Bloggiesta

Hmmm. I thought it sounded like fun. But now I'm not exactly sure what I want to do. Should have planned ahead. By Friday night my brain is somewhat fried.


1) Well, I've never added a follow button just cause I know there aren't all that many of you (THOUGH I DO APPRECIATE THE ONES WHO ARE!). Seemed kind of silly for the numbers I see on the dashboard and in Google Reader. That's how I follow most blogs. Google Reader. But maybe I will, anyway.

2) Reorder the sidebar. It's kind of unhelpful.

3) Add a Pin It button to posts with printable signs and bookmarks.

4) Figure out a review style. I read pretty fast and rarely take notes as I go. So ... my reviews are not all that helpful. They're more like ... general impressions. Anyway. Ponder. It'd be cool to come up with a ratings system other than the stars on Goodreads. Though in a pinch that works.

5) Work on a blog backup. Just in case. I keep meaning to do that with my personal one since it's the closest thing I have to a journal. Never do.

6) Brainstorm some new post topics. ESPECIALLY topics that would lend themselves to pictures.  Not pictures of the kids at school, cause that's not allowed. But pics in general.

7) Commenting. DO IT MORE. I started the commenting challenge over at Mother Reader back in ... when was it. January? February? Then I got sick and let it drop.
(This one's not done ... but I have commented on a few. More to come! There are lots of great blogs out there!)



But now I will go take a Tylenol because CURSE YOU POLLEN my head hurts.



8) Let's see if it works ... I added a signature.
Lame. Didn't work. What did I do wrong. Or maybe it will only work on NEW posts. Not updated ones.

9) Playing around with some social media icons. Only one I've added right now is Pinterest. Color actually works, which is cool. What I really want is to have them in a horizontal row in the lower right of the blog header. That will take more HTML knowledge than I currently have. But come June it will make for a good project.

This Just Pinned #4

School Type Stuff

Like this series of animal research centers. Would just like it even more if I could figure out how to make it without using so much paper! And remaking it to be less tundra centered and just animals in general.



Learning to properly use Evernote and Dropbox is on my To Do list this summer.


This one is ironic because ... because I am super frustrated with our space right now. Not only do I need to keep library classroom management where it needs to be, apparently I also need to work on the "hallway." Cause we are IN the hallway with no walls and so help me, this does not feel like an environment where anyone can learn, no matter how hard I try. It's too loud and there are too many people walking through at inopportune times. :/



Not School Type Stuff






I just gained five pounds looking at this picture.

Thoughtful Thursday

Ummm ... not so much.

Bookfair? And (WORSE if that can be possible) ... bookfair acounting. The numbers never match!
High Stakes Testing?
Lots o' other drama in the "grand scheme not important but surely annoying day to day"?
Dumb pollen that makes me sneeze and my head want to explode?

photo credit: barbourians via photopin cc

Can I have a repeat spring break? Pretty please?


Today I had to throw together a PreK storytime cause I didn't think I'd be there but I was. Standby favorite that NEVER fails to please? MO WILLEMS and Piggie and Elephant. I love how excited they got. Actually stayed in their seats and listened to the stories. And laughed. PreK doesn't always do that. ;] Of course then only five of them had brought their books back. That's what you get for having bookfair the week after spring break.


Back on Friday with This Just Pinned. And next week, hopefully, with some finalized plans for and beginnings of cool animal research (first grade), alternate energy sources research (fifth grade), and book trailers (book clubs). That'd be cool, right? And maybe a Hunger Games movie review.

Actually, I still need to see Hugo. I bought it. But I haven't watched it. YET.


Dear Bookclub that Meets on Friday,
So ... I haven't read the book yet. PLEASE FORGIVE ME. Cinder looks really good. But I'm still waiting for the library hold to come through.

Earth Day type Bookmarks

Since it's just fun to make these and use my clip art (again, both of these are from Scrappin' Doodles) ... use if you can. Come back again another day if you can't!


Love our Planet

Forest Friends

It's Monday! What I've Been Reading

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now… who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!

Our Kid Lit to YA version is hosted by Teach Mentor Texts.
GREAT IDEA! Check out all of the What Are You Reading? participants for title ideas.


