Finally (almost) Friday Aug. 30 and #slantboxes

This week ... oh, this week.

But hey. IT'S DONE NOW. IT CAN'T HAPPEN AGAIN!!!!!!

And I got my SLANT box! Yay!

Thank you so much, Wendy! Items beautifully packaged and so fun (PS I already ate the chocolate ;)).

My "boxee" didn't get pretty packaging. In fact she got a long brown hair stuck in the packing tape that I totally didn't see until I was pushing the box across the cabinet to the mailman. Darn long brown hair that sheds. #SERIOUSLYGROSS I'm sorry, Elizabeth. And I squished everything into a smaller flat rate. I'm learning. :( But did you get your vinyl installed without too much trouble?

It was so fun! I hope I have two new blog friends.

Two giveaways will be starting next week or so, just so you know. One a book I will talk about on Monday (I would say target audience strong third grade readers and up, probably girls) and one a canvas print (you pick the pic). Until then click on these links I found via Pinterest. If you like 'em click through and pin from the original source.

Hey Naturally Educational ... great idea for a blog post! Also Dear Admin ... can I count my Reading is Jawsome t-shirt as school spirit?

So it turns out I LOVE this trailer and like this book. That's OK.

Sarah ... I wish I'd had this idea! But you did! Thanks for sharing.

Thinking of trying this. I have usually read Interrupting Chicken in the spring (we make a door hanger for "Don't Interrupt Me I'm (Summer) Reading!" but we've missed it the past year or two. Maybe it's time to try it at the beginning of the year.

#IMWAYR

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 and Unleashing Readers.
GREAT IDEA! Check out all of the What Are You Reading? participants for title ideas.





This is the only one I finished. Kind of sad, no?

Fly Guy #13: Fly Guy and the Frankenfly by Tedd Arnold
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A little silly but hey. That is why the kiddos will enjoy it.






Working on this one.

The Sands of Time by Michael Hoeye








I was listening to this one. Then Overdrive went berserk on my phone and now it won't let me redownload it. I get the need for digital rights but when someone genuinely has it checked out properly but is experiencing all sorts of other issues and isn't trying to put it on all her friends devices, just get it to work on her OWN ... it's a pain. I want to finish it!

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia









AND I am finishing this one tonight.

Rose by Holly Webb

Finally Friday Aug. 23

If you're reading this on Feedly or Bloglovin click through because it's the most fun door I've seen in a while.


And did you see this? If I wasn't stuck sitting at a table directing traffic during Meet the Teacher Night tonight I'd have it in the library and get kids to come color part of it on their way to or from classrooms and PTA stations in the cafeteria.


I want to try this. Will Greek Yogurt make it kind of healthy? If it still tasted good I would be super excited. Love me some pumpkin chocolate chip bread.


At the end of the day? All you can ask.


And excuse the girly swoon just for a moment but I love this one. Somewhere is there a boy (I guess at this point I should say MAN ;)) who would do this for me?

Unicorn Thinks bookmarks

Double post today ... oops. Just finished these and thought they were kind of fun.

Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great is the first book I think I'm going to offer classes ... anytime the first week if they want me to come to them. I probably won't actually do it in the library because that first week when classes do all the practicing of hallway behaviors? They (staff, actually, in this case) do A LOT of talking in the hallway and as I've mentioned before ... we are the hallway. Really trying to not complain, just do the best with what we've got. I'll visit classes! This is a funny book that I think could make for a fun "be open to new friends" discussion!

Plus right now the only computer in the library that works is my laptop. Still no power to the circ desk and still none of the new "thin client" library computers work. People keep saying "They're so pretty" and I have to say "Yes, but they don't work yet.":P

Click on the first pic to download the pdf.

