It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 6/1

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.

I cannot believe that it is already June! At times this year, I was pretty sure the school year was never going to end. Now, we are just two weeks away from the last day of school and summer! I am looking forward to a few conferences right away after school gets out. At Summer Spark, I am looking forward to hearing Dave Burgess speak and learning about innovative ideas for the classroom. Click on the image to find out more information about this really cool symposium in Milwaukee on June 15-16. 

I also am going to be attending the All Write Summer Institute. I am excited to attend that two days filled with all-stars! Seriously, I am geeking out about going. I also can't wait to meet many, many of the people that I connect with through this blog and through Twitter. 

Now, on to the actual purpose of this blog post--sharing my reading. I haven't done a Monday post since the end of April. I don't know how May slipped by so quickly. I will try to be short and sweet about sharing some of the books I have read since the last post. 

Adult Novels I have read:

Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio was an interesting read. It wasn't really my cup of tea, but I can see how many people have enjoyed this book. I did definitely like the fact that it made me think about what it would be like to have Tourette's syndrome without really knowing anything about the condition. I am so glad that we have more knowledge of disorders in this day and age. 

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon is a beast of a book, with 896 pages. This is the first book that I tried Whispersync with. I listened to most of the book, but also read some of it on my Kindle. It was really slick to do it this way. I really enjoyed the narration and I think I liked the character more because of the narrator's interpretation. I recommend this one to anyone who enjoys romance books. 

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George is a book I got from NetGalley. It will be out on June 23rd. I enjoyed the premise of the book. The protagonist is a man who owns a "book apothecary." He sells books to people like prescriptions for whatever is ailing them at the moment. He also has a particularly tragic story of a lover that died and his many years of pining for her and not moving on from this sad event. It is a novel that really focuses on how people make mistakes, but also how we must move forward and live our life that we have now. This is another one that wasn't quite up my alley, but I did enjoy the literary twists in the book. 

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain is a fascinating glimpse of Ernest Hemingway's life with his first wife. This historical fiction book captured me from the first page and I had a hard time putting it down. If you are like me and are a literature nerd, you need to read this book. 

Young Adult Books:

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins is one that really stood up to the hype. I had heard multiple really great reviews of this one. I am so glad I picked it up to read it. It is a really cute teenage love story and I really enjoyed it. I highly recommend this one for high school and up. 

Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen is a retelling of the story of Robin Hood, with a little bit of love mixed in. I found myself laughing out loud at many points during this book. The protagonist is quite witty. I loved this one and highly recommend it for high school and up. 

Middle Grade Books:

The Orphan Army by Jonathan Maberry is a science fiction adventure book. You may know this author from his Rot and Ruin series. This new series is a lot more geared for younger students, but still brings in a post-apocalyptic world full of aliens who are taking over the world. We were lucky enough to have this author come for a school visit this month. What fun it is to be able to provide fabulous experiences with rockstar authors! I highly recommend this series for grades 4 and up. 

How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor is a heartwarming, but also heartbreaking story about a girl who is homeless. She knows her mother needs money and when she sees a reward poster for a missing dog, she comes up with a plan to steal a dog and return the dog for a reward. As you can imagine, things don't quite go as planned. This is a great book for helping kids to build some empathy and I think it would make a great read aloud. I highly, highly recommend this one for grades 3 and up. 

Eddie Red Undercover: Mystery on Museum Mile by Marcia Wells is a fun detective story about a boy who has a photographic memory. When he is called into the police station to describe a suspect in a crime he witnessed, he is not satisfied with the police sketch. He asks to sketch the person himself. He does such a great job with the sketch that the police enlist his help in the case they are working on. I am a sucker for mysteries, so this book was right up my alley. I am sure many kids would really enjoy this book as well. I recommend it for grades 4 and up. 

The Brixen Witch by Stacy DeKeyser is a retelling of the Pied Piper story that looks into who the piper is and why the village finds themselves in the position of needing someone to remove the rats. It is a fun book and I recommend it for grades 3 and up. 

Books I am Currently Reading:

I am reading Shadows by Ilsa Bick right now. It is the second book in the Ashes trilogy. 

What's Next? 

I just ordered some professional books for summer reading, so I will probably get started with one of those. I also want to read the NetGalley copy that I have of Circling the Sun by Paula McLain. I will also probably pick up a couple middle grade titles. With report cards and end of the year records to do, I may not get in much reading. I guess we shall see. 