So for bookfair week this is pretty decent. Actually thought I'd get more picture books in. Really I did get lots of glancing ... but then it would get busy and I'd have to set the book down and then I'd forget. And for a couple days the district filter was blocking Goodreads, anyway. Sigh.

This week? This week is testing. Yay. :/



Jefferson's Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow. I mean, I guess I'd heard about Jefferson and Sally. But this book really brings home what it must have been like for their children.

The author does a great job of explaining just how difficult it is to explain how the man that wrote the Declaration of Independence could own slaves. Could father children and still keep their mother a slave, and have the children live as slaves, never openly acknowledging their existence.

Definitely an upper middle school or high school read, just for the length and complexity of the story.


Grave Mercy by R.L. LaFevers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Stayed up too late finishing this one!

Very intriguing. Take historical fiction and mix it with some mystery and royal intrigue ... plus some romance. Not too much, but enough to make it interesting.

Oh. And a likable assassin. That's a GIRL.

You've got a winner! Can't wait for number two. Have to wait. But can't!

I did get a little ... not sure what the word is. A little tired of hearing about Mortain. One has to build the mythology, though. So it's still an awesome start to a series.

Please don't forget Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos, though! Love THIS series for me. And Theodosia for me, too. But also love Theodosia for my students. :]


Bailey by Harry Bliss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great for the beginning of the year. Well, really any time. But especially then.

Plus I love the whole decision about which collar to wear. :]


One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Super fun penguin story. Will definitely be adding this one to the story rotation.

And maybe a silly short intro to an explorers research activity.


Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Had this on my TBR list for a long time ... it was high time to read it.

And, I am glad to report, it was definitely worth it. Great story. A little bit of a sad story ... but there's enough hope, there, too, to make it great.

I hope I don't ever have to recommend it to a student because they are going through a similar experience. I hope it will always be just because it is a good story.

View all my reviews


Next Week--some combination or another of the following ...
The Nick of Time
Schooled
Ashfall
The Mighty Miss Malone
One Year in Coal Harbor
Show Me a Story
Secret Letters
Choice Words
Reading Is Our Business
Throne of Fire (I KNOW ... I've owned it since the first week it came out and still it is on the TBR pile)

This Just Pinned #3

Do you know how desperately I want to make these? I wonder how many minutes on the treadmill this would equate to. Or, more realistically stated, how many sizes I would go up if I ate some.





OOOH! I do like this one!





Not back or down. Up. And ahead.










I foresee some time being wasted on this site. And some useful stuff being made, too.

Tech Tuesday ... Animation-ish

I've been playing with this a bit on their free two-week trial. I need to ask them ... read some news reports from Jan of this year that it will be updated in "early summer 2012" (along with the debut of an i-Pad app!).
If I bought it now would I get that update? If not I will probably wait because this will take some getting used to and I am a perfectionist (totally against the "ish" principle, I know). Plus the school year's almost out so I'd have more time to play with it in the summer and use any finished products next year. Yes, we do still have two months. But I've got a lot personally going on in those two months as well so I might just wait for the new one. Still. This is fun! I do want!

Get your info here.

Source: shop.fablevisionlearning.com via Angie on Pinterest

Think of cool book trailers. Or (if you had the license for school) projects kids could do ... show the water cycle, or a plant growing, or the phases of the moon.

What I've Been Reading: SPRING BREAK EDITION

Whew! I did a lot of reading this week. Or, to be fair ... I read pretty fast, sometimes. So maybe I should call it skimming.

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now… who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!

Our Kid Lit to YA version is hosted by Teach Mentor Texts.
GREAT IDEA! Check out all of the What Are You Reading? participants for title ideas.




This Week
The Girl of Fire and Thorns
Bodies from the Ice
The Tea Rose ("grown up" book ... most definitely. Prefer the author's YA stuff. This one wasn't bad. Just not my favorite.)
TroubleTwisters
It Happened on a Train
Missing on Superstition Mountain
Spellbound
Jake Ransom and the Howling Sphinx
Z is for Moose
Gimme a Call
Michael Vey
Nerd Camp
Those Rebels, John and Tom

I reposted some of the reviews earlier this week. Find the rest of them here on the "read" shelf.

