ESL and the mainstream classroom so everyone can use it!
99 Ideas and Activities for Teaching English Learners with The SIOP Model
This book is also directed at mainstream classroom teachers. It provides classroom teachers with the tools necessary to instruct ELLs in reading and writing. By using scaffolding, teachers can turn any type of content learning into second language learning. The best part about this book is that each chapter provides a further reading section so you can get the most out of your instruction by reading more about it!
This book is a great resource for both mainstream classroom teachers and ESL instructors. The book offers basic beginning strategies as well as strategies aimed at the group-learning environment. Most of the strategies are designed for grades four and up, but with a little modifying; any grade level teacher can use them. The important aspect of this book is that each strategy is aligned with the TESOL standards, so you know that your ELL students are getting the most out of your instruction.
Scaffolding Language
Scaffolding Learning
Comprehension Strategies for English Leanguage Learners
This book is a great learning tool for all educators. It basically takes you through the steps of Bloom’s Taxonomy with the ELL student in mind. The strategies discussed in this book are vastly different than any of the strategies on this website. They are not so much as a how-to-guides, but aimed more at making you understand why you need to implement these strategies.
This book can be used by all classroom teachers and is important to have because it helps teachers become aware of how to help their students succeed. This book discusses learning targets and how to implement them in your instruction. This book focuses mainly on what the students are doing correctly to reach learning targets and focuses less on what the teachers did to help them get there.
Children with Limited English
Learning Targets
This book is designed for the ESL classroom and is aimed at grades kindergarten through eighth. It provides many ideas that could be used at the beginning of the school year or for students new to this country. The concepts are very basic, but they provide a great starting ground to build upon further. This book provides worksheets you can photo copy them, as well as ideas for games and other oral activities.
ESL Teaching Ideas
This book is a great resource for building diversity and empathy in any classroom. It has been selected as an ESL resource because it helps ELL students feel welcome and excepted when you show them how other people are different as well. This book has many reproducible activity pages and suggestions to build upon these units further.
Creating Connections: Learning to Appreciate Diversity
This book is another great resource for all teachers because it provides reproducible worksheets that are designed for all levels of learners. Usually ELL students are a little bit lower, in reading levels, than their native English-speaking peers; this book will help them in reading comprehension by providing them with activities based on their levels. The book covers many different areas from nonfiction, narratives, poetry, biography, etc. Each activities focus on a lower level learner but provided them the same CCSS standard.
The 6 Minute Solution is a great book for all teachers, but can be especially useful for teaching ELL students because it uses collaborative learning techniques. The book gives you an overview of the program. The introduction breaks down the program for you and than each chapter goes into more detail about each step of the program. Basically, students partner up and for 6 minutes they each read a short story to their partner and then their partner critiques the reading.
Differentiated Activities for Teaching Key Comprehension Skills
The 6 Minute Solution: A reading fluency program
This book is another great resource for all teachers because it provides reproducible worksheets that are designed for all levels of learners. Some ELL students are a little bit lower, in reading levels, than their native English-speaking peers; this book will help them in reading comprehension by providing them with activities based on their levels. The book covers many different areas from nonfiction, narratives, poetry, biography, etc. Each activity focuses on a lower level learner but provided them the same CCSS standard.
This book is also great for all teachers because it is designed to help all levels of learners. The common misconception with ELL students is that math is universal, but this is not the case. The great thing about this book is that each topic area provides lesson plans with a modification plan attached. The student work examples show you how the lessons will pan out. The book also covers many different types of math units.
Schoolwide Approaches to Educating ELLs
The Differentiated Math Classroom
Teach like a Champion
Classroom Management that Works
Another book that is great for all teachers, this one gives you the fundamentals of teaching and preparing your students for college. This book gives you tips and strategies on everything from setting high expectations, planning content designed for student achievement, and classroom management. Each chapter is broken into different, easy-to-follow tips and strategies that really make you effective in teaching for student achievement.
From the authors of Classroom Instruction that Works, Classroom management focuses specifically on the management of any classroom. This book is great for all teachers and should be a must have in every teacher’s library. Some of the chapters in this book look at the importance of the classroom manager (teacher), how to set class rules, building a teacher-student relationship, and different perspectives of classroom management.
All teachers can use this book to help them improve their instruction on developing student-writing skills. This book is especially useful to ELL students because of the chapters that focus on expanding word choice, developing sentence fluency and inspiring ideas. This book also provides student examples and activities for each section. Writing is sometimes tricky to assess, but this book provides an assessment guide that will help you set clear goals that are easily assessable.
