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.
Bilingual Resources: Spanish
Arte Público Press: Piñata Books
Piñata Books is an imprint of Arte Público Press dedicated to the publication of children's literature that authentically and realistically portrays themes, characters, and customs unique to U.S. Hispanic culture. Books published under this imprint include bilingual picture books for children and entertaining novels and short-story collections for young adults by authors such as Pat Mora, Diane Gonzales Bertrand, Victor Villaseñor, Ofelia Dumas Lachtman, and many others.
Awesome Library: Multilingual Lesson Plans
A listing of lesson plans and multicultural classroom resources offered in many different languages, from Apache to Yiddish. Some languages require special fonts for correct display.
Barahona Center for the Study of Books in Spanish: Books About Latino Culture
The Barahona Center for the Study of Books in Spanish for Children and Adolescents at California State University, San Marcos has created a database of recommended books (in English) about Latino culture. The site has a sorting feature so users can sort by grade level, age, setting, or publisher.
Barahona Center for the Study of Books in Spanish: Books in Spanish
The Barahona Center for the Study of Books in Spanish for Children and Adolescents at California State University, San Marcos has created a database of books in Spanish. Search features include grade, country of origin, and topic.
Casa Notes is designed to allow teachers to quickly make, and customize, typical notes that are sent home to parents or given to the students. Note templates are available both in English and Spanish.
Children First: Developmental Assets
This site outlines the 40 Assets mentioned in the article and offers translations in 9 languages, including Vietnamese and Farsi.
Childtopia offers hundreds of interactive, educational games for kids on a subscription basis, though some games may be tested for free. The Web site, based in Spain, is available in Spanish, Catalan, Basque, English, and French.
Cinco Puntos Press publishes a variety of titles for children, teens, and adults, many of which originate in the Southwestern United States. Their titles include many bilingual books, CDs, early readers, and folktales.
Cody's Cuentos produces free podcasts of classic fairytales translated into Spanish and read by a professional storyteller. The site mascot is a friendly cartoon dog named Cody. Users have the option of subscribing to receive new podcasts when they are available.
Celebrate the joy of reading with Cuentos y Más, a dynamic show offered by the Arlington Public Library in Arlington, VA and winner of the Outstanding Children's Program award by the Virginia Public Library Directors Association. The program features the talented and engaging bilingual storyteller Mariela Aguilar, who tells stories in English and Spanish and then visits places in the community such as the library. Produced for television, the program is now available as an online video for free viewing.
Cultivating Readers: A Magazine for Parents
The National Center for Family Literacy puts the family at the forefront of educational reform in the area of national literacy. They have produced a free downloadable bilingual magazine in English and Spanish for parents called "Cultivating Readers," which gives tips on promoting reading to children from birth until age 8.
Scholastic BookFlix is an online resource available at no cost through the District of Columbia Public Library Web site for DC library card holders, and for purchase through Scholastic.com. BookFlix offers high-quality Flash video picture books to link fact and fiction and to promote early reading skills. Some materials are available in Spanish.
Ed.gov: Education Resources for Spanish Speakers
This site, sponsored by the Department of Education, provides links for Spanish speaking parents of school-age children. It also includes answers to frequently asked questions, a resource center with publications and materials, a general information center, and assistance for parents in need of financial support to aid their child's education.
Education Place: Graphic Organizers
Education Place is Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's website for teachers. Resources offered include graphic organizers in English and Spanish, such as story maps, word webs, and KWL charts.
Emergency and Community Health Outreach
Multilingual resources on health and safety resources, languages include English, Hmong, Somali, Spanish, Vietnamese and Cambodian.
English/Spanish Library Vocabulary
Fairfax County Library in VA provides a thorough list of common English/Spanish Library vocabulary and some useful phrases as well.
Many links to Head Start publications on a variety of topics such as infant nutrition, certificates of appreciation for parents, children's mental health, and developmental assessments. Many of the publications are downloadable and translated into Spanish.
Head Start: Information in Spanish
This website offers information about the Head Start program in Spanish, including FAQs for parents and a Head Start search engine that can be used to find local programs.
IGUANA is a Spanish-language magazine published for kids aged 7 to 12. Each issue is filled with stories, games, puzzles, interviews with prominent Latinos, recipes, project ideas, jokes, articles and more!
International Children's Digital Library
This digital library hosts a collection of books from around the world. Ultimately, this organization hopes to have every culture and language represented so that every child can know and appreciate the riches of children's literature available from the world community.
José-Luis Orozco: Spanish Children's Music
José-Luis Orozco is an author and recording artist whose work draws upon the rich heritage of the Spanish-speaking world. Through his music, José-Luis has sought to expose a wider audience to Spanish-language children's traditions and promote Latin American culture. These cds are excellent tools for young children.
KidsHealth: Parent Resources (Spanish)
The Spanish-language Parent section of KidsHealth answers questions that parents have about growth and development, expanding on topics such as puberty, dyslexia, and exercise.
Lectorum offers an English and a Spanish-language Web site for consumers to purchase adult and children's Spanish-language books online.
