#IMWAYR Jan. 13

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

Just three finished.

Poached ... a sequel to Belly Up! Fun. I'll write a little more when the release date gets closer. If you haven't read Belly Up yet read that first. You've got until April. Upper elementary or middle. Just the teeniest bit of language. I'm pretty sensitive to that so be aware ... also know, though, that it is hilarious! This one not quite so but still very good.

Hidden Girl ... not my usual fare but sadly interesting. Seems like it should be a TV show. But it's not. It was her life.

The Magician's Elephant ... audiobook for the WIN!

You'll notice one I mentioned last week is NOT on here. Flora & Ulysses. As I mentioned on Goodreads ... I could not get "in" to that one. Abandoned it (well, my ebook checkout timed out or I might have kept at it and tried to finish because it's on our state list for next year) because ... I didn't like it. In fact disliked what I got through of it. Blame it on the cedar, I guess. :/

Or the very strange story. But I liked Magician's Elephant. And that one was strange, too!

This week I'm attempting a bit more of the second Mysterious Benedict Society as an audiobook. So far it's been confusing to follow as I drive.

Then I need to finish these that I started before Christmas!

And I have an ebook checkout of The Lost Treasure of Tuckernuck. Have to get going on that one ... it's so hard to remember ebooks when they're not stacked on the bedside table super visible.

So. Will be starting allergy shots next week. Three times a week. I foresee more reading and mobile blogging in my future. But hey. If it works? Worth it.

FInally Friday Jan. 10

Oh. A whole week went by. It was a long week. But on Monday I spent three hours at the allergist and he listened more than the general practice doctor ever did. So maybe in the future you will not hear so much whining and I will feel better. That would be a win-win! :P ;)

To district ed tech who keep making comments to the effect of washing their hands of the effort to get a reliable internet (both lab and classroom wireless) connection working in an older school (while all the while touting to the rest of the district 21st Century Learning...



I don't really do pink. But I want to do this in some sort of color!



I love the color combos on this site.



I tend to kill plants. And out here at my new house there are so many deer I'm not sure how much landscaping we'll really be able to do in the spring. But I love the tiered look of this.




I need to do this! Only ... not sure how to attach them to the shelves. Stuff with tape falls off. Stuff with glue ... kiddos pick at. :P



PS I will be posting about a fun blog award I was given earlier this week. Sometime tomorrow or Saturday. Do you want to be highlighted. I'm just not good at asking people things. Would you answer questions? Let me know. ;)

#IMWAYR Jan. 6

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


Been a while but here I am!

A Strange Place to Call Home: The World's Most Dangerous Habitats & the Animals That Call Them Home by Marilyn Singer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Loved the art ... though for the longest time I thought it was Steve Jenkins. Then realized nope, someone else.
The poetry ... well. Some I liked and some I did not. It was hard to read. I kept going back and trying to find some rhythm to the rhyme scheme.


The Forbidden Stone by Tony Abbott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

OOOH. Loads of adventure and intrigue. Is it completely believable? No. Does it have to be? Nope!
I'll be back for book #2. And will get a copy for our school library for sure. Fourth and fifth graders may not have ever heard of Copernicus or Magellan but maybe this will get them curious.
The storyline is more complicated than most of what I've read of Abbott's work before so this won't be a 2nd/3rd grade read.

Hide and Seek by Kate Messner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Can't wait to share this with some kiddos. Our library copy finally came in just before the break and ... I stole it for the break. ;) They're getting it back next week, though!
And this TOTALLY made me want to go back to Costa Rica. Spent a spring break there a couple years back and it was awesome. Horseback riding. White water rafting. Zip-lining. Loads of picture taking opportunities. Not my usual at all but actually so fun!

Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin by Liesl Shurtliff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Nice backstory on a famous character.
I liked it well enough ... but didn't LOVE it like so many other people. I wonder why.



White Fire by Douglas Preston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I got tired of waiting for the library copy so I finally just downloaded it to my Kindle. AWESOME. I felt cold as the Colorado mountainside was described. Or "steely glints" from various characters. Already left wanting for the next Pendergast.

That said, I could have done without all the uses of "mother f_________" as I do not think it conveys any more to the character's motivations or feelings than other less crass vocab. Characters were ugly before they used the language. I might be alone in that.


Coming Up
Since it's harder to get to the "big city" library (and I'm terrible but with family last week and rotten allergies this week I haven't gone to get my smaller city card ... insert face of shame here) I am sure I will be reading more galleys and ebooks in the future.

I'm almost done with Lindsay Leavitt's Going Vintage. I already have The Lost Treasure of Tuckernuck and Flora and Ulysses checked out. We'll see what else happens!

TL Blogging Challenge Day #1 Tech Tip

A Tech Tip Hmmm. Internet, what are things you do not know? Things that you could use ... simplified? There are so many tutorials out there on a bazillion topics. And what's hard for some is easy for others and vice versa.

