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K-5 Resources for Diverse Classrooms

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VA is For… Book Lovers!

March 6, 2015 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 30 Comments

I am so excited to be teaming up with my fellow Virginia bloggers to celebrate our love of reading! As teachers — even math teachers ๐Ÿ˜‰ — we all can appreciate the power of a good book, and I hope that you’ll discover some amazing new books through this hop… and win some too!
HOW A BOOK LOVER IS BORN

Scene. You’ve just come in from recess on a blistering hot day at the beginning of September. You’re still in the awkward stage of third grade — where you’re not sure who to sit with at lunch, or line-up next to on the playground’s blacktop. You’ve got this teacher, this wacky teacher, and for some reason there’s a patio set in the middle of your classroom library. It’s just been sitting there since the first day of school — untouched, unused.
Finally, though, at the end of this first week, you’re led in to that untouched space and asked to sit down. You and your classmates, sweaty and tired, sit crisscrossapplesauce, still breathing heavily from an epic game of kickball.
“One of my favorite traditions,” your teacher begins, “is sitting here, under our patio umbrella, reading.” You look at the people next to you. Reading? Reading? This can’t be good. “The first book we’re going to read is My Teacher is an Alien by Bruce Coville.” Jaws dropped. Suddenly, the sweat and heavy breathing and tired eyes are erased. Aliens? In third grade?!
She begins reading. The way she turns pages seems to take a thousand years. The voices she makes when reading each and every character… like the best voiceover actor in Hollywood. And when she stops? The anticipation for the next day — under your reading umbrella — begins immediately and eclipses the anticipation of just about anything, expect maybe Christmas morning.
That… that was Mrs. Butkus. I remember every moment of every day under our reading umbrella. I remember every book — and own them all, even as an adult — because she WAS reading. When I think of reading? I think of her, the gray plastic patio set, and the moments where I learned that books were cool. Books MEANT something to the human spirit — whether they be mysterious and funny or serious and life-altering.
HOW A BOOK LOVER IS RAISED

Fast-forward to the end of third grade. Mrs. Butkus took me aside, voice hushed, and handed me a book. The Giver. The cover jarred me — just an old man… a look about him that I couldn’t place. “Before you read it, ask your parents if it’s okay. It’s not a happy book, Sarah. But it’s an important book.”
I had been a reluctant reader. Despite my ability, a reluctant one. Despite my parents filling my bedroom with books, weekly trips to the library, deep-down I was reluctant. Reluctant to invest and relate in what I read.
And yet again, Mrs. Butkus changed that. The Giver changed my life. Her handing me that book is such a large part of why I became a teacher. I’ve read that book DOZENS of times. I’ve given it as a gift to every adolescent child in my life. I’ve given it as a gift to adults that need to be book lovers, too.
Each time I read it, I think of Mrs. Butkus. How she knew, just knew, I needed it.
HOW I’M RAISING BOOK LOVERS

Reading, to me, is an experience. I want my students to feel the way I do about reading — to love it, to cherish it. Some students have barriers — no books at home, limited ability to read the ones that they do have — and some just haven’t yet had that moment, the moment when you become a reader.
In December, I took my students to see a play at the Kennedy Center. Most had never been to a play, much less to one at one of the most beautiful theaters in the nation. They were in awe (as was I). Gosh, I wish you could’ve seen their faces. The joy it filled my heart with must have added ten years to my life.
The Gift of Nothing was the basis for the play. A story of a cat and dog — unlikely friends — it lightheartedly allows students to see through the “I want that toy!” and “I want that video game!” culture that we’ve seemed to cultivate to what’s really important: each other. The time we have on this earth… with each other.
We laughed, we smiled, we sat in important silence at times, and yes, some of us cried. And when we came back? We talked. “What was the message, friends? What is the gift of nothing?”
One of my sweet little friends uttered these words of beauty: “The gift of nothing is the gift of your heart.” Another: “The gift of nothing is showing someone you care.” And another: “The gift of nothing is playing with a friend on the playground when they’re alone.”
They got it. Not only did they get it, but they started to live it.
We, of course, read the book together. And then we celebrated what we learned by making our own boxes filled with nothing — and everything, all at the same time. The boxes on our bulletin boards didn’t have anything in them. Except, they had everything: the hopes, the dreams, the love, and the passion of 20 little readers, thinkers, and joy-filled hearts in Room 108.

