Books to Read ... Sooner than We Think!

Back to School. Target got me thinking about it with their signs before I was ready.

Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great by Bob Shea

Seriously. You will see this one again on the blog once inspiration strikes (I'm sort of  last minute person :/)... and you should go find it for yourself. Don't judge others by their appearance!
I'd go so far as to say this one could be used for K-5. With different accompanying activities, of course.

I'm Not Reading! by Jonathan Allen

Debating this one. Could be really good for carpet expectations for the little ones. PERSONAL SPACE for the reader. Eyes on the book. Voices off so as not to distract everyone.



Every Cowgirl Goes to School by Rebecca Janni

I like this one more than a lot of other Goodreads readers but I happen to know the girls love them. And I like the message of this one ... the day doesn't have to be PERFECT to still be good. Full on admit, though, that this one would appeal more to girls (even girls who don't like pink ... like ME!) than boys. So you'd have to partner it with a more boy-friendly title.

Let's Go, Hugo! by Angela Dominguez

Not specifically about school ... but definitely about how a new friend can help you get out of your comfort zone and do amazing new things.




So there's not a song download, per se. (Or if there is I haven't found it!) But this sort of bob-along video introduces one that, while not my favorite of all of the character's books, is a great one to read near the beginning of the year.



Pete the Cat: The Wheels on the Bus by James Dean






Rocket's Mighty Words by Tad Hills

This one is not necessarily a read long but I added it here because libraries and classroom teachers may want to have copies available at writing stations ... and of course introducing this little board book along with reading the two real Rocket stories go together.


That Is Not a Good Idea! by Mo Willems

This could be a fun one for reading and then discussing or maybe writing a class book about what is and is not a good idea for walking in the halls, working at your desk or with technology, choosing books off the shelf, etc.



The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

Longer so might need to be read over a couple days ... but again (This seems to be a theme, right? But the beginning of the school year is so perfect for it) this one is great for TRY NEW THINGS.


And two not new but I realized I forgot to mention last year ...

But Excuse Me That Is My Book by Lauren Child

SHARE. It's hard to take turns but SHARE.




Rules for School by Alec Greven


"My favorite time is Library because books are awesome. Tip: If you don't like a book, don't worry. There is a book for everyone. Ask the librarian to help you."




And here IS last year's post (click on the image).

Also check out the comments for some more suggestions. And add comments HERE.



(Yes. I was lazy and just slapped part 2 on the same image. Or ... not totally lazy. Perhaps better phrased "I wanted to show continuity between the two years' posts." Yes. That makes me sound better.)

Finally Friday July 19

Well, I lied. One more post. The little guy headed back to his home (with his momma and my brother in tow) early this morning. :( All my nieces and nephews live too far away.


I love this idea for an iDevice (or Android, too, probably).



FB page followers will know why I pinned this one.



Super cute outfit. Only white pants? I'd get something on them within five minutes. #howoldamIagain



The stairs in the new place will have carpet. :( But if they WERE wood ... aren't these FAB?



And for a random one ...

I hope he or she had a telephoto lens. A very LONG telephoto lens.

Next week ... two days of Guided Inquiry institute. MUST FINISH ASSIGNED READING!
Back on track with eating and exercising. WHY is that so hard? I so wanted to lose some weight this summer. Lots of cute clothes in my closet (that actually are in line with my fashion pins) that don't fit. :X Bout ready to chuck them instead of move them to the new place. But I want them to fit again. :/
Finish baseball reading (did you see the pennant I posted on TPT? Not quite as hodge podge in terms of shape as the SW one) signs.
Finish student objectives signs
Lots of reading!
Finish kitchen table. Had to take a break because with company we needed the garage open for parking.
Cleaning. Getting a house ready to put on the market is NOT FUN.







PS So I might have just gotten on the Honey Bunch waiting list for a new blog design. And a personalized Melonheadz. Should I go with the curly and up in a clip (which is what it is usually) hair or the sleek and straight hair (which is what I always have my stylist do because I LOVE it but can't ever recreate it). Also ... same color scheme or different? And do I have them include a light saber or no? ;) #DECISIONS

N is for...

Laura Numeroff, of course.


(Oddly enough Bookbox wouldn't let me add If You Give a Moose a Muffin. :/ Not a WIN for my first try with Bookbox.) Old favorites that the kids have heard a hundred times but every once in a while I still pull them out in the library. One year we wrote our own "If You Give a Reindeer Some Rootbeer" and that was fun. Used up a lot of paper though.

Jennifer Nielsen and The Ascendence Trilogy (of which two are released). Fun fantasy! I SO WISH I WAS GOING TO THE BYU YOUNG READER'S SYMPOSIUM THIS WEEKEND (she will be there). I got to go a couple years ago when

Kadir Nelson was presenting. And it was awesome. Perhaps my favorite author experience ever (also included David Shannon, Laurie Halse Anderson, and Brandon Mull). And so was he! #fangirl

(And on a totally unrelated to "N" note I still remember I was sitting in a room waiting for a small group chat session with Mr. Nelson to start when I checked my phone and saw this. And it made me laugh. And now I see that was three years ago. Also most of this was shot in the "newer" section of the library. Which opened like TWO WEEKS AFTER I GRADUATED. #timing)


No, wait! It still works because the video is called New Spice. Wow. Posts when you are feeling kind of uninspired aren't always a total loss.

Can anyone think of a book character that starts with N? Or a library tool? I guess NON-fiction might work.

Jumping on the Bandwagon Fangirl Bunting

So ... I get distracted from things. Like my student lesson objectives signs. They're about ... 80% done. And my reading. And decluttering. And exercising. And painting of kitchen stuff. And figuring out why my Mac can get SO SLOW.

