#IMWAYR Last Week Was Spring Break edition

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Date. 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.

(Oops. Didn't mean to get that last one in the screen grab. I mentioned it last week. Oh well.)

You can click on the image to go to Goodreads and get a little more detail. Daughter of Smoke and Bone was my favorite. I enjoyed The Last Bogler (though not as much as the first two) and also Knife Edge (a teenage Sherlock Holmes). Truthwitch has promise ... I just found this volume #1 a little confusing. Needed like a cheat sheet to keep all the characters and motivations straight. Poor Wollstonecraft Agency. I want so much to love it and yet I... don't. Don't actively dislike it but something is missing. Super helpful, aren't I?

And I also read Hour of the Bees. I'm so glad Candlewick sent me an ARC because the writing was so beautiful. Now, the main character is going in to 7th grade so I haven't immediately thought of one of my own students I could share it with. But I'm going to keep thinking. It's very much a coming of age novel where Carolina spends the summer with her family closing down her grandfather's sheep ranch as he is entering late stage dementia and can't live on his own anymore.
I do think the magical fairy tale that the grandfather would tell her ... could have been shortened without losing too much. The best parts of the story were the real parts ... and that's coming from a fantasy lover.

P 106-107, 109
"But let me tell you something I've learned about time, chiquita. Measuring time isn't as simple as adding or subtracting minutes from a clock.... You must find your own measuring stick.... You must find a measuring stick that means something, chiquita."

P 111
"But where you go when you leave isn't as important as where you go when you come home."

P 112
"No matter how far away you are when you bloom, you are always tied to your roots."


I also got to read the Spanish version of Piggie and Elephant Should I Share my Ice Cream? with a PreK class today. WHAT FUN! It takes too long for book orders at school. I might give in and order the other three from Amazon, just for my former Spanish teacher self.

Coming up? Well, I discovered I missed a teenage Sherlock Holmes so I got that from the library on Saturday. Read #6 last week, will read #5 this week. Then we'll see what else I get to. Back to work and a big family barbecue on Saturday. And the need to keep myself up on exercise. My gym changed my class time to kickboxing and I didn't like it. I tried but who needs the pressure "Drop that ball and the whole class has to do 5 burpees." I don't respond well to that. But I need exercise to combat ... shall we call it anxious energy? :P

If you are also back after spring break, I feel the pain. For the most part enjoy what we do but that early, early alarm. (And if you got to go to Disney I'm JEALOUS!) If you are on spring break this week ... HAVE FUN! If you don't get one ... well, at least you get a longer summer. My university didn't give any kind of a spring break so I remember that was hard!

Already Friday! Mar 18

Spring Break is almost over. Insert conflicted face.

Anyway. Yesterday was sort of a day lost because of a rotten headache. So much for celebrating the green. Did you? Wednesday was fun. Didn't get any pics but had lunch at the Grist Mill and then driving through the bluebonnets with my Mom. If you've never seen a field of bluebonnets you've missed out! No pics. Just enjoyed it. Monday and Tuesday were mostly spring cleaning. Bleh. I get so overwhelmed by STUFF. And yet I still want more. :P

Here are some things I thought were interesting over the past week. At some point I need to plan a poetry lesson for first grade. No one else wanted to do anything next week (half day on Monday because of second dr. appt. for dumb headaches, then Good Friday off, then the next week ... less than fun things).


<3!



This. OH, THIS. Partly when there's not enough time made to talk about different titles. And partly when the push to "chapter books" is made too early.



This site had lots of great writing, prompts. Not "just" Lego, although they were obviously a favorite.



What a lovely color combo. I love the color combo pins. I find looking at them just as relaxing as some of those apps that give you the images of the beach with wave sounds. I don't quite know why I'm in so much need of relaxing lately. Temperament, I guess.

#IMWAYR on Spring Break!

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Date. 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.

Last week only finished this one. It was a lot slower (for me, at least, in terms of interest?) at the beginning but then finally about halfway through got really good and then the end! At least I already have book three checked out from the library. Best part about finding a series late in the game.

