The small, nurturing urban elementary school in New York City where I have taught for 23 years recently welcomed dozens of Spanish-speaking students who are newcomers to the United States, and we expect more to enroll this September. Our school was already very diverse in terms of ethnic background, socioeconomic status, native language, and special education needs.
I am thrilled to have the opportunity to support the newcomers in our third grade classes in learning to speak, listen, read, and write in English.
With the English games and activities in these sets, my students will get sturdy scaffolding on which to build their newfound skills. For example, sentence starters, vocabulary builders, listening activities, and writing prompts will all help students take on more and more complex tasks in English, steadily building a sense of accomplishment as they learn to communicate.
With the bilingual books in the "Learning to Get Along" pack, students will also have support with handling the everyday challenges of school life. This will make our social-emotional learning curriculum more accessible and useful for them, benefiting our whole class.
I anticipate that not only will my newcomers learn a lot from these materials, but the fluent English speakers in the class will also get involved as they encourage their new friends and classmates to learn and grow.
More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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