Seeing different combined grade level classes (i.e. kindergarten and first grade) twice a week for forty-five minutes each presents a real challenge, especially when the multilevels are not adjacent i.e. kindergarten and grade three. I have never faced this particular challenge but have made a list of brainstormed ideas. My main suggestion is to have a "Buddy" System with an overall theme book that changes periodically through the school year. (Our school does this multi-level teaming up program for literacy development. It's called "Book Buddies" wherein the older child reads to the younger child; the older child is cognizant of the fact that the book is an "easy" reader but gets more confidence in his/her own ability to read fluently and with expression.)
Pair off one third grader with a kindergarten student. They will really love it! Assume that the kindergarten students should outpace the third graders for speed of acquisition. Initially for several weeks, lessons on friends, names, ages, interests, and learning simple commands, requests, and passwords are appropriate. Use Total Physical Response as much as possible for quick learning of movements and appropriate phrases. Perhaps the pairs could be called "hermanos/hermanas mayores/menores de fantasía." Each child could then introduce their partner/brother/sister using a simple practiced format. Your primary goal is to have these partnerships be friendly and comfortable for the long term. Get together with their regular classroom teacher to decide on the pairing beforehand. Pair a reticent child with one who is more outgoing. Have the freedom in the first few weeks to be able to change the pairings frequently so you make sure that the "final" pairings are workable. Note: Lori Langer de Ramírez offers an excellent book to download called "Passwords Perfectos" on her www.miscositas.com website which has cute illustrations which accompany a simple phrase.
Use the L2 throughout to teach one literature-based theme over the next several weeks/couple of months. Select a picture book of a simple authentic folk/fairy tale with lots of characters/animals in it written in the L2. Preferably, multiple copies will be available as inexpensive trade books. A familiar one like "The Little Red Hen" or "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" are possibilities, too. It would be great to have it in big book format, also. Two versions for each multilevel would be nice with slightly different storylines and illustrations.
Keep your lessons interesting by dividing them into ~10-minute segments of a variety of activities to make sure you give lots of opportunities for hands-on learning. A quick pace of changing activities provides for different learning styles, ages, interests of even the most challenging of students and reduces discipline issues:
1. Teach the basic vocabulary and other essentials of the story with a "magic box" of realia and print. Explore the basic elements of each character with the children: i.e. man/woman/girl/boy; furry/scaly/feathery animal with ___ feet.
2. Analyze the setting of the story perhaps with a "belongs/doesn't belong" questioning sequence.
3. Present the storyline with a storyboard of illustrations and let them figure out the proper order.
4. Ask the children to compare/contrast the similarities and differences in each version on a Venn diagram.
5. Solicit a retelling of the story through "Language Experience" on chart paper.
6. Sing and act out a song that would complement/supplements elements of the story.
7. Have the children create an authentic handicraft from the country of origin of the tale. Hopefully, they can actually use these in latter parts of the lesson.
8. Make a teacher-produced board game complementing/supplementing the story content for buddy team vs. buddy team play with lots of exchanges in the L2 learned beforehand.
9. Make up a simple dance, jump rope rhyme, or pantomime with chants (Gouin series) to go along with the theme.
10. Change parts of the story to make a silly/sillier version.
11. Make a chart to tally the number of characters and particular words in the storybook, number of pages in the storybook itself, which characters appear on which pages. Do simple counting, addition & subtraction, and simple multiplication (later in the year) for third graders.
12. Provide an opportunity for children to make their own take-home books based on the tale. The younger students would have supplied narration and just illustrate; the older students may want to supply their own simple phrases with your help. For the older students, allow them to continue the story if they wish.
13. Have a "Wheel of Fortune" time game with important words/phrases from the story which would introduce/teach the L2 alphabet to the kindergarteners and reinforce the older children's ease of use of the letters, again played with buddy teams.
14. Have sets of pairs of students perform parts of the story for each other through straight dramatization with handmade puppets and/or masks, simple costumes, and lots of props. Options here include simplifying the language to rhyming phrases for "lines" or pantomiming recited-by-the-teacher short passages in the L2. Make sure there is a sitting-down "chorus" of sorts for children not appearing in the scene of the moment.
15. Have the children create simple scenery to go along with the dramatization of the story. Label all parts of it with print. Use a giant piece of craft paper and tempera paint. Crepe paper strips are my favorite additonal decorating element or for costumes.
16. Present the play for an outside audience of family members of the children, administrators, and school board members.
17. Take digital photos of the various parts of the lesson and performances and create a class book.
18. Read the story to the children with a big book if possible.
19. Older children sit and read the book to the younger children.
20. ????
