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Welcome to English Language Development class Level 1!

In this class, we learn the academic skills expected across all classes - vocabulary and sentences to describe or explain or compare characters or science experiments or historical periods - by applying them to the everyday vocabulary we need in order to grow our English language skills.

Our December class began with a trip to Dunkin Donuts. Each of our students practiced and spoke in English in order to order donuts, munchkins, or a coffee. I was so proud of them!

After Thanksgiving, we began our mini-unit on using speaking and writing to describe situations and people. We do this to prepare for the large test that comes in January. Every January, our students take a test that assesses their English language growth. It is similar to the test a student takes when they first arrive in Watertown. The test happens every year so that we can see how well our students are learning the academic English that will help them succeed in school.

Therefore, during December we have practiced a lot of writing, reading, speaking, and listening in English. We will do this to make sure that every student understands how the test works and is comfortable using the technology for the test. We have practiced listening to stories about famous people and stories about how the New Year is celebrated in different parts of the world. We also practiced seeing pictures of people in daily life and describing what the people are doing. Finally, we practiced reading and making charts and graphs so that we can interpret them when the test comes.

I look forward to your students showing you and us how much they are learning!

I am Diana Karamourtopoulos, your student's ESL teacher. In this class, we work on improving our English in all 4 domains: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. We have been working on a platform called Flashlight, which shows students a picture and has students label, speak and write about it. Students practiced taking feedback from their first benchmark assessment and improving for the next one. This is great practice for the ACCESS English test in January, which we also have been practicing for. Lastly, students learned about how feathers help birds survived, and picked their own bird to research and write about!

I am Diana Karamourtopoulos, your student's Foundational Reading class! In this class, we will work on improving our reading through learning phonics (the letters and sounds) in English. We have been focusing on the vowels in English and reading different stories to practice reading those sounds. We practice writing, spelling, and reading short passages with the sounds we are practicing. This month, we are finishing up digraphs This is a new and slightly challenging topic for the students, but they have worked so hard and improved their reading and spelling. We are now reading words that are a little bit longer. We also read a short article everyday, and write one thing we learned. Our recent unit was about animals. Ask your students if they remember any facts!

I am Diana Karamourtopoulos, your student's Foundational Reading class! In this class, we will work on improving our reading through learning phonics (the letters and sounds) in English. We have been focusing on the vowels in English and reading different stories to practice reading those sounds. We practice writing, spelling, and reading short passages with the sounds we are practicing. This month, we are finishing up digraphs This is a new and slightly challenging topic for the students, but they have worked so hard and improved their reading and spelling. We are now reading words that are a little bit longer. We also read a short article everyday, and write one thing we learned. Our recent unit was about animals. Ask your students if they remember any facts!

I am Diana Karamourtopoulos, your student's Foundational Reading class! In this class, we will work on improving our reading through learning phonics (the letters and sounds) in English. We have been working our way through all the letters in the alphabet and the sounds they make. We are focusing on vowel sounds and the shorter words. We have been working on reading slightly longer words and blending sounds together. We also practice the words most frequently seen in English, that often do not follow the rules of the English language. These are words we have to memorize. In addition, we read a short article everyday, and write one thing we learned. Our recent unit was about jobs. Ask your students if they remember any facts!

My name is Rob McCourt and I’m excited to be teaching your children this year. I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself and explain what we have done in class this month. With eight years of ESL experience, both in the US and abroad, I have a passion for helping students grow. I also coach high school football, which allows me to combine my love for teaching and sports. In my free time, I enjoy yoga, candlepin bowling, and watching football.

During September, we completed our first unit on “Life in the City.” The students explored the city of Astrana, discussing its unique features compared to other cities. We reviewed vocabulary related to urban life, such as "capital," "architecture," and "skyscraper." Additionally, we focused on the correct usage of "on" and "in" when expressing location, enhancing their understanding of spatial descriptions.

As we move into our next unit, "Amazing Jobs," I’m eager to dive into discussions about various professions and the skills required for them. This unit will allow students to broaden their vocabulary while learning about the diverse career paths available in our world. Thank you for your continued support, and I look forward to an exciting month ahead!

Our class had a very productive last few weeks as we learned and practiced writing skills. Students chose a topic of their interest and wrote a short argumentative text defending their points of view by presenting evidence to support their opinions. When writing, students used academic language to introduce their topics, exposed their main argument and backed their claims with evidence they found during the research phase.

Our class also received their baseline scores for the Flashlight Benchmark activity. This activity helps teachers better understand where student speaking and writing skills lie at the beginning of trimester one so we can track and compare progress throughout the school year. Students in ELD 3 had very successful scores and I am very proud of how hard they worked on this activity. All students in the class scored well in level three and several students had level 4 scores for either speaking or writing. This activity is important not only for us to know how well students are doing, but it is also great practice for the ACCESS test that takes place in January.

I hope everyone has a restful break and a wonderful Thanksgiving!

If you wish to get in touch with me, you can email me at keila.camposdeoliveira@watertown.k12.ma.us

Our reading class has been moving at full speed now. Term one is finished and students have made a lot of progress in their English reading skills and vocabulary development. The routines we set into motion help students understand expectations and produce the work required of them. As such, students now have a strong knowledge of the alphabet and can recognize and reproduce the learned content with ease. They understand the value of alphabetical order and can organize lists of words or book titles alphabetically.

Over the last few weeks we have read several short texts together and created a short video of one of the stories we read. Today we started writing our own story together! I look forward to working with this class next term to help them continue to progress on their reading journeys!

I hope everyone has a restful break and a wonderful Thanksgiving!

If you wish to get in touch with me, you can email me at keila.camposdeoliveira@watertown.k12.ma.us

Hello and Happy Holidays! Students wrote their C.E.R.s on Esperanza Rising and have started a new unit on art and artists and the connections to science and culture, which will continue after the Winter Break. They will be:

• describing and discussing art and visual communication
• talking about how art connects us across time, space, and cultures
• expressing interpretation and understanding
• using reported speech to describe what someone said
• using two- and three-word verb phrases
• writing a review of a piece of art
• asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)
• constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering)
• designing and demonstrating the use of a device (e.g., robot, e-textile) to accomplish a task (individually or collaboratively)

They have also started more intensive practice on Flashlight and the WIDA web site for the upcoming ACCESS tests in January. I hope you have a peaceful and relaxing winter break and whatever holiday you celebrate! Happy New Year!!

Please contact me with any questions or concerns at sheila.gilmartin@watertown.k12.ma.us.

Hello and Happy Thanksgiving!

• Students have used an online platform called "Flashlight," which gives them an image and allows them to practice making observations and inferences, and speaking and writing.
• In addition, they have been practicing C-E-R paragraphs by creating a graphic organizer (T-Chart) to plan their writing.
• Some days they independently practice skills on i-Ready reading with teacher-assigned tasks tailored to their specific pathways.
• Soon they will begin more intensive practice on Flashlight and the WIDA web site for the upcoming ACCESS tests in January and February.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns at sheila.gilmartin@watertown.k12.ma.us.

Kate Phillipson
ELE/ESL District Coordinator

Watertown Public Schools
68 Waverley Avenue
Watertown, MA 02472
617-972-4297

kathryn.phillipson@watertown.k12.ma.us