A Match Made for ELL Students:
​Article-A-Day and Spanish-English Paired Texts

An effective instruction routine for teachers to add to their ELL instruction toolkit to: 

• Build background knowledge on the same topic, regardless of differences in language proficiency
• Support reading comprehension through connections made between Spanish- and English- language passages
• Enhance your instruction for multilingual students alongside English-proficient peers
• Easily add a full-year of Spanish-English Paired Texts with this alignment to Article-A-Day
• Save on planning time with this ready-to-use routine

Here is the Routine to use Spanish-English Paired Texts and Article-A-Day Together

A Full Year of Article-A-Day + Spanish-English Paired Texts—Ready for Your 3rd–5th Graders!
The Daily Routine
With this new offering, you can support all students in your class without upending your Article-A-Day routine. All you need to do is switch out the Day 1 reading for ELLs and make sure you assign the Day 2 reading for​ the whole class.
Step 1: Set the purpose for the routine
"Words are where humans store knowledge. So we will build our knowledge by reading these articles. We will also increase our vocabulary, improve our reading stamina, and enjoy reading every day."
Tip: Turn ELL and Extra Support Features on in your assignment to provide written and audio translations of this purpose and all instructions to your English Learners. You can make sure your ELLs can access these translated instructions by selecting their home language in Class Admin.
STEP 2: Students read or listen to an article
​ReadWorks has curated weekly sets of nonfiction articles. All of the articles for the week are related by topic. If students cannot read independently, they can listen to the audio or you can read the article aloud.
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Day 1: For ELLs, replace Day 1’s reading with the Spanish article from the Spanish-English Paired Text. For example, in the 4th grade “Rainforest Plants” Article-A-Day Set, the English passage “The Cacao Tree” has a Spanish pair “El árbol de caucho.” Assign the Spanish-English Paired Text to the ELLs in your class, and have them read “El árbol de caucho” in Spanish to build background knowledge. For this routine, students do not need to complete the English question set in the paired text. The rest of the class reads another passage from the Article-A-Day set… but make sure to save “The Cacao Tree” for Day 2.

Day 2: The whole class reads the English article from the Spanish-English Paired Text, which is also in the Article-A-Day Set. For example, in the “Rainforest Plants” Article-A-Day Set, everyone reads the English passage “The Cacao Tree.”
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Days 3-5: All students move on to read other texts in the Article-A-Day Set, or the Boost or Challenge Articles that are available in the set for differentiation.
STEP 3: The Book of Knowledge
Students write or type two or three things that they learned from the article and would like to remember in their Books of Knowledge. If students cannot write yet, they can draw their responses.
Tip: ELLs will need paper for their Book of Knowledge entry for the Spanish passage. You can also use the ReadWorks drawing template for students who are still developing their writing skills.
STEP 4: Share knowledge!
Simply ask a few students to share what they learned from reading. Record this info in your Class Book of Knowledge.
Tip: This brings ELLs into classroom conversations by supporting them in understanding what their peers share. It also empowers them to show their language skills and share what they learned with peers.

You can also use Spanish-English Paired Texts on their own with a question-set on the English passage. Check out our “Bridging Languages, Building Skills: Harnessing Spanish-English Paired Texts for ELL Success” webinar to learn more.​

3rd Grade Alignment
​4th Grade Alignment
5th Grade Alignment
ReadWorks | K12 Reading Instruction that Works