Celebrations 11/22

This is a fabulous idea from Ruth Ayres in which we write about something to celebrate each Saturday. I am looking forward to participating in this link up each week and hearing about the awesome things happening in everyone's classrooms and lives.

I wish I could be celebrating meeting all my PLN friends at NCTE this weekend...I will be eagerly watching Twitter for those excellent tidbits that people share from the amazing sessions they attend.


I finished my first trimester report cards yesterday.  I am so happy to be finished with them!  Our standards-based report cards are overwhelming and difficult to complete.  I love that I can give proficiency scores instead of traditional grades, but it is so hard to get parents to understand the system and my district has made these report cards needlessly complicated.  Therefore, I spend a lot of time with the comments that I write and it is always an overwhelming process.  It feels like such an accomplishment to be done with this first round.

After having a wonderful breakfast last week with some nerdy book club friends, I ordered Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller.  I knew before then that I wanted to read it, but after talking with the two people who were reading it, it was clear that I needed the book immediately.  This morning I am celebrating having time to read in order to dive into this one.

This week, I took one day to book talk a number of books that I have been meaning to tell my students about.  I showed them this trailer for The 5th Wave because I knew they would love it:

I haven't gotten to the booktalks lately for a number of reasons and I was so glad to get to this. I love how eager my students were to read these books I told them about.  I have at least 5 new waiting lists started from this week.  Our reading community is going strong this year!

I had to switch my schedule around this week because I was not liking what was happening with the morning.  I decided to try flipping my math and reading blocks because I just haven't been able to get the morning to flow right this year.  This was exactly the right thing to do.  My math time went so much smoother than it has all year.  My students were working in the groups I assigned them and problem solving like rockstars this week.  It is amazing how a small change like this can seem to change the whole feeling of the classroom.  The best part was that our reading workshop procedures are so set that the change did not affect it at all.  I was worried that the independent reading time being right before lunch might make my students less able to maintain focus, but it didn't phase them in the least.

This week a number of yummy fundraising treats came in.  I got the delivery of Girl Scout chocolate covered raisins and chocolate covered almonds along with the Boy Scout popcorn I had ordered. These are guilty pleasures but I am celebrating their deliciousness this week.

What do you have to celebrate this week?  I would love to hear from you in the comments below.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 11/18

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? --From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.


My report cards are due this week so much of last week was spent planning and designing assessments to do that last check before scoring students on the standards.  Much of this week will be spent grading and writing comments.  I am very thorough with comments and so report cards take me a LOOONG time to do, but I want to make sure I communicate the best way I can because this is one of the only things some parents look at.

Books Finished This Week:

 I was fortunate to find the last Babysitters Club graphic novel at Half Price Books last weekend.  I have been looking for this one for a while.  It was just in time because I just introduced one of my students to these and she is eating them up.  This was a quick read over the weekend so that I could feel like I at least finished one book this week.

Books I am Currently Reading:

I started listening to Rotters at the beginning of the week.  I am not sure I will continue with this one.  It isn't really pulling me in right now and I have so many other audiobooks that I want to listen to.  I might switch to The Clockwork Prince, but I will see how things go.  I also am about 3/4 of the way through The 5th Wave.  This book is really intriguing and I am really drawn in by the mystery of who to trust in this scary world.  The book really reminds me of The Host in that there are moral dilemmas about who to trust and the aliens are inside of some people, making it hard for the survivors to know who is human and who is alien.  

What's Next?

I am not sure what I will read next.  I just picked up a copy of Keesha's House so I think that will probably end up on the top of my pile.  I also just ordered Reading in the Wild after a great conversation about the book on Saturday morning.  I will be diving into that when it arrives on Tuesday.  Otherwise, I will see what I feel like reading this week.  

What did you read this week?  Have any recommendations for me?  Please leave a comment below.  

Happy Reading!

Celebration 11/16

This is a fabulous idea from Ruth Ayres in which we write about something to celebrate each Saturday. I am looking forward to participating in this link up each week and hearing about the awesome things happening in everyone's classrooms and lives.

I had the opportunity to start my weekend out right with a nerdy breakfast.  A few weeks ago Jen Vincent saw my tweet lamenting the fact that I was not going to be able to make it to NCTE 2013.  She immediately got to work to plan a Chicago/Milwaukee Nerdy Book Club meet-up.  Although many people couldn't make it, there were still 5 of us at breakfast.  It was great to meet Jen in person and to meet some new people to follow on Twitter.  I am so grateful for my PLN and the wonderful people I "meet" on Twitter and through blogging communities.  This was a fabulous way to start the day today! We talked books the whole time. So cool.  It makes up the tiniest bit for not being able to go to NCTE.


