It's Monday! What are You Reading? April 8, 2013

OK, Something very fishy is happening to my blog today. Earlier my entire post vanished! So, I fixed it. Then as dark clouds began to loom overhead (not really but it helps my mood) today's Poetry post mysteriously jumbled itself up. I think it is crazed garden gnomes tampering or my fonts have gone ballistic and have taken over my blog. Woe is me.

I will try one more time to correct it.

I recently jumped on Jen and Kellee's bandwagon over at Teach Mentor Texts and started writing a weekly blog post for It's Monday! What are You Reading? They were inspired by Sheila at Book Journeys.

This past week, I introduced a poetry unit to my Pre-Kinder three year old class - Kinder class.

Poems that Rhyme

I began with the stunning poetry book "In the Wild" and I asked the students to listen for words that rhyme. Sometimes I would pause before the end word in the rhyming pattern and the kids would shout out their best guess. They did a great job. If you do not have this book in your collection, get it asap! It is visually stunning and a great way to introduce poetry to young readers.

In the Wild by David Elliott
Illustrated by Holly Meade
Publisher: Candlewick Press

Publisher description: From the lion standing alone on the African savannah to the panda in a bamboo forest, from the rhinoceros with its boot-like face to the Arctic polar bear disappearing in the snow, the earth is full of curious and wonderful animals, each more extraordinary than the next. David Elliott’s pithy, lyrical verse and Holly Meade’s stunning woodcut and watercolor illustrations reveal a world of remarkable beauty and wonder — and offer an enticing introduction to both favorite animals and poetic forms.

Lyrical Poems

Mother Goose and Friends
selected and illustrated by Ruth Sanderson
Publisher: Little Brown and Company


Next, we reviewed some nursery rhymes we have been reading this year. I wanted to include lyrical forms of poetry and nursery rhymes were familiar to this age group as I had already provided them with a good foundation in the genre. We formed a circle and held hands and sang "Ring Around the Rosy" ending in a big tumbled heap on the carpet as we "all fall down" amid an avalanche of giggles.

Next, I plopped down a big old fake bush in the middle of the story-time carpet and we walked in a circle singing "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush". I threw them a bit of a challenge by alternating the direction of the circle with each changing verse. We pretended to wash our hands, wash our faces, brush our hair, and brush our teeth along with each corresponding verse. This movement and song activity allowed us all to shake some wiggles out and prepare for our next few books.



Non-Rhyming Poems and The "awwww" Factor

Then I hit 'em with a powerful weapon. Nothing gets a kid quicker than a cute little puppy face and the next two books had major "awww" factor.

I Didn't Do It by Patricia MacLachlan
and Emily MacLachlan Charest
Illustrated by: Katy Schneider
Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books

After wowing the kids with the puppy faces, I spoke to them about poems that do not use rhyming words. Instead, these poems make you think about what is happening in the poem. Poems where you need to use your imagination and think like a dog. They loved pretending to think like a dog. The favorite poem in this book was Pretty Puppy. I was very impressed that even the three year olds were able to grasp that Pretty Puppy was looking into a mirror.

Once I Ate a Pie
by Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan Charest
Illustrated by: Katy Schneider
Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books

Browse inside "Once I Ate a Pie"

My favorite poem to perform was Wupsi because it was so darn cute. The kids loved Pocket, an adorable poem about a little dog so small that he could fit inside a coat pocket. They thought it was hilarious when I whispered the repeated word "tiny" throughout the poem. The text was normal size but each use of the word tiny was written in very teeny tiny text. Pocket the dog was so sweet looking and she doesn't understand why everything she owns is so tiny because she sees herself as HUGE!

Haiku Poems

Dogku by Andrew Clements

Illustrated by Tim Bowers

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers

Dogku grabs you from the very first page. A lovable stray peers through a kitchen door at a pink bath-robed mom cooking the morning breakfast for her family. Will she shut the door and send him away? How could anyone refuse those precious eyes begging to be loved?

"There on the back steps,

the eyes of a hungry dog.

Will she shut the door?"

