Four by Four Unit Resources
Jill Kerper Mora
San Diego State University
Visit the MoraModules Menu for a listing of on-line mini-courses related to teaching in B/CLAD classrooms on this website. Also, explore the links provided on this page and in the model thematic unit provided for you.
Print Resources
Donoghue, M. R. (2001). Using Literature Activities to Teach Content Areas to Emergent Readers. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Mora,
J.K. (2006). Differentiating
instruction for English Learners: The Four-by-Four Model. In T.A. Young &
N. L. Hadaway (Eds.). Supporting the Literacy Development of English
Learners: Increasing Success in All Classrooms. Newark, DE: International
Reading Association, pp. 24-40.
WestEd (2000) A Map for Teaching and Assessing California's English Language Development and English Language Arts Standards for English Learners. San Francisco, CA: WestEd Northern California Comprehensive Assistance Center.
Internet Resources
For access to the SDSU COE "Hotlist for Educators" with listing of national, state and local school district curriculum standards, click here and scroll down to Curriculum Standards.
For ESL websites with hundreds of links for teachers and students, click below:
Click on this link for ESL Lesson Plans for more ideas and examples of thematic units.
For games, units and lots of teaching ideas, One World, One People ESL Lessons
Or try this link for Teachers' Net lesson plan exchange.
Try Dave's ESL Café where you can find lots of fun and interesting ideas for teaching. A must see is the ideas page and another is the list of idioms.
Also, check out the Encarta Lesson Collection.
Click here for the ECNEWSLETTER has a website with complete thematic units on various literature, social studies and science topics.
For an ESL teachers' resource site go to this page sponsored by the Internet TESL Journal.
Click here for a web page on guided writing in a balanced literacy program from The English Learning Area
For another extensive catalogue of lesson plans on different subjects and links to lesson planning sites for bilingual/ESL students, go to SNAP.COM
Click here for a full list of teaching resources for The ESOL Teacher including listening, speaking, reading and writing activities on-line.
Visit Jim Burke's excellent website The English Companion for a wonderful variety of teaching hints, lesson plans and valuable resources.
EDHELPER.COM is a website with thousands of lesson plans and web quests in many different topics.
Also visit Karin's ESL PartyLand for good ideas on teaching grammar.
Click below for on-line schools and sites for K-8 students and ELL students who benefit from highly readable materials and visuals.
ZOOM SCHOOL is an on-line elementary school with lessons and activities in geography, biology, language arts and early childhood. The Little Explorers Picture Dictionary and other illustrated (and some bilingual) illustrated dictionaries by Enchanted Learning are especially useful for teaching vocabulary.
STORY ARTS is a marvelously creative website for teaching and student activities in language arts. See especially the Stories in a Nutshell collection for summaries of the plot of folktales from around the world, ideal for reading with English language learners.
WEEKLY READER GALAXY is another great site to visit for highly readable and interesting articles on current events and topics of interest. The WEEKLY READER magazines are categorized by grade levels and age.
TIME FOR KIDS has many exciting features, including themed magazines on topics of high interest based on current events.
Click below for wonderful CHILDREN'S LITERATURE links:
Carol Hurst' Children's Literature Site
Kay Vandergrift on Children's Literature
Kay Vandergrift on Hispanic Images
Author's link for Anna Grossnicke Hines
Author's link for Aaron Shepard
Some literacy organizations for children and adults are linked below:
International Reading Association Reading Online
Literacy Volunteers of America
United States Department of Education America Reads
National Institute for Literacy
For great websites with hundreds of links to resources on social studies, history and cultural diversity these links are a must see! Plan to spend some time here.
Here is a link to the index of a great website of internet lessons in science and social studies developed by Pacbell at San Diego State University.
Science lesson planning sites are below:
If you are working on a social studies lesson from the Houghton Mifflin textbook series, such as Oh, California! for fourth grade, be sure to consult the publisher's website for teaching ideas and activities. The Activity Search allows you to match up a content area or language arts with a grade level to get thematic planning ideas.
Houghton Mifflin Social Studies Center
Houghton Mifflin Activity Search
This site is dedicated to teaching about the Gold Rush.
Gold Rush Resource sponsored by Wells Fargo
Deer Creek School's "Our Town" Project
Multicultural Education Sites
Two fantastic websites designed by my colleagues Carla Mathison and Cathy Pohan are listed below. "We hold these truths..." is a Webquest on multicultural education and democratic schooling. It contains seven individual, stand-alone clusters, each focusing on a particular culture within the United States.
We Hold These Truths to be Self-Evident
"School Stories" is a web-based interactive site developed for student teachers and experienced teachers to help them better understand and appreciate the influence (positive or negative) they have on their students. The site includes pictures of students and over 40 student narratives about their K-12 experiences.
Graphic Organizers
Check out these websites for instructions on how to use graphic organizers and many examples of how to use graphics for teaching complex concepts and critical thinking.
San Diego County Office of Education S.C.O.R.E.
North Central Regional Educational Lab: Graphic Organizers