Resources for Parents

Parents can find general information about how to get involved in their children's education, how to improve learning and much more.  
Here you will find lesson plans, flash cards, multilingual materials, and English acquisition activities suitable for all levels of proficiency. 
Find information about certification, dual language programs, professional organizations and an extensive collection of instructional resources.

Spanish Websites

Here you will find links to educational websites in Spanish that include lessons plans, games, and interesting information.

ISAT Practice

Parents and teachers cand find links to website that offer text practices for ISAT .

ACCESS Practice

Find samples of test question. Questions organized by cluster and domains.

Glossary of ELL Terms

School District U-46 offers this glossary to provide an explanation of terms used in the district.

 

 
 
 
Information 
  • ELL Parent Handbook -English It is a document that contains helpful information for parents in regard to ELL procedures as well ELL programs offered in the school district U-46.
  • Escort -Migrant Education.  Escort is a national resource center dedicated to improving the educational opportunities for migrant students. Each elementary school has a copy of Help! They Don’t Speak English. Each middle and high school has a copy of The Help! Kit. These should be housed in the professional library. However, you can order your OWN copy free of charge by either emailing or calling 1.800.451.8058. Although your students may not be migrant, they are English language learners. This is a fabulous resource and has some great alternate assessments.
  • Consulado General de México en Chicago. Find information about documents and other services that the consulate provides, as well as community programs, such as Plazas Comunitarias.
  • Instituto Cervantes. Learn Spanish, or participate in one of the many cultural activities available in Chicago.
  • ISBE: Parent Involvement.  ISBE has established grants and programs to improve parental participation.
 
Adult Education (ESL) 
  • Eglin Community College ESL, Adult Basic Education, GED
  • YWCA Family Literacy founded by Even Start and United Way. For Fall 2010 schedule check the flyer. 
 
Adult Education (GED)
 
Student Learning 
 
 
 
  • Ten Tips to Improve Students Habits
  • Rocking the ISAT
  • Bridges4kids.org.  In the ELL/ESL section you’ll find a wealth of information useful for on ELL  students. One of the best links from this site is Help! They Don't Speak English Starter Kit for Primary Teachers, which will help you understand what it means to be a ELL student in a mainstream classroom, how you can help these children succeed, and what issues there might be during your time together. 
  • Colorín Colorado.  This website is a service of the Reading Rockets project and is designed to help kids learn to read …and succeed. It is English and Spanish. It is targeted for parents, but teachers can get tips as well. There is a link to Reading Rockets that is especially good for K-2 teachers and first year teachers. You can also access Colorin Colorado en español.
  • Dave's ESL Cafe. This is a great website for students and teachers. Dave Sperling created this site back in 1995. 50% of the site is for teachers, 50% for students. Good lesson plans for grammar and a great section on pronunciation. Students can email Dave and other ESL students.
  • ESL PartyLand for Students is designed to help students improve their English.
  • Frankfurt International School: A guide to Learning English.  This website contains vocabulary & grammar materials, resources, as well as a parent component
  • Harcourt's Moving into English page provides access to grade by grade ESL practice exercises from the textbook company that provides Shenendehowa's ELA reading series.
  • LanguageGuide.org.  This is a tutorial language acquisition website that includes about twenty different languages. You click on your native language and then the target language and off you go! The audio is fantastic and as the cursor goes over the new language information, the native language translation pops up. Great components such as letters, introductions, numbers, colors and days of the week. Too many topics to list, but very specific topics like subject pronouns, adjectives, verbs, etc. All skills used in context and a “must” for middle/high school newcomers and any teacher wanting to get a taste of learning a foreign language.
  • MES English.  This is another great website for making flashcards of classroom and school subjects. Lots of great games for teaching content.
  • Mrs. Perkins' Dolch Words that could keep an elementary classroom teacher content for a long time
  • Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab.  Another great website for newcomers. This site is especially good for vocabulary. 
  • Selected Links for ESL & EFL Students is a page created to introduce students to a select list of links that they will find immediately interesting and useful.
  • Starfall.com.  The website has audio and activities for matching letters to word endings. Students can choose stories and have them read aloud to them. Suitable for elementary and middle school.
  • The Internet Picture Dictionary.  A great website that has numerous activities for students using a picture dictionary. Remember, students involved in NCCLAS MAY use their dictionaries during assessments! Have your students make their own!
  • Thinking Things from Snaith Primary.  This is an amazing site at an elementary school in England. There are many different units to choose from. Romans, Legends, India, Diversity, etc. But the Aztec unit can be viewed in English AND Spanish. So your brand new Spanish speaking students can immediately do a unit in Spanish! Designed for elementary students, but excellent for middle school ELL.
 