This charming dog's tale is the perfect book for introducing the poetry form of Haiku. In fact, every page with text is made up of a haiku. After explaining what a Haiku poems was, I asked students if they knew how to count the number of syllables or word parts for the word "puppy" Yes, they knew how to count word parts and puppy had two word parts. We then practiced sounding out syllables of commonly used words and then I read the first page as kiddos held up a finger for each syllable they heard. We counted the syllables in the first line and sure enough we counted five syllables. Next, we counted the second line and heard seven syllables. Then we listened carefully as I read the third line and we were back to five syllables. We all agreed that the first page was a Haiku poem. We then read the second page with text and applied the same test again determining it was a haiku. Rather than drag out the lesson with such young children, I read the rest of the story straight through and focused on other aspects of the story. I just wanted to provide a brief introduction to Haikus.


Really terrific Dogku resources:

Use this Eduscapes Power Point slide show for teaching the process of Haiku.

Visit Simon and Schuster's site for a peek into the book. Dogku

dogku ppt

Found at ebookbrowse.com

Here are some other books that I finished this week:







I really enjoyed Scarlet, the sequel to Marissa Meyer's Cinder.

Which is Round? Which is Bigger?

by Mineki Mamada
Publisher: Kid Can Press

I really loved this surprising gem of a book. It was originally published in Japan and has been translated into English. Terrific for Preschool lessons. So many good literature connection activities come to mind.

Miracle Mud
Lena Blackburne and the Secret Mud that Changed Baseball

by David A. Kelly
Illustrated by Oliver Dominguez
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group

I really loved the bright bold illustrations and the story was very entertaining. Kids will be searching their yards digging up their own miracle mud after reading this one. Hmmm, I think a possible science experience in the library might be in order. Messy yes, but cool.

I actually read a ton of books this week but it's hard to keep up with them all. I have added 217 new books to our school library since March 1st and manually cataloged and processed them all. Today, I stopped in at Barnes and Noble to pick up a book for my son and ended up with ten more books for the library. Here I go again!

Friday Fun with Molly Lou Melon

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon is a terrific read aloud book supporting themes of self esteem, believing in yourself, families, friendship, and dealing with bullies. Molly Lou's grandmother encourages Molly Lou to believe in herself and to appreciate and value the qualities that make Molly Lou the person she is. It is Molly Lou's strong sense of self that helps her to deal with a school bully and to earn the respect of her classmates and the bully too. Wonderful story. 

View all my reviews

Molly Lou Mellon Literature Resources: (see literature connection activities further down)

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon Lesson Plan

Scholastic's Molly Lou's Special Qualities lesson plan and resources

Penguin's Read Aloud Activity Guide (various titles)



Have Fun, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Molly Lou Melon sits in a room overflowing with toys and whoseywhatits of all kinds when her grandmother tells her that back in the old days she made her toys of things she found. Molly Lou soon discovers that using your imagination can be more exciting than any store bought toy. Then Gertie, a new neighbor moves in next door and Molly Lous overhears her telling her mother she is bored, bored, bored. Molly Lou invites Gertie over to play and introduces her to tin can phones, cardboard racecars and the beauty of skywatching.

Have Fun, Molly Lou Melon is a wonderful read aloud highlighting the power of using your imagination. Tie this read aloud in with making crafts from recycled materials, or items found in nature. Try the tin can phones, dolls made from twigs and flowers, cardboard racecars or robots and of course take a walking trip outdoors to lay back and watch the sky. You never know what you will see in the clouds.

Literature connection activities-crafts, recycle projects.

Recycle projects: Make a Paper Cup Phone to Talk to Your Friends

Materials

2 empty, clean paper or plastic cups
1 nail and hammer or ice pick (adult supervision is a must!)
10-20 feet of white cotton string, fishing line, or sewing thread (the shorter the line, the better the reception)

1. Take 2 paper or plastic cups
2. Turn the cups upside down with the bottom end facing up.
3. Use a nail or ice pick to punch a hole through the flat surface of the end of both cups (adults perform this step).
4. Measure out a length or string or sewing thread about 10-20 feet.
5. Thread one end of the string through one of the holes. Make a strong knot in the string on the inside of the cup, so that the string remains attached.. Repeat with the other cup and the other end of string. The two cups are now connected to each other.
6. Stretch the two cups apart until the string is taut or tight.
7. Speak into the mouth of the open end of your cup (Transmitter) while a friend holds an ear up to the opened end of her cup to listen (Receiver).

