Our Visit From the Book Fairy

ENL Proficiency Level | ENL Program | Standards | Technology

Appropriate for all English Proficiency Levels   |   Stand-Alone   |  1A.1a., 2W3 2SL4  |  Buncee, Flipgrid

Content

I can write a narrative to retell a story in sequential order.

Procedure

To begin with, I was lucky enough to be chosen to get all of my ENL students their own multicultural books to keep and take home through the Leaders Readers Network.  The  National Book Projects accepted my nomination to send my students free books through their  Bilingual Book Project.  This was so special, and I wanted to handle it in a way my students would remember it, and not just hand out books to them. I teamed up with our School Counselor and we decided that we needed the help of the Book Fairy. 

Our School Counselor started off by creating a social and emotional  lesson based around feelings and emotions.  She used various situations and scenarios so the students could identify the emotions involved.  They even received their own emotions chart to refer back to when reflecting on different moments during the school day. The ENL students responded very well and were able to use their new vocabulary to express their excitement, happiness, and surprise when they received their new cultural books!

The books were presented to the students by using an imaginary character, The Book Fairy.  The students found a letter on their desks when they entered the ENL classroom.  The letter explained that The Book Fairy noticed how hard the students were working in school, and for their efforts, she wanted to present them with a book.  They were so excited, and used their emotions vocabulary chart to help them express how they felt when they saw the books displayed on the table and also,  how they felt that they got to keep the book of their choice! Some students picked out books that were in their home language, and some chose books in other languages.  This was a great way to celebrate other cultures in our classroom! 

When writing, the students used transitional words (First, Next, Then, Last) to retell their book experience.  The students used CUPS to revise their stories.  (C= capitals, U= usage, P= punctuation, S= spelling). Once their writing was completed, the students created a Buncee that encompassed their experience.