Selecting Reading Materials for ELL Students

In my ELL Kindergarten classroom, we read a lot of books. We read books from all different genres, but I have had to be very careful in choosing the books. I have found that many of the books I have always read on the first day of school, or in the first weeks of school, are not appropriate for my ELL students at that time of year because of the language levels of my students. I tend to choose books with rich illustrations or photographs and short sentences to help teach vocabulary. When I am looking for books to help me teach a specific skill or theme, I look for books that are not too long and wordy, but that are short and to the point. If I could have every book I have in the big book form, I would. Big books are great to use for ELL students because they can interact with the illustrations and text during reading. I use books to teach every skill and subject that is required. Not only do I teach Reading and Language skills with books, but also Math, Science, and Social Studies skills.

Most of my students begin Kindergarten in the pre-production or beginner level of language learning. I do a lot of read-alouds and shared reading the first half of the year to promote literacy. I try to build my students’ vocabulary and experiences, even before beginning guided reading instruction. When I begin to select materials for guided reading groups in my Kindergarten class, I look for books that have text that is supported by the illustrations.

Phonemic awareness is a very big part of our day in Kindergarten. We begin rhyming, syllabication, and sound blending from day one. Without phonemic awareness, literacy instruction will be in vain. I always look for books that cover some aspect of phonemic awareness to help promote literacy learning in my classroom. Along with books, we play a LOT of games and do MANY hands-on activities with literacy skills. I have included some pictures of things I do in my classroom to promote literacy learning.


My students love to "read" to the puppets and give puppet shows for their friends.


The Beach Ball Game can be used with any skill. Take a blown up ball, write the target skill on each section. Throw the ball and tell the catcher to read the "skill" on a certain color. We play this with letters, sight words, and numerals.


Twister Bingo is fun for the students because they get to take off their shoes. They choose a sight word to stand on, and we play reverse Bingo. I call out a word and if they are standing on it, they are out. We play until one person is left.

This past school year was my 17th year to teach Kindergarten. It was, however, my first class of self-contained ELL Kindergarteners. I had 14 students, all from Spanish speaking backgrounds. They were at all different levels of language acquisition. Although the beginning of the year was challenging, the end of the year brought tears and hugs. I can't wait to meet my class this August. I think this past school year has been the most rewarding year I have had. I loved the enthusiasm of my students and the appreciation of their parents. Things that are common place to my own children were exciting and new to my ELL students. Who know McDonald's Chicken Nuggets could bring such joy?