Partner with families to learn about their language practices, stories, and literacy-related interactions at home, recognizing that children bring rich knowledge and skills from their first languages and cultural experiences. Dual language learners should have opportunities to demonstrate proficiency in the standard in both their first language and English, with supports such as first-language use, cross-language connections, gestures, visuals, and props. These opportunities allow young dual language learners to build on what they know and can do in their first language as they continue to develop communication, language, and literacy skills in all their languages.
Read and sing “Are You Living?: A Song About Living and Nonliving Things” by Laura Purdie Salas. This song is sung to the tune of “Are You Sleeping?” and lists thecharacteristics of living things. There are illustrations for each phrase. For example:
Is it moving? Is it moving? Can it fly? Gallop by?