Next Week 
is bookfair. So ... will probably get some picture books read during the slow times. Bookfair is feast or famine, right? But I don't know about in the evenings. I ABSOLUTELY MUST GET BACK TO EXERCISING. It's mean, isn't it? That in order to GET some energy you have to expend energy that you don't feel like you have? So actually I should download an audiobook onto my mp3 player. Though I might need tunes just to keep me moving.

Fiesta Library Signs

Thought these were kind of fun. Got the clip art from Scrappin Doodles and the borders from Karen Cox. Fiestas are a big deal where I'm from ... and a big one is coming up.

Download the file with all of the mini-posters here. Got an idea for a better "slogan"? Put it in the comments and I'll update the file! I struggled a bit with these. Loved the graphics and wanted to do something colorful in the library ... but wasn't quite sure what to say. I definitely like some of them better than others.

Library-related Converse Shoes

The Seuss ones are on the Converse site.

The Batgirl ones ... I found those on the Journeys site.

Thoughts? I can't be ridiculous and get ALL of them. ;]
Also ... Happy St. Patrick's Day! Wear some green! Read a green book? Cover or topic. ;]

Rainforest Animal Bookmarks

So the kids at school are really liking these. They're enabling my clip art habit. :/

Get these here.

Juv Fic Books I've Been Reading for Spring Break #bookaday

Spellbound by Jacqueline West
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ever so much fun. And slightly spooky! Can't wait for #3.







Jake Ransom and the Howling Sphinx by James Rollins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Couldn't put it down. Lots of adventure and bits of history thrown into this "river of time."
It does recap a few things from book one Jake Ransom And The Skull King's Shadow at the beginning ... but I'd still recommend reading that one, first. There's a lot to keep track of so this is for advanced fourth grade readers or later.

Can't wait for book three. When's it coming out again?


The Last Musketeer by Stuart Gibbs
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Well hmmm. LOVED Belly Up . Love the story of the Three Musketeers (and, I'll be honest, the Chris Donnelly, Keifer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen (EEEK! I DID JUST SAY THAT!), and Oliver Platt movie version ... haven't seen the newer one yet).

Love time travel stories.

Didn't love this one and I'm not really even sure why. I guess ... a kid would need at least some background knowledge in the musketeers, wouldn't he/she? I mean, this one does explain some history. And there are some good action scenes in it.

But I couldn't help but get a little annoyed by Greg. I can't prove why so this review is not much help. Just ... didn't like him so much.

And her name was not Milady. That was her title!

The Aviary by Kathleen O'Dell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I can think of several students who would enjoy this one.
A bit of the gothic. A bit of fantasy. A bit of adventure.
I do wish that some of the letters contained in the story had been printed in a different script. The cursive made them hard to read ... and I'm an adult! STill. All in all that's only what, about 10 pages total?



The End of the World Club by Jon Voelkel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well. Pretty much feel the same way about this one as the last.
Lots of fun adventure and funny lines. Way cool.
Lots of totally ridiculous past the point of even slightly believable in a book parts. Way uncool.
So ... the two averaged together come out as a low to mid three stars. I will keep reading. I'll just curse myself a little bit every time.

Don't have a copy of this in our library collection. Send the kids to Jake Ransom And The Skull King's Shadow. But our public library has these. And if I found a student that was interested in the Maya I'd suggest this series as a second fiction read.

Still remember seeing who I guess now was the author dressed up in the most ridiculous sort of Mayan costume at ALA a couple years ago.

pg 98
"She cupped her hands around her mouth to make the sound of a howler monkey, the loudest animal on the planet. And if Santino Garcia was surprised to hear the girl of his dreams roaring like an angry dinosaur, he was too polite to mention it."

(a very very SMALL spoiler)

pg 333
"We're becalmed in the Sea of the Dead, off the Coast of Death. That can't be good."

View all my reviews

Tech Tuesday: PicMonkey

Dear Picnik,
I used to think that your closing (and moving over to Google Plus) by the mean powers that be was rotten and spelled the end of helping teachers who had no interest in Photoshop but still wanted to create cool stuff for the classroom.

Then I started looking in to the alternatives. And alternatives there are!


Loving PicMonkey! It's simple. (This is a beginner's tool but hey! Nothing wrong with that.) It adjusts! It adds text WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY easier than Paint (I dislike Paint). It adds borders. And a few fun stamps (only please do not overuse them).

