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You are here: Home / Archives for Five for Friday

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

Five for Friday! {RAWR!}

August 8, 2014 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 10 Comments

It’s Friday! We’re one week closer to Back-to-School… which the mere mention of gives me anxiety! I’m not ready! I want to soak up more time with my boys, get more things made for my classroom… but that’s how it always is, isn’t it?

How about that Back-to-School sale?! I hope you guys got as great a haul as I did! I have to say that my favorite purchase were Krista Wallden’s dinosaurs… I mean, seriously. Stop. the. world. I bought them not knowing what I was going to use them for and then I heard my two boys “RAWR!”ing at each other. It was then I knew… and this was born!

I am totally on a place value kick right now and I love it. It’s a skill that kiddos need all the time, and I know they are going to beg to place this regularly. I differentiated it so if your kids are working with two-digit numbers but you have some ready for three-digit numbers both needs are met in one game. It’s 50% until tomorrow, which makes it only $1.50! {Leave me a comment with your favorite dinosaur and I’ll pick a winner on Sunday night to get this game!}

My little guy had his Kindergarten screening yesterday and got to meet his prospective teachers. He was so nervous before we went, but then he turned into a totally different kid. We’re talking saying hi to others, using his full name, playing tag, and calling his Nana in New York after we left and speaking to her for almost 10 minutes! I nearly cried because it’s like some little switch was flipped in him. It was SUCH a blessing.



Yesterday I also did my least favorite thing: I went to the dentist. I had to get my first-ever filling {not bad for 28 years old!}. Luckily it wasn’t too painful, but there’s still just something about going to the dentist that is the worst. Here’s to hoping there isn’t another filling in my future!

On Tuesday I went to a fabulous 1/2 day training presented by Yvonne and David Freeman on academic language. I teach almost-exclusively students that speak a language other than English {and next year will have a 100% ESOL class}, so I’m very much immersed in strategies and thinking about teaching through that context. At the training there was a HUGE piece of food for thought that I really think applies to more than just students that come from diverse linguistic backgrounds.


Why don’t we make sure our terminology and “labels” highlight what students have rather than what they lack? We do that when we use person-first language, i.e. “student with autism” rather than “autistic student” — but we don’t do it with students from a diverse linguistic background. Instead we frame it as they lack English.


Discussed was the idea that any student that speaks one language and is in process of learning another should be called an “emerging bilingual.” I love this as it places value on what they come with, rather than what they lack (English). This is especially important in settings where two languages are used, because it truly reflects what’s happening! English-speakers are learning another language, speakers of another language are learning English — both are emerging as bilingual students.




Ugh. This is what I’m bracing for as I’m going to bite the bullet and finally head into my room on Monday to start setting up. I’ve put it off long enough. This meme is also totally relevant because before I start living in my classroom again my husband and I are going to finish binge-watching season 4 of Game of Thrones. We’ve watched ALL four seasons of it this summer. We’re totally behind on all TV shows, but that’s life with a 4.5 year old with special needs and a 15-month old!

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: ELL and ESL strategies, family, Five for Friday, math, place value

Five For Friday and a TpT Gift Certificate Giveaway!

August 1, 2014 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 5 Comments

Whew — that is a LOOOOOONG title. And I’m going to take a wild guess and say that your favorite part is that teensy-weensy little word “giveaway.” Yes, that’s right, there’s a TpT gift certificate to be had, just in time for the HUGE Back-to-School sale.

But first, it’s Friday, and I’m linking up with Kacey from Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!

I have been working like a mad woman this week to finally fulfill all the requests from last school year and get more products up in my TpT store. Let me tell you, PowerPoint has never gotten such a workout! I’m still working on a few, including the debut of my year-long bundle of place value centers {Place Value Through the Year}. Be sure and follow my TpT store because there’s going to be a fan-exclusive freebie released through the “note to followers.”
My sweet, sweet cousin left on Tuesday. {Insert super sad face here.} I had such a wonderful time catching up with her, and I am so so SO happy she finally got to spend some quality time with my boys — including a mini-photo shoot by the river. Family time truly is important, and I feel blessed to have the opportunity to soak it up during the summer months.
Speaking of family… my INCREDIBLE {seriously, y’all, they are the best} in-laws have invited us to come to the beach with them and some of our other NY family. The best part about this — other than seeing them after 8 months! — is that the beach is Ocean City, MD! You might remember me talking about it before, but if you don’t, my heart belongs to Ocean City in ways that are hard to express! I look forward to spending my last few days off {we get back and then I immediately have inservice days} in such a beautiful place with those that I love.
I have decided to get rid of my clip-chart! Stop. the. world. I’ve never been a huge fan {for me, personally; I know they work for others and that’s totally okay} of using them in my classroom, but I have had to as a part of grade-level collaboration. This year I’m trying something different, and I cannot wait to share with you what it is. I’m so excited I almost want to spill the beans now… almost. ๐Ÿ˜‰
I am SO excited to be giving away a $10 TpT gift certificate for you to use during the big sale, as well as the first installment of {Place Value Through the Year}, the Back-to-School edition. Enter using the options below, and be sure to share with your friends — that way they can enter, and you can earn more entries for spreading the word! I so look forward to giving one lucky winner some extra spending money to buy those awesome items on their TpT wishlist! Hurry and enter, it’s a quick one — the giveaway ends when the clock strikes 12 on Sunday night!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: family, Five for Friday, giveaway, math, place value, Place Value Through the Year

Five for Friday (on Friday!!!)

July 18, 2014 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 5 Comments

… 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?

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: Five for Friday, Getting Organized, Plan-Plan-Plan, Shop 'Til You Drop

A little bit of this, a little bit of that…

August 17, 2013 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 1 Comment

First things first — have y’all heard? I’m sure you haven’t, because clearly, I’m so ahead of the game and everything. A little birdie told me there’s a GIGANTIC back-to-school sale coming this Sunday…

I’m so excited, y’all. SO EXCITED. I have about a million things I need to move from my wishlist to my cart, and I can’t wait!
I’m also excited to be *participating* in this sale — with all of my newly revamped items (go to your purchases and check for updates!) and my newest item, my Marvelous Math Meeting (blog post coming Sunday about this amazingness I’m super excited about).
Now, time to disclose my whereabouts these past several days…
I’ve been tackling this:
Ugh, I am having heart palpitations just looking at it. I still have the better part of 10 days until Open House to fix it, but STILL! Would you look at that mess? Empty bulletin boards? No order?
I’ve been doing a lot of this:
Not pictured: IKEA. My wallet is hurting. HUR-TING.
And this happened:
Ugh. At all times to go kaput, it chooses back-to-school when I need it the most! This isn’t the first Canon to die on me way too early, so this happened:
And. I. Love. It. LOVE LOVE LOVE. It is such a powerhouse (HELLO multiple trays!) and the print quality is superb. Love.
But most importantly, I’ve been trying to spend some time with these guys:
We spent the whole day together today, and I didn’t go into school. I needed to just focus on them, and my husband, and how much I’m going to miss our time as a family of four — which we’ve just started getting used to! Le sigh. Say a prayer for me to get through next week being away full days; both Henry (he’s not even three months!) and I are having some separation issues!
I’ll leave you with this mighty cool video of our impromptu evening adventure — plane watching at National Airport! You can hear my not-so-little aviator excited as all get-out in the background.

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: Family Fun, Five for Friday, Our Nation's Capitol, Shop 'Til You Drop, Teachers Pay Teachers

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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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