Not all books have to mean something. Funny books, books that make you smile… those are nourishing too. They help raise readers, too. But sometimes, sometimes you need to read a book that gives you a gift of nothing, a gift that is everything. The gift of becoming a book lover.
I’d love to giveaway The Gift of Nothing to one of you and your students. Please enter in the Rafflecopter below. CONTINUE hopping through to enter the rest of the giveaways and for the grand prize!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Please enjoy this FREEBIE writing craftivity to celebrate giving The Gift of Nothing — and the gift of reading — to your students.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my history as a book lover, reading about The Gift of Nothing, and grabbed your freebie! “Turn the page” on this blog hoppin’ adventure and see what my pal at SOL Train Learning has up her sleeve…
Attention Virginia Educators! There are several SOL support pages based on grade level to join on Facebook if you are interested.  These pages are a place for Virginia teachers to share ideas, resources, links, and ask questions of each other specifically related to teaching to the Virginia Standards of Learning.

  • Teachers K-2 SOL Support
  • Teachers 3-5 SOL Support
  • Teachers 6-8 Support
  • Teachers VAAP / SPED Support



Filed Under: Other Tagged With: craftivity, Freebie, giveaway, literacy, mentor texts, reading, Writing

Five for Friday (And it’s actually Friday!)

February 20, 2015 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 2 Comments

Y’all… can you believe I’m actually posting, and I’m posting a Five for Friday ON Friday no less?! The stars have aligned! Or I was gifted a “cold” day today. Either works as an explanation.

Henry, enjoying a bowl full of snow!

Many of you have been on winter break, which initially I was jealous about. Mother Nature apparently does not like to disappoint me, as she gave us enough snow and a cold front so that we only went to school for 4.5 hours this week! I love love love winter — but only when there is snow on the ground and I can curl up in front of the fire with my family. This week was especially a blessing because…

While I’m exhausted, I know he won’t want to snuggle me forever! *sniff sniff*
Our entire house has been a walking pharmacy for two weeks. It all started with William (my Kindergartener) and his second stomach bug in a month. THEN I started getting sick, which turned out to be double ear infections (apparently I need tubes) and a sinus infection. Then the littlest, Henry, started getting VERY sick with every symptom under the sun. We’re talking irritability, refusing food and drink, etc. Now he has an ear infection, hives, and he got Mr. Plum sick. So if it weren’t for Mother Nature, Mama would have no sick leave left and a lot less sanity! We are all on the mend now, PTL. Seriously.
Not my picture, but totally making my mouth water right now.
Despite the sickies invading every space in our house, I managed to have an AWESOME day yesterday. I’ve been teaching our PEP – Parents as Educational Partners class to about half a dozen Hispanic parents for the past two months. After school yesterday we held our graduation and had our feast! The parents were SO sweet and brought in some of my favorite foods, including pupusas! If you have never had pupusas you must find a reputable place to purchase them immediately. Do not forget the curtido on top, it’s the best part! (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, check out pupusas here.)
Right after our feast, several colleagues and I drove a half-hour north to the Kennedy Center. I know, right?! On a school night?! Well, luckily in mid-feast we were notified school was called off for today so we DEFINITELY got to enjoy ourselves! We saw Matthias Pintscher conduct the National Symphony Orchestra and perform the North American debut of his concerto, Mar’eh. It was incredible. Seriously, y’all, this was life-changing. It has inspired me BIG TIME to find ways to enrich my students’ lives even further with the arts — I can’t wait to share with you how I’m planning to do that!