This is the home page. You can even drag your photo from wherever it is over to the editing space. 

This is the tool for adding text. See the menu along the left vertical toolbar.

More to come as I play some more and perhaps convince some guinea pigs to try it out.

What Are You Reading: My Beginning of Spring Break Edition

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now… who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!

Our Kid Lit to YA version is hosted by Teach Mentor Texts.
GREAT IDEA! Check out all of the What Are You Reading? participants for title suggestions.




This Week
The Aviary
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
The End of the World Club
Otto, the Book Bear







Coming Up ... Currently Checked Out from the Library or I Bought it Months Ago and Haven't Gotten to Reading It Yet
Oh, the possibilities of #bookaday. Lots of time to read. Maybe I'll actually take better notes. I just never feel the need to rewrite a summary. Which is probably not good book blogging etiquette, now that I think about it. Supposed to be useful to the reader.  Thinking about devouring at least a few of the following ...
Dark Eden
Jake Ransom and the Howling Sphinx
Nerd Camp
The Girl of Fire and Thorns
Gimme a Call
The Tea Rose
Michael Vey
Spellbound
Throne of Fire
Son of Neptune

and then, of course, there's the e-reader TBRs. Was glad to see others have the same issue. Love my Nook but sometimes titles on there get neglected ... whether they are from Netgalley or purchases. So a couple of those as well!

Might be a B&N visit in there sometime, as well. I keep thinking about those owl plates/mugs/cookie jar that I saw last week. I mean ... I already have an R2D2 cookie jar. So it doesn't really ... go. BUT I LOVE THEM BOTH!

Statistical Probability

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So nothing that has a British boy named Oliver could be not even at least a little interesting. British boys? Boys named Oliver? Automatic pluses.


Though the connection between the two? I didn't quite feel it. Hadley is pretty self-absorbed through most of it.



A fun read. Will watch for more from this author ... maybe the next one will hold up a little more.

View all my reviews

Otto

Otto the Book Bear by Katie Cleminson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

LOVE the illustrations. LOVE them. Of course, I love bears as well. Books and bears. A combo meant for me. Can one purchase an Otto?

Or (SLIGHT spoiler here) ...





one of the other bookcreatures? :]



View all my reviews

The Aviary

The Aviary by Kathleen O'Dell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I can think of several students who would enjoy this one.

A bit of the gothic. A bit of fantasy. A bit of adventure.



I do wish that some of the letters contained in the story had been printed in a different script. The cursive made them hard to read ... and I'm an adult! Still. All in all that's only what, about 10 pages total?

View all my reviews

End of the World Club

The End of the World Club by Jon Voelkel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well. Pretty much feel the same way about this one as the last.

Lots of fun adventure and funny lines. Way cool.

Lots of totally ridiculous past the point of even slightly believable in a book parts. Way uncool.


So ... the two averaged together come out as a low to mid three stars. I will keep reading. I'll just curse myself a little bit every time.


Don't have a copy of this in our library collection. Send the kids to Jake Ransom And The Skull King's Shadow. But our public library has these. And if I found a student that was interested in the Maya I'd suggest this series as a second fiction read.


Still remember seeing who I guess now was the author dressed up in the most ridiculous sort of Mayan costume at ALA a couple years ago.


pg 98
"She cupped her hands around her mouth to make the sound of a howler monkey, the loudest animal on the planet. And if Santino Garcia was surprised to hear the girl of his dreams roaring like an angry dinosaur, he was too polite to mention it."


(a very very SMALL spoiler)

pg 333
"We're becalmed in the Sea of the Dead, off the Coast of Death. That can't be good."

View all my reviews

FYI: Seuss-themed stuff

has been taken down. The clip art artist apparently received something like a cease and desist letter. Which is kind of sad, I think,  but I guess is the estate's right.

Debating if I need to take down the SW themed ones, too. Apparently she won't be making any more of those, either, just cause the whole experience has freaked her out (that's my interpretation and not necessarily the truth). So ... just letting you know. The Google Docs link won't work any more. :[

Those happen to be the one thing on Pinterest that I didn't first pin so I can't delete them. If someone tries to follow it there will be a broken link!

Animal Research & (of course) Bookmarks

Second grade's been hard at work learning about different animals and designing new zoo habitats where the animals would be happy and healthy.

