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Thursday, January 1, 2009
The Contributors
Lisa loves the English language and all its quirks and idiosyncrasies. She has taught English as a second language in the US and abroad and for a period of time attempted to teach Spanish (a language she used to know well) to a class of Hungarians (in a language she barely knew). Needless to say, she quickly developed a deep respect for all language learners.
After a brief stint as a magazine writer, editor, and freelancer, Lisa joined the team at Imagine Learning. When she’s not scrutinizing sentences for comma splices, she enjoys writing music, watching documentaries, and experimenting with ginger and cilantro.
Read Lisa's articles here.
Shar PetersenShar has been a writer her entire life but only started getting paid to do it eight years ago. She documents the Imagine Learning products (the paid part), makes a lot of to-do lists (the unpaid part), and blogs about life with a two-year-old (the paid-but-not-in-$$ part).
Shar loves a lot of things, but best of all children and books and reading. She has worked at Imagine Learning since it began in 2004 and thinks it's the perfect place for combining those three passions. The only things that might rank a little higher on her favorites list are her husband, their two daughters, and ice cream.
Read Shar's articles here.
Brenda JohnsonBrenda comes from a family of bookworms and was bitten by the book bug early, thanks to bedtime stories and family reading sessions. Because of this, her main interests include writing, reading, writing, and reading. She also has a passion for storytelling, cooking, graphic design, and gathering useless trivia.
Brenda has written countless bits of poetry and short stories, which are only "countless" because most have been lost to disorganized hard drives or old notebooks. Her favorite book is Peter Pan, and she's begun a personal crusade to make sure everyone in the world reads it and loves it as much as she does.
Read Brenda's articles here.
Paige LymanPaige has loved reading and writing since she was a little girl with a very active imagination. Now she's grown, but her imagination is still active, and she puts it to good use writing, planning, and organizing. Her love for the English language has grown as she studied English linguistics and editing, and she thinks that languages are fascinating.
Paige likes dreaming up exciting stories about adventure and writing down her own life's adventures (which may not be as exciting, but are just as good). She also enjoys taking pictures, trying new foods, drawing, and playing games.
Read Paige's articles here.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Winter Break Writeups
As winter break approaches, teachers meet it with mixed emotions. The time off does wonders for you, but when your students come back hyped up on holiday treats—and their concentration completely derailed—it sometimes makes you wonder what happened.
Deter their mental meltdowns with six fun assignments designed to keep student literacy skills fresh over the break.
Deter their mental meltdowns with six fun assignments designed to keep student literacy skills fresh over the break.
- Keep a holiday diary. Even if they just write one sentence a day about what they did, this will get them spelling words and composing sentences, and they’ll have the memories on record.
- Make a traditions list. Have them keep track of everything they do every year—or things they wish they’d do again next year.
- Read to a grandparent, younger sibling, or someone who could use the holiday cheer. Not only will they feel good for helping someone else but they’ll get good practice and probably some encouragement too.
- Choose books to read from a class list. When you give your students a list of books to read over the holidays, they may not read them all, but at least they’ll have an idea of where to go when they’re in the mood. Check out the Children's Choice books here.
- Complete a reading journal. Give them a fill in the blank printout, with prompts like, When I first saw the cover, I thought this book was about ___ and My favorite part was ___.
- Make up a carol. As they combine rhythm and melody, they may actually be humming when they write the lyrics down.
Four Months for Lizdalys
In September of this year, five-year-old Lizdalys Santiago of Puerto Rico entered Jackson Elementary feeling scared and alone. A recent immigrant to Mississippi
After only four short months of using Imagine Learning English, Lizdalys has undergone a dramatic transformation. She not only can participate in class but now uses her newly acquired English skills to translate for another young girl who also recently emigrated from Puerto Rico. Though this fellow classmate doesn't yet speak any English, she's not alone. Lizdalys is by her side to show her the ropes and give her hope of what is to come. To watch a video on this remarkable story, click here.
After only four short months of using Imagine Learning English, Lizdalys has undergone a dramatic transformation. She not only can participate in class but now uses her newly acquired English skills to translate for another young girl who also recently emigrated from Puerto Rico. Though this fellow classmate doesn't yet speak any English, she's not alone. Lizdalys is by her side to show her the ropes and give her hope of what is to come. To watch a video on this remarkable story, click here.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Otay Elementary: An Update
Six months ago, Otay Elementary School of southern California received accolades for their ELL population’s improvement, made possible, in part, by Imagine Learning English. To see why teachers and administrators alike attribute this success to Imagine Learning English, and to see how Otay Elementary continues to improve today, click here.
Rhyme on a Dime
As part of your Imagine Learning English package, two guides are included to make your life easier. The Resource Guide (for Level 1) and the Supplemental Guide (for Level 2) are each packed with printouts and activities to use in the classroom. Access them through the Imagine Manager icon on your desktop.
