Showing posts with label Clifford. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clifford. Show all posts

Monday, October 28, 2013

All the Lovely Bad Ones and Some Good Ones too! #IMWAYR October 28, 2013


I I delivered a lot of creepy, scary book talks this week as we explored HORROR Fiction as a genre. Mary Downing Hahn was right at the top of the list along with Goose Bumps, Scary Stories, and the book in greatest demand in the ECDC Library. The Big Book of Texas Ghost Stories. 



I couldn't keep up with students wanting Halloween themed and really scary books. Just as soon as I book talked a title and set up a display, I had to go seeking new books to refill the empty displays. 

Cowboy Clifford shared his favorite Halloween reads
and talked to kids about dressing up for the school Literature Parade. 
Integrating math into a Halloween lesson is always easy when you have books like 16 Runaway Pumpkins (theme doubles). It makes for a fun lesson and count aloud. 
The Runaway Pumpkin was a good pairing. 













Double rainbow was gorgeous. 
These were some nice things that happened to me this past week. The Caller Times did a spread on Coastal Bend Book Fairs and my school fair was the focus. My students had their big moment of fame being quoted and featured. I was very pleased with how well they represented their school.

My Favorite Book of the Week:

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
There is a book thief in town snatching all the bedtime books just as families are settling in for their nightly reads. Who would do such a dastardly deed? One brave little bunny sets out to solve the mystery and return the books back to their rightful owners.

The Snatchabook is my  new favorite read aloud book. You just know when something magic appears in your hands in the  form of a children's book. My head is spinning with ideas to use along with this precious story that reminds me a bit of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Snatchabook would be a great read aloud choice for a Family Reading Night event.


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Patrick O'Shanahan walks in to breakfast one morning and is surprised to find a cow standing there. When Patrick's father arrives and decides to make French toast without noticing the cow, Patrick decides to help his dad by getting the best in farm fresh products that have appeared in his kitchen in the form of farm animals.
YA Books

Crash (Visions, #1)Crash by Lisa McMann

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Crash is a forbidden love story in the vein of Romeo and Juliet. Jules' family lives above their restaurant as do their rivals the Angotti's. Jules has been in love with Sawyer Angotti for years but for the  past several years, he has been shunning her and she doesn't understand why unless it's all about the family rivalry. Jules now has bigger problems than unrequited love, she is seeing horrific visions of a snowplow crashing into a building that leaves nine dead bodies in the snow and one of those belongs to Sawyer. Everywhere Jules looks, she sees the visions of the crash on billboards, windows, TV and computer screens, and now they are coming faster and more frequent. Can Jules unravel the clues hidden in the visions and save Sawyer or is he doomed to die? What if the visions are not real and she is going insane? What's a girl in love to do?
View all my reviews


This past week, I fell victim to a book spoiler when I became curious about a Twitter game #fictionaldeathsIwillnevergetover. 
I am going to share this with  my fellow librarians at our next PD session. Just slap a bit of butcher paper up (oh, in the shape of a tombstone) and see what everyone comes up with. This topic will make for a good book chat for our university students too. For me, the hardest death to bear was when Beth, the kindest, sweetest, dearest of the March sisters passed away. It still breaks my heart to this day. I threw Harry Potter books across the room at the deaths of Dumbledore, Sirius Black, and Fred Weasley (NO! not a twin. I have twins. How can they live without each other?) That poor Harry Potter couldn't ever catch a break. I felt so depressed after reading about their deaths. 

Currently Reading: 

Dozens of Picture Books in preparation for writing daily blog posts for Picture Book Month as a Picture Book Blogger and to prepare for #virtualbookclub's Mock Caldecott chat in November. 

Picture Book Month information




The List by Siobhan Vivian
It happens every year. A list is posted, and one girl from each grade is chosen as the prettiest, and another is chosen as the ugliest. Nobody knows who makes the list. It almost doesn't matter. The damage is done the minute it goes up.




Next up:


I am really looking forward to reading the conclusion of this series.











So, what are you reading?





Tuesday, March 5, 2013

It's Scholastic Book Fair time. Take a look!

It's Scholastic Book Fair time again and our dependable Clifford, the big red dog is here to help us raise money to build up the Early Childhood Development Center Library.



 We have a little surprise for Clifford too. His friends have gathered together to welcome him to the Book Fair and to celebrate his yearlong birthday celebration. That's right, Clifford turned 50 years old this year.



World Read Aloud Day 2013
WRAD13 
We will also be hosting 2 family events in support of WRAD 13. 
Wednesday, March 6th is World Read Aloud Day. We support the right to change the world by reading it forward. The ECDC Library is hosting two family reading events to encourage the practice of families reading together in the home. Pictured above are some of the books we will be reading for WRAD 13.


Book Fair Set Up
Librarians and Scholastic Book Fair chairpeeps everywhere love to see other book fair set ups. Here is the Early Childhood Development Center's set up for this year. I didn't go heavy on the Story Laboratory theme this year because it just gets lost in the displays. I had set up pre-fair displays using my 2 liter bottles filled with color water. These are not shown because they are being set up for this Friday's big BOOK FAIR GAME DAY. That's right, it's not enough for me to host the book fair and keep the library open, I have to also throw in the almost impossible to run game day. Students must complete three agility skills based games to work their way into the book fair on the last day. This gives them a chance to win bookmarks, pencils, etc. Kids love it. I will do a game day post soon.

 Older readers, Spanish books, teaching resources, and bargain books. Posters are attached to pants hangers and hung on a flip chart stand.

The silver table features magic tricks, spy devices, makeup kits, arts and crafts items. Green long tables feature the hot selling cook books, entertainment items, Star Wars on end cap and those wonderful hard cover picture books. I special order many titles from restock. Just name any title and they will try to get it for you. Love that restock team. They can make a huge difference in your sales.


HOT SELLERS
How to Draw Angry Birds, UV Spy Pens, and Monster High's Ghoulfriends Forever are so hot that Scholastic is requiring pre-paid orders for them. I have re-ordered three times already.

The new Dude diary and Coke and Pepsi type books are still hot sellers for my school.





 TEACHING RESOURCES

I promote teaching resources such as science, social studies topics, and mentor texts. My best customers are university students and professors who can't resist great books.

Guys Read books

I like to group great guy books together.  Some boys get distracted by the gizmos when they would really love some of these titles.


 The goodies and gizmos

I WANT THE MAGIC WAND PENS! I don't even know if they really exist but if they don't then Scholastic needs to get on it. They would sell like hotcakes or like UV Spy Pens. I heard a rumor and I have been pestering Restock daily for them. 
Our good buddy, Pete, the Cat has been spotted at the Book Fair. It's about time he received his own display board. New book "Pete's Big Lunch" early reader. 



2013-2014 Texas Bluebonnet Award nominees are a great addition to any teacher's classroom. 
Be sure to visit my new 
We are adding resources daily.  

These are my favorite books 
to promote.








And the wonderful Texas Lone Star List books. Delightful!











What does your fair look like? 
I would love to know your best tips and tricks for running a successful book fair.