And on a side note if anyone can help me figure out why sometimes pdfs will NOT show the text in Adobe but DO still print the text I would be forever grateful and would send you anything I've ever made for sure. All of my Googling comes up with the opposite problem ... text shows up in the pdf but doesn't print. Things I've made? Text doesn't show up in the pdf but DOES print. #sostrange

Throwback Thursday ROAR in the Library

So I was recently reminded of a post I made last year where I shamelessly begged for comments in order to "get" the freebie. Sort of uncool of me. Although as all bloggers now ... we <3 comments. But as I also realize ... it's hard to come up with something to say sometimes! Even when it's not a "controversial" post and really all you'd say is "I like this!" Seems strange so none of us, myself included, do it all that often.



Today with kinder and first. Short and sweet. ;)



Anyway. HERE are the little bookmarks! ROAR in the Library. Read Our books And Return on time.
Yes, Library Lion is a bit on the longer side so you have to keep things moving. Dinosaur vs. the Library is the opposite and pretty short so you need something ELSE to do with it. ;)

(Sort of) Wordless Wednesday

Thought #1
Three signs all pointing the same way ... annoying. Not enough contrast from far away to read the Narnia sign. Also annoying. Does it bother me enough to redo it, however ...

Thought #2
Totally copied off of Pinterest. Would it be worth it to add little books to the Minion bulletin board? And little word balloons like "Action!" or "Adventure!" or "Comedy!" or "Banana!"

Thought #3
Technically this one is not done yet. I need to find some chalk to put in the scoreboard and baselines ... it's supposed to be a baseball themed reading challenge. 9 weeks (gets us about to the World Series, right?). For every night most of the class reads for 20 minutes they get a base run. For every week (inning) most of the classes on a grade level get at least three base runs it will count as a home run. At the end of the 9 innings the grade with the most home runs is the "winner." I figured this way smaller grades won't necessarily be penalized. Or younger grades cause reading WITH someone counts.
I'm obviously not super knowledgeable about baseball. ;)

Thought #4
Purely by accident two of the three picture book signs are the same color. This is also sort of annoying. I can be OCD/perfectionist.


Tomorrow's PD is called "Empowerment Day." I'm super excited. #wellnotreallybutImtryingtopretend

Word.

So 17 million people have already seen this ... but before today I was not one of them (and I have to say that doesn't happen all that often ... I waste enough time online I see most of the viral videos! Especially the more ... message oriented ones). Anyway. I loved it ... and it's something I know I need to work on cause I too often blow off frustrations by talking about them. I actually teared up a little bit and I do NOT do that in public. No way, no how, no sir.





Now. Must go to the gym. Finish getting my SLANT box together because the fact that today is the 20th sort of snuck up on me! And cross my fingers they come and fix the power to the circulation desk tomorrow! Was never a librarian in the card age ... I <3 the computerized systems. But alas, they need electricity to work!

#IMWAYR Aug. 19

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 and Unleashing Readers.
GREAT IDEA! Check out all of the What Are You Reading? participants for title ideas.






Last Week
Black Ice by Andy Lane
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was thoroughly enjoying things ... until all of a sudden it was over. #pacingfail






Nursery Rhyme Comics: 50 Timeless Rhymes from 50 Celebrated Cartoonists by Chris Duffy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Fun ... but not for actual young kids. Much of the text is handwritten in a way that made it hard for ME to read ... and I'm a teacher used to deciphering student writing.

I can see a few of our older elementary students picking it up and enjoying a few pages but not reading it all the way through. I skimmed a good deal of it myself.


Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas by Jim Ottaviani
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed reading about these three women. I didn't know their lives were so intertwined. The graphic novel format was fun ... the animals were given great facial expressions.

Only reason it's not a four is that there were many times when I felt like it kind of skipped around. Nature of the beast, I guess, covering three women in one book. But it felt a bit disjointed in places.


Audition & Subtraction by Amy Fellner Dominy

Didn't write even my usual short review for this one. But I liked it. Great for middle school!






Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

I enjoyed it as a very believable and heartbreaking (but in a way that makes you believe in the redeeming power of teen relationships ... both friendships and romance) story. Plus awesome music references.