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

Celebrate 5/30

It's Saturday and that means it is time to reflect on the week and celebrate things both big and small. Join our community and celebrate this week by linking up or just stopping by the host Ruth Ayres' blog to read others' celebrations.

This week I am celebrating...

A friend who will always be in our hearts and the good memories of good times with him. 

A student who persistently asks to read with me and her great gains this year in reading. 

A fun field trip to the local science museum to learn about water treatment and conservation. 

Students who have gone above and beyond for their final research project. I actually really put together this inquiry project as a way to keep them engaged in the last couple weeks of school. They have taken it and run with it. One student even asked her parents to buy her a presentation board and paint in order to have a great poster. I am looking forward to hearing their presentations next week! 

A fun week of math class. Finding angles in real world objects and classifying them on a group poster. Some of the angles they found are so fun! 

A weekend without any plans. Time to read and write and clean and relax. 

Finishing the ridiculous amount of paperwork that we now have to do in Wisconsin. A new evaluation system based on the Danielson framework seemed to me like a good idea until we were given requirements for what we needed to do for this system. I had to upload artifacts for evidence for all 22 components of the framework for my district requirements. The platform for uploading and tagging the documents is really unwieldy and difficult to navigate. I am so glad I have finished for this year! I am at the end of an evaluation year that was far from ordinary and I am glad it's done. 

An anonymous donor that generously gave $100 to my project on DonorsChoose. 

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

Celebrate 5/23

It's Saturday and that means it is time to reflect on the week and celebrate things both big and small. Join our community and celebrate this week by linking up or just stopping by the host Ruth Ayres' blog to read others' celebrations.

This week has been a whirlwind of the particular chaos of this time of year. There is a ridiculous amount of paperwork, the kids are starting to look forward to summer and get squirrely, the weather plays with us in Wisconsin, and all the while all I want to do is sit on a secluded beach somewhere, relaxing. 

Finding small moments to celebrate seems especially important as my principal starts conversations about next year and most of the staff in my school turn to negative thinking. New leaders bring new ideas and change, which is needed. This is somehow threatening to a lot of the people on staff at my school. Therefore, my days could be filled with noxious clouds of negativity. But I am a positive thinker and I don't let that get to me most days. On other days, it is this ritual of looking for celebrations that is my saving grace. I am most grateful for this weekly tradition. Even in the weeks that I do not write a post, I find myself picking up on the small celebrations and rejoicing in them. 

Things to celebrate this week:

1. One of my students got a new baby brother on Thursday night. We were excited when the office called to tell him that his grandma would be picking him up from school on Thursday. Sure enough, his mom was in labor and at the hospital. The new baby was born at 9:41pm so my student hadn't seen the baby yet when he got to school on Friday. Boy, was he chomping at the bit to leave at the end of the day. I love celebrating this kind of good news with students!

2. On Wednesday, we had a local company come in to our school to volunteer. We do "JA in a day." The employees of this company who volunteer in our classrooms come in and do a whirlwind day full of Junior Achievement lessons. We had two welders visiting our classroom. It is always a fun experience to hear a little about other people's jobs. They always leave with a much better appreciation of a teacher's job as well. 

3. I started going to Barre class at a local studio. This workout is killer and seriously challenges me, but I have loved every minute of it (once I actually am finished that is). 

4. I am looking forward to the summer and some great travels and conferences. It always starts to be much more real once the arrangements are being made. 

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

 

Celebrate 5/16

It's Saturday and that means it is time to reflect on the week and celebrate things both big and small. Join our community and celebrate this week by linking up or just stopping by the host Ruth Ayres' blog to read others' celebrations.

This week I am celebrating:

1. Fancy new cars:

We traded in our old car for a fun, new Toyota Venza. It is so much fun to drive and I love the bluetooth audio that will pick up my phone's audio player. I have loved being able to listen to my audiobook on the drive to and from school.





2. Professional Development opportunities: Last week, I attended EdCamp Milwaukee. I absolutely love the opportunity to hear about innovation in other people's classrooms. I left with a head full of ideas for gamification, makerspaces, and tweaks to my genius hour time. I am also looking forward to SummerSpark, which is another conference in the Milwaukee area. I cannot wait to hear Dave Burgess speak! I was able to get on the website and register for my sessions this week and I know I will have a great two days there.  I also sent in my registration for All Write summer conference this week. I am so excited to drive down to attend that conference full of rock stars. I also can't wait to meet people face to face!

