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.
Early Childhood Education / Early Literacy
Reading at Home with Your Child
Delta Publishing sells videos, DVDs, and handouts available in English and Spanish for educators to teach parents how to read with their children.
ALA: Every Child Ready to Read
The Public Library Association and the Association for Library Service to Children have incorporated the latest research into a series of parent and caregiver workshops designed to provide public libraries with vital tools to help prepare parents for their critical role as their child's first teacher. These tools were developed by Dr. Grover C. Whitehurst and Dr. Christopher Lonigan, well-known researchers in emergent literacy, and have been tested and refined by library demonstrations sites around the country.
Bringing up Baby Bilingual Blog
Website with many links to research, articles and useful links to support bilingual language development.
Center for Law and Social Policy: Report on Early Education and Immigrant Families*
"Reaching All Children? Understanding Early Care and Education Participation Among Immigrant Families."
Children First: Developmental Assets
This site outlines the 40 Assets mentioned in the article and offers translations in 9 languages, including Vietnamese and Farsi.
Children Now: Education Resources
Offers information, research, and policy recommendations for policy-makers, educators, and parents working on behalf of children.
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.
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.
Early Childhood and Parenting Collaborative, University of Illinois
The Early Childhood and Parenting Collaborative at the University of Illinois is home to more than a dozen projects focused on the education, care, and parenting of young children.
Early Literacy Initiative, University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development trains reading tutors and sends them out to work with children; sharing the expertise of the college's literacy faculty with parents, teachers, and others who work with children; and coordinating other literacy activities.
El Día de los niños/El Día de los libros
This section of Pat Mora's website offers information on how she founded the celebration, as well as updates on how libraries around the country celebrate the holiday each year on April 30th.
These parent and child programs were designed by educators at the Pennsylvania Center for the Book to be used by professionals who are training parents or caregivers to support young children's literacy learning.
Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development
The NCCC provides national leadership and contributes to the body of knowledge on cultural and linguistic competency within systems and organizations. Major emphasis is placed on translating evidence into policy and practice for programs and personnel concerned with health and mental health care delivery, administration, education and advocacy.
Get Ready to Read!'s program vision is that all preschool children will have the skills they need to learn to read when they enter school. This site is part of NCLD's initiative to provide parents, educators, health-care professionals, and advocates with tools to help build early literacy skills, including a bilingual early literacy screening tool.
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.
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.
The Latin Baby Book Club Blog was created to provide parents with suggested reading for their families and to help children develop pride for their Latin culture through education and literature. The blog also strives to support Hispanic authors through monthly interviews and reviews of bilingual young adult and children's books.
Launching Young Readers is a PBS Series created by the Reading Rockets project about the various aspects and challenges of reading.
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.
Mi Escuelita is a Texas-based early childhood program dedicated to teaching English and early learning skills to at-risk children of all cultures to help them prepare for a successful school experience.
These brochures for parents cover a variety of topics concerning the education of young children, from providing the best care to finding the right toys. Some are also available in Spanish. The brochures are available for purchase for a minimal fee from the online store of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
NAEYC: Resources on Embracing Diversity in Early Childhood Settings
This list includes articles and books on many areas of diversity and research on English Language Learners in preschool settings.
National Association for the Education of Young Children
NAEYC is the nation's largest and most influential organization of early childhood educators and others dedicated to improving the quality of programs for children from birth through third grade.
National Black Child Development Institute
Since 1970 The National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI), a nonprofit organization, has provided and supported programs, workshops, and resources for African American children, their parents and communities in: Early Health and Education, Health, Elementary and Secondary Education, Child Welfare, and Parenting
National Coalition for Asian American Children and Families
The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF) is an advocacy organization dedicated to improving the health and well-being of Asian Pacific American children in New York City. CACF is the nation's only pan-Asian children's advocacy organization.
National Council of La Raza: Education Resources
Offers resources and research in order to improve educational opportunities in the Latino community.
National Even Start Association
The mission of the National Even Start Association is to provide a national voice and vision for Even Start Family Literacy programs. The purpose of the Even Start Family Literacy Program is to help break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by improving the educational opportunities for families. This is accomplished by integrating early childhood education, adult literacy and adult basic education, and parenting education into a unified literacy program. Even Start is implemented nationally through cooperative projects that build on existing community resources, creating a new range of services for children families and adults.
