Sarah Plum

K-5 Resources for Diverse Classrooms

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Monday Made It, Teacher Tourism, and a Giveaway!

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I’m linking up for the second week in a row (woohoo!) with Tara for Monday Made It! The past few days I’ve spent rather unplugged while my amazing and sweet cousin from California visits with me and my babies. It’s been SO nice to have this time with her and my boys, especially now that summer school is done. DONE. DONE! (Can you tell how excited I am?)

So — while I haven’t spent a whole lot of time on school-related things these past few days (and last week while I was tying up loose ends with summer school), I did manage to give my classroom alphabet a facelift and FINALLY bundle it as requested. It’s been a HUGE undertaking, but I’m really happy with the results.
      
I also made two things for my upcoming kiddos that I think are really important: a personal word dictionary and word wall. Why both? You might be asking that — and I have an answer! I use both with my kiddos because they need both. The word wall is for those high frequency words that we learn in whole and small group, words that they frequently need to spell correctly. We use our word dictionaries for those words that we do not use as frequently, but students still wish to spell correctly (and I’m so glad they want to!).
I’m planning on shrinking down several sets of my alphabet posters. {This is SUPER easy to do just from the print menu.} I plan on using them for a variety of tasks.
  • Some of my students will use the smaller (four to a sheet) cards for letter-recognition practice. They can play a “war” rapid-fire style game to help their letter-recognition become automatic.
  • Some of my students will use the smaller cards not for letter-recognition, but for word sprees! Their partner will show them a card and they will list all the words that they know the begin with that letter while their partner tallies the number of words they know. They’ll take turns and see who can list the most!
  • I’ll be printing the cards half-size to use as word wall headers on my cabinet, and yet another set of half-size posters to use at my small group table.
  • The blackline versions will be used as morning work the first week — students will decorate their own poster and it will be used in a “letter of the week” display where we’ll do whole-class word sprees, a vocabulary focus, etc.

In second grade we begin the year honing our print handwriting, and by the beginning of the 4th quarter we start the transition to cursive. I change our alphabet at the front of the room from print to print and cursive during the 3rd quarter so students are exposed to cursive before we begin to use it. I love having both displayed, as it really helps the students naturally incorporate more cursive into their daily writing.
This year I’ll be also using the cursive blacklines to help students practice their cursive — they’ll trace the laminated copies with whiteboard markers at our handwriting center.
I’ve posted all nine versions of the alphabet {primary print, cursive, and both in rainbow brights, rainbow chalkboard, or blackline} as well as three bundles — primary print, cursive, and print/cursive — on TpT. As always, they are discounted 50% for the first 24 hours, a total STEAL as each file includes a personal dictionary AND word wall for your students!
I’m also giving up copies on Facebook and Instagram, so head on over to enter to win your choice of bundle!
I’ll leave you with a few of my favorite photos from the past few days. We traveled the short distance north to Washington, D.C. to spend the day there and take my cousin to all the places we went as kids. It was a BLAST and truly makes me feel blessed to have D.C. as my backyard.
Happy Monday! And good luck to those of you that are already back-to-school!

Throwback Thursday — A Teacher Tip, FREEBIE, and a Giveaway Winner!

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What a week this has been! It’s the last week of summer school {PtL!}, I released the “NOT Your Average Teacher Planner” {thank you to all of you fabulous folks that purchased it or have contacted me with compliments on it!}, I’ve started working on a HUGE year-long math project {more on that later this week}, and I’ve been preparing for one of my favorite people in the world to visit me! Phew — I need a frappuccino just from typing that!
Today is Throwback Thursday, and I’m sharing with you a freebie {my most downloaded} I made at the very beginning of this blog and a tip that has saved my perfectionist self in the classroom more times than I can count! I hope the freebie {which is on my “to update” list, just in case it’s not already long enough} is something that can be of use to you, and that you enjoy the teacher-tip that comes along with it!
But before I go and do my last minute errands before picking up my sweet sweet cousin at the airport {1:30am y’all — I’m going to need some coffee since I trek home, get her settled, then head back to summer school at 7am!} I need to announce the winner of my giveaway!
I’ve been so touched by the increased support this week, and I hope those of you that liked my Facebook page, followed me on Bloglovin’, and commented will stick around — I look forward to many giveaways, freebies, tips, and products to share with you in the coming months. Your support means the world!
Without further adieu, the winner is…
So Jessica, congratulations and I’ll be e-mailing you shortly!
If you didn’t win, be on the lookout for a FB Fan Freebie in the next few days… you may just get yourself a little taste of my planner so you can be ready for August! 🙂
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One of the things I do throughout the year is have my students to think like scientists — because they are! So we talk frequently about science process skills, and the components of each. I created a set of process skills posters to help me (and you, too!) discuss the skills with students and make them a more intentional part of our science discovery.
 I do have plans to make a kinder and firstie-friendly version.
I put all the posters together and hung them vertically — using binder rings — to save space. Space is a premium in ANY classroom, but it’s important to refer to academic vocabulary often and have it available for students to see.
Hanging also makes it easy to remove, move, or store.
When I was making these originally I was SO frustrated in my quest to hang them. I’m a total perfectionist {duh, I mean, have you met me?} and getting the holes for binder rings aligned was a *beast*. But I did it! How?
I used your regular, cheap, and most importantly — abundant three-hole reinforcers! All I did was measure where I wanted them on each poster and placed a reinforcer. Then I was able to punch the hole using it as a guide (you can actually feel the hole-punch “sink” a small amount to the right spot) and they turned out perfectly.
So the next time you need the perfectly aligned hole — use a reinforcer! And don’t forget to head on over to my TpT store to grab your set of science process skills posters. I hope you enjoy them!

