Living in Poverty Affects Our Children; GrapeSEED Can Help – Part 3
Jodie Shell • September 30, 2020
In Part 1 of Living in poverty affects our children; GrapeSEED can help , we discovered what poverty is and the five different types of poverty that might be affecting students and their families.
In Part 2 , we heard all of the facts and negative effects that poverty has on children. We learned Eric Jensen’s explanation of brain reducers/enhancers and that there is still hope that students can change for the better.
Now let’s see how GrapeSEED can help children make that positive change by promoting growth in oral language, literacy, and self-confidence, leading them to a bright future full of possibilities.
First, GrapeSEED Lessons Provide a Stress Free Environment!
How?
- Children are immediately met at their own academic level.
- Children immediately gain a sense of psychic safety thanks to many repetitions in the program and the Gradual Release of Responsibility model used throughout.
- The use of song and music immediately creates a very pleasant, joyful atmosphere.
- GrapeSEED’s Pete, Arty, Tonya, Dee-Dee, Marvin Monkey, Johnny Bear and Cookie the Sheepdog are attractive and child-friendly characters that boys and girls quickly connect with.
Second, GrapeSEED Lessons Are Interactive and Include Physical Movement!
How?
- Each GrapeSEED lesson incorporates fun-filled action activities.
- Children hop, skip, jump, crawl, climb, swim, fly, march and more!
- Children actively transition from one meaningful activity to another throughout each lesson.
Third, GrapeSEED Lessons Provide Pro-Social Contact!
How?
- Themes for learning build confidence in the following areas: Introducing yourself to a new friend, sharing, taking turns, interacting with others, using manners, being kind, friendly and more.
- Call and Response style Chants, which teach children how to appropriately ask and answer practical questions, are in each unit beginning with Unit 3.
Fourth, GrapeSEED Lessons Provide New Learning!
How?
- Children HEAR, SAY and USE new sounds.
- Children HEAR, SAY and USE new phrases, expressions and language patterns.
- Children HEAR, SAY and USE new vocabulary words that are meaningful in their everyday lives.
- Children learn and memorize joyful, upbeat tunes.
- New learning in GrapeSEED is safe, non-threatening, realistic, cyclical in nature and differentiated.
Next, GrapeSEED Lessons Create Complex Environments!
How?
- Stories, poems and songs introduce a wide variety of settings, creating new background knowledge and schema that children living in poverty may not otherwise have. Examples: Zoo, Farm, Garden, Fishing/Swimming Hole, Aquarium, Neighborhood Pool, The Market, etc.
- Action activities allow for practice and mastery of key spatial-relationships, conceptualizing and physically following a series of directions.
- A signature trait of our GrapeSEED materials is that many of them are set to a wonderfully catchy tune. This was very intentional! Tunes play a critical role in this “Complex Environment” piece. Geoffery Miller from the University College of London states, “Our brains are CONSTANTLY trying to make order out of disorder and music is an amazing pattern game for our higher cognitive centers. From our culture, we learn—even if unconsciously—about musical structures and tones. Ways of understanding music unfold over time; and our brains are exercised by extracting different patterns and groupings. It is this very kind of pattern recognition that is extremely important for us to make sense of the world around us.
Last, GrapeSEED Helps Build and Foster Relationships!
How?
- If teachers are truly implementing with fidelity (which our on-going support will successfully assist each teacher with), then they are in what we call “Memory Mode”.
- When teachers are in “Memory Mode”, eye contact and face-to-face interaction with children is happening. This builds and fosters relationships!
- Children learn to connect and converse with each other through chants, songs, big books and action activities. Examples: “Hello my friend, what is YOUR name?”, “Do you like red?”, and “What can YOU do?” The examples are endless!
So, How Does all of this Add up to for our GrapeSEED Students?
Here’s the equation:
Families & Communities in Need + GrapeSEED & GrapeSEED Teachers (That’s YOU!) = A Brain-Enhancing Classroom Environment = A Sense of Hope amongst Children for Future Social and Academic Endeavors = Self Confidence & Cognitive Growth = Student Achievement = Healthy, Productive, Joyful Communities!
With GrapeSEED, you are empowering your little learners as you open up new doors that lead from a world of poverty (and all that goes along with it!), to a world of self-confidence, a love of literacy and language, and a desire to learn. With GrapeSEED, you’re opening a window of opportunity and delight in learning. With GrapeSEED, you’re equipping your students and making the world a better place, one hopeful, joyful, confident little child at a time!
What is inevitable in most schools across the United States? Standardized testing! And for our English Language Learner students, there is no getting around it... standardized tests are nonnegotiable. So, what is the challenge for elementary teachers and administrators? Striking the right balance. The key to that balance is preparing children for these assessments without completely tossing out developmentally appropriate instruction AND without creating anxiety. Why Preparation Matters While standardized tests might not capture the full range of our students' growth, they do influence school accountability, placement decisions, and even the allocation of funding and other resources. So, we prepare our students…not by ‘teaching to the test’, but by giving them the skills that they need to feel comfortable and confident during testing time. Multilingual learners, especially, benefit when we scaffold their testing experience, making sure they understand test formats, directions, and strategies, so they can truly show what they know. Ready for a few practical test prep ideas? Let’s dig in! Meaningful and Age-Appropriate Strategies 1. Build Familiarity Through Routine Incorporate test-like questions into regular classroom activities in a low-stakes way. Use short passages, multiple-choice questions, and timed activities that mimic test conditions, without the pressure. 2. Focus on Language and Concept Development ELL students need time to develop academic vocabulary and comprehension skills. Embed test-related language (e.g., “main idea,” “infer,” “evidence”) into their daily instruction in ways that make sense contextually. 3. Use Play and Movement For younger learners, active learning helps reinforce skills. Try review games, partner quizzes, or station rotations. These help students internalize content and practice test-taking skills in an engaging, age-appropriate format. 4. Practice Metacognition and Self-Talk Teach simple test-taking strategies like rereading the question, eliminating wrong answers, and checking work. Model “think alouds” to show how good test-takers reason through tricky questions. 5. Support Emotional Readiness Let students know that tests are just one way to show learning. Create a calm, encouraging classroom culture that frames testing as a chance to “show what you’ve learned,” not a judgment on their worth or ability. A Final Thought for Administration Administrators play a vital role in ensuring that multilingual learner teachers are supported with training, resources, and realistic expectations. Providing carved out time for your teachers to focus on standardized test readiness and making room for differentiated assessments, shows your support and commitment. When done thoughtfully, preparing your students for testing time can reinforce key skills, boost their confidence, and ensure that every student…especially our multilingual learners…have a fair chance to succeed. Are YOU looking for the best way to support your multilingual learner students? Then YOU’RE looking for GrapeSEED! Click here to learn more.
