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ColorinColorado.org

September 2024

Dear Subscribers,

This newsletter is filled with resources to support your partnerships with ELL families. Feel free to bookmark and share this edition, especially if your school is continuing to enroll newcomer families.

https://mailchi.mp/colorincolorado/tellegram-september-2024

To see new Colorín Colorado resources as soon as they come out, check out our social media channels on:

Sincerely, 

Lydia Breiseth
Director, Colorín Colorado 



In this issue:

2024 Public Media Award

Public Media Award logoWe are proud to announce that Colorín Colorado has received a 2024 Public Media Award for Educational Resources from the National Educational Telecommunications Association! The award recognizes our new ELL Strategy Library. Colorín Colorado is a public media project based at the PBS station WETA in Washington, DC.

This Month's Highlights

New! ELL Family Engagement: Resource Collection

These popular multimedia resources from Colorín Colorado highlight best practices for partnering with multilingual families.

For more, see Supporting Newcomer Students: Resource Gallery.

Updated: Making ELL Students and Families Feel Welcome

Learn how schools can help make ELL families feel welcome within the school, why these messages matter, and how to build upon immigrant families' experiences and strengths.

Related resources include:

 

Putting Students’ Needs First at Parent-Teacher Conferences

In this moving blog post, educator Martha Paz-Espinoza, a resource teacher and former English Learner herself, shares her memories of attending parent-teacher conferences with her father. She reflects on what she wishes her teacher had known about her family and imagines how the conference might have gone differently if the teacher had taken time to get to know her father a little bit. She also offers some practical suggestions for educators working with multilingual families today.

For additional ideas, see these related Colorín Colorado resources:

Recommended Resources

Why I love my work as a community facilitator for Haitian families

Marie Jean-Philippe, a community facilitator and liaison for Haitian families in the Brockton, MA public school district, shares what she does and why she loves her work. This video is part of our special project on partnering with multilingual families in Brockton.

For additional resources in Haitian-Creole, see the following:

15 Titles with Haitian American Representation to Share with Kids of All Ages (School Library Journal)

These titles feature Haitian American representation or are by Haitian American authors, including picture books by Tami Charles and YA novels by Ben Phillipe and Ibi Zoboi.

In the News


Natural Disaster Resources for Schools: Partnering with Multilingual Families

The following resources for schools include ideas for partnering with multilingual families during a natural disaster and supporting displaced families who relocate to a new school district. The following updates are included:

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 a community, discuss events in the news, and help children feel safe in their environment. Updates related to the recent school shooting in Winder, GA include the following:

New on Colorín Colorado

AI Resource Collection for Educators

This collection highlights helpful Artificial Intelligence (AI) resources for educators and includes specific ideas, recommendations, and considerations for educators of ELLs. We will continue adding new resources as they become available, including some forthcoming tips from Colorín Colorado!

Using Visuals: Strategy and Slide Deck

Visuals can be a powerful way to engage students and make new content and vocabulary accessible. This strategy is part of Colorín Colorado's award-winning ELL Strategy Library and includes hands-on professional learning materials, such as a slide deck with videos and activities.

Ideas for Instruction

Updated! How to Support ELL Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFEs)

This updated article provides a profile of SIFEs and their strengths and needs, best practices for supporting SIFEs, and ideas for instruction. The article also includes numerous resources for educators, including books, blogs, podcasts, and more.

 

What is an ELL Educator?


Learn more about what ELL educators do and how they can share their expertise with their school community.
 
 

Colorín on the Go: 100+ ELL Strategies

Colorful buttons and illustration of children playingColorín on the Go! is a free web app from Colorín Colorado and the American Federation of Teachers, offering more than 100 strategies for educators of ELLs, as well as multilingual resources to share with families!

Topics include ideas for new teachers of ELLs, ELL instruction, multilingual family outreach, and social and emotional support.

You can tell others about Colorín on the Go with our:

To access Colorín on the Go from your device, visit https://go.colorincolorado.org or use this QR code! (No download needed.)

 
 

Video: Introducing Colorín on the Go!

 

Family Resources and Outreach

 

Share 8 Great Reading Tips with Families (in 16 languages)


There are many ways that multilingual families can support language and literacy at home! Colorín Colorado’s series of 8 tips for families is available in 16 languages.

Share these tips with your families in two ways:

1) A tip sheet: One single page with all 8 tips
2) One tip at a time

You can also share these from your device via our new web app, Colorín on the Go!

 

Multilingual Videos and Outreach Guides


Our multilingual videos offer ideas for how families can support language and literacy at home while maintaining strong ties to their culture. Each series is accompanied by a family engagement guide with workshop and activity ideas for schools and partners.
 

Books and Authors

New! Colorín Colorado Book Finder

Using this new tool, you can search for books by categories such as age, language, and topic. (Books from our popular booklists are still being tagged and added to the tool.)

For example, you can search for books in Spanish, bilingual books in Spanish and English, and books with Spanish vocabulary featured. Here is a sample of books we've recently added to the Book Finder:

Images of different books

River of Mariposas

By Mirelle Ortega

Young girl surrounded by yellow butterfliesA young girl dreams of the land’s historic mariposas amarillas (yellow butterflies) and is determined to re-create their glory, even if her butterflies are made of paper. But when nature thwarts her plans, life, magic, and even the rain bring something more beautiful than she ever could have crafted. Based on the author’s own memories of a hurricane that diverted the migration of thousands of butterflies through her hometown near Veracruz, Mexico, this beautiful story captures the essence of imagination and the beauty of the unexpected. Also available in Spanish.

Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs

By Pam Muñoz Ryan

Young woman surrounded by flying monarchsEver since Solimar was a little girl, she has gone to the ouamel forest bordering her kingdom to observe the monarch butterflies during their migration, but always from a safe distance. Now, on the brink of her quinceañera and her official coronation, a mysterious event gives her a gift and a burden — the responsibility to protect the young and weak butterflies with her magical rebozo, or silk shawl. But when a neighboring king overthrows the kingdom and holds everyone in the village hostage, can Solimar save her family, the kingdom, and the monarchs?

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage: Books for All Ages

These booklists for children and young adults are organized by topic so that they can easily be used all year long and across the curriculum. Many books on our recommended lists are bilingual or are available in Spanish.

New and updated booklists include:
 

Read Across America: Reading Diverse Books All Year Long!


NEA’s latest Read Across America digital calendar of book recommendations and related resources for 2024-25 is now available. Each month highlights a theme and a related picture book, middle book, and YA book. All of the titles in the calendar include activity suggestions, questions for discussion or reflective writing, related resources, and more titles to try.

September's theme is "Speak Up and Make Change."
 
 
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About the Colorín Colorado T·ELL·E-GRAM and ColorinColorado.org

The Colorín Colorado T·ELL·E-GRAM is a free monthly electronic newsletter from ColorinColorado.org, created and sustained thanks to support from our major founding partner, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Education Association.

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