I just ... really could have done without the language. Say all you want "It's how teens talk" but it's not how ALL teens talk. Even now ... cause I know I'm not a teen anymore. Actually the same can be said about adult friends. But as a teen my friends that might have used that sort of language when I wasn't around were careful not to around me, and if they slipped apologized before I ever said a word. In fact it was rare I ever DID point anything out ... they were just perceptive enough to notice I didn't and adjusted themselves accordingly. Once or twice in a book and I hardly notice. There were several pages, though, were it seemed like every other word was bordering on offensive.

Definitely a young adult. Worth reading but I really wish it could be read WITHOUT the language because it really brought the story down for me.


Ollie by Olivier Dunrea
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Too cute. My sis just had a little boy and he has two older sisters. His name is Ollie but their names are not Gossie and Gertie. I might deface the book and put stickers over the text and change the names. ;)


Ollie the Stomper by Olivier Dunrea
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Can't wait to see if OUR Ollie is as stubborn as this one.


The Tell-Tale Start: The Misadventures of Edgar & Allan Poe, Book One by Gordon McAlpine
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a very high three. Really a four in terms of writing but three in terms of premise. There were funny lines sprinkled throughout the story, and some fun (at least for an adult, kids may not recognize them as such but they'll still enjoy the book!) literary references. The illustrations were fun for a "chapter book."

Only thing I wasn't as keen on was the premise of why the professor was after the boys in the first place.

Will read the second and probably get them both for our school collection. Not perfect but enjoyable all the same.


Coming Up
Well ... summer's over. And the fun doesn't start for another week (lucky kids). This week is all PD. Not PD we picked, either. C'est la vie.

ALL SUMMER I meant to finish Notice and Note. And several other professional titles. Where did you go, summer?

I greatly enjoyed the audiobook of book one. The library didn't have 2&3 in audio format so I guess I'll just have to read them with my eyes instead of my ears. ;)

And remember all those fun e-arcs? Need to schedule those. Oh, plus I have a blog tour stop coming up. Never done that before ... I should figure out what I'm supposed to do. And finish that book. It's pretty fun so far so that's good. Would be awkward if I didn't like the book.

Good luck to anyone getting ready for school to start!

Finally Friday August 16

Snagging the pics and linking instead of embedding the pins since neither Feedly or Bloglovin properly show embedded stuff. If you like please just pin directly from the owning site. If it's MY stuff you're welcome to pin away straight from here.

Check out this link up! The pic links to the website!

Pinterest gives no credit to this one. So I need to look. Which I will do eventually. Bad example to not do it today.

The Pinterest link goes back to a blog (just the blog, not the direct link to the image ... first annoyance) and then the blog does ... strange stuff. All sorts of pop ups and what have you. So I didn't go back to find the direct link to the post where it appeared. Will do a google search. Eventually.

Keep Calm-o-matic. It's kind of fun.

Pinned another one about Keep Calm and Eat Chocolate. But the link was bad (just to the blog, not the post! Come on, pinners. I know I've been guilty of it before but I do try to fix things) and I have other things to do besides track everything down. ;)

So remember my door that was going to be a headboard? Went in to Homestead Handcrafts the other day and they had a headboard/baseboard/rails combo, bed table, and dresser (small, but a dresser) for $400. Layaway free for 60 days (meaning I don't have to put it in storage while we wait for the house to finish! Though what I will do with this set and the desk I got if the house isn't done in 60 days I don't know)! Ready to go! So now I have a door with awesome hinges I need to figure out something to do with. The pinterest link goes to a tumblr.

Next week is all the "fun" PD on campus. Then kiddos the week after that!

Lesson Idea Wishlists

So ... I'd have a lot more $ if it wasn't for TPT. I really would. It's just so easy to click and print.
When I see great lesson ideas/plans/materials I want to try them. Sometimes that comes back to bite me ... the class that I thought we do the activity with cancels on me and no one reschedules. That sort of thing. Always next year, though.

I'm withholding ... some. Just so you won't see how crazy I am. No kids. Spend all my money on stuff for school and books. Don't own any of these YET. Debating.


