Resources for "Wilma Unlimited"

Wilma Unlimited is one my favorite children's books.  Her story weaves in a wide variety of critical themes to discuss in the classroom setting including: resilience, courage, optimism, and character.  The text is also contextualized with the undertones of racial segregation which is an important topic to explore with young people.  I am hosting a writing contest at our school that asks the children to write about their "Shero".  This word is not in the dictionary, but I wanted use a term that kids would catch onto easily.  I used the Wilma Unlimited book to model writing about my own personal "Shero".

There is an attachment included from one of my favorite sites, called The Best Children's Books.  I will be using those printables at the conclusion of the year.  I love the magazine cover idea... Check it out.
http://www.the-best-childrens-books.org/Wilma-Unlimited-ideas.html

Teachers, students, and blog visitors:  Post a comment about your Shero.

Sylvia Elder's Creative Literacy Share

Mrs. Jasper's class received a visit from their Cultural Community Ambassador, Mrs. Elder.  The students wrote alternate endings to the True Story of the Three Little Pigs.  Part of "Culturally Responsive Teaching" is allowing students to develop and explain their own perceptions about text.

Check out their viewpoints in the comments section.
Attention Mrs. Jasper's Students:  Tell me about Mrs. Elder's visit.

Edible Multicultural Poetry

Pat Mora is a dynamic poet and author who explores different types of foods from places such as South America.  Yum! MMMM! Que'rico! affirms Hispanic culture in such a positive way and prompts ALL students to think about the origin of foods that we enjoy regularly.  Check out the printable I created for "Food Poetry."Poetry on My Plate (LWills)
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The lesson plan is also featured on Pat Mora's official website.:  Thank you to the Bookjoy company for adding my resource to your site.
Featured lesson plan link

Is there a Multicultural Poem in your Pocket?

Nikki Grimes is one of my all time favorite poets.  She wrote a book called, Pocketful of Poems.  The abstract illustrations leap off of the page.  Her masterfully laced poetic devices illuminate African American culture with both balance and brilliance.  A "Pocketful of Poems" is a viable mentor text for the National "Poem in Your Pocket Day" on April 26.  My class will have the choice of choosing their favorite poem to hide in their pocket or creating an original piece of work.  I've created one option to print and attached a link to another kid-friendly printable poetry pocket.  Students will trade pockets and write comments about the poem.  We are working on drawing conclusions and making inferences with text.  So, I created a printable where the student would draw their poem on one side of the pocket.  Other students would make an inference on the topic of the poem based on the illustration.  Then the pocket flips over, and the poem is revealed.  Check it out.Picture and Poem in your Pocket (LWills)
Here's another option on a fantastic blog called "Primary Practice".  Go the site.
Poetry Pocket Printable

Writing about your students in a positive way...

During the "Writing in Our Diverse Schools" training.  We were required to write about a student's writing by only using positive words.  I thought about how important it is to focus on the positive aspects of a student in order to help them reach their goals.  I created a lesson on adjectives, synonyms, verbs, and proper nouns.  I wrote about each student by using different parts of speech to model identifying parts of speech.  I also want to give a special thanks to April Sommer for  inspiring me as a a writer.  She has a goal of writing a poem about every student in her class! Even if our students have not learned how to demonstrate these character qualities, our words are so powerful!  For the students that sometimes give me a challenge, a display of these positive words will give me a reminder.:) Click on the link to view the printable.
Teacher shaping student identity using parts of speech

*Special Note

If you haven't gotten a chance to read "The Power of Our Words" Check it out!

"The Meanest Thing to Say" Character Development Activity

 

The Meanest Thing to Say" is a kid friendly story about bullying.  The main character decides to respond in an interesting way to name calling.  You could use this text in the beginning of the year or you could use it during Guided Reading groups. I attached a writing prompt to go along with the book.  It focuses on the "making connections" comprehension strategy.  I also attached a fun activity called "The Nicest Thing to Say."  Read the book in a whole group setting, and ask the kids to think about the nicest thing to say.  Then they can draw a picture of who they will say this nice thing to.  It would make a great bulletin board display.  Enjoy.  Feel free to have your students review the book in the comment section of the blog.  Click on the link below to get this comprehension strategy writing prompt.  I focused on making text connections while reading.

The Nicest Thing to Say - K-2
Click on the link above to print the writing response.

Making Connections with Bill Cosby's Text 
Click on the link above to print the writing response for comprehension strategies.

Mrs. Rockhold's Cultural Share

Mrs. Wills' class listened to Mrs. Rockhold's life story in the form of a timeline.  My students' commented on what they learned.  Check it out in the comments section.

Visual Summaries for Students to Synthesize

Do you have students who love to draw but are reluctant to write?  Have them brainstorm about the topic through a visual summary.  Here is an example of visual summary that someone created about a teacher's life.  I have also attached a template for students to create a visual summary about the life of a classmate.

The "My Heart Map" is a great example of a visual summary for students to reflect and share their lives with their classmates.  I got this example from the following website http://riversideelementaryart.blogspot.com/2011/01/heart-maps.html 

I created a writing prompt template to compliment the visual summary.  The prompt is titled, "What's inside your heart?"  Click on the link below.

Writing Prompt What's in my Heart?