Pleasant Hill Elementary SWEETT Team School District of Waukesha

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Pleasant Hill ElementarySWEETT TeamSchool
District of Waukesha

• Improving Reading Comprehension of our ELL
  Learners

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Beginnings
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Whitewater-Fall Planning Session
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Parent MeetingOctober 17, 2006615
p.m.Pleasant Hill Library

• Families who speak more than one language at our
  school were invited to an informational meeting
  in the evening (dessert, coffee, and child care
  provided).
• A short presentation was given by our ELL teacher
  and principal. Community resources, such as free
  English courses offered at the local technical
  college, were discussed and brochures were
  offered.
• Parents shared their experiences with learning
  the English language, adapting to life in this
  country, and shared concerns regarding their
  childrens needs.
• Teachers and parents found this a valuable
  experience. The communication was wonderful in a
  more casual setting.

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Teacher InserviceDecember 5, 2006Our ELL
teacher came in to show how she works with our
ELL students and the materials she uses for
instruction.
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New Materials

• Our reading specialist purchased two ELL
  materials kits for use with kindergarten and
  first grade students.
• Our hope is that with more early intervention
  with appropriate materials, ELL students,
  serviced by both the ELL teacher as well as our
  Communicative Arts Specialist, will build the
  vocabulary and reading strategies necessary to
  help them be successful in acclimating to their
  new country and school experience.

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Gathering Information

• Our team designed an information-gathering form
  for our ELL students/families
• This form aids our staff in addressing
  home-school communication, as well as student
  needs

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Shadowing our ELL Teacher

• Each of us were given the opportunity to shadow
  our ELL teacher and observe strategies she uses
  with our ELL students

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Effective Strategies

• ELL student reads aloud so the teacher can
  monitor decoding and understanding
• Support for words student cant decode
  independently
• Discussion of context of story for understanding,
  especially when there is a cultural difference
  (such as when a child has never seen snow but
  reads about it)
• Teacher goes over written works expectations
  orally before working on it with the student
• Teacher goes over answers (in-progress) and reads
  them back to student, helping with any awkward
  vocabulary
• When the students English isnt quite
  appropriate, teacher models what should be said
  and then the student is guided to repeat what is
  modeled
• Student reads back answers at end and explains
  them to the teacher to monitor comprehension
• Lots of modeling!

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Boosting Reading Comprehension

• What follows are the data tables addressing our
  ELL students reading comprehension levels.
• We continue to monitor these students progress
  throughout their time at our building and modify
  instruction as necessary.

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K thru 2nd grade reading comprehension data
Pleasant Hill Elementary 2005-2007
Waukesha Public Schools
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3rd thru 6th grade reading comprehension
dataPleasant Hill Elementary 2005-2007Waukesha
Public Schools
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Intermediate Classroom Subject-Area Modifications

• Our intermediate teachers provide modified
  materials to ELL students in content areas
• Examples follow

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Vignettes

• The Valentines Party and Concert
• The primary students were having a concert, to
  which parents were invited. An announcement sent
  home asked the students to come to the concert
  wearing shades of red or white. One of my
  Indian parents, well-educated, articulate, and
  the parent of an exceptionally high-achieving
  student, thought it meant sunglasses, and was
  confused, and asked me about it.

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Vignettes (cont.)

• A few days before our class Valentines party the
  students had begun bringing in their valentines,
  according to a note Id sent home. Another
  Indian family, also parents of a high-achieving
  student, did not understand that the students
  were to purchase and address little Valentine
  cards for their peers, and the mom brought in a
  bag of candy. She happened to come in the
  morning while my aide was doing calendar time
  with the whole group, and I was in the back
  helping individuals to distribute their cards. I
  could tell she was embarrassed once she realized
  her mistake. She offered to go buy some cards,
  but I reassured her that I would tell all the
  children that the little candy bars were from her
  son instead of a card.

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Vignettes (conclusion)

• These two examples taught me that you just cant
  take things for granted, even with
  highly-educated parents who come from different
  cultures than our own.
• M. Montgomery, Kindergarten teacher