Summer Reading

Summer has officially begun for this tired teacher, which means that I can now tackle some books on my TBR list :)

What books will you be reading this summer?!

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books

Today I'm joining The Broke and the Bookish for their Top Ten Tuesday linkup.

Ten books I'd buy right this second if someone handed me a fully loaded gift card

This list is going to be tough to keep at just 10... I've got some new bookshelves going up and can't wait to fill them (not that I don't have enough books to fill them already, lol).

The crates just need to be stained and secured. Then I can start loading in books!!

So, I'm basically going to work off my Barnes and Noble wishlist. Many of them are pre-orders that are coming out soon (not soon enough! I think I need one of the Ministry of Magic's Time Turners so I can get my hands on them now!), but the ones on my wishlist are available now.

Now, if the book gods will kindly give me my loaded gift card, I'll be off to the bookstore!

What books would you buy with a fully loaded gift card?

Happy Reading :)

A Wizardly Wonderful Week with a HUGE GIVEAWAY!

Happy Birthday Harry Potter!! 

Today is a wonderful day!!
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has been released and I have my copy!!

So once I am finished with this post I will retire to my chaise lounge where I will spend the rest of the day devouring this book! Sorry kids, you'll have to fend for yourself today. Mommy has lost herself in the wizarding world!

I've continued to spread the Harry Potter love into my classroom as I prepare for the upcoming school year. Last year I put up my HP pinwheels and fans...

And this year I'm working on a few more HP items. The Deathly Hallows was a HUGE book so I've still got a lot of pages left to work with!!

First up, an HP lantern to hang in my classroom:

I chose a large section of the book that still had the binding intact. Taking several pages at a time, I curled them in towards the center. Before hot glueing the pages to the center I ran a piece of sting through from the bottom to the top. I then tied some old beads to the bottom. I love the final look!!

My next project is one I am really excited about...

I made the signs out of the cardboard box from our new washing machine. Each sign will hold the name of a different fictional place: Hogwarts, Ember, Narnia, District 12... I can't wait to finish and hang it in my room!!

There is also a pair of Harry Potter themed lamps in the works. I'll post pictures of those when I'm finished.

So, Harry Potter kicks off the beginning of a great week!

Teachers Pay Teachers is hosting their annual sale starting tomorrow!

And I have a $10 gift card to give away!!
Enter below for your chance to win $10 to spend on resources for your classroom this year!! Might I suggest an awesome display of middle grades novel quotes ;)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck, and happy reading!

Summer Reading 2016

SO much to read, SO little time! Hopefully the relaxed pace of summer will give me more time to read and write. This is an ambitious list, but I know I can do it!

Red Queen

I recently read Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. This new young adult series is about a girl named Mare Barrow. She is a poor thief from the Stilts, dreading her upcoming conscription on her 18th birthday. For over a hundred years Red soldiers have fought a Silver war, spilling their common red blood to protect their gifted, silver-blooded kings. Mare's story is one of bravery and courage. She stands up for what she believes in and will do anything for the people she loves. That's why it is so important for her to avoid being sent to war. For Mare's people, war means death.

You see, there are two kinds of people in the Kingdom of Norta. There are Silvers (Kings, Queens, Lords and Ladies) who have money, power, summer palaces and winter palaces. And there's everyone else, Reds like Mare, whose only purpose in life is to serve the Silvers. They are forced to be laborers, working hard for very little pay. The Reds outnumber the Silvers so why don't they fight back? Silver blood comes with supernatural abilities, powers that Reds don't have. Magnetrons can control metal, shadows can bend light, nymphs can control water, and strongarms have immense strength. But these are only a few of the amazing abilities silvers possess. 

Their blood is a threat, a warning, a promise. We are not the same and never will be. This is the true division between Silvers and Reds: the color of our blood. This simple difference somehow makes them stronger, smarter, better than us. (page 9) 

One day, Mare discovers that despite her Red blood she has a superior Silver ability, an ability that could save her or doom her. Of course Mare makes this discovery in front of the entire Silver community where all eyes were on her! No one can know of her Red blood, so she must turn her back on everything she has ever know, anyone she's ever loved, and lie to the world. Pretending to be a Silver princess, Mare is forced to hide her true identity. 

She has only one choice to make... 

...play along or join the rising Red rebellion. 

No spoilers here! You'll have to grab a copy of Red Queen to find out!

