Colorin Colorado: Helping children read... and succeed!
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Teachers who work with English as a Second Language learners will find ESL/ESOL/ELL/EFL reading/writing skill-building children's books, stories, activities, ideas, strategies to help PreK-3, 4-8, and 9-12 students learn to read.

A bilingual site for families and educators of English language learners
Asian Pacific American Heritage

Asian Pacific American Heritage

Celebrate APA Month with these resources compiled by Colorín Colorado! Learn more >>
Meet the Author: Grace Lin

Meet the Author: Grace Lin

Discover the magic of Grace Lin's books in this interview! See video >>
Field Trips with ELLs

Field Trips with ELLs

Take a look at these tips for planning successful field trips with ELLs! See tips >>
Oral Language and ELLs

Oral Language and ELLs

Take a look at this new section about oral language skills! See section >>
  • Asian Pacific American Heritage
  • Meet the Author: Grace Lin
  • Field Trips with ELLs
  • Oral Language and ELLs
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This Month's Highlights

ELLs and the Common Core State Standards

Common Core State Standards

This updated section features a number of new articles and resources about implementing the new Common Core State Standards with English language learners, including articles, presentations, video interviews, and bilingual parent information.

Books and Authors

Celebrating Mothers: Reading with Mom

Mother's day booklist

Take a look at our Reading with Mom booklist (also available in Spanish) for books filled with stories, poems, and lullabies that celebrate mothers! For more great books about mothers and grandmothers, take a look at the Reading Rockets' Mothers and More booklist.

Remembering Maurice Sendak: Where the Wild Things Are

Where the Wild Things Are Literacy Bag

This bilingual Family Literacy Bag from Reading Rockets provides activity ideas based on the late Maurice Sendak's beloved classic, Where the Wild Things Are. The Literacy Bag and book are also available in Spanish (Donde Viven los Monstruos).

Updated Booklists! Asian Pacific American Heritage

The Name Jar

These booklists celebrate the wonderfully diverse cultures of the Asian Pacific. They also reflect the resilience of Asian Pacific Americans who have made this country their home even in the most difficult of circumstances. Whether you read them in May or at any other time of the year, you are sure to find characters and stories that move, intrigue, and inspire you.

Behind the Scenes: Waiting for the Biblioburro

Waiting for the Biblioburro

In this excerpt from our upcoming interview with award-winning author Monica Brown, Monica shares the inspiring story behind her new book, Waiting for the Biblioburro, inspired by real-life Colombian librarian Luis Soriano, and she asks, "How far would you go for a book?"

New on Colorín Colorado!

5 Reasons Not to Use Round Robin Reading with ELLs

Comprehension and English Language Learners: 25 Oral Reading Strategies That Cross Proficiency Levels

In this excerpt from Comprehension and English Language Learners: 25 Oral Reading Strategies That Cross Proficiency Levels (Heinemann, 2009), Michael Opitz and Lindsey Moses Guccione discuss some of the reasons why round robin reading can prove ineffective as a strategy for improving English language learners' reading comprehension.

Recommended Resources

Education Week Spotlight: ELLs in the Classroom

English Language Learners in the Classroom

Education Week has released a new resource publication on English Language Learners in the Classroom. The Spotlight is a collection of articles selected by Education Week editors and contains articles and commentaries on oral-language skills; long-term ELLs; differentiated instruction; and data-driven instruction. The collection is free to Education Week subscribers and available to non-subscribers for a small fee.