WMS Multilingual Learners
English Language Development 1 - 4 and Foundational Reading
Friday March 22nd, 2024
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لترجمة هذه الرسالة من المدرسة ، اضغط عليها ثم استخدم الرابط الموجود على اليمين. (Arabic)
Այս տեղեկագիրը թարգմանելու համար կտտացրեք այն, ապա օգտագործեք աջ կողմում գտնվող հղումը: (Armenian)
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Bu bülteni çevirmek için üzerine tıklayın ve ardından sağdaki bağlantıyı kullanın (Turkish)
Ms. Rix
ELD 1 (Entering)
For this month, students are doing a unit on comparing and contrasting to describe animals and their habitats. Ms. Rix is currently on maternity leave, and we have the wonderful Ms. Gibson who is taking over the class. Please reach out to her at christie.gibson@watertown.k12.ma.us with any questions.
Ms. Schoenbeck
sarah.schoenbeck@watertown.k12.ma.us
ELD 2 (Emerging)
This month we completed a unit called "What we wear", with the themes of clothing, accessories, and body decoration. Students will examine how clothing styles change over time, read about the significance of jewelry in certain cultures, and discuss a geoscientist and his work. For a final project, students chose a career that requires uniforms and wrote an essay. They compared and contrasted how the uniform has changed over time, and examined it for practicality, safety, and style.
This month and through the rest of the year, we are reading a book called A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. This is a grade level text that details the story of Salva Dut, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan and his journey to America in 2001. It parallels the story of a girl named Nya, living in present day Sudan and the challenges she faces. Students will be able to reflect on their own immigration journeys here, and learn about a path most likely different than theirs that Salva had to take. Though this can be a heart wrenching story, it is also one that tells of hope, resilience, and progress. We will also be studying access to clean water in other parts of the world, as this is a great challenge the characters face and many people around the world still face today. As a final project, students will create a Public Service Announcement (PSA) with a call to act on the world's clean water crisis. During the reading, we will focus on comprehension strategies, new vocabulary, compare and contrast, cause and effect, and write a Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) paragraph.
Foundational Reading Red
This month we have been working through our level 2G curriculum of the IRLA reading program. We've been learning new high frequency words and added 50 new tricky words to our word banks. We have learned category specific vocabulary for family, colors, numbers, directions, and days of the week. This level extends into decoding irregular sight words, and using beginning decoding strategies. We are also practicing initial and final phoneme sounds for words. Additionally, we are reading books that put these words into practice, and students' fluency has increased dramatically. Their comprehension has improved tremendously from the beginning of the year. Please encourage your child to read in their first language at home, as this tremendously helps acquire literacy in a second language.
Foundational Reading Orange
This month we have been working through our level 2G curriculum of the IRLA reading program. We've been learning new high frequency words and added 50 new tricky words to our word banks. We have learned category specific vocabulary for family, colors, numbers, directions, and days of the week. This level extends into decoding irregular sight words, and using beginning decoding strategies. We are also practicing segmenting phonemes and identifying the medial sounds in words. Additionally, we are reading books that put these words into practice, and students' fluency has increased dramatically. Their comprehension has improved tremendously from the beginning of the year. Please encourage your child to read in their first language at home, as this tremendously helps acquire literacy in a second language.
Foundational Reading Blue
Ms. Campos
ELD 3 (Developing)
Our unit on group behavior has been a fun one. We have learned about identifying and writing about cause and effect using connecting words such as because of, so, since, due to, consequently, as a result. Learning how to recognize cause and effect ideas in a text and efficiently communicating these ideas in writing is a valuable skill students need to develop as this is useful in many classes aside from English class.
We have also learned about two-part verbs, which are constructed by combining verbs and prepositions to create new meaning. Our unit is full of interesting vocabulary and fun facts about animal and human group behavior. Students have enjoyed learning about this topic. As we move towards wrapping up this unit, we will work on a final writing project where students will be required to use the skills and vocabulary they have learned over the last few weeks. Ask your students to tell you about what they’ve learned!
If you wish to get in touch with me, you can email me at keila.camposdeoliveira@watertown.k12.ma.us
or text/call me at 617-903-8580.
Foundational Reading Red Block
Students have been working so hard to improve their reading skills! They have mastered over 35 sight words and read over one hundred pages in our 1G student text collection. Students have learned not only to spell new words, but also to find meaning in the vocabulary we practice every day in class.
We have practiced identifying the initial sound of a word, and connecting that sound to a letter in the alphabet. We have practiced spelling aloud, in writing and through games. As we move forward in the next few weeks, we will finish level 1G and move up to level 2G. I encourage you to ask your student to read to you at home. Practicing makes them more confident and makes the experience of reading so much more enjoyable and enriching!
If you wish to get in touch with me, you can email me at keila.camposdeoliveira@watertown.k12.ma.us
or text/call me at 617-903-8580.
Ms. Sheila Gilmartin
ELD 4 (Expanding)
Ms. Gilmartin will be out for the remainder of the year. Students in her class will transition into their grade level English Language Arts classes for the remainder of the year. If you have any questions, please reach out to the ESL District Coordinator, Kate Phillipson via email at: kathryn.phillipson@watertown.k12.ma.us
If you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact:
ELE/ESL District Coordinator
Watertown Public Schools
68 Waverley Avenue
Watertown, MA 02472
617-972-4297