Please don’t tell the Kennedy Center that I broke the rules and took a picture. ๐Ÿ˜›
Now that I’m feeling better I’m catching up on blog posts, e-mails, and my VERY long to-do list for products. I’ve been meaning to play catch-up and get my next word problem pack out LONG before the 1st of the month, so look for March’s “Word Problem for Success” sometime in the next few days… It’s going to be a SUPER fun one, with lots of leprechauns, rainbows, and LOTS of springtime things to get you ready to say bye-bye to old man winter! {You can download February’s sampler, which includes the above pictured visualizing mini-lesson for FREE! Still plenty of time left to celebrate Chinese New Year in your classroom!}

If you made it through ALL of that, I’d love for you to leave a comment with your favorite snow or “cold” day activity and your e-mail — I’ll pick a winner Sunday night to win my March Word Problems for Success pack. You’ll get it before I post it! ๐Ÿ™‚

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: family, Five for Friday, math, STEAM, the Arts, Word Problems

Getting Festive for Fall with Virginia Bloggers

October 17, 2014 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 7 Comments

You know what my favorite thing is about Fall? It’s when I feel like I finally get back in the swing of things! September is so busy and such a transitional period that October — especially late October feels like a wonderful respite. The cool night air, changing leaves, and all things pumpkin doesn’t hurt, either!
We’ve been hard at work in Room 108 on lots of things! Most notably we’ve been hard at work on problem solving using the 4.5 Step Plan.

For students, word problems can be extremely challenging, especially if they already struggle with vocabulary development as many emerging-bilinguals (ELLs) do — but this is probably not news to you! Most students are able to identify and apply strategies we teach them when given number sentences, and yet many still struggle in identify operations within word problems.
That’s where visualization comes in. I use the strategy of visualizing to assist students in determining what information in the problem is important, and what action (operation) is occurring. This is an addition to Polya’s original 4-step process for problem solving.
Students read, and then re-read the problem in order to make a mental picture. They then sketch the action in the problem and begin thinking about the information that’s important — which is when students move to the “understand” step.
As students learn to really visualize they may need some support and plenty of practice, which is why I’m developing themed 4.5 step word problem packs to give 1st and 2nd grade students differentiated and scaffolded practice throughout the year.

Each of these packs will have five word problems to use in mini-lessons that come with a visualization poster, scaffolded pages for guided practice, and completed examples. There will additionally be 15 problems for independent practice.

I like using the visualization poster for think-alouds, checking student understanding, and supporting students that are struggling to grasp concepts.

I also like to use completed examples in a variety of ways — including hiding various steps, and asking students to brainstorm or consider what would precede or follow a given step. It also helps my more visual learners to “see” my think-aloud.

I’d love for you to check out and enjoy one of these mini-lessons. Let me know what you think, and thanks for stopping by and enjoy a Festive Fall resource with this Virginia blogger! And before you leave, please enter my giveaway for a copy of my 4.5 Step Plan pack as well as an item of your choice from my store!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: Other

Cooking Up a Great Year

August 15, 2014 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 5 Comments

I am THRILLED to be teaming up with 24 other amazing bloggers to offer you ideas, recipes, freebies, and best of all — a giveaway of awesome prizes! — to get you prepped and ready for a great year! At the end of this post you’ll find a way to enter the giveaway and links to the next stop on your hop, but I hope you’ll settle in and enjoy what I have in store for you first!
I love using cooking as a part of my classroom because it is such a concrete, real-world application of skills and often integrates multiple content areas. One of my favorite activities I did using cookie last year involved cooking-play, writing, and oral language!
What kid doesn’t love pizza? In all my years of working with children, I’ve only met one. And that one child had a good ‘old time sharing his opinion of why he didn’t like pizza, and what toppings he thought would make pizza the worst.

But for everyone else, they love this activity! I start a menu checklist of sorta for each student; this serves as a brainstorming activity for both the play and writing aspect of this project. Then, I provide each student with blacklines of dough and sauce. Each child then “shops” a “buffet” of toppings — but they can only choose three. I do this so that the writing component is manageable for each kiddo (and me, when editing). Students have the freedom, however, to choose how much or how little they want of each topping!

Next, students make their pizzas at their desks like chefs. I often play music while we’re doing this, music that will transport them to the kitchen of their favorite authentic-Italian pizza place! (For me, this would totally be my mother-in-law’s kitchen, as my husband is Italian, but this music from YouTube is the next best thing!) I love seeing their creations and how VERY different they are! Students love to pile on the cheese, but surprisingly, tomatoes and peppers too!