National Head Start Association
The National Head Start Association is a private not-for-profit membership organization dedicated exclusively to meeting the needs of Head Start children and their families. It represents more than 1 million children, 200,000 staff, and 2,700 Head Start programs in the United States. The Association provides support for the entire Head Start community by advocating for policies that strengthen services to Head Start children and their families; by providing extensive training and professional development to Head Start staff; and by developing and disseminating research, information, and resources that enrich Head Start program delivery.
National Institute for Early Education Research: ELLs
The National Institute for Early Education Research has a research topic called English Language Learners that focuses on diversity issues and English-language learning in preschool.
In 1997, Congress asked the Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health, in consultation with the Secretary of Education, to convene a national panel to assess the effectiveness of different approaches used to teach children to read.
This section of the National Institute for Early Education Research website offers many research articles on early education and ELL students. The site also has reviews of preschool programs that have demonstrated success with ELL students.
NIEER: Research Policy Brief on Preschool*
"Who Goes to Preschool and Why Does It Matter?"
NIEER: Research Policy Brief on School Preparation*
"Is Public Pre-K Preparing Hispanic Children to Succeed in School?"
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.
This site guides parents through their child's development from birth through age 5. This site is also available in Spanish.
Phonological Awareness and Literacy Screening (PALS)
PALS is funded through Virginia Reads grants and the University of Virginia. The PALS website includes: 1) a section where teachers return their class scores to UVA and receive an immediate summary report, 2) a page where principals and district representatives can receive summaries of their schools' PALS scores, and 3) more than a hundred instructional suggestions and activities, based on PALS screening sections.
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.
Pierce County: Early Learning Resources
Pierce County Library System in Washington offers a Web page full of early learning resources, like downloadable information sheets with ideas to make everyday activities a learning experience, booklets with reading tips, and podcasts about pre-reading strategies.
Offers resources for Pre-K advocates, policymakers, business and community leaders, educators, and family.
Pre-K Now Article: Pre-K and Latinos*
"Pre-K and Latinos: The Foundation for America's Future."
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.
Raising A Reader's mission is to foster healthy brain development, parent-child bonding, and early literacy skills by engaging parents in a routine of daily "book cuddling" with their children from birth to age five. It offers its program through organizations such as Head Start, and has documented participating children's superior book knowledge and story comprehension.
A program designed to encourage reading in families and increase children's exposure to literature. Doctors and nurses are trained to read with parents and children at check-ups and then books are given to the family. Lists local programs and information on literacy resources.
Reach Out and Read is a national program that seeks to make early literacy an integral part of pediatric primary care. Pediatricians encourage parents to read aloud to their young children and give books to their patients to take home at all pediatric check-ups from six months to five years of age. Parents learn that reading aloud is the most important thing they can do to help their children love books and to start school ready to learn.
Provides detailed information about learning to read and strategies for supporting struggling readers at home, at school, and in the community. It offers news, practical information, expert advice, and resources for parents, teachers, tutors, child care providers, and policy makers.
Reading Rockets Themed Booklists
Reading Rockets highlights a wide variety of themed booklists for kids from 0-9 years old, compiled by children's literature expert Maria Salvadore. Topics range from seasons and holidays to different feelings, activities, games, and animals.
Reading Rockets: Information on Preschool and Child Care
Information about effective preschool programs, what parents should look for in a preschool or child care setting, and early child education.
Reading Rockets: Teaching Plot Structure with Picture Books
Use picture books to teach young writers how to organize plot logically. This article includes examples of basic plot structures, along with picture books that use those structures.
Resources for Dual Language Learners
This website from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers articles, tip sheets and other resources you can use to meet the needs of diverse populations and promote dual language learning, including information about Head Start and ELLs.
Sesame English: DVD for Children
Sesame English produces an ESL DVD series for children in grades pre-K to 4 in five languages: Spanish, Hmong, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, and Vietnamese. The DVDs can be purchased online and shipped to the US and Canada.
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.
Sight words are words that can not always be sounded out, but beginning readers need to readily know. This page provides printable booklets featuring sight words, with versions in Spanish, French, and English.
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