Monday, September 28, 2015

#IMWAYR Paris and the Force




It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now… who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!
Our Kid Lit to YA version is hosted by Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.








Read Later in Sept

Come back next week for more info and a giveaway on The Story of Diva and Flea! And by Wednesday or Thursday I should probably have finished the "new" TA version of Return of the Jedi and I'll do a whole post on them together. Because ... STAR WARS.


Monday, September 21, 2015

#IMWAYR Sept. 21



It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now… who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!
Our Kid Lit to YA version is hosted by Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.









ReadinSept

Of course Esteban is my favorite crayon (I do like "leafy" green, as opposed to pea green). Phantom Bully was funny ... though a lot about a girlfriend. Nothing explicit by ANY means, just not anything the third graders who pick this up need. A lot about bullying as well. A Night Divided was interesting, as a child of the 80s who remembers "the night the wall fell." Don't see it attracting any readers at the elementary level, though, and not really quite sure about middle school unless assigned.


CurrentlyReadinginSept

The professional ones will be on here for a while. they get read slowly. I will probably finish the League in the next day or two as it's quick. Weatherbox was good ... just not quite enough to stop me from getting distracted by other books and school.  Both The Rithmatist and The Hollow Boy are audiobooks. I've been sick and would just always fall asleep if I tried to listen in bed the day I stayed home ... and the days I've gone to school anyway I'll admit, I was not all "there" and missed bringing my Kindle out to the car. And would come home and collapse as soon as the day was over anyway. Why do I forget every year how much I dislike fall? I always get sick!

Looking forward to the new SW books coming out. I have so many e-arcs I need to catch up on but let's be honest, those are the ones I'm going to get to first. They are coming tomorrow. I need to get some for school. Disney sent me some posters for SW Reads Day.







Wednesday, September 16, 2015

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

This is my niece. She just got baptized. I love this girl so much. Even with my Rudolph nose.


These are the earrings I won from the podcast Fangirls Going Rogue and ThinkGeek.
Embedded image permalink


This has been my life for the past four days. Since just a few hours after that Rudolph nosed picture. Oh, wait. I forgot the Tylenol. That, too. Pollen is the enemy. It is SO THE ENEMY.

And here are some of our memes to replicate LLL's meme idea. I actually told them it didn't have to be about the library but most of them chose library anyway. I guess seeing me and all. Next time I think I will have them like choose a color and then maybe blue will do library expectations, but red will be cafeteria, yellow will be hallway, green will be recess, etc.








Monday, September 7, 2015

#IMWAYR Sept. 8



It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now… who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!
Our Kid Lit to YA version is hosted by Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

It's been almost a month! Lots of visiting family and the start of school will do that to you.

whatIreadinAugust

Randoms was so much fun. It was probably a little long for the elementary set (well, and some middle schoolers) but I can't really think of what I would have cut. It was most definitely a geek fandom lover's dream with references to Star Wars, Star Trek, Dr. Who, Scooby Doo, and probably some I didn't recognize. For those willing to push through the length? Definite must read. (In terms of content there is a little bit of "violence"--the sci fi space battle kind--and hints of interspecies romance. So nothing I'd feel awkward giving a fifth grader. Just not sure how many would finish.)

I really enjoyed the audio to Three Times Lucky. To be fair a lot more than I expected to! Mo is a fun character and so are all the people she has around her at Tupelo Landing. I didn't love the audio to The Way to Stay in Destiny quite as much but it was still worth the listen. 

I started the audio to The Rithmatist a few days ago. With my rotten commute I have a feeling I will be getting in a lot of audio this year. Especially because apparently we will have many after school meetings. And for every 10 minutes after 4:15 I am not north of a particular loop around our city it adds 20 minutes to my drive home. And recommendations? I have a couple from Audible I haven't gotten to yet but I'd love to hear more.

Then I am still slowly pushing through the professional reads I started a while back. And I have a whole bunch of E-ARCs I'd like to read. Plus now that I'm back at school I should get some of the books that someone donated last spring read. If they're going to be on the shelf I ought to know something about them. I looked them up long enough just to see they had age appropriate and positive reviews before I sent them to be catalogued but I couldn't tell you much about them at this point.

Happy Labor Day! Happy Reading!

PS If anyone wants to brainstorm Star Wars Reads Day activities in a school library email me!


Sunday, September 6, 2015

Three Star Wars Books

One that I had but gave away, one that I already have for me, and one that I've preordered.
Both I want to get for school. It is just taking SOOOOOO LOOOOOOOOONG. Even a PO to B&N that I put in before school even started. All sorts of shenanigans and we still don't have those books.



The Jedi Academy books (Jeffrey Brown) are too fun. Roan (the main character) is supposed to be ... about sixth grade? The content is elementary appropriate for strong third grade readers and up for sure. Some kids run into trouble with the names so you just have to have a discussion about how you can enjoy and follow the book even if you can't exactly say the names of characters or places. I gave my set to my nephew so I am anxiously awaiting the school copy of book three. I might swipe it and read it first. #perkofthejob #quickread This series (3 released)? A MUST HAVE. I think, anyway.

