This paper opens a larger conversation about what must be done to realize opportunities presented by the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts and the literacy standards in other subject areas. It emphasizes the simultaneous challenges and opportunities for ELLs.The paper emphasizes that texts are approached differently for different purposes. Students need opportunities to approach texts with these varied purposes in mind. It also highlights how ELLs may be well served by opportunities to explore and justify their own textual hypotheses, even if their initial interpretations diverge from those of the teacher.

CESA#1 EL OER Project

This presentation provides an outline for students to write a short informative essay about one state in the United States.

The Text Evidence Analysis Scaffolded Writing Rubric was created for the CESA #1 EL OER Project. This rubric is aligned with 9th grade Common Core writing standards. It is an example of how teachers can create scaffolds using the WIDA CAN DO Descriptors. As a result, ELs of varying language levels will be able to successfully display their knowledge of the 9-12th grade Common Core writing standards.

This resource was created as part of the CESA #1 EL OER Project to help EL students better access social studies curriculum and textbooks related to the US regions. The sort can be used to see if students understand the meanings of key content vocabulary (landforms, landmarks, etc.) and examples of each. It could also be used as an assessment tool (for level 1 & 2 ELs) to see if students can appropriately sort pictures according to the headings. The matching activity can be used to introduce/pre-teach vocabulary related to the US regions.

This resource was created as part of the CESA #1 EL OER Project to help EL students preview vocabulary related to the book, Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine. The vocabulary organizer template can be used with other books by changing the vocabulary and picture support.

In this lesson, designed for a heterogeneous group of students that includes English-language learners, students work together to plan a website based on their home knowledge. An introductory lesson outlines the structure and components of simple websites (home page, titles, headings, links). Students take home and complete a bilingual student and family interest survey, then work in groups of four or five to identify common themes among the responses. Each group makes a flow chart to think graphically about the contents of their planned website. Each student keeps a project notebook to record new ideas, summarize group work, and share the project with family members. The teacher can make the planned websites a reality using one of the online website-building platforms in the Resources list.

This paper addresses the implications, for ELLs, of the new standard's requirement that students be able to read and understand complex, informationally dense texts. The authors discuss the types of supports that learners need in order to work with complex texts. They also provide a sample of what academic discourse involves, using an excerpt from Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail. They demonstrate how English learners can be provided with strategies for accessing complex texts, such as closely examining one sentence at a time. The authors argue that instruction must go beyond vocabulary and should begin with an examination of our beliefs about language, literacy and learning.

This resource was created as part of the CESA #1 EL OER Project to help EL students access social studies curriculum and/or texts related to Wisconsin history (fur trade and early settlement). The first page can be used as a vocabulary reference during the unit. Students can use this page to help understand text about this unit or to write related sentences. The matching activity can be used to introduce/pre-teach vocabulary, or it could also be used as an assessment tool (for level 1 & 2 ELs) to see if students understand vocabulary related to Wisconsin and this time period.

Colorín Colorado is the premier national website serving educators and families of English language learners (ELLs) in Grades PreK-12. Colorín Colorado has been providing free research-based information, activities, and advice to parents, schools, and communities around the country for more than a decade.

Learn more about our mission to serve ELLs as well as the team that makes Colorín Colorado possible below.

Colorín Colorado is an educational service of WETA, the flagship public broadcasting station in the nation's capital, and receives major funding from the American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association.

The name "Colorín Colorado" comes from a playful phrase that is often said at the end of stories in Spanish-speaking countries: "¡Y Colorín Colorado, este cuento se ha acabado!" or "¡Y Colorín Colorado, este cuento se ha terminado!" (Colorín Colorado, the story has ended!) There's no equivalent in English, but the phrase is similar to "The End" or "...and they lived happily ever after," or "That's all, folks!"

The saying brings back happy childhood memories of storytelling and reading for generations of people from many different countries. Making people smile about reading seemed like a perfect way to introduce our project.