But as I was watching Warm Bodies tonight (which is actually very cute, though I could have done without the language) I was playing on my computer.

IT'S NOT PERECT. A couple places you can see little things that you shouldn't cause I don't know my Photoshop and can't do masks properly yet ... but hey. Those funny little parts will be cut off.

And it's an ink sucker.

And the credit links aren't clickable because when I tried to convert it into Keynote it got all weird. And links don't stay live in PPT to PDF like they do in Keynote to PDF.

But my fangirl heart thinks this is cool. Click on the pic to download from Google Drive.

Now. One more prescheduled post tomorrow and then I'm done. I'm playing with this little guy while my brother and s-i-l visit. This was like the three minutes all day he set down his new UT football. Umm ... Go Cougars! #meandbrotherwenttodifferentschools

#IMWAYR and Monday Made It

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 the previous week and to plan out your reading for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading.

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. Prepare for a TBR list you'll never see the end of!

A Million Shades was quite interesting ... but I don't see it as a high interest book for most elementary students. Maybe I'm wrong. Walls Within Walls sort of reminded me of Chasing Vermeer. 

Don't read a lot of "grown up" stuff but I DO read pretty much anything by James Rollins. Good times!

Doll Bones ... it is definitely more than a creepy doll book.

Steve Jenkins equals automatic WIN.

Wild About You is a great adoption book.

And I love the Jonathan Allen owl books. They're not perfect but that fluffy little owl is just so adorable.

Sadly not a huge fan of The Monster. What happened? Keys to the Kingdom was so good!

This week ...

I have to finish (at least the assigned selections of) Guided Inquiry. Have a two day "institute" next week.
Notice and Note! *hangs head in shame because it does sound really good*
finish listening to The Eyre Affair and Time Stops for No Mouse
OH! Finish the Shakespeare's Star Wars! It was so good and then I got distracted.
Alvin Ho: Allergic to Babies, Burglars, and Other Bumps in the Night (Is it just me or has this been a very uneven series? I loved a couple of them and the others? MEH.)
Crowfield Demon

And ... whatever else I might pick up from my hold shelf at the library or from my Adobe Digital Editions (ie advanced reading copies or ... the ridiculousness of it ... books I have purchased and not read). SO MANY BOOKS and not enough time. Summer! Where did you go? Two days of "work" the week after this. Then ONE MORE WEEK of no work. Then two to four days the week after that (Depends on how long it takes me to unpack the library. Are we taking guesses? Like three hours would be nice). Then back to the every day of the workweek. Love the kids. Just wish school wasn't so stressful. :/

Because I also get distracted with ...

I <3 how these little $1 totes from Michael's turned out (but oh ... bad lighting in this pic :/ ... I tried with the flash but then I had glare reflections. Sorry). Will be using them to keep bookmarks by the circulation desk

Finally Friday July 12

I'm going to make my own copy of this (adjusting a bit as needed, of course) and keep it somewhere at school to remind myself on days when it gets crazy.



Follow this blog if you are interested in anything iDevice-ish.< /br>


If by no-bake they mean easy and hard to mess up (and ... not as many calories?) then I need to try these.



The irony of being IN the hall when we say it will be lost on everyone but me. But anyway. ;)



And that's all for today. I'm thinking I need to take my computer in to the Apple store. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW. Spinning pinwheel of death. But I don't want strangers poking around in it. Or to be without it for too long. Which may indicate a problem. :/

Hope you are enjoying your summer! It's going by way too fast.

Completely OT: Big White Box Dresser

So. Been meaning to do something with it since years before Pinterest. It's so boring it bums me out when I look at it.

But I can't decide.

Can't redo the ENTIRE thing at this point. Too big to do in the room and once this sucker gets downstairs it needs to go on the truck. So whatever I do the "outside" of the dresser will probably still be white. Thinking mainly of the drawers at this point.

Nicely lit iPhone snapshot, right? There are three rows of two drawers in each. The smaller knobs are actually "faux" and attached to the same drawer as the knobs to the left. There's another long drawer on the other side of the handles and faux knobs. Just couldn't get a decent shot of the whole thing without visual clutter. Not REAL clutter, by any means. :/ SO ... there are actually 10 KNOBS on this thing. Six of the longer handle ones and then four of the round ones. I hate the knobs. Ten makes for an investment. But not as much as an entirely new dresser.

Haven't found anything that looks like my dresser on Pinterest but I sort of like these.
Pics link back to the original sources. Frustrated with embedded pins right now. Also two of the pins the link was messed up anyway.

 This is the closest one to my dresser. Only my "colors" are a chocolate brown, a couple shades of leafy green, and white. No mustardy yellow. Though I guess I could, couldn't I. Even add the grey to the mix if this color collection is to be believed. Anyway. Here's a text link back to the owning MStreetDenver blog as well.

 Wrong kind of dresser ... mine's longer and not so tall. And as much as I love the London Underground ... was thinking more of maybe authors. Austen, Bronte, Shakespeare, Rowling, and if I really thought about it some more. Maybe picture book, too. Maybe chocolate brown drawers with white text? Or the leafy green. Text link back to the Cheltenham Road blog here.

Or maybe something like this? Text link back to Leisure Living post here.

I will have lots of Monday Made It stuff. Bookmark bins, a vinyl Pigeon sticker on my work laptop (which I'm getting nervous "they" will get mad at and might take it off). Kitchen chairs (A POX ON ALL THE SPINDLES!). Maybe the table (or maybe not cause it might need to wait until after a family visit.)

Now to finish a book before a library visit. Have my own hold shelf over there that I need to clean off. Which won't help my visual clutter. Or my decluttering efforts, either, actually. #somanydistractions