I am a big Sarah Cooley fan! If you don’t know Sarah, she is the hard working blogger and teacher who can be found over on the fabulous early-grades blog, First Grader at Last. I have posted a lot of Sarah’s ideas here in the past, but have not visited lately so I was thrilled to find an idea today that fit perfectly into my October theme of differentiated products: itty bitty books. Click over to Sarah’s blog and you will find this clever little giveaway that can be used immediately in your classroom as a support for writing, reading, and communication.
Sarah divided her books by season: fall, winter, spring, and summer. She keeps them on a resource table, near other writing supplies and word helpers. When students need to look up how to spell a seasonal word, they grab one of the itty bitty books, and look it up. These itty bitty resources function like mini picture dictionaries for young writers.
I immediately thought about the possible uses for students with disabilities. These books could be used to teach all students about augmentative communication. Imagine a student with communication challenges having an opportunity to suggest story topics for classmates by pointing first to one of the four books and then to a picture of two in each book.
How would you use your itty bitty books to differentiate instruction and support diverse learners?
About Paula Kluth
