Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The Underwear Salesman


I have to say that I love this book and i LOVE poetry! What a great way to work on reading and language! This would be a great book for college week. I want to be a bubble bath tester when I grow up......

Boogie Knights


What did you think of this book? Of course, you could use it for the obvious: words that sound the same but are spelled differently. What did your kids think? How can you use it to support the curriculum?

Friday, September 25, 2009

Button Up



I realized that I did too many poetry books during this staff development, but there are so many good ones out there! I fell in love with this book when I read it to my middle son Austin. The illustrations are so cute! I can't wait to share this with my classes next week in the library!!! I LOVE new books!

Into the Volcano



Don't be scared of this graphic novel! Don Wood spent 10 years illustrating this book. It has won numerous literary awards. Graphic novels fly off the shelf in almost all libraries. So why do teachers dislike them so much? Why do kids like them so much? How can you use this to draw in reluctant readers? How can you use this in content areas?

The Lion's Share



What did you teach using this book? What did you think? What did your kids think?

Thursday, September 10, 2009

A Couple of Boys have the Best Week Ever


Maybe Ronda is right and I LOVE this book because I have boys. I read this class with Mr. Escobar's class and they really enjoyed it. I wanted them to do a main idea on chart paper, but we ran out of time. However, we did talk about the main idea, author's purpose, and the Caldecott Medal. They reall like the page that said the boys learned lots of new vocabulary words from Eamon's Grandpa Bill. Sixth graders figured out that meant bad words. What did you and your kids think? What did you/could you teach using this book?

Chicken Cheeks


I know Mrs. Hill's class loved the book because they called and told me. What did your kids think? How did you incorporate you weekly student expectations? Any great lesson ideas? Will you use this book again in the future?

What's the big deal?

So the big education speech was Tuesday and I planned to have you read it then. Without getting into politics, what is your response to all the hooplah? Would you want your children watching the speech? Why or why not? Next week some Arlington students are being bused to the new Cowboys stadium to hear former President Bush and his wife Laura speak about education. Yet, Arlington was a district that chose not to show Tuesday's speech. Thoughts?

Here is a link to Tuesday's student address:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/mediaresources/