Want to add some STEM activities? These look like (and I'm sorry I'm using this term because I know it will turn some admins off) SO MUCH FUN. The learning is an added bonus. There are 7 of these 1- experiment bundle packs, as well as a five pack of Greek Mythology based STEM activities. And looking at some of the individual ones available I'd bet a conservation/recycling/Earth Day one arrives before too long. If I was allowed to use school money I'd get ALL of them. As it will have to be mine I may have to hold back and pick and choose.

(Click on the pic ... it's terrible, I know, but I just snagged one of the previews off of TPT. Bad copyright following but please go BUY. And pin from there. Not here. The link will take you to Smart Chick's STORE and then you can look around for the bundles or separate lessons.)

Struggled a lot with our stations. Can't find somewhere to set them up that doesn't block stacks access but is still visible! Think the little ones would have fun with this, though. And it's easy to prepare ahead of time and set up and leave out for the kiddos that can't check out because they haven't returned their books in months no matter how many notes/calls home. Or the kiddo that finds their books to check out really fast but doesn't want to sit and read them yet. IF you can figure out somewhere to leave them out.

P for Pete and what have you. Click on the pic to go to this particular item in the store Pocketful of Centers.

Can you tell this is for a packet of Frog and Toad activities? Vocab study, taking notes, extending meaning. Some great possibilities. No clue who I'd do it with but I would love it and so would the kids, I would think. If they'd let me do THIS for our tutoring time I'd feel much less worried. Ask me to do phonics and I'm like what?

So many teacher bloggers talk about interactive notebooks. I'd like to hear from teacher LIBRARIANS, too. I LOVE the idea of them and love reading about how it works in the "regular" classroom. But what about the library? I mean, if the teacher is doing them, too, it's easy. Well, if you have time to plan ahead and such. But if the teacher isn't, necessarily. And you only have the kids for a little while every once in a while. Is it worth it? Lovin Lit has three sets I'm interested in. This generic blank one, one for FICTION LITERARY ELEMENTS grades 4-8, and then NON-FICTION grades 4-8. Actually the Science Penguin has several as well (for science topics, obviously). She just posted a KINDER one and has two others. Topics I know we've "done" in the library in the past. So again ... do I buy them not knowing if I'll ever get to use them?

My secondary ed background doesn't tell me why "write the room" is so popular ... but I've seen it on many blogs and this TL had a Fabulous Idea to make it library-centric!

Never seen the show but love Melonheadz and love the idea of using these little cards in an activity.

This one MIGHT be a case of form over function ... in my case anyway. It's so cute! We do research. Kids love sharks. We study adaptations. Couldn't we make it all work?

We study Davy Crockett so this one should be useful.

Looks like some handy tools to use when studying fairy tales. She's actually got a couple other smaller graphic organizer sets that look good as well.

Things like this. Do they work outside of the regular classroom? Where it's harder to get in habits like this? I know every classroom has different ones because the teachers have used them while in the library. But that's just it ... every classroom is DIFFERENT and for the life of me I can't remember who uses what phrases! Hate to rely on the classroom teacher when I want the kiddos attention. Which is so hard to get when you're in a hallway. But I whine again.

And really I have a lot of this clip art. But not the chihuahua for the Holy Guacamole one. Which is awesome.

There are a couple sticky mat type reading ones I'm also thinking about. But this post is long enough!

And remember if you saw something you liked in this particular case ... post from the TPT link, not here. In pretty much every other case I'd say PIN AWAY but as these are not my "products" the Pinterest link should go back to THEM and not my description of why I might like the lesson idea.

Anything you all love? A PS ... THANK YOU to anyone who has pinned/purchased/downloaded anything from my TPT space. It's amazing to me enough that anyone listens to me here. There, where sometimes I ask for $ for stuff? And you get it? Love. I then turn around and spend it on clip art to make more silly stuff. ;)

Prescheduling this to post. Thursday is my first day actually on contract. Super fun all day library meeting.