Upcoming Events

Webinar: Supporting PreK-12 Newcomer Immigrant Students

Many schools throughout the country are enrolling newcomer English language learners (ELLs) for the first time, or do not have enough specialized English as a second language or bilingual certified teachers to work with this group of students. Join AFT, Share My Lesson, and Colorín Colorado to hear from expert practitioners about the particular needs of newcomer ELLs and to get tips, resources and strategies you can use right away to help ELLs adjust to their new surroundings successfully.
This free webinar will be archived and is available for one hour of professional development credit.

New! Supporting Newcomers: Resource Gallery

This Month's Highlights

Updated Booklists: American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage

We have added new titles to this rich collection highlighting American Indian and Alaska Native books for children and teens, and we encourage you to get creative and look for opportunities to include these books throughout the year and across the curriculum.

For suggestions on selecting other related titles, take a look at Tips for Choosing Culturally Appropriate Books and Resources About Native Americans by Dr. Cathy Gutierrez-Gomez.

New Author Interview: Michaela Goade

In this new Reading Rockets interview, Caldecott Medal-winning author and illustrator Michaela Goade talks about her creative process, the inspiration behind some of her illustrations, and the importance of looking for diversity within Native stories. Ms. Goade is an enrolled member of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.

Video: How teachers, librarians, and families can find authentic Native books

Caldecott Medal-winning author and illustrator Michaela Goade offers advice on how to bring diverse and authentic Native books into schools, homes, and libraries.

Community Support for ELLs

Working with Community Organizations to Support ELL Students

Community organizations can be great partners for schools and ELL families. Learn how to get started with these tips!
See more

See more examples and articles from projects like an autism screening clinic and a local neighborhood park in our related resource section.

Fifteen Tips for Helping ELLs Through Their First Winter

For students and families who are new to winter weather, this article offers ideas on how to address different aspects of winter with lots of examples from schools across the U.S. and Canada.

Video: How a Community School Can Help ELLs Succeed

Visit Wolfe Street Academy, a community school in Baltimore, MD with a large ELL population, to see how community partnerships are supporting students and families through programs and services that include dental screenings, food giveaways, after-school activities, and much, much more. This project was produced in collaboration with the American Federation of Teachers.

A Team Approach: Addressing Food Insecurity in Brockton, MA

Learn how a multilingual team of family advocates and liaisons has addressed food security in Brockton Public Schools since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This video is part of our project on multilingual family partnerships in Brockton, MA and was produced in collaboration with the National Education Association.

Colorín on the Go

Colorín on the Go: What you need to know about student responsibilities

Many students have additional responsibilities at home. For ELLs and/or immigrant students, those responsibilities may include translating for families or dealing with paperwork in English. Our new web app, Colorín on the Go, shares more about student responsibilities such as:

In the Classroom

Strategy of the Month: Text Engineering

Engineering a text is a strategy that embeds scaffolds and supports directly into grade-level text to increase student comprehension. This strategy is part of Colorín Colorado's new ELL Strategy Library and can be used to support academic language development for all students.

Making Space for Gratitude: 12 Ideas for Schools in Challenging Times

Recommended Resources

Sister Site Spotlight: LD OnLine

Q&A with Special Education Teacher Genesis Gonzalez

Genesis Gonzalez is a bilingual special education teacher in New York City who started her career as a substitute paraprofessional. In this interview, she shares the story of how she got involved in the profession and what she has learned about supporting her students with learning disabilities (LD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) during her teaching career.

Family Resources and Outreach

Reading SOS: Bilingual Families' Questions About Language and Literacy

In this special video series, experts answer questions from families about reading and how to support their children at home. Our bilingual collection is available in English and Spanish and features Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan. This project was produced in collaboration with the National Education Association.

Family Reading Tips: Diné (Navajo)

Our multilingual tips for parents offer many ways for parents to help kids become successful readers. Both of these resources include tips translated into Diné (Navajo):

Books and Authors

Book of the Month

Berry Song

Video: Indigenous Peoples Classroom Resources

This free resource collection is available from Share My Lesson.

Read Across America: Reading Diverse Books All Year Long!

#GivingTuesday is November 28th!

How can you support Colorín Colorado on Giving Tuesday?

#GivingTuesday is a day of global giving. You can be a part of Colorín Colorado’s annual #GivingTuesday campaign by making a donation.

Your donation to Colorín Colorado helps us continue providing the best ELL resources for educators and families. Thank you!

Note: Colorín Colorado is a non-profit public media project based at PBS station WETA in Washington, DC.