December 2024

In the News

The Importance of Emergency Contact Information

Many schools serving immigrant students highlight the importance of partnering with families to keep emergency contact information updated. Learn why this is so critical and how schools can help make it easier for multilingual / ELL / immigrant families.

See more in Answering Immigrant Students’ Questions: Resources for Schools.

 

15 Tips for Talking with Children About Violence

These suggestions for families and educators provide guidance on how to talk about school violence or violence in the community, discuss events in the news, and help children feel safe in their environment. This article includes a statement from the Wisconsin Department of Education in response to this week's tragic school shooting in Madison.

 

15 Tips for Helping ELLs Through Their First Winter

For students and families who are new to winter weather, this article offers ideas on how to address different aspects of winter with lots of examples from schools across the U.S. and Canada.

 
 

Supporting Syrian Students: Related Resources

The following information provides tips for addressing rapidly unfolding current events in Syria, as well as background information for teachers and students on the Syrian civil war. See related books for students of all ages in Syrian Stories: Books for Children and Teens.

 

New on Colorín Colorado

Best of 2024: New Resources from Colorín Colorado

This collection highlights a wide range of nearly 20 new Colorín Colorado resources published during 2024 on topics such as ELL instruction, AI, and professional issues for ELL educators.

 
 

This Month's Highlights

The Gift of Reading: Bilingual Guide

The holiday season is the perfect time to share the gift of reading! This guide (also available in Spanish) offers ideas of reading activities for families to do together, book recommendations, and links to educational gifts such as bilingual magazines and books and puzzles from PBS Kids.

 
 

Reading Rockets: Holiday Buying Guide 2024

Discover a world of laughter, love, friendship, adventure, history, fantasy, art, science, and more between the covers of children’s books. Take a look, share a book, make a memory … with one or more of these titles from Reading Rockets' 2024 gift guide bookshelf.

 

Behind the Scenes of Colorín Colorado with Director Lydia Breiseth

In this special feature from Tan Huynh's Teaching MLs podcast, Tan interviews Lydia Breiseth about the day-to-day operations of Colorín Colorado and stories behind some of the site's most popular content.

A related resource page and annotated transcript of the interview feature many of the resources discussed.

 

In the Classroom

Culturally Responsive Instruction for Holiday and Religious Celebrations

This article shows teachers how to bring rich cultural content into their teaching in a way that expands students' knowledge, interest, and respect for the culture being featured. The article offers suggestions that teachers can use throughout the school year, as well as when observing cultural and religious holidays and celebrations.

 
 

Video: How Teachers Can Celebrate Students' Cultures Through Culturally Responsive Practice

In this video from Syracuse, NY, bilingual teacher Jesus Ortiz talks about the ways that educators can celebrate their students' cultures and why he makes an effort to help students stay connected to their heritage.

Family Resources and Outreach

Winter Vacation: 10 Literacy Ideas for Families

Winter vacation is a great time for families to share stories, books, and more! Pass on the ideas in this article (also available in Spanish) with families and encourage them to try them in their home language!

 

Books and Authors

Book of the Month

Winter Holiday Booklist Collection

The following booklists highlight diverse stories about the winter holidays (and winter weather!) across cultures and languages.

• Winter Holiday Booklist
• Christmas Stories: Hispanic Heritage
• Christmas Stories: American Indian Heritage
• Winter Stories: Asian Pacific American Heritage
• Snow, Snow, Snow!
• 11 Hanukkah Titles to Help Readers of All Ages Celebrate (School Journal Library)
• 5 Titles for Kwanzaa (School Journal Library)

Read Across America: Reading Diverse Books All Year Long!