Book-Related Summer Projects

Don't look too closely at them. My perfectionist side is not satisfied but oh well. They're still kind of fun and hopefully these clipboards will help corral some paper mess. They'll reside in a dish rack so that you can still sort of see them.

















I made up the Pigeon and bear patterns ALL BY MYSELF. Pretty proud, actually. ;] Used the Silhouette Cameo.


I feel so behind. I still cannot figure out how to LINK AN IMAGE. I thought I was pretty tech-savvy but every time I try it doesn't work. Phooey.

Humphrey & Phantom of the Post Office

It's a rainy summer day. What else is there to do but read?


The Phantom of the Post Office by Kate Klise
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If it wasn't for all of the fun illustrations and graphic layout these would beg to be read aloud. The character names are hilarious. Must think of some letter/note/text/VEXT activity to hold in the library. A definite collection purchase!



Check out the author's webpage for the Humphrey series here. I need to get the rest of these (we have Surprises from when it was a Bluebonnet book). I like the little quotes at the end of each chapter and the top ten list at the end of the book. Talking animal books are usually not my thing but I think the kids will like these.

Friendship According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney









Summer According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney









Adventure According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney










Now. Raining or not I really MUST get to the gym. #runlibrarianrun #somadIletmyselfgetoutofshape

Paint Chips in the Library

I cannot help it ... I LOVE the color.

So I still don't have a prettier picture of these (in fact, these are the rough draft I posted back last year  on my poor neglected school blog) ... but believe me, they looked nicer laminated and hanging from a ring on little command hooks on the side of the computer monitors. Each genre had it's own color. The idea (took a little while for the kids to catch on but when they did? GOLD) was to help them with spelling and finding books in a particular genre by keyword searches in the OPAC. It's by far not complete or exhaustive. In fact you may find it kind of random. ;] If you have any suggestions please feel free to let me know. I can add them to this Google Doc. I just used a generic Avery label template and then cut them up. You will probably have to change the font to one that you have on your computer.

Then some more ideas that I've found on Pinterest include ...







Booksmarks! We can never have enough of them. I need to actually MEET someone who could supply us with paint chips. I always feel kind of guilty just taking them. Though I do have a couple possible painting projects in the works. Not as many as I want paint chips for. :]




So obviously not CURRENTLY a paint chip idea ... but couldn't it be? Especially in shades of red or orange (with the darker color being the goal ... red HOT)?

Source: mrslodgeslibrary.blogspot.com via Angie on Pinterest

Same thing ... using dictionaries or thesaurus. OR titles of books in similar genres ... "If you liked this you'll love this"?


Seen lots of different versions of this one. One that was cute as a countdown using the Disney Mickey shaped paints. But of course I can't find that pin. Nor do we have a wall in the library to hang this up on. But if YOU have one? GO FOR IT. #dumbschoolarchitects




Simplified because I would not want to have to do this super often ... but the idea could be good for jotting down quick citations. Or guides to a particular area of the library?




Not paint chips. But still pretty colors, no? I'm still trying to figure out how to adapt this one. Some sort of mini-research kit, perhaps. Got any more ideas? Please link up! I'm getting too many things on Pinterest now and I can't find older pins as well. I wish you could search your own pins by keywords. Maybe one day.

Old and New Faves for the Beginning of the Year

I can't decide. I know of a couple more possibilities of NEW books that I may put in a later post ... but I ask you, oh wise Internet. I'm a little tired of most of these. Any suggestions?



That's Good! That's Bad! by Margery Cuyler

This is one of the first ones we read ... the kids give me thumbs up or down if what is happening to the little boy is good or no ... then we take some red balloons (depending on how prepared I am ... either paper or helium!) and write some GOOD things about library visits on them.


I Took My Frog to the Library by Eric A. Kimmel

I have some stuffed animals that I bring out and we talk about why a hopping frog wouldn't get along too well in the library, or a loud lion or bear, personal space invader hyena, etc. Some years we have had the younger kiddos draw animals on the front of their "library cards" (3X5 index cards with a bar code sticker on the back! At one point I put ribbons around them and wrote their names on the front like a sort of name tag--does anyone else have trouble remembering ALL THE NAMES?--but then I gave up on that because they liked to play with the cards while we were reading and it became more of a distraction than me not being able to remember the name of the little wiggle worm in the third row).


Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen

Can't forget this one. It's a little long to read aloud but it is still a great one for the start of the year in the library. Candlewick has an event kit here. Pretty simple but hey, that's good! Here's another pdf from Oregon Read with some ideas (and a list of related books ... like the Charlie and Lola But Excuse Me, That Is My Book which would be a contender if a student had not disappeared with it a year or two ago. :/ I hope they enjoyed it. May need to replace that one!)


Stella Louella's Runaway Book by Lisa Campbell Ernst

Of course ... FIND A SAFE PLACE TO KEEP YOUR BOOK. I have a little magnetic (similar to flannelboard) version of the story I got from ... oh, drat. Will have to look that up. I think the book is packed away for the summer. Anyway. Then use that to retell the story.



