The First Week - Build a positive productive environment.

1. Get to know your students and start building relationships

2. Set expectations and establish routines

3. Gather information about what they know and what the goals will look like.

Start on Day One

• It is important to know their entire name and pronounce it clearly. Greet them when they arrive. Take time for students to introduce and meet each other. Practice names and play games to take time to learn about one another.
• Create a buddy system for new students during classroom activities and most importantly during recesses and lunches. Encourage interaction through subject area games, songs and free play.
• Post labels or posters to identify objects or routine actions using bilingual signage.
• Repeat important directions for movement and transitions frequently. Check in for understanding.

Prepare a student welcome package that might include:

• Map of the school - highlighted with native language labels
• Wall chart for the names of teachers, educational assistants and students first names in the classroom
• Binder with subject area categories for handouts, a calendar or agenda book
• A bin for individual student work containing seat work, read to self book, headphones, writing and coloring materials, Ipad with appropriately leveled apps, visual goals sheet, and flashcards/sentence strips to build vocabulary.
• A fidget, a personal item like a photo of family, something comforting

Classroom Tools and Scaffolds

• Build a visual class seating chart (with student photos and first names if possible). Take a picture of their face behind a favorite book.
• Provide the student with a translator online, a picture dictionary or a native language dictionary if they are able to read in their home language.
• Teach the class a daily or weekly word or phrase in the newcomers native language to create sensitivity and understanding of the challenges ELLs face.
• Incorporate options in lessons for expression through art, music or pictures to create work ethic and a sense of achievement. Have students chose work that they are proud of and want to post, not the ones chosen by you.
• Display word walls and provide word banks or personal dictionaries that can be seen for conversation, or used for reading and writing activities.
• Add bilingual books, foreign language books, picture books, wordless books, picture dictionaries, and nonfiction magazines to the classroom library for silent reading. Also utilize reading apps and read aloud texts which are available online.
• Have conversations about experiences and interests when the timing is right, for them. Encourage information about family, favorite activities, things they connect to without resentment so that you can make connections and show that they are safe and respected.

**Try out some introduction games **