After their pizzas are made, we work on a graphic organizer to help students get their opinions on paper. I model for them writing a good opening statement, and then they — with the help of their pizzas — write their own. Next, we work on giving a clear and compelling reason we picked each topping. This is totally where the drama happens! I suddenly become very opinionated and pushy with my kiddos and then a little light-bulb goes off — they need to be opinionated too!

Next, we use our graphic organizers to write rough drafts. Students will often use their word dictionaries at this point and also rely on their peers for a little peer-editing! (Which I *love*.) Finally, after I’ve conferred with them, they write their final copies and prepare their pizzas for their pizza boxes! {Sometimes you can get your local pizza place to donate personal-sized boxes — definitely ask and mention why you’re using them, they may even throw in some coupons for your kids!}


This writing project is one of my favorites all year because it is something that is so relevant to the kids and their writing just soars! I’d love for you to be able to do this project too, so click below to get it as a forever-freebie from me to you!

Before you go, I’d love to share one of my favorite school-year meals! My husband and I have two little boys that take up a great deal of our time, so between commuting, teaching, and mothering, dinner is always a challenge!
I love utilizing my crockpot to make things easier. I’ve found I can make the most delicious BBQ you’ll ever eat with just three simple ingredients! Fire up your crockpot, dump them all in, and cook on low for 8 hours!
Ingredients: pork loin {we use about three pounds at a time}, Stubb’s BBQ dry-rub, and Stubb’s BBQ sauce. That’s it! Serve with coleslaw and your other favorite fixins and it’s a TOTAL hit!
Alright — who’s ready for some prizes?
Enter to win all of the awesome prizes above using Rafflecopter:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Now that you’ve entered, head on over to your next stop, Kelly and Kim’s Kindergarten Kreations, to see what they’ve cooked up for you!

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: Blog Hoppin', cooking, Cooking Up a Great Year, giveaway, oral language, Writing

{2-For-Tuesday} When Inspiration Strikes…

August 12, 2014 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 2 Comments

I’m linking up today for the first time with the Teaching Tribune for 2-for-Tuesday! I’m putting two resources 50% off for today only.
Have you ever been so inspired you just can’t sleep until you’ve completed your project? Well, that happens to me A LOT. Way more than I’d like to admit! It happened to me tonight when Krista Wallden {of Creative Clips} posted these new Rock Star Kids:

I was instantly inspired. I mean to tell you my brain was FLOODED with ideas.

And so this was born – We Will Rock You {Activities for a New Year}:

Seriously. Seriously. I was over the moon!

This resource is PERFECT to supplement your first week routines and procedures — and includes options and differentiated activities that truly can be used from Kindergarten through Fifth. I’ve also included what seems to now be a recurring theme in my packs — fun reward bracelets!
Why yes, that *is* a craftivity that looks just like a CD case. You can use the included writing prompts underneath the CD, or customize your own with the blank template! {Excuse the Instagram photo — I’m headed out to training this morning and the light wasn’t there since it’s still dark out!}

To continue with the Back-to-School theme, my second item for 50% off is my Place Value Through the Year: Back-to-School edition. I haven’t blogged about this yet, but I will at-length soon — once my room is setup and you can see the dedicated center. SO MUCH love was put into this, though, because place value is near and dear to my heart!
This includes FIVE fully-differentiated centers with recording sheets and extension options. The centers will remain the same in future editions so that students do not have to relearn procedures or a new game! What will change is the level of difficulty, and of course the theme! It’s a great way to keep students excited and engaged about math.

So there you have it — two awesome resources for 50% off, today only!
Click here to go to “We Will Rock You {Activities for a New Year}”
Click here to go to “Place Value Through the Year: B2S Edition”
Happy shopping!

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: 2-For-Tuesday, Back-to-School, math, Place Value Through the Year

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About the Author

Sarah Plum(itallo) is a teacher of emerging multilinguals and 21st Century Grant coordinator in Virginia. She writes curriculum for inclusive classrooms and presents professional development on a variety of topics.

Read more about Sarah and her background in education here.

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