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Sarah Plum

K-5 Resources for Diverse Classrooms

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You are here: Home / Archives for Blog Hoppin’

“Fish are Friends, NOT Food!” {Shark Week Blog Hop!}

July 5, 2015 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 4 Comments

I’m so excited to be a part of a team of bloggers coming together to help your students take a BITE out of learning with a theme your students are sure to love! I promise that our shark-themed freebies are MUCH friendlier than the sharks patrolling the East Coast these days!

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I love teaching math, and I pride myself on pulling out all of the stops to dig deep with my students and make sure that they understand the process, not just the outcome! This past year I worked hard to put together a monthly series of differentiated word problems geared toward first and second grade students (as well as third graders that need remediation). I’m extremely proud of them, and the growth that they helped my students make throughout the year!
What I’m bringing to you today is a fun, shark-themed sample of a mini-lesson (illustration with modeled examples) and two additional practice problems. These are just like the monthly packs, except they’ve got a fintastic theme to them!

fintastic freebie
Don’t miss out! Be sure to go for a swim and visit the fantastic Megan Wheeler at Mrs. Wheeler’s First Grade! Each and every blog in the Shark Week Blog Hop features a jawesome freebie for you and your students- but hurry! Shark Week only lasts until Sunday, July 12!


An InLinkz Link-up


Filed Under: Other Tagged With: Blog Hoppin', Freebie, math, Word Problems

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

Let’s talk about…

August 13, 2013 by Sarah Plum(itallo) Leave a Comment

1. I make cute kids. I may not be cute, but my kids sure as heck are! See the photographic evidence above.
2. I met my husband (pictured above, with our boys) through a mutual online friend online — in 2004! Before online dating was cool! In true “I’m totally ashamed of how we met” fashion, I hid his existence from my parents for months. But my Mom? She totally knew. Hmph, mothers.
3. I’m a wee bit obsessed with the Wizard of Oz (in case you couldn’t tell). I’m not even sure why, because I didn’t see the move in its entirety until I was adult — I was too afraid of the flying monkeys when I was a kid.
4. I have a touch of OCD (see above “hole-punch guide”) when it comes to organization and decor. My teammates will tell you that I’m not one to farm out my copying, printing, or laminating because everything has to be just so. Like rounded corners, for instance. I have to have them.
5. My youngest son and I were the same number of weeks premature (just about four) and he is totally my  (skinner, because I was a fat-fat-fatty) doppleganger.
6. Bacon. That says it all.
7. I have trouble being on time, even when I leave early. For instance, it’s 1am. “Meet the Teacher” was Monday. It is now Tuesday. Oops!
8. I love laminating. The act of doing it. The act of cutting it. And all the pretty laminated things. Including borders (because I’m just that crazy).
9. I’m pretty sure I could teach second grade forever, as in I have no desire to check out the “greener pastures” in other grades. I love the standards for second grade, and the age is such a good fit for me. I’m pretty sure this means I’ve just sealed my fate of moving at some point, but we’ll see…
10. I refuse to hit “mark all as read” on BlogLovin’. REFUSE. I will read those 500 backlogged posts someday, right? Right? Again, this should be marked under “OCD tendencies.”
I’m not so sure that these were exactly “fun” things about me, but it’s 1am and this is what I got!
Now head on over and link up for Teacher Week at Blog Hoppin’!

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: Blog Hoppin', Family Fun, Meet the Teacher, Sleep is Overrated

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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