Free and Easy with Sarah, Plain and Tall

Did you know my Sarah, Plain and Tall Comprehension Packet is my featured freebie on TPT and has been downloaded nearly 20,000 times? That number still staggers me. I just kicked off the year with with this Comprehension Packet with my own class, and I'm here to share six free, fantastic ideas for teaching this beloved book.

The first reading skill I focus on each year is genre, and this novel provides an excellent yet accessible example of historical fiction. What I mean by that is that other than I Survived books, which I love!), many of my students come to me with limited experience with historical fiction. Many upper grades historical fiction books are tough reads, but this one is manageable in most any third, fourth or fifth grade classroom. This book short (58 pages),  has a low word count (under 10,000) and has less than ten chapters (nine to be exact).

The story takes place in the late 1800's in the prairie lands of the midwestern United States. If you haven't read this book, the premise is that a widower with two children places an ad for a wife and a lady named Sarah (who is plain and tall) comes from Maine to give it a shot. The first day we read, we talked about how this seemed like such a strange concept and definitely let us know the story was set in the past. But then I asked, "How is this similar to dating practices today?" It took my kids NO time to make the connection to dating websites and idea #1 was born...

I made a quick, simple Google slide and pushed it out to my kids (we are a Google school system). They had so much fun creating a "dating profile" for either Papa (Jacob) or Sarah (their choice) and called it PrairieMatch.com which the kids thought was hilarious. This was their first attempt at a Google slide to be shared in class, and they did a good job considering. I even included one box where they had to insert a photo that they believed could represent what Papa or Sarah looked like. If your students don't have access to Google, you could use this simple template and delete the text boxes and "insert photo here" before printing.  Click here to access!

A big theme of this story is patience as the narrator, Anna, waits to see if Sarah will like life on the prairie with her family or if she'll return home to Maine, which she talks about often. We looked at these two locations on the map, but I wanted my students to have an even better sense of the contrast of the two settings, so we did some research.

If you don't have Epic set up for your classroom, why not? It's an amazing, FREE resource for online viewing of books, and it has a wealth of nonfiction easy reads. I went on and searched for Sarah, Plain and Tall and immediately found a saved collection by a third grade teacher. I saved the collection to my library, shared the "shelf" with my students, and they did some quick research while making a Venn diagram comparing Maine and the prairie. It was so easy and informative!

One of my favorite (and SIMPLEST) novel activities is to have the students choose a character (animals count!), setting or object from the story, create it and explain its significance to the plot on an index card. This activity makes an eye-catching hall display and gives those artistic learners a chance to express themselves. This works with any book, just wait until you are almost done or completely done reading. Which brings me to my after reading activities...

I have Kahoot quizzes for vocabulary of many of my Novel Units.  We played Kahoot for the first time this past week, and this is a screenshot of my Instagram story that day. My kids were literally squealing with excitement over playing this online game! To access my Sarah, Plain and Tall Kahoot, make sure you have a Kahoot account and click here.

This next idea is the only one that isn't entirely free (unless you count the fact that you must have technology to play Kahoot), but it's WELL worth it! There is a Sarah, Plain and Tall full length Hallmark movie that was made in 1990. I don't always show the movie every time we read a book for which one exists, but this one is a must-show! It's rated G and it follows VERY closely to the plot of the book, often using exact quotes and vocabulary words. It stars Glenn Close (one of my students said, "That's the lady from 101 Dalmatians!") and Christopher Walken. Right now, it's showing on Amazon Prime for only $8.49! To order your own copy on Amazon, click here.

I also created a Movie Companion for my students to follow along with as they watched the movie. You can download a free copy by clicking here.


Last, but not least, download my FREE Sarah, Plain and Tall products on TPT! They are truly everything you need to teach this book effectively. Once you click on the link for the packet, you'll also find links to FREE vocabulary activities and a final test. Please feel free to share feedback, questions or suggestions. I truly love this book and believe you and your students will too!

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Do You Kahoot?

I don't think there's a THING my students enjoy more than Kahoot.  Not cupcakes, not extra recess, not even a homework pass. Someone asks me almost daily, "When are we playing Kahoot again?"

Kahoot is a FREE interactive online game that the teacher controls from a laptop hooked to a display (Smartboard, projection screen, large television, etc.).  It's so easy to set up your own account Kahoot and start creating games.  You can begin by clicking "get a kahoot" at the bottom of the page.  Students play by logging on with any wireless device- iPods, old cell phones, laptops, or my favorite: Chromebooks.  Students key in a code that comes up on the display screen when the teacher begins the game and give themselves a "nickname" which will identify them during the game. I require that my students choose a recognizable name, although sometimes they still get interesting.  Students can play individually or in partners or small groups.

One note about nicknames: last year I had a student named Cassidy and a student named Jack.  They partnered up and they insisted to me that the website was rejecting every name they tried.  It turns out because Cassidy's name contains a bad word and Jack's name is Jack, they couldn't find any combination of their names they could use.  Kahoot is really good at catching "naughty nicknames" as they call them.

As the teacher clicks through the questions on the front board, students click on the color/shape that matches their answer on their own device.  As if the element of timed competition wasn't enough to keep the kids hooked, jazzy and suspenseful music throughout the game.  Kahoot is probably the most engaging activity I do in my classroom and it can be adapted for any subject.

I have mostly used Kahoot for vocabulary review for my novel units.  Look me up under username JustMrsJones to use my public Kahoots that match some of my TPT Novel Units.  I'm always adding more!  I'm super excited because Kahoot just added a new game called Jumble.  In this game, students do more than just answer multiple choice questions; they must correctly ORDER four answer choices.  This will make for great sequencing, spelling and what we did used it for in class today: math!  We played an ordering fractions game and my students loved the extra challenge that Jumble offers.