Sector 7 {Book Talk Tuesday} + FREEBIE

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Raise your hand if you love picture books — I know I do! My husband would tell you I love them a little too much… as evidenced by the hundreds of pounds of books sitting in our garage waiting to be re-organized into an extensive classroom library for my littles. I’m linking up with the one-and-only Deanna Jump today to share about one way I use picture books in the classroom.
I love picture books — of all sorts — but as a teacher of English Language Learners (ELL’s), I love wordless picture books most of all.
The benefits to wordless picture books are many, and research supports their use in ALL types of classrooms (and at all levels). Some of the benefits include:
  • developing vocabulary and oral language
  • developing visual literacy
  • developing an unencumbered understanding of story structure
  • offering inspiration for students as authors
  • and best of all… fostering independence as readers! {Hello, Daily 5!!!}

I love to start off my year by doing a few book studies using only wordless picture books. This allows my students to feel comfortable interacting and contributing to discussion without the anxiety they can sometimes feel as ELL’s or beginning readers — there are no unfamiliar vocabulary words burdening their understanding and discussion of a text!
This year I used one of David Wisener’s fabulous texts, Sector 7.

You can immediately see from the cover how this text would draw students in! Often, a student’s background knowledge or experiences limit them subconsciously when choosing texts, but what student hasn’t gazed at the clouds above? I know all of my kiddos immediately gasped and were sitting at attention waiting to see (and discuss) more!
One of the important things to do when sharing a wordless picture book is decide how you want to share it. Do you want to ask leading questions? Do you want to model for students how to narrate a wordless picture book? Do you want to just display the illustrations and let students share rapid-fire?
Sector 7 was the first wordless book I shared with students this past year, so I chose to do a little bit of all three. I began by making a prediction based on the cover and had students share theirs. Then, I modeled narrating a page.
“This looks to me a bit like a factory. But something seems strange… mysterious even. There are clouds coming out of a door labeled ‘Cloud Dispatch Center’! Hm… I wonder what’s inside the building? And wait — I see a little boy, riding on a cloud! My goodness, he must be scared and excited, all at the same time!”
Students, once they see there aren’t any right or wrong observations, begin to make all kinds of wonderful contributions to a discussion and narration of a wordless picture book.
What I love about Sector 7, in particular, are the many connections students (and teachers) can make, and the extension activities that are possible! Students will absolutely see themselves in the little boy whisked away to the Cloud Dispatch Center, and they too will want to sketch designs for clouds-to-be!
If the skies are clear — head outside after reading! Let students illustrate and write about the clouds they see, and how they might’ve come to be. Were those clouds from the Dispatch Center, too? Or were they created some other way?
I created a reader’s response for you to use with your students — two different prompts, both in primary and regular lines. Click on the image below to download! I hope you enjoy this book and find a use for it and other wordless picture books in your classroom!

Monday Made It – Done like a Thanksgiving Turkey!

