Check out these articles on everything from preparing for the first day to dealing with homework woes, coping as a new teacher and ensuring smooth sailing for substitute teachers.

Be sure to explore our 12 volumes of icebreakers and first day of school activities that help students and teachers get to know each other.

"The target audience for this guide is a broad spectrum of school practitioners such as administrators, curriculum specialists, coaches, staff development specialists and teachers who face the challenge of providing effective literacy instruction for English language learners in the elementary grades. The guide also aims to reach district-level administrators who develop practice and policy options for their schools" (IES, 2007).

This brief is designed to support practitioners, instructional coaches, and school leaders in designing and implementing procedures for choosing literacy assessments, analyzing data, setting criteria, and making decisions based on student data when implementing multitiered systems of support that accommodates English learners (ELs). Classroom teachers and EL interventionists will find this brief helpful for selecting measures, making group and individual decisions, and monitoring student progress across languages. This brief uses scientific evidence from research to share a framework for assessment and data-based decision-making to improve literacy instruction for ELs. This brief also addresses issues that school and district personnel frequently encounter when designing and implementing tiered instruction in schools that implement bilingual programs or that serve ELs in English as a second language programs.

In this lesson, students explore ekphrasis--writing inspired by art. Students find pieces of art that inspire them and compose a booklet of poems about the pieces they have chosen.

Do their minds go blank when they confront a blank piece of paper? Speedwriting can help students get started on writing and come up with topics to write about. They can then incorporate their key ideas and phrases into a narrative with the help of a graphic story organizer.

Students examine three examples of revisionist fairy tales in which female characters act in empowered roles rather than behaving helpless and submissive.

In this science-based unit, students explore the world of energy. In the first half of the unit students learn what energy is, the different ways that energy is transferred from place to place, and the ways energy can be converted from one type to another. In the second half of the unit students explore the pros and cons of different types of renewable and nonrenewable energy. After learning about the different types of energy, students will grapple with what the world’s energy future will look like if more renewable solutions aren’t found, particularly in their communities. Through a combination of reading and research, it is our hope that students begin to build a deeper understanding of energy and its influence on our lives.

This unit builds on to the informational reading skills and strategies developed in previous units. At this point in the year we assume that students are able to actively read and annotate informational texts in order to build understanding of a topic. Therefore, the focus of this unit is on refining students’ ability to use different strategies to comprehend denser scientific texts. In particular, students will continue working on determining the main idea, summarizing key details, explaining cause and effect, using text features to improve understanding, and explaining how an author uses text features to elaborate on key concepts and ideas.

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students examine energy forms in moving objects and discover how changes from one form to another move cars through a roller coaster ride.

Students demonstrate their knowledge of cause-and-effect relationships by creating original comic strips and sharing their completed work in an oral presentation format.

Students research engineering careers and create poetry to understand the vocabulary of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).

Access to ELA K-12 curriculum for educators to design lessons that will support student learning.

This fact sheet from the International Dyslexia Association provides information about important considerations when evaluating English learners for dyslexia. Classroom teachers may find it helpful as they observe students for possible referral for further assessment. It also includes guidelines for assessment specialists who may provide screening and assessment support.

The Essay Map is an interactive graphic organizer that enables students to organize and outline their ideas for an informational, definitional, or descriptive essay.

Tier 3 is individualized and intensive intervention designed to help students with severe and persistent academic, social, emotional, and/or behavioral needs, including students with disabilities. It is a data-driven process characterized by increased intensity and individualization of supports. Use this guide to help you determine if your Tier 3 program is on track.

In this lesson, before reading, students establish a purpose for reading informational text by turning the title and subtitles into questions.

In this lesson, students read pages 4-22, "Las Uvas," in Esperanza Rising and as a whole group identify how the structure of the chapter contributes to the overall story (RL.5.1, RL.5.5).
In triads, students then research one of three topics to build background knowledge about the historical setting of Esperanza Rising. Working in expert groups allows small groups to engage in an effective, time-efficient comprehension of a broader topic because students become an expert in one topic and hear oral summaries of the others to gain an understanding of the broader topic.
This lesson is the first in a series of three that include built-out instruction for the use of Goal 1 Conversation Cues. Conversation Cues are questions teachers can ask students to promote productive and equitable conversation (adapted from Michaels, Sarah and O'Connor, Cathy. Talk Science Primer. Cambridge, MA: TERC, 2012. Based on Chapin, S., O'Connor, C., and Anderson, N. [2009]. Classroom Discussions: Using Math Talk to Help Students Learn, Grades K-6. Second Edition. Sausalito, CA: Math Solutions Publications). Goal 1 Conversation Cues encourage all students to talk and be understood. As the modules progress, Goal 2, 3, and 4 Conversation Cues are gradually introduced. See the Tools page for the complete set of cues. Consider providing students with a thinking journal or scrap paper. Examples of the Goal 1 Conversation Cues you will see in the next two units are (with expected responses):
After any question that requires thoughtful consideration:
"I'll give you time to think and write or sketch."

"I'll give you time to discuss this with a partner."

To help students share, expand, and clarify thoughts:
"Can you say more about that?"

"Sure. I think that _____."

"Can you give an example?"

"OK. One example is _____."

"So, do you mean _____?"

"You've got it./No, sorry, that's not what I mean. I mean _____."

Note that Goal 1 Conversation Cues (and expected student responses) were built into the Discussion Norms anchor chart in Lesson 1. Conversation Cues and discussion norms are similar in that they seek to foster productive and collaborative conversation. Furthermore, Conversation Cues aim to ensure equitable conversation by gradually building student capacity to become productive, collaborative participants. Goal 1 Conversation Cues focus on the fundamentals of encouraging students to talk and be understood. Goals 2-4 take students to deeper levels of conversation, from listening to others, to deepening their thinking, to thinking with others.
Students practice their fluency in this lesson by following along and reading silently in their heads as the teacher reads pages 4-22 of Esperanza Rising aloud during Opening A.
In this lesson, the habit of character focus is on working to become an ethical person. The characteristic that students practice is respect, as volunteers share out personal reflections on what happened in Esperanza Rising.
The research reading that students complete for homework will help build both their vocabulary and knowledge pertaining to human rights. By participating in this volume of reading over a span of time, students will develop a wide base of knowledge about the world and the words that help describe and make sense of it.

Establishing a whole-school culture of data use helps all stakeholders make thoughtful, consistent, and appropriate data-based decisions. Schools can develop a data plan and team to guide the use of data and to support a culture of data use. The data team can develop a shared vocabulary for critical concepts of data use and learning.

Familias y cuidadores: ustedes tienen un papel importante en el aprendizaje del lenguaje de sus hijos. Los niños pueden aprender palabras nuevas todos los días escuchando, hablando, escribiendo y dibujando. El propósito de esta actividad es ayudar a los niños a aprender y practicar un conjunto pequeño de palabras nuevas durante un tiempo, adaptándolas a su vocabulario.

Familias y cuidadores: ustedes tienen un papel importante en el aprendizaje del lenguaje de sus niños. Los niños pueden aprender palabras nuevas todos los días y desarrollar su vocabulario utilizando lenguaje descriptivo. Al jugar este juego, usted y su niño o niña utilizarán el lenguaje para describir y adivinar objetos del hogar escondidos.

Familias y cuidadores: ustedes tienen un papel importante en el aprendizaje del lenguaje de sus niños. Los niños pueden fortalecer su lenguaje todos los días, haciendo y respondiendo preguntas sobre una experiencia. En esta actividad, usted le pedirá a su niño o niña que hable sobre una experiencia que haya tenido.