Teaching ELL Students in the Elementary Grades

This chapter presents information regarding teaching ELL students with high incidence disabilities in the mild to moderate range. Specific disabilities to be discussed are learning disabilities, dyslexia, cognitive impairments, and autism. Identification procedures and implications for the individual education plan are offered. Learning characteristics that are manifested with these disabilities are explored. Instructional strategies that are most effective for children with these disabilities are explained. The impact of ELL on the disability is discussed. Accommodations to instructional strategies for ELL students are suggested. The misidentification of ELL students as having a disability is examined as well as misplacement into special education.

Inquiry-Based Learning Practices for Science Teaching in Elementary Grades: A Literature Review of the Asian Countries

Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is a student-centered approach of instruction that aims at increasing students' active engagement and their skills of investigation, reflection, and critical thinking within real-world expressions and practices. This literature review includes mostly those research studies in which a quasiexperimental approach was used, followed by a pretest-posttest design with random allocation of research participants. As per the aim of this literature review, those research studies were included where elementary grade students were selected as research participants to investigate the effects of IBL approaches on students' science literacy and skills. One of the engaging lessons from this review shows that IBL approach science skills are described as two sides of the same coin. Additionally, almost all reviewed studies defined IBL as students centered approach. Moreover, the effects of IBL are also discussed in detail

THE METHOD OF THEATRICALIZATION IN TEACHING YOUNGER STUDENTS TO SOLVE COMPOSITE TASKS

The method of theatricalization is described, which is used in solving textual mathematical problems in mathematics lessons in elementary grades at all stages of working with a composite problem. This improves students’ understanding of the structure of the task, its semantic parts, increases the likelihood that the task will be solved correctly, and there will be a versatile development of students.

Evaluating Teachers' Learning, Perceptions, and Cultural Differences Following Professional Development for Early Literacy Software

The present study examined the impact of professional development training on Canadian and Kenyan teachers’ confidence, comfort, and perceptions of their abilities to teach early literacy skills in the primary or elementary grades. Data were collected prior to and following training on how to integrate early literacy software as part of ongoing in-class instruction. Domain and technology constructs consistent with Mishra and Koehler’s (2006) technology integration model were assessed, as were perceptions related to delivery pacing. Overall, outcomes reflected more similarities than differences across the two groups of teachers. Limitations in foundational knowledge regarding concepts specific to early literacy were evident in both groups, despite higher levels of perceived confidence in Kenyan teachers compared to Canadian teachers in some content areas. Perceived comfort using technology and teaching with technology were highly correlated, with no differences observed across teacher groups. Pacing was perceived to be faster for Kenyan teachers compared to Canadian teachers. Implications for professional development in this domain are discussed.

The Development of Cognate Awareness in Child Second/Third Language Learners of French in French Immersion: The Effects of Orthographic Overlap and Cognate Status

Purpose Our 1-year longitudinal study tracked the development of cognate awareness among second (L2) and third language (L3) learners of French in French immersion in Grades 1 and 2 to explore the impact of orthographic overlap and cognate status (true vs. false) on children's ability to recognize cognate relationships. We also assessed the impact of French L2/L3 status on performance. Method We compared performance on three conditions (true cognates with same and similar spellings, false cognates with same spellings) within and across grades. We used a direct measure of cognate awareness that required children ( n = 81) to distinguish true from false cognates presented orally and in print. Results Overall, Grade 1 children failed to recognize cognate relationships between true cognates with similar spellings, but successfully recognized true cognates with same spellings. Performance on all conditions increased significantly between Grades 1 and 2. The greatest improvement was seen on true cognates with similar spellings. Performance on false cognates was inferior to performance on true cognates with same spellings in Grade 1, and inferior to performance on both same and similar spelled true cognates in Grade 2. No differences were found due to L2/L3 status. Conclusions Among sequential learners of L2/L3 French in the early stages of additional language learning, cognate awareness is impacted by the degree of orthographic overlap, as well as by cognate status. Children's ability to recognize cross-language orthographic and semantic relationships improves substantially across the early elementary grades. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.16821106

Repositioning Disability in Children’s Picture Books Through Classroom Read-Alouds

Students with disabilities represent an increasing percentage of students in general education classrooms. Yet, in early elementary grades, they may not see themselves represented in picture books. Teachers face many challenges in this issue, including choosing and evaluating books. In this article, we provide six questions to guide teachers' evaluations of picture books. We also recommend the use of these books in class read alouds that meet Common Core State Standards, and provide a guide for using these books to monitor a student's progress toward mastery of individualized education program (IEP) goals.