It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 8-15-16
Thanks to our dynamic hosts: Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kelle at Unleashing Readers. Head to either blog to find reviews as well as dozens of links to other blogs filled with reviews!
I've been busy setting up my delightful new classroom space. I am so excited about all the storage (not clutter out and about) and the greenhouse off the corner! This makes a beautiful little work space and will of course home many plants, both things will bring joy to my students!
As with every year, the hardest thing about setting up my classroom is setting up the perfect classroom library. I want the books arranged in a way that is easy for students to access, makes sense in order, and looks nice. I have too many books. I have been making decisions on what to remove year after year, and it never gets easier. This year I was finally able to part with the Animorphs series. I read some of these books as a kid, but since I have been teaching (10 years) only one student has read them. He was in third or fourth grade, my first group of looping students, and he just graduated from high school. Nate, I'm talking about you. I held on to those books for so long just in case another student wanted to read them. I mean, Nate liked them, so someone else might want to read them! And so it goes. I, and many of us, can vividly picture that certain student that read that certain book, and though no one else has loved it since, we don't want to part with it. This is our curse and our blessing. We love books and kids. You're my people.
Books I've Recently Read:
Lucy
by Randy Cecil
Candlewick Press, 2016
Realistic Fiction
144 pages
Recommended for grades 1+
Told in short sections of text with a sweet illustration on each page, we follow a father, a girl and a lost dog. They each want something, and we follow to watch them find it.
Be Light Like a Bird
by Monika Schroder
Capstone, 2016
Realistic Fiction
240 pages
Recommended for grades 4-8
More to come on this later. But for now, this story will be welcomed by readers that want to explore feelings of loss from the safety of a book.
I'm Currently Reading:
On Deck:
Thanks for stopping by!
Oh I wish we could each spend a day in each other's classroom libraries and help each other weed and organize. I hear you on the stand there with books in hand and wonder - to the shelf? to the give away box? I have been doing this same thing and after I finish my coffee, I am off to continue that. Coming to work with me today? More books (my daughter cleared off shelves) and some plants. See? We need to live closer!
ReplyDeleteOh Animorphs, farewell! I was addicted to that series growing up....which I guess gives you an indication of how old they are (and I am!)....! ;)
ReplyDeleteOnce you get used to weeding, you will be amazed at what happens. When you get rid of the stuff that isn't circulating, it makes the rest of it show up and books circulate more. In our school library I try to weed anything that hasn't circulated in 2 years. I adore the cover and illustrations in Lucy. Now I just have to get my hands on a copy.
ReplyDelete