Wild About Books by Judy Sierra

We JUST got an Ipad like two weeks before school was out. So this year I could use the app instead of the book. That would be new and different.





How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills

We also go this app so maybe that would make it new? Plus the new BOOK that will be out to go along with this one. Must check because I cannot remember ... do we have and do I like the Suzy Red related activities?



Dog Loves Books by Louise Yates

Haven't read this one a million times yet so it's still a contender. Love the illustrations. I mean, really I love all of these books. Just looking to switch it up a bit, you know?




Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes by Eric Litwin

I had some kiddos help me make a little video the last couple days of school ... to show the NEW kinders.
Then we haven't done THIS little tour before ... so I can't decide. I'm a little tired of Pete but the kids seem to still enjoy him! We read all of his books multiple times last year. I'm sure I could get the teachers to do this with me.




One that I know I need to do this year because the author will be visiting in early October?

Sea Monster's First Day by Kate Messner

Now to come up with a fun activity to go along with it. Make a sea monster and, depending on age, a little writing?



A couple other possibilities include ...

How to Teach a Slug to Read by Susan Pearson

I got some ideas from HERE for teaching this one. (PS The file name of that activity? Still makes me giggle. Can a slug read "with depth and complexity"? I hope so!)



 Calvin Can't Fly: The Story of a Bookworm Birdie by Jennifer Berne

Haven't figured out what we'd do. But I think it might have potential.



The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this story. We'd read it first and then look at the app? Though again ... what next, I'm not sure. :/



Good thing we still have some planning time, no? #lovesummer




(The little fox is from Scrappin Doodles. The frame is from Teaching my 3 on TPT.)

What Are You Reading?

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.

Our Kid Lit to YA version is hosted by Teach Mentor Texts.
LOVE this IDEA! Check out all of the What Are You Reading? participants for new books you'll want to read.




Do you all follow your reading plans? Apparently I do not. Oh well.

What I Read
The best books I read were middle grades. Only read a couple picture ones and they were so-so.

Kid Vs. Squid by Greg Van Eekhout
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Really make that like three point five. It was a lot of fun and a length that many of my students will actually be able to FINISH. (Can you tell I get frustrated when they don't finish? Once or twice, it's all good. But some of them? Almost never. :[) The timing seemed a little off ... was great until the ending sort of seemed to come out of nowhere and then there were a couple pages of "and this is what happened to our main characters after" and then it was done. So, you know ... maybe a few more pages would have been a good thing.

Lots of cool sea creatures. Actually almost to the point where I got a little tired of them. This would make a super cool graphic novel.

I have another of the author's books on my Nook. Will have to move that up the TBR list!

PS Small thing ... I get the title ... rhymes and all that. But the squid? Not actually a big part of the story.


The Trouble with May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oops. I missed the first one. But that's OK, it was still easy to follow.

And funny! I like funny. May Amelia and her brothers are funny. Even better (or worse, as some of the borrowed storyline is sad) that some of this comes from the author's own family history.

Georgia's Greatness by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I like these. There are off funny lines and crazy things happening. A few holes in the story, yes, hence not quite four or five stars. But I do still think I shall have to get them for the school collection. Public library didn't have number two but oh well. There's a little recap of the story so far at the beginning of each one, so while it would assist the OCD reader in me to finish them in order ... it's not imperative.

Mr. Pete is a good guy. The McG is not quite so bad as she might seem. And these are eight ingenious almost eight year olds.

Jackie's Jokes by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Alert ahead ... CLIFFHANGER ENDING!

The beauty of discovering a series later on. We're inching closer and closer to four stars.



Marcia's Madness by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Keep them coming! Only (slight spoiler here) ...



no real answer to the cliffhanger ending of #4 yet.

View all my reviews


I'm in the middle of listening to The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains ... but I'm afraid I must be kind of the poster child for it. At least in audiobook format I'm finding it very hard to pay attention and follow the train of thought.


The Coming Week
I'm in the middle of A Curse Dark as Gold and LOVING it. This is why I don't go through and more viciously weed my Goodreads TBR list of over 1000. This one was like number 14 or something ... been on there for a while and I just happened to choose it as an older book to request at the library.

I seriously much catch up on my Netgalley and Edelweiss e-ARCS before they all time out and they don't let me have any anymore. Especially if the rumor that I heard turns out to be true and my public library starts charging for ILLs/holds in September. :[

I got rid of some books this week. Or, to be honest, boxed them up before a PTA mom comes to save them in her garage until the district book sale (it comes at a very inopportune time of year for teachers to clean shelves!). It was hard. Why is it so hard? The idea of books is sacred. I do not believe that the actual books themselves are and yet still have a hard time letting go. Or maybe I should have participated in the OK to ReRead challenge. That could have made it harder! Anyway. Shelves can breathe again. You know what that means ...