Optimizing a Tin Can Phone: Why it's better to use paper cups and sewing thread for tin cup phone project

It's Monday, Who Are You Fooling? 4/1/2013

Inspired by Teach Mentor Texts. Be sure to click the link and see all the great posts every Monday for "It's Monday, what are you reading?

It's April Fool's Day and what pranks are up your sleeves?

Don't have time to plan the perfect prank? You are in luck because today I am featuring a couple of terrific books to make your April Fools Day a hilarious success but I am also including a few good pranks for you to try out.

It's Your Lucky Day!

Take a few coins and superglue them to a high traffic sidewalk area but make sure it will not cause any hazards. Enjoy watching people struggling to pry the coins up off the sidewalk. 

Did you drop that dollar?

Take a dollar of print out an image of a dollar and attach it to a retractable cord activated by a button push. I have a couple of these I picked up at a technology conference to attach to my school ID lanyard. Reel out enough slack in the cord line that sets you a distance away from an unsuspecting friend and say "Hey, did you drop a dollar?" when they reach for it--ba-zing! You quickly reel the cord back in bringing the dollar right to you. Great for a laugh. 

Soaker!

If you have the type of sink that comes with a spray attachment, wrap a rubber band around the handle so that it will begin spraying once the tap has been turned on. The next person to turn on the tap will end up with a good soaking. 

Visit this April Fool's Day Pinterest Board for more pranks and jokes. Don't you just love how there is a Pinterest board for almost every topic?

THE BOOKS

The Kids' Guide to Pranks Tricks & Practical Jokes (Kids' Guides) You might expect to get a little backlash for having this one in your school library but Capstone Publishers are one step ahead. They have provided documentation showing how The Kids' Guide to Pranks, Tricks & Practical Jokes can align with Common Core State Standards. Now that's what I call proactive thinking! This clever book can entice even kids who claim they hate to read. They will soon be pouring over step by step instructions plotting perfect pranks to pull on their unsuspecting friends and families. It is a short 32 pages and schools can order a library bound versions using their Scholastic dollars. I would suggest ordering more than one copy and librarians should read it cover to cover so they will be prepared just in case scheming students decide to make them the object of a practical joke. Better yet-pull one on your students and then discuss the wiser decision to pull pranks away from the school setting. Interest level grades 3-9.

See how this book aligns with the Common Core State Standards

National Geographic Kids "Just Joking"

This is a hot book in my school library. Nat Geo's Just Joking is filled with 300 belly laughable jokes, silly riddles, and not so easy tongue twisters. Kids gather round and listen to each other read the jokes aloud and they roar with laughter. There is no shushing in my school library! Reading is a shared experience much of the time but we do value our quiet reading corners too. It is available in a paperback format and is best suited for grades 2nd-6th (and some grown-ups who still appreciate kid humor).

If you don't have it, get it!

April Fools Day in the Classroom

• Have students research the history of April Fool's Day. 
• Creative writing: Have students brainstorm the perfect April Fool's Day prank and then write about how they would pull off the prank and what consequences they might have to face. 

That's it! Short, but sweet. Now go pull a few pranks on your pals and have a terrific Monday!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? 3/25/2013

This will be my first post linked to Teach Mentor Text's What are you reading? 

I read everyday and love sharing what I am reading. I have just finished Every Day by David Levithan and now I am working on finishing up Scarlet, book number 2 in the Lunar Chronicles, by Marissa Meyer, but more on that next week. 

Every Day by David Levithan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first thing that came to mind as I was reading Every Day was one of my favorite TV shows several years ago-Quantum Leap. A is a genderless being that is propelled into a different, unsuspecting host body every day. A respects the host body by making as little changes as possible until he meets Rhiannon and falls in love with her. Remarkably, Rhiannon begins to love A back although she never  knows what A will look like each time they meet. Can such an improbable love story find a happy ending? Read it to find out. You will not be disappointed. 

View all my reviews

These are the books we are reading at home this week. 

Waking Dragons 

by Jane Yolen and Illustrations by Derek Anderson

Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers

A young knight helps his dragon prepared for the day brushing teeth, changing into outdoor clothes, and eating waffles for breakfast. Waking Dragons is an easy flowing rhyming book. The illustrations are bright and colorful and offer multiple opportunities for good discussions. Point in fact-why did the dragon first brush his teeth and then eat his breakfast? We brush after eating in our home. 

Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature

by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Mark Hearld

Candlewick Press

In a word, this book is beautiful.

Beautifully written.

Beautifully illustrated.

Young readers and older readers alike will marvel over glimpses into the natural world.

Outside Your Window is a book of nature poems divided into four sections by the four seasons. 

Each reader will discover a favorite section as they meander through this jewel of a read. For me, it was "Listen to the Pond" frogs singing out "Rrruuprrrppp rrruuurrrrppp. Nature lovers will enjoy the process of speckled frog eggs evolving into tadpoles and eventually into frogs. Excellent book to reinforce learning objectives for science based topics through poetry.

Isabella: Star of the Story

Isabella: Star of the Story by Jennifer Fosberry

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


As a family takes a trip to their local library, their daughter, Isabella is transported through the pages of favorite children's stories as she briefly pretends to be Peter Pan, Goldilocks, Captain Nemo,Black Beauty, and Dorothy while selecting books that are just right for her to check out. Isabella Star of the Story is beautifully illustrated in rich colors. While many young children will have not yet read some of the titles Isabella decides to check out, it is never to early to lay the foundation for the wonderful stories to come.



View all my reviews

Scholastic Book Fair Fun, Games, and Tips

Running a book fair can be a scary thing unless you become a seasoned pro like me. I learned a long time ago what to worry about and which worries to let go. You can go with the Scholastic theme or use one of your own. My recent fair took place during Texas Public Schools Week so the focus was on Texas! Easy to decorate and lots of fun.

Make all your decisions weeks in advance to ensure a smooth book fair. Get flyers and special announcement dates set and flyers printed out before your book fair begins. Publicize your fair via local news 

I am glad my Scholastic Book Fair is over. It was a busy week but lots of fun. Sales were down so I was bummed out about that but many factors could have come into play for our school. My school is housed on a university campus with very limited parking so parents now have to pay to park when visiting our school. We have seen fewer parents this year. This is not a good thing.

Get great volunteers!
This is a tough one for me because of the paid parking issue but the wonderful folks at Coastal Community and Teachers Credit Union still volunteered in full force! I could not run my book fair without these very fine folks. They help me set up my fair and run my Book Fair Game Day.

Your best friends:
Your Scholastic sales rep and Restock folks are your best friends. They will listen to your crazy ideas and requests and steer you in the right direction. The wonderful restock representatives are super patient and will do everything they can to locate titles and order them for you. They can tell you the hot sellers and what schools across the country are requesting. They have mad skills for looking up obscure titles and rumored-to-be-had items.

One TIP I got from my clever mom was to use pill bottles or snap lid containers for holding coins when not in use. This helped keep my petty cash organized and easy to fill the register eh morning by dumping the coins in.

On the last day of book fair, I always hold a special Game Day. Here is the Estimation Station. This helps to keep kids occupied while waiting for their turn at a game. I used a bear shaped graham cracker jar filled with one inch colorful cubes. I posted a sign "Make a BEARY good guess" and had slips of paper for kids to fill out with name, grade and their estimation. The winner won a one dollar prize at the book fair.





This is Feed the Alien Cowboy game. Each student attempted to toss four squishy alien balls complete with tentacles into the mouth of the alien. I used a re-purposed acrylic tube with a white L bend pipe attached on top and covered with a foam core shaped alien head. We used this for a recent Benjamin Franklinstein game thus the alien. We just renamed him the Alien Cowboy. Get three in and win a free bookmark or eraser!

"Rope the calf" ring toss game using food coloring in two liter soda bottles and swim dive rings as ring tossers. Kids love to play this game. The colored water bottles also look great year round on my library shelf..









Be sure to get great shots of your families with Clifford! I let our 5th grade students dress up as Clifford. They do a great job and gives them a memory for a lifetime.

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 

2013 Bluebonnet Book Club. 

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.

Looking at Lincoln

Visit our Bluebonnet Book Club

A 2013-14 Texas Bluebonnet Award nominee

Looking at Lincoln

(Publisher summary)
Abraham Lincoln is one of the first giants of history children are introduced to, and now Maira Kalman brings him to life with her trademark style and enthusiasm. Lincoln's legacy is everywhere - there he is on your penny and five-dollar bill. And we are still the United States because Lincoln helped hold them together.