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Can you believe it? I’m actually posting a Monday Made It — on a Monday. Even while teaching summer school. I’d be in disbelief right along with you if it weren’t for the lower back pain screaming at me, “you sat WAY too long to make that darn planner!”
Let’s rewind, shall we? The summer before I started my rookie year (um, stop the world — that was 2012!) I endeavored to make a teacher planner I wanted to use. So I did. And I’m kind of embarassed, in retrospect, because um… no. It was not the best. But it worked! And I liked it, and so did other people that graciously purchased it from TpT.
No. Just no.
Last year, I updated it. Changed the fonts, made it more clean, and of course reflected the change in calendar year. Previous buyers got the update and they loved it! Wahoo. Right?
Better, but still. No.
You see, I’m an eternal perfectionist. I just cannot let something go if it’s not the best if can possibly be. This is a problem in relation to all things TpT. This is why I tend not to just throw my units up there mid-year — I can’t give them the necessary Sarah-love to get them up to my standards while spinning plates!
But it’s summer. And that means I have plenty (relatively speaking) of time to perfect, perfect, perfect.
Which gives you this:
Ahhhhh. Nice, fresh look. Clean fonts. Rainbow brights that aren’t too bright. Functional layouts. And oh yeah, 300+ pages not counting the editable PowerPoints. Yeah. I went there.

See, I can’t just have a planner with a calendar. That doesn’t work for me. I have a “book.” It’s got my calendar, my weekly overviews, my planning pages, and all of my student information, gradebooks, etc. This is my teacher bible, if you will. {Excuse the poor camera work that’s about to follow. I was trying not to wake a certain sleeping mister who fell asleep on the couch, so no light for me!}

   
It’s in a regular binder so that I can easily add, delete, or move pages as-needed. Like, you know, when white-out just won’t do and December needs to be reprinted. (Can anyone relate?) I have it divided into  four sections: calendar, planning, important information, and data.
  
I probably utilize the information section even more than the calendar or planning, because it’s where I house my contact log for the very important school-to-home connection. It holds me accountable in making contact with my students and their families, and serves as an important piece of data if a child needs behavioral interventions.

And my very favorite piece of the planner is my student information page. I had a rougher version of this that I used last year and it was SO vital, especially when we began sharing students as a team for language arts. My teammates were able to photocopy this page and immediately have a snapshot of the student — from their demographics, to their likes, to other siblings at school.
All in all, this is really a Monday-through-Friday-for-three-weeks Made It. It’s been a labor of love and I am so proud to use it next year, and that I’m also able to share it with all of you. It’s on sale at TpT through this evening (20% off); you can check out some images of what else is included below:

If you’ve made it this far, I’m giving away this planner and a product of your choice from my TpT store! Enter using the Rafflecopter below.

Five for Friday (on Friday!!!)

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… could it be? I’m actually posting the Five for Friday on Friday?! What is this sorcery?! It looks like I’m doing a wee bit better at this whole consistency bit.
So. Five. for Friday!

Ugh. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh. This was my afternoon. Teaching summer school usually has one great perk for me: leaving before rush-hour traffic! Well, not today. Today, when I left at my usual 1 o’clock, I was met with a twenty-five MILE back-up. So I took every backroad known to man. My 35-ish mile commute took me an hour and forty-five minutes even still. But, it’s Friday, and I’m home now! And only have one. more. week. to go!
I’ve been working on updating my yearly planner… and it has turned into a HUGE undertaking. We’re talking going from your average planner (calendar, blank weekly pages, yearly overview, variety of covers), to all of that, PLUS, gradebooks, rosters, alert pages, information pages, data, etc. and so forth. I am SO excited about this update because it is something I pieced together over the course of the year based on my own needs, and I just know it’ll really benefit all of you, too! Look for it this weekend on TpT.
I’ve started my back-to-school shopping… not in earnest, though. Just more leisurely. That is, until, I happened upon the newest limited edition Mr. Sketch markers in the B2S aisle. Okay, let me first disclose that I’m not a Mr. Sketch fan. I know, stop the world. I’m partial to Scentos if I *have* to have a scented marker, but I really just like plain-ole fine-line Crayola. Anywho, I thought let me try these out — I love the movies, and how bad could these be? Well. Let me just tell you. Nacho cheese is LITERALLY the worst smell I’ve ever smelled. Even after being a teacher and a Mom to two (sometimes) smelly boys. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT go smell it. Ever. I already did for you, and it’s awful.

No picture here, but there will be this time next week! One of my favorite people in the whole wide world is coming to visit me — my cousin and kindred spirit, Rudi. You see, Rudi and I are four years apart, have seen each other less than 10 times in our lives, live on opposite coasts, and yet she means the world to me. She is my firstborn’s godmother and the most incredible human being. I can’t explain how I feel so close to her despite the limited time we’ve spent together, but it just is — do you have a friend or family member like that? I hope you do, because it’s such a special bond. Expect LOTS of picture spam on Instagram of our visit!
This might be the most exciting news I’ve heard in a while. I’m anxious to see how many children’s books are available, because can you imagine what this could mean for us as teachers? We could have a virtually unlimited library of read-alouds at our disposal, without worrying about where to store them or whether we can afford yet another Llama Llama book (and the answer is always). Will you sign-up?
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