This week, I continued to have a great group of kids coming in after school for NaNo time.  It makes me feel so great that these students are giving up their time to come in and write.  One student even missed a sport practice so that he could be there to write with us.

I love the reading community that is happening in my classroom.  There are three boys in my classroom that are reading Divergent right now.  It is fun to see them talk to each other about this book and compare with each other how far they are getting in the book.  I also have a group of girls who are passing around See You at Harry's.  I love eavesdropping as they share their stories about where they were when they started crying and what conversations ensued with the people around them.  I was able to conference with all of my students this week.  I finally feel like our reading workshop is set and running smoothly.

There were multiple times this week as I read aloud from Endangered when I knew that the students were intently listening.  There is another layer of silence that happens when students are completely absorbed with the book.  I will celebrate finishing this book this week.  It took a really long time to get through this one so I will probably pick picture books for a while before delving into the next read aloud.

My colleague and I have been working with one student to help him boost his self-esteem.  She has had multiple talks with him about the idea of being able to feel proud of trying your best.  He is a student who is so sure he will fail at things that he never even tries.  This week, he showed me a Social Studies test that he did really poorly on and said, "I know this isn't good, but at least I tried.  I usually would just hand it in blank."  He was proud of himself for trying.  It was music to my ears.  I hope we can continue to help him work to feel proud of his efforts and understand that it feels good to know that you gave it your best try, no matter what the outcome.

Last, but not least, I want to celebrate my dog.  She is such a cuddle-bug and I love how she forces me to stop working and pay attention to her.  It is nice to have a reminder to put the work away and relax.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 11/11

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? --From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

This week I finished some amazing books.  I didn't read much because I am trying to write more for NaNoWriMo.  I also am trying to get caught up at work which means reading a lot of student writing.  

Books I Finished This Week:

Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris is a science fiction thriller.  It really grabbed my attention from the beginning and I read it quickly.  However, somewhere towards the middle of the book, I lost the ability to suspend my disbelief.  The ending of the book was disappointing for me.  I will still recommend this one to my science fiction loving students.  

I finished listening to Eleanor and Park this weekend.  I pretty much stopped what I was doing so that I could listen to the last 45 minutes of the book on Saturday.  This was an amazing book.  I am glad I listened to the audio.  It is really well done.  I highly recommend this book to teens and adults.  

This was a really great ending to the Legend trilogy.  I can't wait to share it with my students who have been eagerly awaiting it.  I don't want to say much because I don't want to ruin it for people. I highly recommend this one as well. 

Books I am Currently Reading:

I just started The 5th Wave and am very intrigued by the story so far.  

What's Next?

I will be starting a new audiobook this week.  I have a few to choose from between my downloads from Audible and the free downloads this summer from Sync. I am not sure what else I will pick up.  I have not really been following plans lately with my book picks.  I might pick up one of the Printz books I have.  We shall see. 

What are you reading this week?  Do you have any great recommendations for me?  I would love to hear from you in the comments below.  

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 11/4

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? --From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

Books I Finished This Week:

I don't want to give anything away, but this one was a good ending to the trilogy.  I wish some of the things that happened in the story didn't have to happen, but I understand how it had to happen.  It definitely was one that took me awhile to process.  I absolutely recommend this entire trilogy to teens and adults alike.

This was an impulse buy last week at Half Price Books.  I love Bones and was intrigued by the premise of this book.  I really enjoyed this book.  I will definitely recommend it to my students.  It was a fast-paced science fiction thriller.

Books I am Currently Reading:

I am listening to Eleanor and Park and loving it!  I am also reading Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris. This is also a science fiction thriller and I am really loving it so far.  

What's Next?

I am not sure what will be next.  It will depend on how I feel this week.  I am not going to make many plans because I am also trying to do NaNoWriMo so I will have less reading time.  

What are you reading this week?  I would love to hear from you in the comments!

Celebration 11/2

This is a fabulous idea from Ruth Ayres in which we write about something to celebrate each Saturday. I am looking forward to participating in this link up each week and hearing about the awesome things happening in everyone's classrooms and lives.