Somewhat in honor of that fact ... jungle animal bookmarks. You can get your own copy of the clip art at Scrappin Doodles.

And ocean animal bookmarks. These came from KPM Doodles' Etsy store.

If you can't tell ... we are closing in on spring break, bookfair, and testing season. My mind needs easy stuff. ;]

Wonder Wednesday--How is Paper Made?

Well. Apparently our morning announcements are running too long and I have to skip this. Sad. Little time for wonder during testing season. :[
But I did get a great question submission. And of course I don't have to reinvent the wheel. One day I'll get brave and make a video. For now? I will direct the student here.



Love their accents. ;]

And if you go here you can click on the "How Do People Make Construction Paper" and see a cool video clip from Mr. Roger's tv show. Just can't embed it on this site.

Tuesday Tech

I can't remember if I have mentioned this before. Ignore if I have.


I used to love Firefox. It was faster, there were add-ons that I liked (Talon, for one), and it had tabbed browsing before IE. Blech on IE is all I can say.

And then Firefox got weird. Got slow. Kept needing updates that wouldn't work. Kept crashing.


So I tried Chrome. If you do not use Chrome ... go download it now. Even if you don't use it all the time still have it available.

photo credit: Stuck in Customs via photopin cc 

(This is a different kind of chrome but hey ... makes it more interesting to have a pic in the post, no? )


Some of my favorite apps from the Webstore ...

• Aviary
• Picnik (I AM IN DENIAL ABOUT APRIL!)
• Awesome Screenshot
• Hootsuite (don't use it as often as I could ... but when I remember it's cool to be able to schedule things and it helps to follow Twitter)
• Pixlr Grabber
• Add to Amazon Wish List (I am an Amazon junkie. Contributing to the demise of the small-business owner. :[)
• Send to Google Docs (new one ... but handy!)
• QR Code Generator
• Pixlr Editor
• Pixlr-o-matic
• Tilt Shiftmaker (cool photo effects!)
• Photo Collage
• Speech Recognizer

Only been using Chrome regularly for ... a little over two months. Do you have a favorite that I need to try?

Piggy Bunny

(Goodreads Summary)
Most piglets want to be pigs when they grow up. Not Liam. He wants to be a bunny. Even if it takes a lot of practice to learn how to hop...and to eat salad. Even if no one believes that a piggy can be a bunny. With a lot of determination, and a little help from his grandma, Liam is determined to make his dream come true.



Piggy Bunny by Rachel Vail
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

You know what? This one is super cute. I LOVE the illustrations and ... let me think. Can I tell you my favorite lines without spoiling the story? Ummm ... nope.


I will just say that Grandma and Grandpa Pig are awesome.


Must read for Easter. Not necessarily for the meaning behind that season (though He did teach us to love and accept!) ... but for fun, definitely. Maybe a storytime? There must be a craft in there somewhere. Lesson can be on story elements. Then fun craftiness.

View all my reviews

Bloggiesta

So I'm thinking about doing this. Would be a good incentive to go back and fix some of the labels so people could find the bookmarks, display signs, and lessons more easily. Get more of my Goodreads reviews moved over. Maybe create a button. I still LOVE my background/header that my sis-in-law did for me back in December so not that. But other stuff. Maybe they will have some good ideas/challenges that I haven't even thought of yet? Plus new blog friends. Which reminds me I still need to do my tagging post. I was SO SICK and out of town the week that I got tagged.

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now… who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!

Our Kid Lit to YA version is hosted by Teach Mentor Texts.
GREAT IDEA! Check out all of the What Are You Reading? participants for title ideas.




This Week
So You Want to Be a Rock Star by Audrey Vernick







Piggy Bunny by Rachel Vail






Blood Sun by David Gilman








Just a Second by Steve Jenkins






Happy Pig Day! by Mo Willems








Listen to My Trumpet! by Mo Willems








What's Eating You?: Parasites--The Inside Story by Nicola Davies





Next Week (or the NEXT week ... which is spring break. #BOOKADAYBABY)
The End of the World Club
Nerd Camp
The Aviary
trying to catch up on many Netgalley titles (oh! Like ... what's the name of it. The new Robin LaFevers book. Grave Assassin?)
other various and assorted books from our last book deliveries of the year!