February 2020

This Month's Highlights

Welcoming Newcomer Students Throughout the Year

If you have new students arriving in the winter or spring, take a look at these resources to help support their transition:

• Creating a Welcoming Classroom
• Getting Students' Names Right
• Getting to Know Your Students
• Special Populations of ELLs
• Welcome Kit for New ELLs
• How to Support Immigrant Students and Families
• Fifteen Tips for Helping ELLs Through Their First Winter

Connect with us online!

Find our latest updates and meet other ELL educators through Colorín Colorado's social media channels:

• ELL Group on Facebook (nearly 3,300 members strong!)
• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube

Don't Miss…

Booklist: Afro-Latinx Stories from Latin America and the Caribbean

These stories shine a spotlight on Black immigrants, national heroes, and historic figures who hail from Latin America or the Caribbean.

For additional perspectives, see the following:

• No Longer the Silent Subgroup: Adapting to the Needs of Black ELLs by Dr. Ayanna Cooper, Kisha C. Bryan, and Babatunji Ifarinu (Language Magazine)
• Preparing All Teachers to Teach ELLs by Dr. Ayanna Cooper
• Identity a Challenge for Latinas Who Are Black (WUSF Public Media)
• PBS: Black in Latin America hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

New on Colorín Colorado

New Resources from Colorín Colorado: Best of 2019

Colorín Colorado produced a lot of great new content in 2019 related to ELLs! Here is a list of those resources for you to save and share with colleagues.

Video: Tips for New Teachers of ELLs

Recommended Resources

Comparing Reading Research to Program Design: An Examination of Teachers College Units of Study

This January 2020 report from Achieve examines a program widely used in schools: Units of Study from the Teachers College Reading & Writing Project. Seven literacy experts conducted independent reviews of the program focused on their individual areas of expertise:

• phonics and fluency
• text complexity
• building knowledge and vocabulary
• English learner supports.

Each of the reviews is a detailed, research-based discussion of how the components, features, and structures of Units of Study compare to what is called for by existing research on literacy instruction.

For a summary of highlights, see the executive summary, as well as this news article from Education Week about the report.

Authors: Marilyn Jager Adams, Lily Wong Fillmore, Claude Goldenberg, Jane Oakhill, David D. Paige, Timothy Rasinski,Timothy Shanahan

Note: This is the first in a series of reviews by Achieve, each of which will focus on one of four common
categories of elementary English Language Arts instructional programs reviewed against the
relevant research base.

In the Classroom

Reading Instruction for ELLs

Here are some highlights from our ELL literacy resource collection:

• Reading 101 for English Language Learners


• 8 Strategies for Preschool ELLs' Language and Literacy Development


• 5 Reasons Not to Use Round Robin Reading with ELLs


• Phonics Instruction for Middle and High School ELLs


• The PRESS-In Model: Turning All Students into Readers

• Standards-Based Language Arts Lesson Plans for ELLs: Elementary and Middle School


• Reading Comprehension with High School ELLs

Reading Tip Sheets for Educators: Grades 4-12

These reading tip sheets for teachers of ELLs in grades 4-12 include information on what to do first, vocabulary instruction, and age-appropriate reading strategies. They are available in English and Spanish.

Parent Resources and Outreach

Reading Tip Sheets for Parents in 13 Languages!

Our one-page Reading Tip Sheets are available in thirteen languages and offer ways for parents to help promote literacy at home.

Books and Authors

Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln

As a little girl, Teresa Carreño loved to let her hands dance across the beautiful keys of the piano. If she felt sad, music cheered her up, and when she was happy, the piano helped her share that joy. Soon she was writing her own songs and performing in grand cathedrals. Then a revolution in Venezuela forced her family to flee to the United States. Teresa felt lonely in this unfamiliar place, where few of the people she met spoke Spanish. Worst of all, there was fighting in her new home, too — the Civil War.

Still, Teresa kept playing, and soon she grew famous as the talented Piano Girl who could play anything from a folk song to a sonata. So famous, in fact, that President Abraham Lincoln wanted her to play at the White House! Yet with the country torn apart by war, could Teresa’s music bring comfort to those who needed it most? Winner of the Pura Belpré Award for Illustration.

Pura Belpré Winners: 2020

Author Award

• Sal and Gabi Break the Universe, written by Carlos Hernandez

Author Honor Awards

• Lety Out Loud, written by Angela Cervantes
• The Other Half of Happy, written by Rebecca Balcárcel
• Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré, written by Anika Aldamuy Denise, illustrated by Paola Escobar
• Soldier for Equality: José de la Luz Sáenz and the Great War, written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh

Illustrator Award

• Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln, illustrated by Rafael López, written by Margarita Engle

Illustrator Honor Awards

• Across the Bay, illustrated and written by Carlos Aponte
• My Papi Has a Motorcycle, illustrated by Zeke Peña, written by Isabel Quintero
• ¡Vamos! Let’s Go to the Market, illustrated and written by Raúl Gonzalez

Award-Winning Books: 2020

The titles on this booklist have recently been recognized by a variety of book/media awards, including the Caldecott Medal, the Pura Belpré Award, the Walter Award, the Coretta Scott King Book Award, and the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Award for Literature.