Struggling Learners
- Refer to UDL Considerations for each lesson within EL
- Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): Throughout this unit, sustained engagement and effort is essential for student achievement. Some students may need support to remember the goal for the work they are doing in this and future lessons. These students benefit from consistent reminders of learning goals and their value or relevance. Recall that students who may struggle with sustained effort and concentration are supported when these reminders are built into the learning environment.
Supporting students inference skills
Module on Inferencing for students with learning difficulties
ELL
The Meeting Students' Needs column in each lesson contains support for both ELLs and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and some supports can serve a wide range of student needs. However, ELLs have unique needs that cannot always be met with UDL support. According to federal guidelines, ELLs must be given access to the curriculum with appropriate supports, such as those that are specifically identified as “For ELLs” in the Meeting Students’ Needs column.
Resources to Understand WIDA Levels
Defining Features of Academic Language, the Performance Definitions for Listening & Reading, and the Performance Definitions for Speaking & Writing
Check out the ELL protocols and strategies from EL Improving Writing Skills: ELLs and the Joy of Writing
- Prioritizing lessons for classrooms with many ELLs: To prepare for the Unit 1 assessments, consider prioritizing and expanding instruction in Lessons 3-6 and 8-10, which build the routine of reading, close reading, Language Dives, analyzing poetry and pourquoi tales, reading fluently, asking questions, and planning and drafting using conventional narrative structure. If necessary, consider placing less focus and condensing instruction in Lessons 1, 2, 11, and 14, which provide helpful background, practice, repetition, and celebration, but don’t introduce as many new concepts.
- Language Dives: All students participate in a Language Dive in Lessons 3 and 6, supporting students in the meaning and purpose of “The Poison Dart Frogs” and “The Glass Frog.” Students will apply their understanding of the structures of these Language Dives when completing their poetry analysis during the mid-unit assessment in Lesson 7. Many lessons also include optional Mini Language Dives for ELLs. To maximize language practice and accommodate time, consider dividing or reviewing each Language Dive over multiple lessons. Beginning in module 2 and going forward, create a “Language Chunk Wall”—an area in the classroom where students can display and categorize the academic phrases discussed in the Language Dive. At the end of each Language Dive, students are invited to place the Language Dive sentence strip chunks on the Language Chunk Wall into corresponding categories, such as “Nouns and noun phrases” or “Linking language.” Consider color-coding each category. Examples: blue for nouns and subjects; purple for pronouns; red for predicates and verbs; yellow for adjectives; and green for adverbs. See each Language Dive for suggested categories. Students can then refer to the wall during subsequent speaking and writing tasks. For more information on Language Dives, see the Tools page.
- Goals 1 and 2 Conversation Cues: Continue to encourage productive and equitable conversation using Goals 1 and 2 Conversation Cues, which are questions teachers can ask students to help achieve four goals: (Goal 1) encourage all students to talk and be understood; (Goal 2) listen carefully to one another and seek to understand; (Goal 3) deepen thinking; and (Goal 4) think with others to expand the 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). See the Tools page for the complete set of cues. Heightened language processing and development is a primary potential benefit for ELLs.
- Diversity and inclusion: This unit introduces frogs, a topic students will work with throughout the module. Take time to draw out students’ prior experiences and associations with frogs. Some students may have ties to or experience with South America, the origin of several frogs considered during the module. Students are expected to analyze the structure of a pourquoi narrative and eventually create their own. Students should have an opportunity to share stories and folktales from their home cultures to activate their schema and celebrate their backgrounds. Research and share multicultural books and stories to deepen their understanding and appreciation of the genre. For some, the narrative structure may be unfamiliar. Throughout the unit, check for comprehension of this text structure and reteach using varied modalities. For example, allow students to act out and sketch representations of narratives.
- Superlatives: In Lessons 11 and 12, students work with comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs. This will be beneficial for ELLs, but it will also be more difficult for them, as some may not grasp the structure intuitively like a native speaker might. To support ELLs, draw attention explicitly to patterns in using comparative and superlative adverbs and adjectives. Give students additional opportunities to use this structure. See lesson-level suggestions for more details.
- Genre comparison: Students will closely read poetry during the unit and, sometimes during the same lesson, they will also continue to study narrative structure. Make sure students are clear about the differences in language and purpose between the two genres.
- Celebration: Celebrate the courage, enthusiasm, diversity, and bilingual skills that ELLs bring to the classroom.
Resources to Understand WIDA Levels
Defining Features of Academic Language, the Performance Definitions for Listening & Reading, and the Performance Definitions for Speaking & Writing
Check out the ELL protocols and strategies from EL Improving Writing Skills: ELLs and the Joy of Writing
Extensions
- Allow students to write pourquoi tales about more than one “why” question or about animals other than frogs.
- Encourage students to write their own poems about the frogs they are learning about.
- Research countries inhabited by the freaky frogs studied. Locate countries on a map where certain frogs live.
- Have students add additional writing pieces from the module to their books.
- Have students read aloud or share their books with students in other grades.
