Blog – Page 13

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

July 24, 2014 by Sarah Plum(itallo) Leave a Comment

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…

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

July 22, 2014 by Sarah Plum(itallo) Leave a Comment

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!

July 21, 2014 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 55 Comments

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.

a Rafflecopter giveaway