The Toucan Teacher

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The Toucan Teacher I’m a K-5 English learner teacher who loves to read and travel! Check out my EL resources on Teachers Pay Teachers!

In the elementary world especially, parent teacher conferences can be daunting for both staff who don’t know how to comm...
10/11/2026

In the elementary world especially, parent teacher conferences can be daunting for both staff who don’t know how to communicate with families and for families who aren’t sure how to navigate to U.S. school norms and expectations related to conferences.

So these are a few ways that I typically support families, staff, and students in order to bridge those gaps! I send messages in home languages to explain what and when conferences are and to offer help in scheduling if needed. I tell families that we will have an interpreter available if needed. And I send emails to staff explaining our interpreter service (currently Language Line) and to offer support in scheduling, reaching out to families, etc.

I’m sure there’s more I’ve missed! What else have you done to help support successful parent teacher conferences?

Back together again with my amazing teammate Ohio TESOL 🥰 Miss seeing her every day!!
10/08/2026

Back together again with my amazing teammate Ohio TESOL 🥰 Miss seeing her every day!!

09/13/2026

All attendees will receive FREE admission to the Columbus Museum of Art for the day!

This fun book from Eerdmans for Young Readers is so cute! I love how the pictures tell so much of the story - it allows...
09/11/2026

This fun book from Eerdmans for Young Readers is so cute! I love how the pictures tell so much of the story - it allows for so much conversation and language practice! It also uses a repeated phrase (out of luck!). Repeated phrases can help with language learners at different levels since it takes away some of the language load of a story.

I read it with my own kids already and loved it! My seven year old Godzilla lover rated it as “not as good as Godzilla, but better than a Frozen book.” 😂

Fun fact, this book was originally written in Dutch! Eerdmans publishes lots of books in translation, which means they publish unique stories and perspectives I haven’t found elsewhere. So many wonderful books!

Thank you to Eerdmans for Young Readers and Amy Burton Storey for this book! All opinions are my own 😊.

“This is How to Spot Animals” by Aline Portman

Having fun with a silly idiom of the day with my 4th graders! 🥒 I try to do either an idiom or tier 2 vocabulary word a...
09/11/2026

Having fun with a silly idiom of the day with my 4th graders! 🥒 I try to do either an idiom or tier 2 vocabulary word at least once a week with my older groups - I made a bunch more this summer, but they all follow this general template. I typically see these kids twice a week for about half an hour or so each time, and this is our warm up activity on one of those days (or both, if it’s somehow not a busy week). In my experience, idioms are best taught one or two at a time with lots of practice, so this works well for us!

Any warm up activities you’ve used with those upper elementary groups?

In elementary EL/TESOL classrooms, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes! We have several federal requirements t...
09/01/2026

In elementary EL/TESOL classrooms, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes! We have several federal requirements to meet within the first 30 days, plus EMIS codes, testing, EL plans, family support, schedules (bane of my existence 😂), and more. I try to get as much of these tasks done in the first week of school as possible, because there’s never much time once my groups get going! I should note, in my district, we do not have a single designated EL coordinator or a family liaison, so many of those tasks are done by EL staff in our district.

EL teachers, I’d love to hear how your first few days look! I know it’s different for everyone!

I’ve been eyeing this book for a while and finally bought it for my classroom! “A is for Bee” is such a unique and fun ...
09/01/2026

I’ve been eyeing this book for a while and finally bought it for my classroom! “A is for Bee” is such a unique and fun alphabet book that celebrates language and highlights some of the challenges language learners face with those alphabet charts we love to use in early elementary years. I love that this book incorporates such a wide variety of languages, too! Highly recommend for all you K-2 teachers, EL/TESOL teachers, and language lovers like me 🥰

We talk a lot about OELPA testing, but right now, it’s OELPS season! Unlike the OELPA, this screener has 3 steps and a ...
08/28/2026

We talk a lot about OELPA testing, but right now, it’s OELPS season! Unlike the OELPA, this screener has 3 steps and a built-in practice test plus some hand scoring parts. Federal requirements say we need to both assess potential students and notify (current and new) families within the first 30 days. Time consuming, but it helps me learn a lot about my new students and their needs and strengths!

Year 16 starts tomorrow ❤️ eal enl
08/18/2026

Year 16 starts tomorrow ❤️

eal enl

08/17/2026

The struggle is real 😂. Loved seeing all my coworkers again, loved seeing all the kids at open house night- but all that people-ing after an introverted summer with my family is exhausting!! 😂

Anyone else relate?

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