read aloud

I’ve got some awesome news!!! Educents is opening a marketplace, which means now you can purchase items from seller stores any day — in addition to the great deals they already offer! There are over 500 stores in the marketplace ready for you to save some money, including MINE! Some great bloggers and I are joining together on this blog hop to introduce ourselves and show you the great products we have in our stores!

My name is Sarah Plum, and I’m a second grade teacher in Northern Virginia! My passion for teaching is deeply rooted in the population I currently serve, which is a very diverse population of primarily English Language Learners. In everything I do, I strive to reach my incredible students and open doors for them so they can achieve their dreams!

In addition to being a second grade teacher, I’m also a Mom to two very sweet boys! My oldest son, William, is currently in Kindergarten and is LOVING school. My youngest son, Henry, is about to turn two and is in love with all things musical — he loves to move his body and dance!

My husband, Rich, is also a certified teacher. He is the absolute best part of my life (other than my two sweet boys) — and my partner in crime! If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be able to continue to do what I love and create resources for other educators to use in their classrooms.

When I’m not working or creating, you’ll find me exploring the D.C. Metro area with my family! We especially love visiting the zoo in the spring and summer, and we know the Natural History Museum by heart! (The above picture was taken this winter when we FINALLY got to tour the White House — talk about COOL.)

Besides creating resources (which is something I truly love to do) and explore D.C. with my family, I love to read! I know, I know, shocking that a teacher would love to read, but it’s true!

http://www.amazon.com/Number-Sense-Routines-Building-Numerical/dp/1571107908/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

My favorite professional read lately has been Number Sense Routines by Jessica Shumway. Developing number sense is something I’m super passionate about in my classroom, and I’m always looking for ways to beef up my daily instruction in that area. This is a quick, easy read with a WEALTH of information — I’m on my third read!

http://www.amazon.com/One-Only-Ivan-Katherine-Applegate/dp/0061992275/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1427942903&sr=1-1

My favorite read-aloud is (no surprise here) The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. Reading this with my class changed our whole dynamic — and my life as a teacher — but it is genuinely just an amazing book to read aloud. The chapters are brief, the characters are endearing, and the content drives MANY discussions. I’m very passionate in my belief that every educator should read it!

http://www.amazon.com/Da-Vinci-Code-Robert-Langdon-ebook/dp/B000FA675C/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

My favorite pleasure-read is The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown. I first read it in high school and I’ve since read it four times, discovering something new each time. I love a good thriller — both in print and on film — so this is the PERFECT book for me. If you haven’t read it, you should! If you have, try reading a few of Dan Brown’s other great novels — I’ve read many of them!

I’m super excited to share with you this EXCLUSIVE Educents freebie, direct from my Matter Matters pack, just released (and on-sale). This freebie features a 20-question SCOOT game to help your students review the key elements of matter, its three states, and the phase changes that can occur.

If you’re not a big SCOOT fan, but you love task cards, you can use this game all the same and make it a science station or task for an early finisher. Likewise you can also change things up and do a daily review throughout your unit by featuring a single question or use it as a write-the-room — the possibilities are endless!

Be sure and follow my store for more freebies and exclusive sales — you can do it by clicking the image below, and then click on the gray heart that says “Follow Me!” below my store name. If you’re not sure where it is, don’t worry — I’ve got a handy graphic below!

http://www.educents.com/theres-no-place-like-second-grade

I’m THRILLED to be linking up with some other amazing educators to give away some Edubucks that you can use in the brand new marketplace or on the always-fabulous deals. Enter below, and then be sure and head to visit my other pals to see what freebie they’re offering up!

An InLinkz Link-up

When I entered the teaching profession, I often heard this advice — “sometimes you just have to close your door and teach.” It was almost always uttered in conversations surrounding standardized testing or the collection of data, and it was always said in hushed tones.

It’s tempting… it’s tempting to just close my door and teach. To pretend that the data doesn’t have to be collected, or that I’m not responsible for it.

But it does and I am. That’s not changing.

What is changing is me; how I teach when I find those moments where I can, when I need, to depart from the plan. What is changing is what I do with that precious time I have with my students.

It all hit me when I opened my Scholastic box (you know the one — red, white, and full of joy) a few weeks ago. One of my bonus books was The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. I recognized it because a blogging buddy of mine (Rachel from Mrs. O Knows) had blogged about it during our Virginia is for Book Lovers Blog Hop.

