Roll With It
Written by Jamie Sumner & published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, ©2019
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Grade Level: 5-6 Small Group Read
Lexile Score: 740L Accelerated Reader: 4.6
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Ellie is a passionate young girl who loves to bake. She finally feels like she is beginning to fit into her school, but suddenly her and her mother must move in with her grandmother to help care for her grandfather, who has Alzheimers. Ellie must start over and find how she fits in as the new girl in a wheelchair with Cerebral Palsy. Before long, Ellie makes a couple wonderful friends, and begins to question whether or not moving to this new town was really for the worst--and if she ever wants to move back to her old town.
Key words/phrases: hope, baking, friendship, trials, family
Suggestions for the Classroom
This video from Boston's Children Hospital tells a brief story of young Stella's journey with Cerebral Palsy from the point of view of her mother. The video covers key topics like struggles and accessibility and can help students better understand CP.
This quick video demonstrates how a wheelchair lift on a school bus works. In the book, Ellie is unable to ride the bus at her new school because they do not have a lift like her old school did.
This video exhibits the Walker Wheeler, which is a combination of a wheelchair and a walker made by a young girl with CP named Sadie. This video can help extend student knowledge based off of the text.
SUGGESTED COMMON CORE STATE STANDARD:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6
Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.
KEY VOCABULARY
Accessible: easily entered, opened, reachable, or available
Alzheimers: a disease that affects older people causing them to slowly and eventually forget
basic things, like tying a shoe
Autism Spectrum Disorder: a disorder that affects development, often characterized by
atypical development of language or social skills
Cerebral Palsy: a motor disorder that is caused by brain damage at or before birth, often
characterized by difficulty controlling muscles or paralysis
Disability: something that makes a person unable to do what most people can
Wheelchair lift: a moving platform that lifts people in wheelchairs up to places they cannot
wheel to, like a school bus
COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES
Before Reading: The main character of the text, Ellie, is in a wheelchair because of her Cerebral Palsy. Guide students in researching Cerebral Palsy before reading the text and have them create an infographic about the motor disability using the free website Piktochart. The video linked above under "Classroom Suggestions" is a good place to begin to introduce CP to the students.
During Reading: After beginning the book, have students begin a "diary" in their writing journals. Throughout reading the book, have students pick one of the prominent characters in the text and write multiple entries as that character as the book progresses. Students should write about events that occur in the text as well as reflect on those events from the point of view of their chosen character.
After Reading: Divide students into groups of four and distribute chart paper and markers to each group. Pose the following question to the students: how has Ellie's character changed over the course of the story? Students should record their thoughts on the chart paper however they see fit. After students have had time to deliberate, have each group present their ideas to the class.
WRITING ACTIVITY FOR INFERENTIAL COMPREHENSION:
After reading the text, have students create an "epilogue" for the book. Students should pick up from where the text left off and write about what happens to the characters after the book ends, following the style the Jamie Sumner uses in her writing.