Pinterest & Teacher Librarians

So I know there has been a lot of press lately about Pinterest ... and here I am jumping on that bandwagon. But I've been using it for about a year now and I have to say that even though I know it's not perfect in terms of copyright (just pin to the original source as much as humanly possible, please!) and it can be a serious "time sucker" (give yourself 15 minutes a day) ... I like it! Helped me to find lots of cool ideas that I've used with the kiddos very successfully.

(Original CorkBoard photo from Flickr user net-efekt)

I'm sure I missed more than a few (is there a way to see who you repin the most besides the three listed on your profile page?) ... but here are some whose pins I find the most interesting/useful/flat out COOL that were not listed in the SLJ article.

Isn't it funny ... have you seen that ecard that talks about how you feel like you could be friends with someone just because of their Pinterest boards? Only actually KNOW a couple of these people ... and yet feel a strange Internet-based kinship with some of them.

Find a balance. If you follow ALL of someone's boards then you may be overwhelmed. If you choose to only follow a couple you might miss out when they start creating a new board. Pick and choose to find what works for you!


Library
ATBOT/The Book Bug/Sharing the Shelves
Random House Kids
Harper Children
Reading Rockets
Amy Bansak
Laurie Leavitt
Linda's Links
Valerie Fort
Ashley Kurth
Kirsten Murphy
Max Macias
Regina Hartley: Hey Twitter friend!
Book Butcher: not as active anymore but hopefully again soon. Another Twitter friend!
Sara Romine: I know her in real life. So many great ideas and energy she shares!
Sherry Phillipus: Just off a difficult year she passed with flying colors. Can't wait to see what she does this year!
Cari Young: Centered School Library blogger. Know her, too!
ME


Tech
Matt Gomez: I heard him present at a recent iPad mini-conference. He's a kindergarten teacher doing AMAZING things. Check out his Pinterest boards AND his website and Twitter feeds.
Jessica Jackson Meacham:
Lisa Johnson : of the TechChef4U app and AppyHour podcast. At least I think that's the name of it?
Donna Baumbach
Jennifer Jones: Also make sure to follow her blog Hello Literacy.
Elizabeth Eastman
Cyndi Danner-Kuhn
Erin Klein


General Coolness that Is Difficult to Categorize (both authors)
Winston Breen
Michael Scott






This post has been updated for summer 2013. Find it HERE.

What Are You Reading? Monday

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.
GREAT IDEA! Check out all of the What Are You Reading? participants for title ideas.


I sort of did a mid-week recap ... cause the first half of the week I read a lot of picture books. LOVED Mrs. Harkness and the Panda. Got the IMAX movie from the library today ... it was not as good. :[ But you'll see pandas in one way or another when school starts up again. Must think of some cool stuff we can do. Also ... just realized I didn't get Chloe into that midweek recap. OOPS!

Chloe and the Lion by Mac Barnett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

LOVE. Definitely a must get for our school collection and maybe even personal collection. The different art styles are super cool (puppet type figures! paintings! crayon-style drawings!) and I love how it definitely shows author and illustrator working TOGETHER. Break the fourth wall anytime you want, guys. We'll come running.


Since then I've read a couple longer books as well.

This first one? Not YA or kid ... but I think it may help me in the fall.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ever so curious. I went through it pretty quickly ... but what she says seems to make a lot of sense to me.


Just a couple things where I tucked a little bookmark into that page. The rest of the review is on Goodreads (along with a couple quotes specific to teachers).

"Open-plan offices have been found to reduce productivity and impair memory.... They make people sick, hostile, unmotivated, and insecure. Open-plan workers are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure and elevated stress levels and to get the flu.... They have fewer personal and confidential conversations with colleagues. They're often subject to loud and uncontrollable noise, which raises heart rates; releases cortisol, the body's fight-or-flight 'stress' hormone; and makes people socially distant ..." (p 84)

"Conviction is conviction ... at whatever decibel level it's expressed." (p 202)


Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oh, I am late to this party. And no excuses cause I even got an ARC from the author (which I passed on to a student before I got to it!).

I listened to the audiobook while I was on the treadmill. I actually quite liked hearing the story that way because of the very nature of the tale ... it was meant to be told. Just like Min-Li's father told her stories.

Can't wait for more! I know she's working on a companion ... but she also just had a baby so we'll try to be patient. That's the one good thing about discovering a book late. Not as long to wait for the next ones.

Cold Cereal by Adam Rex
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I didn't get it. :/






Writing to Explore: Discovering Adventure in the Research Paper, 3-8 by David Somoza
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I posted a review here.



The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked it for the description of South Africa. In parts it was very beautiful. You could tell the author had been there. I did not like it for the lack of ... what is the word. Detail that added to more than the setting of the story?

Also ... the whole mythology of the "child who would ride the white giraffe"? Did ring totally true. :/

View all my reviews


Coming up?
Didn't get to Insurgent or Riordan this week ... sidetracked by a MASSIVE decluttering. Wow. I'd started in on some hoardish tendencies. I can see the light, however. Plus I can breathe now that the junk is out! So ...  read Insurgent. Riordan (I've got like four of them to catch up on!) plus I just picked up Chopsticks at the library. Beyond that? We'll see. ;]