3. Author Events:

I saw on Twitter that Jarrett Krosoczka was doing free virtual book talks on May 5th as part of the publicity for his new Platypus Police Squad book. We tuned in to see him talk and answer questions from classes all over the United States. This was such a cool and interesting thing to see. My students loved that they were able to see the author in real time.

We also had Jonathan Maberry visit our school on Thursday. The students were enthusiastic and listening with rapt attention as he spoke to them about his books and about being a writer. His new book The Nightsiders: The Orphan Army is a middle grade fantasy book. He also talked to the kids a little bit about his Rot and Ruin series. The graphic novel of Rot and Ruin just came out on Tuesday, by the way. The questions our students asked were amazing and I loved that we learned so much from this visit. I love being the person who is responsible for bringing this type of experience to our students. It is worth every extra second I spend on organizing.

4. Time with Family: In the last two weeks, we have spent more time with family. Two weeks ago, we participated in WalkMS with my parents, my uncle, my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. It is nice to walk in an event like that with the support of loved ones. Then, we went to my brother's house for my nephew's fourth birthday party. The day was spent surrounded by family and enjoying our time together. Then, last weekend, I had everyone over for Mother's Day. I was happy to be able to cook a nice meal for my mother and to have another great time together. My nephew is such fun to be around!

An action shot of my nephew playing with my husband. Yes, that is me in the mirror. Not the best photography, but what can you do?

5. Winding down the school year: We have four weeks left to go. It is so close to the end of the year.  We will be sprinting for that finishing line as we cram in some more learning. My students are eagerly working on some inquiry projects that I hope will sustain momentum. We have finished all the testing and now we need to continue to learn, but also celebrate our time together. I have had a really topsy-turvy school year and I am looking forward to some time off this summer and a new group of students next year.

Celebrate 4/25

It's Saturday morning and that means it is time to reflect on the week and celebrate things both big and small. Join our community and celebrate this week by linking up or just stopping by the host Ruth Ayres' blog to read others' celebrations.

It has been a while since I sat down to write a Celebrate blog post, but that is not to say that I have not been celebrating. I love that this routine of writing these blog posts really made me much more aware of the small things I have to celebrate each week.

This week was a crazy one and I don't think it will let up anytime soon. With the new Badger Exam (Wisconsin's Smarter Balanced Assessment), and an administrator trying to catch up on evaluations and cramming in the observations, the craziness that is the end of the year is upon us.  All of the changes to our routine are a big thorn in my side since this group of kids is one that cannot handle it. However, we are handling it and I am able to stay less stressed out because I am finding things to celebrate each day.

Since I knew there was going to be a weird schedule this week, I decided to spend some time thinking about Earth Day using The Lorax. We read the book and watched the newer adaptation movie and compared the two. We spent time talking about how the Earth needs our help and what could be done to help. We made Truffula trees to go along with the Lorax students had made in art class. Then, two of my students took it upon themselves to make a poster to hang up with the artwork. We have a wonderful display and I love that these students took the initiative and ownership of the display.

My student council had decided earlier this year that they wanted to do a book drive. We threw it together with minimal planning and sent out flyers. We collected books for two weeks. It took longer for us to count them than we had originally planned, but we finally got a count done this week. In our school with an enrollment of about 600 students, we were able to collect over 2,000 books that will be donated to a community organization. I am super impressed with this result, and only slightly inconvenienced by the multitude of boxes of books in my classroom. (I would really love to share a picture here, but I am so bad at remembering to take pictures of things)

On Thursday, my dog had knee surgery. I am celebrating the fact that the surgery went well and she will hopefully not be in so much pain with the new fake ligament. Of course, right now there is more pain, but it has already gotten better which is another thing I am celebrating. (That first night was horrible) I also have to celebrate how cute the bandage is. I love that my vet matched the bandage color to the collar she was wearing.

This week, I had a former student come to school in a surprise visit. This particular young man was a very needy and very special young child. I taught him in first grade, then again in fifth grade, then again in eighth grade. I did this same pattern with many students, but none needed the calming influence of a stable adult so much as this boy. I was his fiercest advocate throughout his years at our school and he knew it. On the day of his 8th grade completion ceremony, he told me that he didn't know how he would have made it through his years at our school without me. He is now a high school graduate with plans to go to college and wants to be an aerospace engineer. I was choked up to see how successful he seems to be. It was not always evident in his 8th grade year whether he was going to stay on the right path, so I am glad to see that he did. He came to school specifically to thank me again for the many years I worked with him to help him stay on track. It was a really nice surprise in a week that is full of stress. It is a reminder of why I do what I do.

