It's Monday, What Are You Reading May 6, 2013

It's Monday! What are you reading? A weekly themed meme connecting many bloggers around the world and originally conceived by Sheila at Book Journeys. I first learned about it at Teach Mentor Texts hosted by Jen and Kellee. I was messing around with a button Scholastic had given me and stuck it in a calendar and snapped a photo. Cool right? Now I flash this pic to kids and ask them, "What are you reading?"

There has been a heck of a lot of reading going on in my home lately. We have had a marathon of Elephant and Piggie books and a few other Mo Willem titles too. I had determined that L does not get read to enough and J, although still two-almost three years old is ready to learn to read. We read several books every night and have been practicing our alphabet letters phonetically. I have to give snaps to YouTube videos and Ipad apps that help make this journey so easy. There are some terrific sounding our sounds videos online.

These books have all been read five times each this week

The Murphys LOVE Mo Willems books

 As far as the big people books go, I quickly read the sequel that I had been waiting for: The Elite by Kera Cass. These folks really know how to design a book cover. Both books are enjoyable and fun to read but not as intense as Veronica Roth's fabulous Divergent, Insurgent, and now the third book Allegiant.

Visit author Kiera Cass's web site to learn more about The Selection and The Elite.

 

I am sure you have all heard the news about Veronica Roth's Allegiant 

which will be released on 10-22-2013

I can't wait!

I also finished up Ghetto Cowboy, a 2013-2014 Texas Bluebonnet nominee. This is how I am sharing this unique book with my students. 2013 Bluebonnet Book Club.

It is kinda cool that I finished it up this week because my mom and I went to see the Budweiser Clydesdale horses that were in town for our annual Buccaneer Days. That's right, my city celebrates the invasion of pirates on our coastlines and the sad thing is not much has changed since as the violence and crime increases every year. My mom told me  that her dad took her to see the Budweiser Clydesdale horses when she was a little girl. She is now 75 years old. Those fellas have been around for a long time. They are massively HUGE!

 This one is named Bud. Not very original.

 

This is my favorite shot of the day. I have plans to use this next time my kids get sassy.

Current Reads: 

This week, I have picked up a copy of Son by Lois Lowry. I have really enjoyed this amazing journey through The Giver quartet.  She is such a gifted writer. I am looking forward to learning how Lowry will brings all the threads of the quartet together to weave connections between the characters in all four books. I have heard it is beautifully mastered.

I also reading Sidekicks by Jack D. Ferraiolo because there has been some "whispers" about page 6-10 on the school bus about certain topics in this MG book. Thank goodness I have a good repertoire with my students so one of them came to me to share what was being talked about. He described the passage as "tension starting up in the character's pants". Oh great-just what I need someone thinking I keep dirty books in the library. I reminded everyone that if they are ever uncomfortable with any book they are reading, they should turn it in and find one to suit them. For now, I am tucking this one in my Middle School library section. Our middle schoolers understand that they are mature enough to handle realistic fiction about the things kids their age experience and if I started censoring these types of books, then I would be doing them a disservice.

 

    

Audio Books this week:

 

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? April 15, 2013

It's Monday! What are you reading? A weekly themed meme connecting many bloggers around the world and originally conceived by Sheila at Book Journeys. I first learned about at Teach Mentor Texts hosted by Jen and Kellee. Its a terrific way to post a few of the books that you have recently read and put together a list of what you are planning on reading this week.


Here are the books I read this past week:

On D.E.A.R. Day I selected to read "My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother" by Patricia Polacco.

This is an autobiographical look into the relationship between Patricia and her own redheaded brother. I enjoyed it as I do all Patricia Polacco books.

Listen to actress Melissa Gilbert read My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother

Next, I picked up Ghetto Cowboy by G. Neri. I was able to read a chapter with each class and found it to be original and very interesting. I chose this book because it is one of the 2013-2014 Texas Bluebonnet Award nominees. I discovered some fascinating facts about the Philadelphia Street Riders while doing backstory research. *Anytime I find a book I really like, I have to uncover its backstory.*  Look here on my Bluebonnet Book Club wiki. I keep my lesson resources on my wiki for quick and easy access.
This is one of my current reads. 




May B. by Caroline Starr Rose. Thank you to the very generous and King of Book Talks, @MrSchureads, for sending this survival themed novel in verse little gem to me. I loved it. Survival stories and historical fiction are my favorite genres. I am looking forward to the Twitter #SharpSchu Book Club that will take place on April 24th at 8 p.m. EST. Please  join in the chat that also includes author Sharon Creech and her book Love That Dog. Learn more about it here on Mr. Schu's blog.

Penny and Her Marble by Kevin Henkes

Penny finds a marble as blue as the sky in a neighbor's yard and after taking it home she begins to feel guilty for taking it without asking for permission. It reminded me of the Highlights magazines that usually included stories with good moral lessons. Remember those magazines? They were always in Doctor and Dentist offices.

I just finished listening to Messenger by Lois Lowry, the third installment in the Giver series. It is my favorite in the series and I now look forward to reading the final book-Son. The audio version was due so I pulled the print copy from the library shelf to finish off the last three chapters. The library was very busy when I walked in but one of the librarians had to flick the lights on and off to alert us late stayers that it was time to close. As I was wiping the tears off my cheeks (it was beautifully written) I was shocked to see the library had emptied out. That is how removed I was from the world around me. I was swept away with the story. 

Current audio book:

I am listening to Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden. I needed a refresher because another Texas Bluebonnet Award nominee, The Humming Room by Ellen Potter,  is the retelling of The Secret Garden. Click here to view   The Humming Room on my Bluebonnet Book Club wiki. You can find books trailers, lesson plans, and more. 

Project Gutenberg: Read the Etext version of The Secret Garden (27 chapters)

These were my pre-school and kinder class reads this week. We were learning about shadows and using your imagination. Bear Shadow is a wonderful book about a bear trying to get rid of his shadow and all the kids loved it. I brought along my handy dandy crank flashlight and we made shadows. I read a poem I had written about shadows and I even found a terrific little video to share. I played the music as they walked into the library.

I love Ame Dyckman's Boy + Bot and had read it before to the kids but they always beg for it and it was the perfect book to pair with the clever Have Fun, Molly Lou Melon. In Molly's book, we learn the wonders of cloud watching and creating toys out of flowers, twigs, and cardboard boxes. I brought out my special little robot head made out of a re-purposed diaper box (thank you Maddy) and used my best robot voice to introduce Boy + Bot. They kids went wild. I just know they went home and scrounged up old boxes and made their own robots this weekend. Or at least I hope they were lucky enough to be able to do so.


So this week, I will continue to finish Ghetto Cowboy and The Secret Garden on audio. I also picked up these titles at the Neyland library.

                      


Happy reading ya'll!