Look for future Resource Reminders in Imagine This! to highlight dozens of fun activities—all readily available and in your Resource Guide. This month’s reminder: rhyme books. They’re hands-on for your students and handy for you.
Rhyme books are a fun, easy, and inexpensive way to teach vocabulary and word families. Students learn principles of print as they fold their printouts into mini books with four rhyme sets each. Once students go through each rhyme book, they can create an original book using the same layout. See what kind of rhymes they can come up with on their own!
Download rhyme book printout
Look for future Resource Reminders in Imagine This! to highlight dozens of fun activities—all readily available and in your Resource Guide. This month’s reminder: rhyme books. They’re hands-on for your students and handy for you.
Rhyme books are a fun, easy, and inexpensive way to teach vocabulary and word families. Students learn principles of print as they fold their printouts into mini books with four rhyme sets each. Once students go through each rhyme book, they can create an original book using the same layout. See what kind of rhymes they can come up with on their own!
Download rhyme book printout
Letter Shapes and Sounds that Stick
Whether your students are learning letters in pre-K, in kindergarten, or as English learners later on, you know how tricky those letter shapes and sounds can be.
Letter charts with coordinating icons, ranging from apples to zebras, teach by association. But, according to Marilyn Adams' book Beginning to Read, this method achieves relatively slow progress. Rather than stick with something slow, try a new method—one that works overtime by incorporating sight, sound, formation, and speech.
Name, or No?
The original battle in teaching letters was whether or not letter names should be taught. Should the first letter in the alphabet be introduced as ‘A’ or as /ă/? Teaching the letter name is convenient, thanks to alphabet songs, but it also adds to the amount of information a student must learn—information that is at times counterintuitive. (If B is “bee” and D is “dee,” why isn’t F “fee,” and where did “aitch” come from?)
Dropping the letter name from curriculum may eliminate this confusion, but it introduces its own problems. Many letters have several sounds associated with it, so which phoneme becomes the identifying sound for each letter? Also, if some letters aren’t given a name or title, addressing them becomes problematic. (How do you refer to ‘Q’ or ‘X’ by sound?) Chances are high that someone—teacher or peer—will refer to letters by name, so students need to learn them or be left in the dark.
New Method
In their study, Pictoral Mnemonics for Phonics, Ehri, Deffner, and Wilce discovered that both beginning and struggling readers made the best progress using the very same method taught in Imagine Learning English. In Level 1, students are introduced to a letter that is formed by an object or animal that begins with the target letter sound. They see turtles in the shape of a ‘T’ and a zipper in the shape of a ‘Z.’ Then students trace the letter, hear the letter name, and say it out loud.
This method incorporates both the letter name and letter sound philosophies while adding another visual and tactile element. As noted by Adams, when students see the letter later, “they will automatically be reminded of its pictured keyword which will, in turn, evoke its sound and reinforce its shape.”
Check out Letter Shapes and Sounds in the Level 1 Review Menu to see this method in action. You’ll start to see those letter shapes and sounds really stick.
Letter charts with coordinating icons, ranging from apples to zebras, teach by association. But, according to Marilyn Adams' book Beginning to Read, this method achieves relatively slow progress. Rather than stick with something slow, try a new method—one that works overtime by incorporating sight, sound, formation, and speech.
Name, or No?
The original battle in teaching letters was whether or not letter names should be taught. Should the first letter in the alphabet be introduced as ‘A’ or as /ă/? Teaching the letter name is convenient, thanks to alphabet songs, but it also adds to the amount of information a student must learn—information that is at times counterintuitive. (If B is “bee” and D is “dee,” why isn’t F “fee,” and where did “aitch” come from?)
Dropping the letter name from curriculum may eliminate this confusion, but it introduces its own problems. Many letters have several sounds associated with it, so which phoneme becomes the identifying sound for each letter? Also, if some letters aren’t given a name or title, addressing them becomes problematic. (How do you refer to ‘Q’ or ‘X’ by sound?) Chances are high that someone—teacher or peer—will refer to letters by name, so students need to learn them or be left in the dark.
New Method
In their study, Pictoral Mnemonics for Phonics, Ehri, Deffner, and Wilce discovered that both beginning and struggling readers made the best progress using the very same method taught in Imagine Learning English. In Level 1, students are introduced to a letter that is formed by an object or animal that begins with the target letter sound. They see turtles in the shape of a ‘T’ and a zipper in the shape of a ‘Z.’ Then students trace the letter, hear the letter name, and say it out loud.
This method incorporates both the letter name and letter sound philosophies while adding another visual and tactile element. As noted by Adams, when students see the letter later, “they will automatically be reminded of its pictured keyword which will, in turn, evoke its sound and reinforce its shape.”
Check out Letter Shapes and Sounds in the Level 1 Review Menu to see this method in action. You’ll start to see those letter shapes and sounds really stick.
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