SW Absolutely Everything You Need to Know (Adam Bray, Kerrie Dougherty, Cole Horton, and Michael Kogge) is basically a reference book. There are pages for different characters and different places with all sorts of fun information on the page. I wouldn't call it a read from front to back sort of book (though you might have some kiddos who would do just that!). I may just have to put this one under the document camera during a lesson on non-fic text features. ;) It's not a MUST have but it's definitely a NICE to HAVE.

Small Scenes from a Big Galaxy (Vesa LehtimakiI only heard about last night but preordered immediately. It doesn't release until Nov. 10 but the spreads you can see here are just too cool. In all honesty I'll have to wait and see if this would be a good one for school. Will probably be out of budget by then. :P But it ties in SW and Lego and some behind the scenes how to. I've always wanted to get kids started on stop motion and Lego photography and storytelling. We didn't get the grant I wanted to get more Legos so will just have to keep brainstorming. I know lots of libraries ask families to donate old Legos. I've always felt weird doing that because hello, if they have a kid at our school they have a kid that probably still plays with them. Why else would WE want them? But maybe that is overthinking it? TBD for elementary libraries!



Saturday, September 5, 2015

September Currently

Linking up with Farley ...


Not huge with the football myself but family members are. My little nephew LOVES football just like my brother.
I do love time with family. They mean everything to me. And of course, the last couple of days, the Star Wars hype has been kind of fun. Also a-ha reunited and released a new album. I'm old. They are my favorites.
OH MY.
Seriously. No explanation needed.
As always? Although actually not as many as usual because I told everyone I wasn't going to schedule as many and to send kids on passes a lot so that this week we could concentrate on practicing self-checkout for all the times I will have classes and there will be no assistant. Y'all that haven't had an assistant for years? I don't know how you are sane. It's so hard. I hope I figure out how to make it better. Big crybaby here but I feel like nothing is getting done even OK, let alone well. 
1)In the grand scheme I have so much to be thankful for ... I need to concentrate more on that and not on all the things that drive me INSANE (being told I needed to attend a leadership meeting--agenda, weighted grades and two chapters of a "teamwork" book study--instead of both a badly needed allergy shot and a meeting on the curriculum for applying for a 3-D printer from our district). Time with my family and those amazing little nieces and nephews. The funny little third grader that actually gave me a hug after a digital citizenship copyright lesson (because really? Not the most inspiring of excitement topic out there. Important, yes. But deserving of a hug? ;)) 2)Then again, there are people with real health issues. Not sleeping well, dumb allergies, and being tired all the time is pretty status quo anymore. 3)And then persistence. Don't give up when the going gets tough! That goes back to keeping up my best for the students despite the major cut in assistant hours (and retirement of my partner in crime for 11 years! I miss her!  The new one is trying but he's just not around long enough to catch on. He's got a crazy schedule being sent all over campus about every half hour), to attempts to eat better and get exercise in, to building relationships with coworkers and friends. 


Thursday, September 3, 2015

Thrilling Thursday to (almost) Finally FORCE Friday

Did you love those memes yesterday as much as I did? They made me sorry I didn't try my Lego pics at school again. The lighting was bad and I gave up fairly quickly. :/
Posting early in case I get the motivation to post AGAIN with all the cool stuff that will be available tomorrow ... with suggestions for library use, of course. Especially looking for a new Star Wars Reads Day shirt from We Love Fine.

I will be at school tomorrow instead of at stores (or sleeping because I was at stores all night for 12:01 releases) or shopping online because I want to be there for the kids. And I have to save money for the few days in October when I won't, in fact, be there for the kids. They'll be in good hands with a fully capable and awesome substitute. I will be on Platform 9 3/4.


I was thinking about making a SW themed photo booth for kids to create book review videos or even just photos with their favorite book. If I can convince my principal I want to put a monitor outside the library for photos. I LOVE OUR WALLS but we definitely lost visibility and so far we haven't been allowed to have anything on the walls.



Not a wall big enough at school. But MAYBE at home. #mustmeasure #wouldthatbewierd



Hold me to it, Internet. I can figure out something a little more interesting looking.



I am not even a huge dog (more than cats but still, not even) but I WANT ONE OF THESE SO MUCH! They're going to be hard to find. I want one for me AND one for school. Think PERIMETER LESSON. Of course, finding a "vendor." :P



A PS not FF related but it was fun making this little board. I didn't win but it was fun. #hardcallbetweenblueandgreen
Follow MsOReadsBooks's board #EveryCrayonCounts on Pinterest.



Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Go Read This Post

Since I have nothing interesting to share (the QR code with Tellagami videos and SW pics scavenger hunt is working out for the most part, mainly just network issues, but it's very specific to my space so I didn't post it) I thought I'd send any of you who aren't already reading her blog over to Lessons from a Laughing Librarian to read about her library memes activity.


You can probably guess which one of them is my favorite and already printed and posted. Coming back from a spring where the most books ever were not returned. A few have finally come back. It only took seven months of active badgering, plus summer vacation. :P


Now ... is it late enough for Nyquil yet? #firstbugoftheyear