Lee & Low: Arcoiris Spanish Books
Arcoiris is Lee & Low's Spanish-language publishing division. Arcoiris offers a wide range of children's books in Spanish, including a number of books from non-Spanish-speaking cultures and traditions.
Los Bloguitos, managed by children's authors and illustrators, is a Spanish-language blog for Spanish-speaking children. It highlights colorful tales, poetry, drawings, and more.
National Dissemination Center for Children With Disabilities
NICHCY provides information to the nation on: disabilities in children and youth; programs and services for infants, children, and youth with disabilities; IDEA, the nation's special education law; No Child Left Behind, the nation's general education law; and research-based information on effective practices for children with disabilities.
National Geographic School Publishing
Differentiated themed sets, reading programs, magazines, and content-based fiction materials created for ELLs and struggling readers. Strong emphasis on understanding science, social studies, and math content while improving literacy skills.
National Institute of Mental Health: PTSD Information
Introduction to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), including definitions of key terms, and information on helping children and adolescents cope with PTSD. Information is also available in Spanish.
National Parent Teacher Association
National PTA is the largest volunteer child advocacy organization in the United States. A not-for-profit association of parents, educators, students, and other citizens active in their schools and communities. PTA is a leader in reminding our nation of its obligations to children.
New York Public Library: Audiobooks Collection
This website allows New York Public Library users to browse the system's free online collection of audiobooks, e-books, video, and more. While users must have a NYPL card to access the database, it offers a helpful example of the kinds of resources that more libraries are using. Audiobooks are also available in Spanish.
A Place of Our Own is the companion Web site to the daily Californian television series "A Place of Our Own" (and "Los Niños en Su Casa" in Spanish). The Web site, along with the TV series and an outreach program, are directed toward child care providers and share ways to help children to acquire developmental skills, language, and literacy. On the Web site, information and episode resources are organized by key topics, such as Brain Development and Health & Safety.
Pierce County Library: Spanish Early Literacy Resources
These resources from the Pierce County Library in Tacoma, WA include Spanish-language booklists and pamphlets for parents on early literacy tips and activities.
This Spanish-language website from PreK Now offers parents a wide variety of information about early education. Topics covered basic facts about pre-school, different types and quality levels of pre-school, and the benefits pre-k brings to children.
This Spanish-only site has themed units for preschool classrooms. Activities based around animals and letters, as well as hands-on activities and coloring pages, are highlighted here.
Reading is Fundamental (RIF) provides a bilingual website that is designed to help Latino families read, sing, and share stories together at home.
San Diego School District: Parent Resources
The San Diego Unified School District's parent resource page offers general school policy information in multiple languages, along with helpful articles about testing, attendance, and student performance.
Scholastic News English/Spanish
Scholastic News English/Español is a classroom magazine available by subscription with a flip-format that lets students read the same content in both English and Spanish. The magazine connects its topics to Latino cultures and offers family activities that can be sent home.
Sesame Street Beginnings: Talk, Read, Write!
Familiar Sesame Street characters help young children learn the basics of literacy to prepare them for success as they enter school. The site is available in English or Spanish.
Sesame Street: Military Families
Sesame Workshop presents a bilingual educational outreach initiative designed for military families and their young children to share. The materials include a parents' magazine, a children's poster, a facilitator guide, and downloadable videos and music.
Spanish for Kids provides activities, multimedia clips, online dictionaries, a directory of Spanish-language schools, travel logs, and a forum for Spanish-language learners.
Spanish-Language Electronic Library
This electronic library holds an archive of books in Spanish, all available to download and view online.
StoryPlace is an interactive site for children (with both an English and Spanish version), created to provide a virtual experience of going to the library and participating in the types of activities the library offers. StoryPlace currently consists of two libraries, the Preschool Library and Elementary Library, with new activities and themes added each month.
Student Coalition for Action in Literacy Education
SCALE supports campus-based literacy programs across the country. In these programs, college students serve as literacy tutors or teachers in their community.
The Ed Trust helps state and local leaders build broad-based vehicles to mount and sustain K-16 reform. The Ed Trust focuses on the institutions most often left behind in plans to improve education — those serving concentrations of low-income, Latino, African American or Native American students.
U.S. Department of Education: Healthy Start, Grow Smart Series
The "Healthy Start, Grow Smart" series was an initiative of Laura and George W. Bush and sponsored by the Texas Department of Health. It offers downloadable Word and PDF documents in English and Spanish that offer parents advice for caring for babies from birth to 12 months of age.
Washington County Cooperative Library Services, OR: Spanish Summer Reading Resources
These Spanish-language resources include reading tips, booklists, and information about bilingual programs at the library. The resources serve as a good model for other libraries looking to expand bilingual services or materials on their website.
Weekly Reader: Spanish/Bilingual Books
The Weekly Reader Online sells sets of Spanish bilingual books for young elementary school children, including a number of titles related to content instruction.
Search Colorín Colorado
I am very grateful to you. You are thorough, helpful, and on target with prevalent needs. I have learned so much from your site. As I have served as a teaching assistant and a clinical student, I have relied upon information you have supplied to better help and teach the students entrusted to me. Thank you.
~ Rose J.
