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K-5 Resources for Diverse Classrooms

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You are here: Home / Archives for Writing

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 😉 — 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

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

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!

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: Book Talk Tuesday, ELL and ESL strategies, Freebie, reader's response, wordless picture books, Writing

I’m allergic to dust.

July 15, 2014 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 3 Comments

It’s a good thing blogs can’t collect dust, because I’m allergic and this one would be covered. I think by now we’ve established that my time management skills outside of my classroom leave a little to be desired!
I was so busy this year fulfilling my many roles that every time I sat down to blog {or finish one of the nine million projects I have for TpT} I fell asleep. No joke — life with a newborn while commuting, teaching, being a team leader, and creating meant several times a week I’d fall asleep in my office!
Luckily it’s summer, and while I’m still teaching {first time doing summer school and I *puffy heart* love it!}, I’m getting back into the groove of being a better blogger!
If you follow me over on Instagram {if you don’t, you SHOULD! I do things like smell new scents of Mr. Sketch markers so you don’t have to!} you’ve probably seen a few of these, but if you haven’t, this was the 2013-2014 school year in a nutshell!
I started the year off with a new alphabet {soon to be in my store — see, yet another project I never posted!} and a still-color-filled room. I even managed to paint my focus wall Oz-green. I somehow did not take a picture. D’oh.
My little guys kept growing and I started missing them like crazy. TMI-alert: I also spent WAY too much time in my classroom bathroom pumping. I think I calculated I spent 90+ hours this school year doing that (not during my contract time).
I won the Red Ribbon Week door decorating contest and got my class a pizza party. And yes, I agree that drugs are despicable, unless they are in fact for a TERRIBLE kidney infection and kidney stones. Then they, and nearly a week off, are SO. TOTALLY. NECESSARY, y’all.
LOTS of math anchor charts were made, and my students came to learn the only way I can remember inequalities (pictured above, right). I don’t know why the alligator thing never worked for me, but it didn’t. Even as an adult if I don’t do the 2 point/1 point method I can’t figure out the inequality. #teacherfail? Maybe.
Christmas Break came and I had never been so thankful in my life. OMG, y’all. The weeks before Christmas were trying enough, but my room flooded with, um, septic materials *gag* and I lost my classroom rugs. *HUGE SADFACE HERE* Those two Christmas cuties and TONS of NY pastries (love our yearly trip to visit family in LI) was TOTALLLLLLY worth the wait and made up for that stinkin’ (literally) flood.
So another reason I never got my resources uploaded, like that “All About Me” book pictured, was because of that little dude. I mean, REALLY. Seriously people, look. at. that. face. Every moment I didn’t *have* to be doing something for school I was doing something with that guy and his older brother. Because really. Look at him!
Oh, did I not mention the Polar Vortex and the million snow days? Including the one on Valentine’s Day (when I received that BEAUTIFUL and totally appropriate mug)? Yeah. Our pacing guide this year was trashed a thousand times over because between the VORTEX. OF. DOOM. and snow. and ice. And more snow. And more ice. We were out of school a total of TWELVE days. TWELVE. Plus TONS of delays. This meant we reduced recess (UGH), added 10 minutes to the school day (DOUBLE UGH), and extended the school year (TRIPLE UGH). The days were nice while they were happening, but… never again. #seriouslynoway
Speaking of days off… Spring Break was spent at the beach, the first time in almost a decade. I live so close, but it’s cost prohibitive to go for a vacation. Because it was the off-season we got a GREAT deal. Love Ocean City. Love it so much. #alsogainedliketwentypounds
We learned about Famous Americans, I got to teach about my favorite person ever (well, one of them — Ms. Susan B.!), and yet again I failed to upload this to TpT. Do you sense a recurring theme? Soon. It’ll be there soon.
After Spring Break we buckled down, did LOTS of opinion writing and started one of my favorite (okay, who am I kidding, they’re all my favorite) social studies units — Native Americans! Pictured are even more things I never uploaded or shared. Go figure, y’all!
Oh, and there was that time when we went to a giant Easter party on the White House lawn. Because clearly, that’s just what you do when you are a teacher! (Our school system was granted some tickets thanks to the generous staff at the White House, and it was the BEST EXPERIENCE EVER. Yes, we waited in line for eons, but everything was well organized, we got healthy snacks, met a ton of William’s favorite characters, and I got to see Mrs. Obama’s garden and bee-hive, which was totally my student’s favorite when I reported back the next morning!)

