ELD @ GMS

Designated ELD Focus: Deconstructing Complex Sentences

During Designated ELD, our goal is to help students analyze how English works. A high-leverage way to level up your language block is through explicit sentence deconstruction using mentor texts from core content areas.

• Strategy in Action (Sentence Unpacking): Take a complex sentence from a grade-level science or social studies text and break it into meaningful chunked units with your students. Focus on how words function together.

  • Example Focus: Guide students to identify the Who/What (noun phrases), the Action(verbs), and the Conditions/Details (prepositional phrases).

• Language Function Practice: Provide explicit sentence frames and starters that help students reconstruct the sentence in their own words or apply the same structure to a new topic (e.g., "Although [Cause], [Effect] because...").

• Student Production: Ensure every Designated ELD lesson moves from input to output—give students structured opportunities to use the targeted language orally with a partner before writing it down.

GMS teachers and EA team,

To best support our multilingual learners, particularly newcomers, we need to be aligned with the district’s grading framework. The guidance document below is thorough, but I’ve provided a summary of its key points.

1. Fair Grading Approach

   • Newcomers are graded on the same scale as other students, but their grades may initially be low due to language barriers.
   • Growth and progress should be celebrated, even if the student has failing grades initially.
   • Failing grades should not be lower than 50% to provide students an opportunity to succeed.

2. Parent Communication (all teachers of English learners and newcomers)

   • Contact parents early and ensure they understand that low grades reflect English acquisition, not intelligence.
   • Arrange translators for meetings and written reports. (Need a translator?)
   • Prepare a progress summary highlighting achievements and ways parents can support learning at home.

3. Alternative Assignments & Assessments

   • If a newcomer completes the same work as classmates, record the score in Infinite Campus.
   • If they cannot complete the assignment, omit the score and provide an alternative at their proficiency level.
   • Portfolios (or interactive notebooks) should be maintained to track growth.

4. Accommodations for Testing

• Newcomers should attempt district assessments but can stop after 10 minutes if they struggle, using the remaining time for ELD.
• They are exempt from the ELA CAASPP if they have been in the U.S. for less than 12 months but must take the math portion with designated supports (e.g., bilingual glossary).

The following links are designed to assist content-area teachers (math, science, history) in teaching not only newcomers, but also LTELs who often:

• Have conversational English but struggle with academic language
  

• Can't pass the ELPAC due to gaps in comprehension or writing
  

• Get stuck because they're missing supports tailored to rigorous content
  

1. Use Sentence Frames for Academic Talk (math justifications, science claims, etc.)

2. Pre-Teach Vocabulary with Images & Examples
   

3. Use Graphic Organizers for Concept Building (compare/contrast, cause/effect, timelines)
   

4. Highlight and Annotate for Meaning (color-coding key terms in content texts)
   

5. Chunk Texts into Readable Bites with Guiding Questions
   

6. Use Multilingual Glossaries or Cognates
   

7. Provide Visuals for Every Complex Idea (diagrams, timelines, processes)
   

8. Summarize with Sentence Stems After Reading
   

9. Teach “How to Read a Textbook” Mini-Lesson

10. Frayer Model Vocabulary with Content Words

11. Turn & Talk + Share Academic Ideas

12. Video Clips + Captions for Key Concepts
    

13. Concept Mapping in Pairs
    

14. KWL Charts Across the Unit
    

15. “Which One Doesn’t Belong?” for Vocabulary Building
    

16. Weekly “Word of the Week” Focus
    

17. Predict + Verify Before Reading New Concepts
    

18. Anchor Charts for Sentence Types (cause/effect, compare/contrast)
    

19. Use Color-Coded Writing Templates (Intro, Evidence, Reasoning)
    

20. Practice Writing “Because” and “So” Sentences
    

21. Provide Models for Explanatory/Informative Writing
    

22. Collaborative Writing with Feedback Rounds
    

23. Use Sentence Expansion Exercises (from 1 to 5 words)
    

24. Graphic Organizers for Paragraph Structure
    

25. Peer-to-Peer Sentence Editing

26. Journaling in Response to Content
    

27. Interactive Notebooks with Sentence Frames

28. Practice Constructed Responses with Rubric Breakdowns
    

29. Use Old ELPAC Tasks to Model Academic Language
    

30. Jigsaw Reading for Peer Teaching

Check out the ELD Standards checklist for a nice, compact one-pager all of the standards.

Watch Jenny Romero walk us through how to plan, teach, use, and record ELD standards cards so they align with our lessons.

• Designated ELD in Math
• Designated ELD in Science
• Designated ELD in Social Studies
• Designated ELD in Language Arts
• Designated ELD in Drama
• Designated ELD in PE

Episode 2: When and How to Use a Student's Native Language

Episode 3: Study Sync ELD

Episode 4: Documenting ELD Teaching Time and Standards

Expanding - Intermediate English learner; ELPAC overall score of 2 or 3

Bridging - Well developed English learner; ELPAC overall score of 3 or 4