But who was he, really? The little girl in this book wants to find out. Among the many other things, she discovers our sixteenth president was a man who believed in freedom for all, had a dog named Fido, loved Mozart, apples, and his wife's vanilla cake, and kept his notes in his hat. From his boyhood in a log cabin to his famous presidency and untimely death, Kalman shares Lincoln's remarkable life with young readers in a fresh and exciting way.

Looking at Lincoln author talk
Hear how author, Maira Kalman, fell in love with Lincoln and decided to write and illustrate a children's picture book about his life.

Visit the author's web site 

How I have used this book:                                                                                                       Looking at Lincoln was a terrific book for a library read aloud in connection with President's Day. Students from ages Pre-kindergarten three year-olds-Sixth grade were intrigued by this story. Kindergartens and up remembered that Abraham Lincoln was a tall man who was once President of the United States and that he had been shot and killed. During the reading, I included tidbits of Lincoln information and after the reading, I shared informational videos with students courtesy of Biography Channel and the History Channel. These are two favorites among students for vibrant and to the point type of videos. 

    

Next, 2nd-5th graders began a two week project beginning with drawing a character portrait of Abraham Lincoln. After a bit more digging into the life of Lincoln, through use of videos and print materials, students will compose a list of meaningful words that best describe the physical and personality characteristics of Lincoln. Each student will be responsible for including new information they have discovered in the course of their research and for presenting their final projects to their peers. This non-graded project will earn each student credit for completing a Bluebonnet project towards their goal of completing five projects. Twenty books are nominated to compete for the Texas Bluebonnet Award. Texas students in grades 3-6 vote to decide which book deserves the annual Bluebonnet Award. 

President's Day Resources:

Scholastic's Everything You Need to Celebrate President's Day

Patriotic Coloring Pageswith biographical information and a great Lincoln image for creating book marks.(source:Raising Our Kids)

Abraham Lincoln Coloring Pages Very nice quality (source: Apples for the Teacher)


For you history buffs-this part is for you.

Watch the Looking for Lincoln documentary
Historian Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s quest to piece together Lincoln’s complex life takes him from Illinois to Gettysburg to Washington, D.C., and face-to-face with people who live with Lincoln every day – relic hunters, re-enactors, and others for whom the study of Lincoln is a passion. If you are a history buff like Ms. Murphy then you will want to immerse yourself in the facts, fables, and fascination that make up the man we call "The Great Emancipator".


How well do you know Lincoln? Take the quiz: Lincoln Myths and Misconceptions
It's not that easy. Ms. Murphy scored 12 out of 15. See if you can do better than me and trust your first instinct. I would have gotten 14 out of 15 if I had.

Interactive Timeline: Lincoln Over Time
Take this interactive challenge to place events and images from the life of Abraham Lincoln in chronological order.

Make and Take Activities:
Make a tiny Abe Lincoln hat at Enchanted Learning. Mr. Bones loves his Lincoln stovepipe hat.

Math based Lesson Plan: Recreating a replica of Abraham Lincoln's hat (source:Smithsonian National Museum of American History).

Literature Connections:

Abe Lincoln's Hat by Martha F. Brenner
A gently humorous examination of the life of Abe Lincoln. A slightly disorganized lawyer, he made his way relying on good will, friendliness, and – above all – honesty.

Abe Lincoln: the Boy who loved books by Kay Winters
A portrait of Abe Lincoln and how books and the power of words changed his life and ours as he walked out of the wilderness into the White House. 

Honest Abe by Edith Kunhardt
A simple and elegant retelling of the life of one of our most important presidents.

A Picture Book of Abraham Lincoln by David Adler
Clear text and engaging artwork follow Lincoln from boyhood through his presidency.

We gave 246 Books Away in Celebration!

I was thrilled to have given away 246 books on behalf of 

the Early Childhood Development Center Library to children ages 3-12. 

