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?

Hip Hop Speaks to Children

Click Here to see the author talking about the book

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/