Currently February

It's time again to link up with Oh Boy 4th Grade for Currently February!

* I love me some snow!! (My hubby says that's because I usually don't have to shovel it. He's the best!) The blizzard dumped 2+ feet on us last week and now it looks like we will be getting 8-16 inches tomorrow! There's nothing better than cozying up with a good book or watching the snow fall with my boys.

* Thinking about my school reading celebration starting tomorrow! I've been working hard to create some events that will get kids excited about reading and talking about books. First up, and lasting all month, is Battle of the Books! It's a sports bracket style competition where student's vote weekly for their favorite books. By February 27th we will have our winner. I started hanging up a giant bracket in the cafeteria on Friday afternoon (not quite finished yet, working on a title banner) and was pleasantly surprised when the boys basketball team stopped in to check it out. They were arguing about which books were best and why! Here's a preview of the unfinished bracket:

I tried to match up texts that were similar in genre or theme. It should make for some interesting discussions! Our school is PK-8, so the left side of the bracket is the East Coast elementary texts while the right side represents the West Coast Middle Texts (yes I know I've got my east and west coasts backwards, lol). Students will receive paper brackets tomorrow to make predictions and winning brackets will receive a free book at our next book fair!

Students will be voting online at my new classroom book blog (I designed it myself! It was my first attempt so it's nothing too spectacular but I'm pretty proud of it). Come check it out and follow along as we find out our school's favorite book! (The first post for voting will be tomorrow)

If your interested in trying this out in your school, then stop by my TpT store to get my Battle of the Books brackets, a tutorial on Accelerated Reader quizzes, and more activities to celebrate reading. {It's FREE} I would love to see which books come out on top at other schools!

* Back to this month's currently... I'm wanting to visit the Book Barn today. They are a local second hand book store with fabulous finds and they are having their annual sale this weekend!!

* My Hubby's birthday is today so it's time to bake a cake!!

* I am definitely not a pageant girl, but if I was I would be the Queen of Disney! I love everything about Disney and can't wait to bring the boys again. I drove my hubby nuts planning our trip last February. It's so much fun making dinner reservations and planning out which parks and shows to see. We used to go every winter when I was a kid and now that I'm married with my own kids we have been 3 times. (Overall I think I've been around 30 times!! Only once to Disneyland though...)
My best tip... Don't bring your own stroller! I've always been so worried about damaging our Double Baby Jogger that we have never taken it to Disney. Instead I wear our little guy in a wrap or carrier through the airport while the big ones walk. We rent a stroller ahead of time from Orlando Stroller Rentals. They have Baby Joggers and they deliver right to your hotel. Your stroller is waiting at the hotel's front desk when you arrive and you leave it at the front desk when you check out! We have used them all 3 times and they have been fantastic! Reasonably priced and great service!

By the way... I decided to join everyone and have a Superbowl Sale today! Stop by my store for 20% off everything!

Sorry for such a long post, but there is just so much to talk about! Thanks for stopping by!