I read aloud to many groups and younger students created "Love a Book" projects to connect 

with our books: "Looking at Lincoln" and "Franklin's Valentines"

Goodnight Baseball

Goodnight Baseball by Michael Dahl

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Goodnight Baseball
By Michael Dahl
Illustrated by Christina Forshay
Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
ISBN:9781596435575
Release date March 1, 2013

Watch the Goodnight Baseball book trailer

Goodnight Baseball is a wonderful choice for a sports-themed read aloud for younger readers. It is a comfort book-easy on the eyes, easy on the ears, easy on the heart. Goodnight Baseball is about a father and son building a childhood memory together. A happy day spent at the ball park highlighted by the boy catching a high fly ball in his mitt way up in the stands. The rhyme and rhythm of author Michael Dahl's words flow smoothly and are well complimented by the vibrant illustrations of Christina Forshay. My favorite illustration is seeing the moon portrayed as a giant baseball in the sky. Predictably, towards the end of the story, we see a mirroring of Margaret Wise Brown’s well-loved Goodnight Moon. Perhaps it would be a useful literacy activity to pair the two books so students can have an opportunity to make that text-to-text connection. Librarians, take note: this one is a home run!




View all my reviews

Odd Duck

Odd Duck by Cecil Castellucci 

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publication date: May 14, 2013
Publisher: First Second
Publication date:
ISBN: 9781596435575
Genre: Graphic novel/ picture book
Themes: friendship, character development, self awareness, acceptance

Theodora leads the perfectly normal life of a perfectly normal duck. Or so she thinks. Then one day, Chad, a very odd duck, moves into the empty house next door bringing with him his odd art, music, and manners. When all the other ducks fly south for the winter Theodora is surprised to find Chad has remained behind and a friendship begins to blossom. When the ducks return home and make an unkind comment about her friend, Theodora is shocked to discover she may be the one who is considered odd.

Odd Duck is a wonderfully charming story with interesting tidbits sprinkled in to add layer and depth to the story. The ducks are both stargazers and the colorful illustrations include the constellations in the sky which will ignite questions from young readers. This one goes on my To be Purchased list. Prediction: kid favorite.

 

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See You at Harry's

See You at Harry's by Jo Knowles
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Date Published: May 2012
ISBN: 0763654078
Genre: MG, Realistic Fiction
Themes: Family, siblings, friendship, grief, loss, bullying, LGBT relationships

See You At Harry's is a beautifully written Middle Grade novel that draws the reader in with the quirky characters of its dysfunctional-functional family. Twelve-year-old narrator Fern is all but invisible to her parents whose attentions are focused elsewhere. Much to the despair of his family, Fern's father is busy trying to devise a marketing scheme to bring in more business for Harry's, the family run restaurant and ice cream parlor. Her mother divides her attention between escaping into meditational bliss and fawning over Charlie, the three-year-old baby of the family. Her sister Sara is more of a mother to Fern but her attention is aimed at a busboy at Harry's and her brother Holden is focused on developing a relationship with his new, and older friend, Gray. Fern is able to count on the steady friendship of her two best friends who see her through the heart break and troubles Fern must face.

See You at Harry's is thought provoking and lovely. It makes you stop to reconsider your own family dynamics. Are we making family members feel invisible too? If so, resolve to change and know "all will be well."


Author Jo Knowles website http://www.joknowles.com/Home.html
Other Books by Jo Knowles
Pearl
Dear Bully
Lessons From A Dead Girl
Jumping Off Swings
Jo KnowlesSee You at Harry's
 

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Reached by Ally Condie

Reached by Ally Condie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love a good series and the Matched trilogy did not disappoint. I kept wanting to manipulate the characters to a different path in their lives but that is not my prerogative. The message I liked best about this series is that creativity is important and that hand writing is a simple art form. Yes, yes all that stuff about the Society repressing and lying to its citizens is a bad thing to do but really, don't we see that in our own lives already? Books like this are wonderful because it sends a message to young people that they have value to a community and they can make a difference for the good of all.

Now if you are like me, you aren't just satisfied with a great read, you need to know more about the author, illustrator, and those delicious back stories that inspire the tale.
Here are a couple of links to set you on your path:
The Matched Department/Quotes
The Matched Wiki   LOVE it! All the info you need.

I encourage all readers interested in YA Fiction to read the entire Matched Series. It will be such a treat now that the series is complete and you won't have to wait in agony for the next release date. What are you waiting for? Reserve it now from your local library or run to your nearest bookseller.


