25 Websites for Newcomers

25 Websites for Newcomers

If you have a Newcomer in your class then you know it can be time-consuming and expensive to find materials and resources. Here are some of my favorite no-cost websites to use with Newcomers. As always, they are best used as one of many tools in your teaching arsenal. Overuse can isolate students and turn them off, making them resistant to computer time. Websites are most useful when used in conjunction with parallel high quality instruction.

Story Read Alouds

Storyline Online
Reading Planet
Brementown
Kiz Club
Speakaboos Stories
Unite for Literacy (click on narration to see the many different languages the book can be read in. I recommend having the child listen in their native language before listening to the story in English to ensure comprehension and help them make linguistic connections.)

Literacy Games and Activities

ABCya
BBC Schools
PBS Kids
Highlights Kids
Many Things
Literacy Center Education Network
English Fun
Fun English Games
Starfall (This is by far one of the most easily navigable sites. The buttons sparkle when it’s time to push them, allowing even the most novice speaker to independently navigate the site.)

Vocabulary Building

Handwriting Worksheets

I also use these websites to create worksheets for students to practice the vocabulary they are working on, classmates’ names, high frequency words, etc. This is especially helpful for children from non-alphabetic languages. Again they are most useful when used in conjunction with meaningful instruction, rather than as copying sheets.

Please note: these are outside websites. I am not affiliated with these websites and cannot control when and if they change their policies. At the time of this posting, all are free to use. Please email me if any of the links are broken or you experience difficulty navigating the links at 2livNlearn@gmail.com.

If you need additional ideas for your Newcomers, check out my Newcomer Teacher’s Toolkit Super Bundle on TPT!