Speaking of adding new features, Kahoot is always improving and changing.  The last time we played we were excited to see they had added this cute "Podium" screen at the end to recognize the winners instead of just the usual leaderboard.  It also updates you throughout the game about who is on a right answer streak, who hasn't missed any, etc.  Truly, my students and I can't get enough!

How do you Kahoot?

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What Went Down: A Trail of Tears Project

"You're good with technology," one of my students said to me today as I rushed around between six groups of students using a dozen Chromebooks, trying out a new interactive website.  As I took pictures of their drawings, uploaded them to Google Drive, and shared with the group leaders while simultaneously trying to help them navigate the web and overseeing their actual work on some level, I didn't feel "good" at it at all times.  But, it did feel very good when we were finished.

Soft Rain by Cornelia Cornilessen is usually my most popular novel unit during the month of November.  It's a historical fiction novel about a little Cherokee girl on the Trail of Tears with her family and it's a must-read for social studies integration in my fourth grade classroom.  The discussions that ensue while reading this novel are always memorable, if difficult, as students are faced with the idea of social injustice, often for the first time.

 

In trying to provide students an outlet for their opinions and feelings, I developed a Trail of Tears newspaper group project, which I carried out for the third time in my classroom over the last week.  (In addition to being in the midst of reading the novel, I also did some background study of the Trail of Tears prior to this project.  I found some great resources from Jersey Girl Gone South and Bow Tie Guy and Wife on TPT.)  Whether you're able to read the novel or you're simply learning about the Trail of Tears in your classroom, this activity is sure to get your students thinking, sharing and creating.  You can download the student handouts for free by clicking here.

I begin this activity by showing my students a PowerPoint presentation I created explaining the concept of a one-page newspaper as well as the concept of bias.  Once students are put into groups for creating their newspaper from the time period of the Trail of Tears, I assign half the groups to write from the perspective of the white settlers and the other half to write from the perspective of the Cherokee.  The half who are assigned the white settlers' perspective always protest, which shows their empathy with the Cherokee and distress over this period of history.  However, I explain to the whole class the importance of seeking to understand why history happened the way it did so we can be aware not to repeat the regretful portions.  You can download the PowerPoint presentation for free by clicking here.

After viewing the PowerPoint presentation, students get into groups and complete their planning sheets, discussing together as they go.  Once they are ready, they create their newspaper on ReadWriteThink's website, specifically using the printing press student interactive.  This tool saves the project in PDF and can be saved to Google Drive on the Chromebooks.  It can also be saved as a draft during the process.

Other students can type their articles in Google Docs, then share with the student who has the printing press opened on their Chromebook to copy and paste.  Students with illustrations get my attention when they are done and I take a photo of their drawing which I upload to Google Drive and share with the group leader as well.  While it may sound complicated, it really comes together quite well and the students had a great time creating together!  I'm usually so busy assisting with the technology aspect that I don't have as much time to guide students with their ideas as I'd like, but it actually works out for the best because they have such great ideas on their own!

Of course, there is always going to be the group who names their newspaper "What Went Down" and advertises the new invention of toilet paper... But laughs like that are what keep us coming back to this teaching gig day after day and year after year!

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100 Years Old on the 100th Day

I teach big kids for a reason.  I’m not crafty, I barely do decorations at my house, much less in my classroom, and I’m the last one to decide what my students are going to make for Mother’s Day.  I love teaching math, reading, and writing, but ask me to turn to my files on holidays and seasons and I'll just laugh.

However, a couple of years ago I had to up my game a bit when I realized our new colleague on the fourth grade hall was a former kindergarten teacher in every sense.  I knew when she was hired that she had that soft kind of voice that only exists in octaves foreign to me and I noticed right away that she called her students, “friends” in contrast to my, “Hey, guys, listen up!!”  But none of that intimidated me like her ability to turn every special date on the calendar into a major, celebrated, fun event. 

When she painted pumpkins in the fall, I rolled my eyes.  When her students each had a stocking hanging in the classroom come December, I scoffed.  By the time February rolled around and she asked what we liked to do in fourth grade for the 100^th day of school, I said, “Um, I don’t know.  Write math problems that equal 100?”  But of course, that wasn’t going to cut it and by this point, I had realized the truth in the old statement, “If you can’t beat them, join them.”   At this rate, soon I was going to be known as the boring 4^th grade teacher if I didn’t change my ways.

Working together, we’ve found ways to transform celebrations that I had always left to the primary teachers into events that upper elementary students enjoy and will remember.  I have to admit it’s fun and I look forward to sharing some of our shenanigans with you all through this blog.  One of my favorites we tried out for the first time last year was using a free app called Aging Booth to change our students first day of school photos into how they might look when they’re 100 years old.  On the 100^th day, we put them on their desk in the morning and asked them to write a “bucket list” of 10 things they’d like to do before their 100^th birthday.  We then attached the lists to the photos and displayed them in the hall.  The whole school was talking about the 4^th grade classes’ old people photos!  I can’t wait to do it again this year next week.

Some of the other teachers thought we were brave to include our own "old people" photos out in the hall, but I think that was the kids' favorite part.  Besides, it's an easy sacrifice to make while my age still rounds to 30.  I may change my tune in a few years.  

I was never a total Scrooge before, but I’m thankful for the ways our resident former kindergarten teacher helps me see things in a new, more exciting light.  But don’t worry… I haven’t completely lost my head.  I still will not EVER be caught showing The Polar Express the week before winter break.  That one I WILL leave to the primary teachers. The thought of hot chocolate in my classroom makes me cringe...  

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