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This is What Book Love Looks Like

Student created projects based on books nominated for the 2012-2013 Texas Bluebonnet Award

This is what Book Love looks like

It's January and that means time is running out for students to complete reading at least five of the twenty books nominated for the Texas Bluebonnet Award. My students are also encouraged to create original works reflecting their understanding of their favorite books. Bluebonnet Projects can be anything a student can dream up-a poster, song, rap, poem, sculpture, game, quiz, performance or digital work. I will not turn down any project as long as it shows how the student connects to their reading. Encouraging my elementary and middle school students to express themselves creatively based on their book choices has been such a positive experience and has been a great way to replace the Accelerated Reader Program that our school district discontinued funding this year. I am amazed at the level of research that students have contributed towards their projects and have learned quite a bit myself from them. Having students create Bluebonnet Book Projects began as a simple way for me to determine if students were truly reading their books and comprehending the literature. Soon, kids were asking if they could make projects for other books as their need to express themselves grew. I just hope my poster board and supplies hold out. A bonus has been that I have been able to introduce students to many technology and mechanical skills. As you can see in the picture, the die cut machine presses have been very popular for creating letters for signs. My favorite part has been observing students working in small teams conferencing with each other and dividing up tasks. They read aloud to each other and discuss passages from the story. How beautiful is that? Keep in mind, this is all voluntary work. They are discovering the secret to loving books.

Visit our Bluebonnet Book Club wiki to see how we are connecting to the Texas Bluebonnet Books.

Learn more about the Texas Bluebonnet Award

Family Reading Celebration

 We are having a Family Reading Celebration.

Activities include story times and crafts for these titles:
Philomena's Tooth-rific Story-time and free dental health gift bags
Pete the Cat Saves Christmas Story-time and Pete, the Cat craft activity
The Gingerbread Man Readers Theater Performance and gingerbread craft
The Elf on the Shelf Story-time and activity
Origami Party-Texas State Museum of Asian Cultures shares secrets of the art of Japanese paper folding.
Michael Recycle Meets Doug Litterbug Story-time with free goodies for kids and grown-ups.
'Twas the Night Before Christmas"P. J. Story-time-come dressed in your p.j.s and fuzzy slippers.


What a busy few weeks this has been gearing up for our December Family Reading Celebration. As a librarian who understand the value of a family's impact on a child's reading success, I wants to encourage families to read together and experience the joys that reading brings. At our celebration,  will be introducing several new titles and reading some classical Christmas tales too. Although our main goal is to celebrate reading together as a family, our secondary goal is to encourage families and Barnes and Noble customers to mention our school when they make their holiday shopping purchases. We will receive a small percentage of the day's sales that will go towards infusing our library collection with new titles as they are released throughout the year. Our small book budget money is spent early in the year so we miss out on new titles that are later released.

If you are in Corpus Christi, Texas on Saturday, December 8th stop by the Barnes and Noble Booksellers at 5129 Blanch Moore Drive and join us for some festive fun. If you are doing some online holiday shopping with Barnes and Noble, please consider marking the box "Check this box if it is a Book-fair Order”  ECDC Bookfair ID #10919413

How Your Holiday Shopping Can Help the ECDC Library

TELL B&N you are supporting the ECDC Bookfair when you purchase 

books, gifts and even Cafe items

Here's How:

Shop in B& N at our Family Reading Celebration on December 8th
OR shop at our ECDC online Barnes and Noble Book Fair these days:

December 8, 2012- December 13, 2012
and the ECDC Library will receive a small percentage of the sale to help us purchase new books.

BN.COM/bookfairs

ECDC Bookfair ID #10919413 

New to BN.COM?

1. Go to BN.COM/bookfairs, and click  “Start Shopping Now”
2. Shop from the entire site – almost everything is eligible for the ECDC bookfair
3. Set up a new account when you are ready to check out
4. On the very bottom of the payment page, check the box where it asks “Check this box if it is a Bookfair Order”
5. Type the ECDC bookfair ID #10919413  in the space provided and continue with checkout

Already Have An B&N Account?

1. Go to BN.COM/bookfairs, and click  “Start Shopping Now”
2. Shop from the entire site – almost everything is eligible for our bookfair*
3. Once you have logged in, after you Proceed to Checkout, from the Checkout page, click on the Change button on upper right of the Payment tab.
4. Payment screen will expand, and you will see the “Check this box if it is a Bookfair Order” on the bottom of the page.
5. Type the ECDC bookfair ID #10919413 in the space provided and continue with checkout.

Thank you very much for your generous support of our school.