Behold, the best part of the year. LIFE CYCLE time, y’all! Again, an even larger plethora of things I didn’t upload! But seriously — nothing brings me joy like the discovery and investigation in this unit. This year we saved some of our science/grade level money to purchase monarchs and I might’ve totally jumped up and down when they were delivered (flown overnight from Florida). My kids were OBSESSED, and um, so was I. I look forward to this next year already — I’m thinking more monarchs this time and maybe some black swallowtails, too!
We closed out the year with LOTS of place value practice in math and Ancient Civilizations (oh look, look at that… more un-uploaded units!). The kids were GLUED to learning everything they could about Egypt and China, especially mummies. We totally geeked out and might’ve co-opted our entire language arts blocks to anything related to the two civilizations. Um, that’s cross-curricular learning, right? 😉

Since school let out I’ve been spending some quality time with these dudes, teaching summer school (I know, I know — I just don’t know how to quit working!), and updating my yearly teacher planner. That should be done by the end of the week, and then it’s on to uploading the other nine million things I created this year but never had time to package!
That, ladies and gents, is how to fit an entire year into one blog post.
I’ve got mad skills!

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: Classroom Decor, Current Events, Family Fun, Holidays, It's science., Real Talk, Sleep is Overrated, Writing

What day is it? (Mondayyyyyyyy!)

July 30, 2012 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 48 Comments

Another Monday! On the upside, I get to spend a good chunk of my Internet time today looking at all of the amazing things bloggy friends have come up with. On the downside, this means I’m running out of time. Eeeeeeek! I know some of you are heading back into the classroom much sooner than I am, so I don’t feel too bad, but I’m starting to get a bit nervous. I even had my first school-related nightmare! (I showed up at the wrong school and wrong classroom on the first day and it. was. a. trainwreck!)
So: word walls. Let’s talk about them.
In some of my practicum experiences, they were just kind of there. They weren’t talked about or used, they just kind of took up space. In some of my practicum experiences, they weren’t there at all. There wasn’t really an alternative, either, so it was a constant struggle of students not being able to have the independence they craved during writing.
There were some awesome word walls I saw, however, and the ones that were awesome were used. Frequently. They weren’t just an “if you don’t know it” reference, either, they were a centerpiece of learning and kind of the pulse of the room. So that’s what I had in my head when I started on this project: something that is, above all, going to be supportive for my kiddos (especially my ELL’s), and something that made sense with what my goals are this year (see the trusty sidebar).
I need a dynamic word wall.
First, I made these:
*sigh* These colors make me happy.
These are my headers for my word wall, which is going to be placed above the windows, here:
I still can’t believe I have a classroom.
While that’s a readily accessible place from anywhere in the room and has plenty of space for lots of words, it doesn’t quite hit the mark for what I want to do alone. Enter this:
You knew it was going to be Oz-related, right?
The idea is this: my students need to experience independent success in their writing, and I want to remove as many obstacles to that as possible. At the same time, I want to support my ELL’s that may need some visual cues, while also encouraging my wordsmiths to expand their vocabulary. This is where my mobile word wall fits in!
Clear plastic pencil pouch, blank color-coded cards, A-Z dividers, and trading card protectors.
Smaller versions of the word wall headers are on each divider to create a visual link.
Students can have the independence they need and can contribute at their own pace, on their own time using this resource. They can encounter a word that they think should be added — perhaps a content area word or fabulous vocabulary word — and select the correct colored card, write the word, and then add a visual or other thought to make a more concrete connection.
Front of the cards; note the color-coding for content areas.

Back of the cards, with a visual or example.
This can be expanded to include a definition, a sentence, etc.

The color-coded cards open up a lot of possibilities; they can be used to denote spelling patterns, level of difficulty, or as I’ve used them — for content areas. I’ll be taking the lead from my content-area binders and using purple for science, green for math, blue for social studies, and then using red, orange, yellow, and black for the various parts of speech.
These are the blank mobile word wall cards for student use.
There are matching larger cards for the full-sized word wall.

I got through all of the words on my district’s list for second grade, and am now working on expanding it to include words that I know will come up during the year for the various units. The full-size words are more of an undertaking since I’m laminating them for durability.
The mobile word wall will not start out the year with us, but will slowly be introduced as we begin to use our word wall and I model a lot about how to use it to my students’ advantage. This will work well with my implementation of Daily 5 and CAFE, as I can see this hanging out in our word work or writing center!
Whew! That was a lot of post. If you’ve made it this far, thank you! I’ve packaged all of my materials and listed this Dynamic Word Wall pack (including editable PPTs for you to customize with your word lists) on my TPT store. Here’s what is included:
I would love to give this word wall set away to three people! Leave me a comment with your e-mail, and I’ll choose three random winners on Wednesday night!
(Speaking of winners, a big congrats to The Meek Moose for winning the Discovery poster — I look forward to seeing it in action in your school!)

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: Classroom Decor, Giveaway Like It's 1999, Monday Made It, Plan-Plan-Plan, Teachers Pay Teachers, Word Wall, Writing

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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