 
 

Information 

 
 Bilingual and ESL Certification
 
Dual Language 
 
 
Archived News Sources
  
Professional Organizations
 
Instructional Resources
  • ISAT Math practice
  • Rocking the ISAT
  • Internet for classroom – Reading 1
  • Interactive quizzes
  • Grammer practice park
  • Online interactive test practices1
  • Online interactive ISAT test practices2
  • Activities for ESL Students.  This is a great website for classroom teachers. There are quizzes on different categories of nouns, verbs, adjectives, body parts, etc. There are different levels for parts of speech. Students can take a test and then print the results. Then students can retake the test with the words shuffled for a different order. Newcomers can go to this site and practice tests with pictures of all the vocabulary. Teachers need to spend a few minutes viewing this site before allowing students to use.
  • Activities for ESL Students.  This is a great website for classroom teachers. There are quizzes on different categories of nouns, verbs, adjectives, body parts, etc. There are different levels for parts of speech. Students can take a test and then print the results. Then students can retake the test with the words shuffled for a different order. Newcomers can go to this site and practice tests with pictures of all the vocabulary. Teachers need to spend a few minutes viewing this site before allowing students to use.
  • Awesome Stories.  Free membership to teachers. An educational tool which supports the standards based curriculum. There are hands on primary sources for students, short stories and movie shorts.
  •  Bilingual Education Technical Assitance Center stands for Bilingual Education Technical Assistance Center. This is a user-friendly site concerning ESL and Bilingual Education that has a useful FAQ section. It also has contact information for their very helpful staff.
  • Bilingual Special Education Resources Network provides staff development, technical assistance and tuition assistance for teachers working with children and students with disabilities who speak a language other than English in grade levels from pre-kindergarten through grade 12.
  • Bridges4kids.org.  In the ELL/ESL section you’ll find a wealth of information useful for on ELL  students. One of the best links from this site is Help! They Don't Speak English Starter Kit for Primary Teachers, which will help you understand what it means to be a LEP student in a mainstream classroom, how you can help these children succeed, and what issues there might be during your time together.
  • Colorín Colorado.  This website is a service of the Reading Rockets project and is designed to help kids learn to read …and succeed. It is English and Spanish. It is targeted for parents, but teachers can get tips as well. There is a link to Reading Rockets that is especially good for K-2 teachers and first year teachers. You can also access Colorin Colorado en español. 
  •  Curriculum & School Reform: English as a Second Language.  This is the NC Department of Public Instruction’s ESL website. It is a great website for accessing information regarding the laws, the ESL Standard Course of Study, ESL Certification and a list serve for classroom teachers. There are numerous ESL links.
  • Dave's ESL Cafe.  This is a great website for students and teachers. Dave Sperling created this site back in 1995. 50% of the site is for teachers, 50% for students. Good lesson plans for grammar and a great section on pronunciation. Students can email Dave and other ESL students.
  • Escort -Migrant Education.  Escort is a national resource center dedicated to improving the educational opportunities for migrant students. Each elementary school has a copy of Help! They Don’t Speak English. Each middle and high school has a copy of The Help! Kit. These should be housed in the professional library. However, you can order your OWN copy free of charge by either emailing or calling 1.800.451.8058. Although your students may not be migrant, they are English language learners. This is a fabulous resource and has some great alternate assessments.
  • ESL PartyLand for Teachers is designed to provide you with the resources and connections you need to become a better ESL teacher.
  • Harcourt's Moving into English page provides access to grade by grade ESL practice exercises from the textbook company that provides Shenendehowa's ELA reading series.
  • EverythingESL.net.   Everything ESL is a site that provides information and materials supporting ESL instruction.
  • Helpforschools.com.  This is a great site for understanding the laws pertaining to English language learners. Teachers can also find descriptors for English language learners and Mexico/USA school comparisons. Great suggestions for parent involvement and NCLB documents in Spanish.
  • Lanternfish.   This site has it all! Not just for ESL students, either! Crosswords, word searches, flashcards, verbs, songs, creative writing, worksheets, phonics, ESL science, survival English, ESL articles, lesson plans and holiday worksheets. Have fun!
  • MES English.  This is another great website for making flashcards of classroom and school subjects. Lots of great games for teaching content.
  • National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition.  The mission of the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition & Language Instruction Educational Programs is to respond to Title III educational needs and implement NCLB as it applies to English language learners. Anyone who works with English language learners in any capacity will love this site! It is one of the most comprehensive sites for classroom teachers. Teachers can go to “In the Classroom” and find complete lesson plans and classroom activities for all subjects and grade levels. There are many examples of methodologies found to be successful for teaching non-English speakers. This site also contains a resource collection of over 21,000 documents related to ESL.
  • Starfall.com.  The website has audio and activities for matching letters to word endings. Students can choose stories and have them read aloud to them. Suitable for elementary and middle school. 
  • Selected Links for ESL & EFL Students is a page created to introduce students to a select list of links that they will find immediately interesting and useful.
  • Teach-Technologynology.com.  This website is great for lessons for all students, not just English language learners. But for ESL lesson plans, search ESL and go from there. To make labels for your classroom, click Printables under Teaching Tools. Then scroll down to class labels. You can pick from many different categories.
  • The Internet Picture Dictionary.  A great website that has numerous activities for students using a picture dictionary. Remember, students involved in NCCLAS MAY use their dictionaries during assessments! Have your students make their own! 
  • Thinking Things from Snaith Primary.  This is an amazing site at an elementary school in England. There are many different units to choose from. Romans, Legends, India, Diversity, etc. But the Aztec unit can be viewed in English AND Spanish. So your brand new Spanish speaking students can immediately do a unit in Spanish! Designed for elementary students, but excellent for middle school ELL.
  •  Web English Teacher English as a New Language provides ESL lesson plans and teaching ideas.
  • Bilingual Vocabulary Quizzes
  • ESL Lesson Plans and Resources
  • Integrating Mathematics, Science and Language
  • Everything ESL
  • Phonetics: The Sounds of English and Spanish (the University of Iowa)
 

 Spanish Websites

   

 

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 ISAT Practice

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