My students are loving the read aloud of Rump. They beg me to read each day and then it is the most quiet in my classroom while I read. Since quiet moments are few and far between this year, I love that time even more.

Lastly, I want to celebrate living in a place in which we experience the four seasons in all of their glory. Our weather has been wonderfully weird in the last few weeks. It has gotten warm enough on some days to give us a glimpse of summer. Then, we actually had some snow flurries one day this week. I think it is wonderful to live in this kind of place because then when we have sunshine and warmth, we really know how to appreciate it.

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

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 4/20

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:

I loved The Year of the Book by Andrea Cheng. It was such a sweet story about fitting in and making friends. I love the way the main character uses reading to help her make her way through her life. It is one I will definitely recommend to my students.

The Meaning of Meggie by Megan Jean Sovern was a really difficult book for me to read. I was diagnosed with MS last year. Reading about Meggie's experience as a young girl trying to understand her father's illness was hard. I hope that I won't ever get to the stage in which I need to be in a wheelchair, but I don't know and that is the scary part of MS. I thought this was a wonderful book and I will definitely recommend it to kids.

I read The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay for my book club. I am really excited to discuss it at our meeting. This is a wonderful story about healing. Both of the main characters in the book have had tragic experiences and they are used to keeping everyone away from them. I loved the complex characters in this novel. When I got to the end of the book, I couldn't put it down and stayed up way too late. That hasn't happened in a while. I would highly recommend it to adults.

I learned so much from the book Chocolate: Sweet Science and Dark Secrets of the World's Favorite Treat by Kay Frydenborg. This would be an excellent mentor text for informational writing. The author manages to pack in so much history as well as the environmental science and the science of making chocolate. I recommend this one for grades 5 and up.

Books I am Currently Reading:

I am reading Outlander and really enjoying it. I am also reading a book from NetGalley, The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George. I also started reading an ARC of The Nightsiders: The Orphan Army by Jonathan Maberry. So far it is really interesting.  I really liked Rot and Ruin and I am excited about this middle grade series.

What's Next?
I have no idea what I will read next. I am having a hard time getting to my reading lately so I may not be able to start anything else.

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

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 4/6

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.

I was again not feeling all that well this week so I spent a lot of time watching HGTV shows on Netflix. I don't know why I tend to want to see this type of show when not feeling well, but I do. Since I was in some pain, I have been taking some medication that makes me feel completely out of it, so brain work did not really fit in. I am seeing my neurologist today and I hope that he will have some solutions for me. That being said, I am officially on Spring Break this week! Woo-Hoo!!!

Books I Finished This Week:

The Red Pencil is a novel-in-verse by Andrea Davis Pinkney. It tells the story of Amira, a young girl who craves learning to read and write, but lives too far away from the nearest school. Then, when war arrives at her village, she and her family find themselves walking to the refugee camp. The story is told from Amira's perspective and would be a good way for middle grade students to understand what happens in other places in the world. I think it would be good to have a literature circle read this one while other groups read Home of the Brave and The Long Walk to Water. There could be some great discussions about how people in Africa work to survive.  

I loved Fish in a Tree. I had read a lot about it from other teachers and librarians and I am just as much in love with this book as others.  I think it would be an excellent read aloud to pair with Thank You, Mr. Faulkner at the beginning of the year, while discussing perseverance and a growth mindset. I hope I am a teacher like Mr. Daniels, who helps the students to see their own strengths. 

Books I am Currently Reading:

I am still listening to/reading Outlander. It is a fun read. I have also been reading some magazines this week. 

What's Next?

I have Ensnared and The Mime Order from the library. I also have 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea which I got interested in while I was reading All the Light We Cannot See. It is a classic that I have never read, so I am curious to see if I will like it. I also have a stack of middle grade titles that I would like to get through. Unfortunately, I had to leave school in the middle of the day on Wednesday, and I was super medicated and unable to drive on Thursday, so I really didn't get to pack up my things to bring home for break. I am hoping I can get into my classroom at some point this week to be able to grab some of the books I want to have here. 

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