 

Loads of books I've started and want to finish. Lake House is on audio, everything else is a book. HA on power users but to do better, I hope.

I have Red Queen on my Kindle (nope! Haven't read that one yet, either) and The Case of the Girl in Grey (Woolstone Agency), Knife Edge, and The Last Bogler from the library.

Thinking About Space

and budgets.

I'm thinking out loud here. And not at the gym because they changed the class time I attended to kickboxing and ... I discovered I don't really like kickboxing. Must find new fitness routine.




Right now I can't even bear to really show pics of our "maker" areas because they aren't accessible to kids during the day and they are a hodge podge mess. I want to get a couple carts from Demco, get rid of two tables, and create a making island.



But I also want to get a face out magazine display because having all issues in boxes does not encourage browsing. Also the labels are ugly and fading. Literally never realized before today "hey, you made nicer labels for pretty much everywhere else, why have you always only used the Dymo here?"





And I want to get rid of this big rack and put a Lego wall in there (we would have to move the carts when it was being used, and it couldn't be used when it was teaching. Isn't that sign funny? A first grader brought it after two days of particularly "fun" dismissals). The book/CD packs go out about ... 8 a month? Is that enough to justify the space?





But I also want to replace all the tables because they are huge and hard to move and the edges are falling off. Saving enough bookfair $ for that is going to take a long while, especially if I give in and do any of the aforementioned projects.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

#IMWAYR Sci Fi and an Award Winning Picture Book

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Date. 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.




Lots of picture books this week! There were some dead bookfair times where I actually just sat and read  plus a visit to the public library.

Armada ... I so enjoyed it! I mean, I'm not a gamer at all but I did enjoy all the sci fi references. Plus I listened to the audiobook and having Wil Wheaton read it to me was even more fun. I didn't like the language but I know that is a personal thing.

Last Stop ... WOW. I'm actually glad for the award buzz because "realistic" type picture books are ... just not something I usually pick up on my own. But it was so lovely! I gave the music teacher a pb copy from the fair for the middle description of what music can do for you ... but there are so many other reasons to get a copy. Kids with grandparents. Kids in poverty. Kids of color. Great description of small moments.

Those were my two favorites. The rest if you click on the image it will take you to Goodreads for more info. Fun but not the BE ALL END ALL of picture books. Do You Know Dewey? ... I almost hate to say it but bleh.

NEXT WEEK IS SPRING BREAK! I might be a little bit excited. Lots of reading as I'm not going anywhere. So. I might already have 1000+ on my TBR but I'm about to blog hop and add your titles! :)

Finally Friday and Currently March

BOOKFAIR IS DONE! Almost, anyway. It's not actually over just cause it's packed up. Still numbers to crunch. Which is not my strongest suit. But not again for six months! Can I get a woo-hoo?


On a kick. You might see some results. You might not. Just trying to get the creative spark going?



"What did you have for breakfast this morning?"
"Eggs."
"Scrambled?"
"Cadbury's." The struggle is real. :P



Reading with my Peeps. Easy, peasy. Totally doing it.



Old news cause it won like 6-7 weeks ago ... but it took til this week for me to get to actually see it. Really, so lovely! Three teachers had to get it when I made them stop and take a look inside. Just beautiful writing.

Now linking up with Farley.

Catching up on the DVR. A little lost since it's started back up? Don't pay enough attention, I guess.
They are so much fun. I spent way too much $ on books at the fair for them. But it's fun to be the aunt that spoils them with books!
I get so mixed up by the end of the week. Too many little piles here and there.
More time. A want and a need. Really the key is just to prioritize better. Cause we all get 24 hours. Just what you do with it!
Yes. Before we had walls polling was literally in our biography section. It is a conflicting thing. What brings out the crazies more than politics. Especially in this day and age. But what other kind of public government place can be found so locally. More schools than there are public libraries. (I hate going to the library during political seasons. An assault on the eyes with all of the signs.