I guess for today I'll start pretty easy because it's Saturday and I'm just not feeling something more complicated yet ... but if you've got a request please comment and I'll put it on the blog post list! I didn't know this for the longest time so maybe you didn't either?

If you are going to be adding anything besides text. And I mean ANYTHING besides text ... borders, frames, photos, clip art, etc. Or even just text but in a different layout than the standard five paragraph start at the top and fill in to the bottom of the page type text ... then for the love of all that is simplifying your life DO NOT try to make said document or flyer or what have you in Word. The formatting will drive you INSANE because you move an element 2 mm to the right and it messes everything up. And then you are sad and try to move it back and it moves something else on the page in an entirely different direction. Then you start pulling hair out.

Use Powerpoint. Or Keynote. Or even Google Presentations. You can move all elements around, layer them in front of or behind each other, and where you put stuff? It stays put! It's amazing. Mind blown?

You're welcome.

Need screenshots to help you visualize? This blogger has already done a great job so I am not going to reinvent the wheel today. Maybe I'm going to see Saving Mr. Banks instead of even finding an image to add to this post. Oh and grocery shopping for school lunches. Which is not as fun.


This challenge came from Cybrarian Jen at Where Books and Technology Meet. I won't be doing them all straight through but you'll see at least a couple pop up a week.

Finally Friday Jan. 3

I don't have this yet. But I might get it. Totally bought her blank templates collection with the intention of doing something exactly like this and then didn't. :P


This made me laugh. Not as much as the Happy Face Seal but it made me laugh all the same.


Love.



I wanted to order this SO MUCH. But I didn't. Cause I wasn't sure where it would go. Isn't it lovely? I wanted the hydrangeas, too.



I quit watching this show a couple seasons back. Still thought this was funny.



May take me through February to actually get it done (have a feeling January will be concentrating on the TCEA presentation ... just co-presenting and not even the one who came up with the idea but still ... I can feel the nerves coming on already) but we'll see. Some good ideas for reflection here.

Jan Currently, First Book of 2014, & #runtteacherrun

Posting twice today ... eek! First linking up with Farley.

I only saw part of the special (and have never been to Las Vegas) but it's kind of fun to hear his take on these older songs. Some I like less than the original but still think it's fun to hear. Some I like just as much. Some I like even more!

Found the boxes of books in storage (note to the world ... 1)Don't ever accumulate enough stuff that you need to get a storage unit; and 2)If you do ... LABEL BOXES. LABEL THEM WELL.) and they are on the shelves. But they're not ... arranged yet. Here's a "shelfie" tease that will make me look like a geek but oh well. Embrace it, right? ;) The other shelves will take longer. But there will be an HP shelf. And a Mo Willems shelf. And an Anne of Green Gables shelf. That much I know.

Things are starting to come together. Heavens, though ... there are still so many boxes and bags of packing paper that are hard to get rid of out here (no recycling :().

I've seen Frozen and the Hobbit. But of "holiday" flicks that's about it. I still need to see Catching Fire and Saving Mr. Banks and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

Planning food. That has to be better this year. (When I find my menu board we'll start there ... it got "made" over the summer and then packed away during the house showing period.)

I'm LDS so anything more has never been a part of my traditions. But that's what my family has called sparkling cider for years and years and years. Holidays and special occasions? Pop THAT top.


And then Sheila of Book Journey.

Hide and Seek by Kate Messner

No special reason it's number one other than it's a school library copy and I want to finish it so I can get a kid to read it next week! Love a good mystery. Back to reading. Or since the weird tingly pinkies are back maybe arranging bookshelves. Or the movies? We'll see. Just a couple more days of freedom left!



 

PS As soon as I get the allergies a little better under control (this not taking ANYTHING before testing MIGHT KILL ME) I will post a bit about #runteacherrun. Last year I ran a 5K first thing on 1/1. Then did really well for three weeks. Then got appendicitis. And ... even though I recovered without complications I just seemed to be behind and out of my groove and while there were some good spurts here and there as a whole the rest of the year was a wash. So here's to the groove back. #RUNTEACHERRUN

Reading Resolutions 2014

Here's an update for last year's little project, though without pics of student work because of course I can't find them. :P

"So I saw some of those little flip book things on Pinterest and started playing around with making one Library-Centric.... Not much to it but if you want just the part I can share ... click on the pic and download the pdf! My Own Topher font from Kevin and Amanda."

We cut out the numbers with the school die cut though of course kiddos would love to design their own. This will be sort of a passive station ... we'll see how it goes. Stations haven't ever worked out too well (ignored, mostly ... or forgotten because I got distracted and didn't get them back out after having to put them away every day) but I'm going to try. Mostly because between a third grade research project and prep for an author visit and TCEA (co-presenting this year and not even the main one so that's good!) in early February I don't know that there will be time to do a full on lesson activity.

Click here for a printable PDF. Kids need a bit of reminding, though, that they write their answers below the printing, fold the top OVER, and cut on top dotted lines. That way the "2" flap opens up to whichever prompt you choose.