Are you a teacher of multilingual learners? If you’re answer is a resounding ‘YES’, then you have very likely heard the term ‘comprehensible input’ over and over again. But what does it actually mean and why does it matter so much? Comprehensible input is simply language that is just a teeny bit above a student’s level of understanding, but that can make sense and be understood with the scaffolds of context (like a story, for example), realia, props, gestures, facial expressions and so on. When your students receive this type of input during lessons, they are going to acquire language more naturally and effectively. You might be wondering, ‘why is this so important in my ESL classrooms?’ The answer is because language acquisition thrives on understanding. When students have a high level of anxiety because they’re overwhelmed with unfamiliar vocabulary and speech that is super-fast, they’re very likely to just ‘shut down.’ However, when we as teachers mindfully make our input very clear and add those scaffolds mentioned, children grow in confidence and are much more willing to engage and take academic risks. Try these easy yet effective strategies to build comprehensible input into your lessons: o Use props and realia: Using real life objects, props and pictures makes a big impact! Showing a picture of a tree while saying “This is a tree” makes meaning click instantly. o Slow your pace and use gestures: Use a moderate pace when speaking and be certain to pronounce words clearly. Use body language to support what you’re saying, when appropriate. Remember that a smile and a well-planned gesture can go a long way when building comprehensible input. o Repeat and rephrase: Saying things in a different way when is seems as though your point didn’t get across can be key. For example, if “Let’s line up” causes confusion or misunderstanding, try “Get in a line, please…one behind the other.” o Build on the ‘known’: Connect new learning to things that your students have already learned or experiences. This makes new information feel much more familiar and easier to grasp. o Check for understanding: Use short sentence frames and yes/no & either/or questions to check for understanding in a way that is low stress for your students. Remember, comprehensible input isn’t about “dumbing down” language—it’s about making it meaningful and accessible. When students understand what they’re hearing or reading, they’re more likely to respond, participate, and grow. And that’s when the real language magic begins! Does the GrapeSEED English for Children curriculum include comprehensible input? Yes, it definitely does, and in multiple ways! Learn all about it, along with how YOU can get started with GrapeSEED, by clicking here .
Welcoming your youngest newcomer children to school … children who are new to the United States and adjusting to a new language, a new culture, and new way of ‘doing school’… requires so much more than just academic support. One of the most significant but most often overlooked challenges that brand-new newcomer children face is learning to self-regulate in this very new, very different looking learning environment. As teachers and administrators, supporting the cultivation of self-regulation skills in newcomer students not only supports their academic success, but their emotional well-being and sense of belonging, too. Understanding the Challenge Many newcomer students arrive with limited or interrupted schooling and likely have experienced some sort of trauma, migration stress, and culture shock. These factors can make self-regulation … managing emotions, behavior, and attention … especially difficult. Unfamiliar expectations around classroom behavior, routines, and interactions with classmates can contribute to feelings of confusion or frustration. So what can you do? Practical Strategies for Educators: 1. Build Predictable Routines: Clear, consistent daily routines help reduce anxiety and give students a sense of safety. Pictorial schedules and transition cues can be especially helpful for English language learner students. 2. Teach Vocabulary dealing with Emotions : Young newcomers may struggle to express emotions in a new language. Using facial expression cards and simple language to build a shared emotional vocabulary that supports communicating feelings will make a huge impact on building the sense of community needed in your school and classrooms. 3. Model and Practice Self-Regulation: Use modeling and role-playing to demonstrate strategies like taking deep, slow breaths, counting, or just taking a break can make a powerful impact. Also, consider creating a calm-down corner in your school or classroom where students can go to ‘reset’. 4. Establish Culturally Responsive Relationships: Learn about students’ cultural backgrounds and show curiosity and respect. Trusting relationships provide the foundation for students to feel safe enough to practice self-regulation. 5. Partner with Families and Specialists : Collaborate with other multilingual learner teachers, counselors, and families to ensure a unified approach. Remember that while they could be struggling to acclimate a bit themselves, parents and families can offer insight into what comforts and motivates their children. Supporting self-regulation is a journey, not a quick fix. With empathy, structure, and cultural sensitivity, we all can help newcomer students develop the emotional tools they need to flourish, both in and out of the classroom. At GrapeSEED, our curriculum is built on a foundation that encourages a calm, joy filled environment. Our daily lesson plans incorporates a low affective filter for students at every turn as they acquire English. Ready to learn more? Click here!
There’s something magical about the first few weeks of school; the fresh notebooks, sharpened pencils, and bright-eyed students walking through your classroom door, each with a story ready to unfold. As teachers, we don’t just teach content; we build communities. And when our classroom becomes a place where every student feels seen, heard, and valued, that’s when real learning begins.
