weekend reads

Finished Dean Pitchford's "Captain Nobody". Story starts at the end and brings you back to where the final dilemma is happening. My only question is where are the parents and why is it okay to let your ten year old cook for the whole family ? otherwise the story is good. Captain Nobody is the younger brother of a town somebody, but that;s not the problem or is it? Anyhow the book is cute and cleverly written, reasonably realistic. I can recommend it. Do you have an older sibling who is really good at something? Do they get all the attention? Do you like him/her?

And I have read three more Junie Bs she is names after the month of June with a Beatrice in one she had to get glasses in first grade because like me she couldn't see the board from way at the back of the room. And then she learns about loosing things and getting to the Lost and Found Box. Graduation from Kindergarten. I like Junie's classmates they got behind her when she spills on her graduation gown. I have started "Skinny-Bones" to round out my Barbara Parks selections.

Thinking about using Smartboard senteo more for assessment. I have a list of questions for the first day third through fifth and wait until later to do second later. I will have to assign pin numbers to each student. Collect the results and reset the questions for the next class, and now I must download the software so I can work at home.

more reads

I finished the 2010 Newbery winner, "When You Reach Me" by Rebbecca Stead, almost in one sitting. I kept flipping back to the beginning to check that the setting dates was fall 1978 to spring 1979. The book felt timeless which is funny because the theme center is about time travel. Really enjoyed it, the first person narration, the kid-ness of how the relationships were described. And the explanation of relativity and physics. I am now inspired to try to read L'Engle's "A Wrinkle In Time" again, another Newbery winner.I say try because I did try to read it about ten years ago and just couldn't get very far. Maybe because the story developed very slowly? Going back for a revisit. The text in AWIT is much denser than WYRM how young adult books have changed since the 70's! I am thinking about how I can sell both books to my students. Time travel, imagination, images of NYC during the 70's hmmm.
I am now starting "Neil Armstrong is my Uncle and other lies..." by N.Marino which feels, in the first pages like "When You Reach Me".

Break Time

Summer is here! I have been writing curriculum with a team of school librarians. Went to a two day conference on differentiation and got back to my library for a day to begin ordering for the new school year.
In between I have read "Princess Mia" by Meg Cabot. Breathless and amusing. I hope to read another, probably one of the earlier books in the series. I do like series fiction, especially in my personal reading. It's part of that what happens next question. Sherlock should live, Mr. Doyle, readers want to know what happens next!
I have been reading other titles mostly adult fiction and a biography. However I am not going to include them on my "Summer Read That" list (24 books for the bingo card).
I am trying to read titles that I haven't made time to read before. The plan is I will start modeling book talks for classes using podcasting. Podcasts easy to create and great for higher level thinking. Students must create a script with an intro, content and closure. This could be done by writing it out, using a web or a bulleted list. I had better get a format pulled together now.

Keep reading !