The post Back to School Resources was originally published on Spanish4Kiddos - Educational Resources and Bilingual Content.
Back-to-school resources supply bilingual educators and families with activities and ideas to prepare for school. As preparation for school can be daunting and overwhelming, create strategies to help your bilingual learners return to school.
Besides using checklists and to-do lists, add other activities. Activities include read-aloud of your favorite book, creating lunch ideas, or shopping for your favorite outfit or backpack.
Back to School Resources and Tips
How can back to school get less overwhelming? Of course, every year, preparations to start the new school can create stress and excitement.
For bilingual students, the experience can be more stressful. Going to a new school, class, or learning group is a new experience of the unknown.
If bilingual students feel stressed, they might want to keep their feelings private. This situation can create a lapse in language development or not wanting to learn. So, create different activities for back to school to welcome students easily.
Reading Back-to-School Ideas
Reading stories aloud is one way to encourage bilingual students to learn a language. Select books or stories that can promote participation in the class. Of course, you should set a few rules, but consider having the class participate in a fun read-aloud.
Do you prefer video or podcast episodes of read-aloud stories? These ideas offer you a range of stories in English and Spanish.
Click on each backpack for stories, games, or more tips.
Back to School Readiness
There are many standards or sets of guidelines that bilingual students would need before starting kindergarten. You can focus on a few before going back to school.
Use checklists to keep you organized and encourage bilingual students to keep track. You can use the star-reward checklist to encourage practice.
- Developing routines before going back to school takes work.
- After a relaxing summer break, starting with the routine can take some time.
- For instance, create a sleeping or eating schedule that accommodates your family.
- Or, use a one-hour before bed for sleeping schedules.
- Also, minimize using electronics before going to bed to promote better sleep.
- Visit the school if there is a meet-the-teacher conference or day.
- This approach can help with new changes in a few weeks.
Discuss ways of what mornings or afternoons will look like. For example, if applicable, you can recreate a routine of what breakfast will look like or bus routines.
Then, ask what afternoons consist of – will they work on school work, read, or do any extracurricular activity? Create a schedule or planner of what the day will entail.
In conclusion, back to school resources can supply you with valuable sources. From checklists to lunch ideas, these resources can help get you ready. While these resources are helpful, create an environment you know will help your child return to school.