I took it out, read the back, and thought about my journey as a reader. The one I wrote about so passionately just a few days prior. I had said of that journey:

“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.”

I knew instantly, my kids needed this. And so did I. I needed to know that somehow I’d leave my mark on their hearts the way Mrs. Butkus did on mine. I needed to know that they would remember something important, something beautiful, something incredible about their time in second grade.

And so each day, for twenty minutes, we sat together. We sat together and we read Ivan’s story.

I wasn’t sure how my kids would respond. I wasn’t sure they’d sit through twenty minutes of reading without pictures. I wasn’t sure they’d understand all of the nuances.

But they did. They didn’t just sit through it — they connected. They grew.

Before I knew it, twenty minutes would become thirty. One day we skipped guided reading altogether and read for an hour.

And all the while, tempted to close my door, I didn’t. I kept it open.

I shared what we were doing with others. I implored them — you have to read this book. Read it with your kids! Come read with us! I got some strange looks, because of course, reading for an hour from a 300 page chapter book wasn’t on the plans.

But it was important. It was necessary. It was life-changing. For them and for me.

By mid-book we had cried together, laughed together, and gotten angry together. At one pivotal moment in Ivan my kids asked to write sympathy cards for the characters. Their words of hope and connection and love were beyond all understanding for me as a teacher. Reluctant writers poured their hearts out onto the page along with a few tears. Never had I seen them take something so seriously or participate so fully.

Until the end.

One day last week we read Ivan for 30 minutes before dismissal. There were 15 pages left when the announcement to pack-up was made. My kids were panicked — they wanted to stay and finish. They desperately wanted to know how Ivan’s life would end up. They begged to stay afterschool but reluctantly trudged home.

I sat quietly in my classroom that afternoon, thinking of what to do. Do I throw out the lesson plans the rest of the week, shut my door, and teach about this text? I’m supposed to be doing x, y, and z from our reading unit. I’m supposed to be teaching letter-writing and compound words and giving three tests.

I looked at a note one of my kiddos had left me — “what’s next?” it read.

The next morning I opened my door.

During math we sat together, like we’d done every day for the previous weeks, and we finished Ivan. Tears in our eyes, shaky voices, we finished. One of my sweethearts raised their hand — “what’s next?” he said.

I paused, and said, “What’s next?” right back.

I made this during a workshop I went to on Saturday.
We were asked to illustrate & write about a recent moment that impacted us.

Suddenly a thousand little second grade voices chimed in — let’s research the real Ivan… can I go and check out gorilla books? I want to learn to draw Ivan… let’s have a party to celebrate him… Can I write a sequel?

Yes. Yes. Yes. YES.

We did all of those things.

Some of fictional Ivan’s favorites and a few of the real Ivan’s favorites.
We ate them while we watched a documentary on apes.

The One and Only Ivan, The One and Only Me.

I threw out the lesson plans, opened my door as wide as it could go, and I taught. I invited everyone in to experience the joy and love of learning that was happening in Room 108. This special, amazing thing that you can’t bottle, you can’t replicate — it just is for however long you can keep it.

When we sat down and talked about Ivan later that day, we talked about why we loved it. Then we drew him as a part of an art installation we’re making to convince others to read it. Three things happened that blessed me immeasurably as a teacher.

Ivan was declared to be “inspirational” because, as one little girl put it, “he made you really think about your attitude and outlook on life, and by the end of the book… well, you change. Not just him… you too.”
A character’s death (I won’t spoil it for you) was declared to be a favorite part, and when I challenged the student on why death would ever be someone’s favorite, she said — “because it made me feel. No book has ever done that.”
And when another student lamented that their drawing was terrible, a classmate — unprompted leaned over and said, “just believe in yourself and what you’re doing will turn out just fine. Believe, like Ivan.”

Open the door. Open the door and teach.

Find a week, a day, an hour, a minute and don’t worry about the data or the lesson plans or the pacing guide. Don’t worry about thematic math centers or whether your anchor charts are just so. Let your students decide what’s important — “what’s next?” — what’s authentic.

Find that moment where you are sitting with them on the carpet and they are breathing life into themselves as readers, writers, and mathematicians… where they’re breathing life into your teaching. Don’t get lost in the reports, the grades, the pressure.

Open the door.

If only for an hour… open the door.

BIG news — and a giveaway!

Open The Door and Teach