My favorite season is autumn.  It is so amazing to see the beautiful colors of the leaves every day.  I love the crisp feel of the air and I love the flavors of Fall.  The best is when everywhere you turn there is a pumpkin flavored something.  I enjoy all the pumpkin treats...if it is pumpkin flavored, I will love it. This week I treated myself to a pumpkin spice latte one morning and my favorite pumpkin beer one night. Yum! 

 If you can get beer from Lakefront Brewery in your area, you should try their beers.  They are one of my favorite craft breweries...from Milwaukee

In my classroom, this week was mind-numbing with the state testing.  My poor 8th grade students have to test in all curriculum areas, so we spent ALL WEEK testing in the morning.  We are almost done with the tests and just have ELA/Writing left to do on Monday.  Woo-Hoo!  

This week I was super excited to start NaNoWriMo with my 8th grade students.  I prepared them more than I did with last year's students.  It is amazing to start and to see my students get excited about their word count goals.  When I stopped my students a few minutes before the end of class, some actually got upset that they had to stop.  It was the end of the day on Friday and they did not want to stop writing!  I love the momentum that this project gives all my students.  (Now, I just need to kick myself in the butt to get writing)  

My seventh grade class had the assignment to write a personal narrative about something that has happened to them.  I have been working with them on word choice and choosing strong verbs to make their writing more powerful.  I was really pleased with the quality of the narratives that I was seeing this week.  I can't wait to share their work with the world.  We would love some comments if you have some time.  Here's the Link: Mrs.Payan's Kidblog

Finally, I will celebrate the fact that I get an extra hour to sleep tonight.  Gotta love Daylight Savings Time in the fall!  

What are you celebrating this week?  I would love to hear from you in the comments.  

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 10/28

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? --From Picture Books to YA is a weekly meme started by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. This is a chance for bloggers to recap their week of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating in this meme and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

This week was a good reading week.  I felt that I was able to get some more reading in during the week as well as on the weekend.  I am feeling less stressed and more on track at this point of the year also.  (I probably just jinxed myself with that statement, but it is true)

Books I Finished This Week:

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga is super creepy and right up my alley.  I love psychological thrillers and this one is complex.  I thought the story was well done and believable, but also disturbing.  This book is not one I would recommend to all of my students, but for the students that watch shows like Dexter and Criminal Minds and enjoy them this book will thrill.  The thing I found most fascinating in this book is the idea that the protagonist struggles with his own conscious and is not sure what he feels.  I am looking forward to reading the next one in the series soon.  

I read Bad Girls Don't Die because a student insisted I read it.  She loved the story when she read it last year and was shocked that I had not yet read this one.  She brought me her copy to borrow so I knew I needed to read it quickly and offer my opinion.  This is the kind of book that I ate up when I was in middle school.  I was a big fan of R.L.Stine and Christopher Pike, and these kind of creepy ghost stories of possession and supernatural forces were my favorite ones.  In this book the protagonist's sister is possessed by an evil spirit and the protagonist has to save herself, her sister, and many of the women in the town.  This is not my kind of book anymore, but I enjoyed the story and I know that a lot of students will LOVE it.  I can't wait to bring my copy to the class library on Monday and book talk it.  

I did not know that Montel Williams had MS or that he had written a memoir about it.  I was surprised last Monday when a colleague brought me Climbing Higher. It was quite touching that this colleague knew I would be interested in reading this book even though I didn't even know about it.  It was really interesting to read about Montel's struggles with MS and his desperation at getting the diagnosis.  It really highlighted for me that the strides that have been made in the treatment of this disease are pretty spectacular.  

I FINALLY finished listening to Siege and Storm.  I love this audiobook.  I laughed out loud many times throughout the book and really enjoyed listening.  The world of the Grisha is a fascinating world and I am really curious about what will happen next.  I hope there are good things to come for Alina and Mal, but I somehow doubt the good will come before they go through many more hurdles.  

Books I am Currently Reading:

I had preordered Allegiant so I started reading that book earlier this week.  I realized that I was having a hard time remembering the end of Insurgent so I had to find my copy at school so that I could re-read the end of the book and remember.  Now I do remember and I will be feverishly reading this week.  

What's Next?

I am excited to start listening to Eleanor and Park this week.  I don't know what else I will pick up to read.  It will depend on my mood this week.  I have entirely too many books to choose from and I just keep buying more books!!!  I just bought Virals by Kathy Reichs and I am really curious about that one so I think it may end up on my bedside table this week.  We shall see. 

What are you reading this week? Have you read any of the books I talked about? What did you think?  Please share your thoughts in the comments below.