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.


Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My favorite part is the illustrations but I like the idea behind this one as well. Bear's friends visit and bring things to share.


Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am really surprised to say this ... but I'm not crazy about it. The last couple of pages redeemed quite a lot. But ... well. First M.W. book I didn't LOVE.


A Home for Bird by Philip C. Stead
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oh, how cute. Vernon is awesome with his bottle-cap hat and balloon to get up to a wire.
And he's a good friend to Bird.

The Scary Places Map Book: Seven Terrifying Tours by B.G. Hennessy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Look for Kellee's review on Goodreads. She was much more thorough than I would ever be ... and I really liked her classroom connections. As I was going through it I was thinking "How many kids are going to do exactly what I am and just go straight to the pictures and just skim over the text."

Add the structure of some of her ideas and this will be an excellent addition to the late Sept/Oct rotation!

Regarding the Fountain: A Tale, in Letters, of Liars and Leaks by Kate Klise
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am a sucker for ... let's see if I can spell this correctly ... an epistolary novel.
Dying to Meet You (and the sequels) is/are still my favorite but this is a fun one I didn't even know existed. Will have to track down a copy for our school collection!


Wither by Lauren DeStefano
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

OK. When is the next one expected? I must know.

(Though the cover is a little been there, done that. Just sayin'. Don't let it fool you. The inside is better.)



Still Working On
In Pictures and in Words
I See What You Mean
Secret Letters
Everlost (almost done ... would have but I skipped the gym a couple times #NOTGOODFORMYSANITY!)

Coming Up
I have 12.21, Code Name Verity, two Nathan Fludd Beastologist books (LOVE Theodosia but I'm not quite as sold on these ... yet). May Bird, two Martin Bridges, and one Ivy & Bean checked out from the public library.

Bloggiesta--Pre-Race ;] and Currently

So I am behind in many things. Many, many things. Nothing like a "race" to inspire and motivate to get up off the proverbial couch, no?

Bloggiesta! Not really a race but you get the metaphor. (Come to think of it, I am very possibly doing a 5K that Saturday morning. #notetoselfGETRUNNING.)

Some Goals That May Change by the Actual Event
1)Still need to work on my review style. It's not all that helpful unless you happen to have the same tastes as me. Short "gut reactions" aren't exactly trust-inspiring, are they?
2)I'm curious about their mini-challenge ... it says "Using a Variety of Applications in Conjunction with your Blogging. (ie. Evernote, Microsoft Access, etc.)
Read more: http://www.theresabook.com/2012/09/bloggiesta-participants-welcome-lets-get-signed-up/#ixzz25uptEMqy" What does that mean? I am always curious to learn about Tech (and remember my Evernote TECH Goal?) Could be useful!
3)Clean up the tags and maybe make them more useful?
4)Brainstorm some fun topics! And get some posts pre-written and scheduled.
5)I dunno. Suggestions?

Do you blog? Sign up!

And linking up with Farley. ;]

Hodge Podge

This post is a hodge-podge. ;] Did you see these book-inspired projects earlier this summer?

 
Thought I'd share--IF you have a Silhouette Cameo they might be useful or fun. I have no idea how to make any other kind of cutting file so any other machine is out. Sorry.
Pigeon (the letters are not included because I just bought those ... somewhere)


hatback bear file


Pics of this library showed up on Pinterest the other day. SO PRETTY. I'm not jealous or anything. ;]



Still working on this. Live Purposefully.

Target Dollar Spot Clearance

Each item = $.30. I might have to go back tomorrow.


I don't even teach at a bilingual school but the former HS Spanish teacher in me couldn't pass up the Spanish bookmarks. There were a bunch of little stickers, too. I really will have to go back tomorrow and see what is still there.


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Super Reader Capes Recap & Download

Well. Didn't go exactly as planned (cause the fourth grade class I had right before them ... the sub for the afternoon didn't show so we had their activity and checkout and then I had to get the kiddos to their specials before my assistant came back from her lunch duty) but what does?

Other than a couple of things? I think it went pretty well. They loved the capes and could tell me what we'd discussed. In theory, anyway. We'll see about putting it into practice. ;]
I had to leave them as they were cleaning up and go get that fourth grade class from specials and delivered to other fourth grade rooms ... while my assistant checked out a kinder class ... yeah, it was that kind of afternoon :/).

We read the first 5-7 pages of SuperDog, Heart of a Hero (Thank you, S.P. for the book suggestion!) . It talks about a dog who wants to be stronger so he works hard and practices and exercises to build his muscles. I didn't read the whole thing cause it's kind of long. Then we filled out a note page and talked about how a super reader has to practice and the things to look at when choosing a book.

So. Lessons learned. One ... they can sit at the tables long enough for what we actually got to read of SuperDog. We often avoid the tables because they are so not made for smaller people. Barely made for fourth and fifth grade. But it would have been better because we wasted time and attention handing out pencils and clipboards.

And at the tables we have a board where I could have projected a word list ... or show it on the document camera (though its so far back ... I'm fifteen feet behind the kids when I'm positioning the paper or writing on it under the doc camera). After 10 years I still forget that I will get asked how to spell "cover" or "Do I write the number or the word five?" twenty-seven times. #ridiculousofme

Then I had some books for them to look at and "sort" into too easy, just right, and too hard. But they got distracted by cool pics in the "hard" ones. Oops. Lesson learned for me. Don't "TEST" this lesson so quickly. Let them color and design their capes! "Lost" (was it really lost?) time looking at too hard books.

Choosing a just right book always requires repetition, no?

I freehand cut the capes out of butcher paper. It took longer to pull it off of the roll and fold it than it did to cut. I won't lie, though ... it did take longer than I wanted it to. If you can get a parent or volunteer's help YAY!

Download my version (so not necessarily the best wording but oh well!) here.

This idea was totally adapted for the library from here. SERENDIPITY. I love Goldilocks and the Three Libearians but ... let's also be honest ... was getting a little tired of it. Plus A. J.U.S.T. R.I.G.H.T. B.O.O.K. is just too complicated.

Super Readers

So ... we're making capes tomorrow with 2nd grade. Do you think this will work? Along with a discussion of choosing just right books? I'm a little tired of Goldiesocks and Three Libearians.


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Roar in the Library

Today with kinder and first. Short and sweet. ;)