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good fantasy novel. Victoria Aveyard expertly creates a world where anything seems possible. She makes the Kingdom of Norta feel like it's the town right next door. Best of all, Mare's story does not end here! After devouring Red Queen, check out the sequel Glass Sword and the novella Cruel Crown. (The action and suspense really builds in Glass Sword!) Aveyard is still writing the third book in the trilogy and I cannot wait to see where Mare's journey ends!

This book would make a great addition to your middle/high school classroom library. The Accelerated Reader level is 5.2 and the content is not too mature for your advanced middle school readers (no need to worry about language or sexual themes in this series). I put 2 copies of this out in my 5-6th grade classroom and they were snatched up right away. My students are making great connections between Mare and Katniss (Hunger Games). One student even said that "Red Queen helped to fill the void left behind when she finished the Hunger Games Trilogy!"

I looked UP

Sometimes books evoke a strong reaction from the reader.

I threw this book onto the other side of the couch with a WTF that was a little too loud for 10:30pm and sleeping children in the house!

I just finished reading We All Looked Up, by Tommy Wallach. This book had been on my radar for a while, stuck in the never ending queue of my Barnes and Noble cart. However when I came across it at Target during a recent grocery shopping trip I couldn't resist.

First of all, the cover is minimalistically beautiful and so soft to the touch. One look and I knew it had to be mine!

I binge read this book, polishing it off in less than a week (while also being a full-time working mommy of 3 little ones). Wallach's clean, clear writing reads effortlessly, making it possible to loose yourself within his pages for hours. This part below, was so good that I stuck it up on my classroom wall:

The best books, they don't talk about things you never thought about before. They talk about things you'd always thought about, but that you didn't think anyone else had thought about. You read them, and suddenly you're a little bit less alone in the world.

The story follows four teenagers as their lives intertwine while awaiting the arrival of an asteroid that has a 66.6% chance of wiping out the Earth. The characters see this as an opportunity to shed the labels that have controlled their young lives; the athlete, the slacker, the overachiever, and the promiscuous girl. It's like the Breakfast Club except that impending doom is all that is waiting on the other side of the library doors.

Challenges plague each character as they try to achieve their end of the world goals. Controlling parents, distant parents, partying, riots, and even a stint in prison doesn't break their spirit. Wallach makes you care deeply for each character. SO deeply in fact that the ending will leave you speechless. Then, when the words finally do come, you will find yourself venting to your husband as he's trying to fall asleep. The real reason why your blood pressure skyrockets at the end....

Spoiler alert!!!
I REALLY don't want to ruin this book for you, however the author spoils the end on his website too, so I figured it was ok for me to do the same here.

The book just ends.

It's the day that the asteroid is expected to hit, the characters are together, they "all look up", and then it ends. Does the asteroid hit or not?!?!!

At first I was furious. How could he end the story here? I flipped the last few pages back and forth, over and over again, thinking that maybe I had missed something that would suddenly appear. But then, after processing it for a few moments, I realized that the ending was perfect. It was too expected to go for the "happy everyone lives" ending and if he went with the "tragic everyone dies" ending then there would be no narrator left to tell the story. Ending it where he did leaves our beloved characters still intact and our minds racing with possibilities. What more could you ask for?

Recommendation: Must read! While I discussed some details of this book with my 5th - 6th grade students, I will not be releasing it into general population in my classroom. The concept of this book and the mature themes (teenage partying, sex, drugs) make it more suitable for the high school crowd. This book will live on my mature readers shelf where any brave soul who borrows from there knows they need parental permission first.

My first page - a work in progress...

I woke up with butterflies in my stomach this morning!

In my quest to make this the "summer of writing", I sent the first page of the novel I am working on to published author Dianne K. Salerni (She's the amazing author of the middle grades Eighth Day series). I stumbled across Dianne's blog last week and submitted my first page to her "First Impressions" posts. She posts an unpublished author's first page on her blog, offering up her valuable wisdom and expertise to help the writer make it the best opening page it can be.

So, this morning my first page went up on her blog (cue queasy stomach)! I knew it was far from perfect and I'm so grateful to get feedback from published authors and Dianne's fans. I've got some issues with tense to fix and a little plot editing to do, but nothing I can't handle.

I want to thank Dianne and the other authors on her team (Krystalyn and Marcy) for providing the opportunity for me to grow as a writer.

Stop by her blog to check it out and let me know what you think!

I've read the Eight Day (loved it!) and now I'm on Inquisitor's Mark!

Progress update... : )

6172 / 80000 words. 8% done!

Thanks for your continued support!

Sequel Saturday

There is nothing like finishing a good book
& finding out it has a sequel! 

Even better if it's part of a series!

Sequel Saturday celebrates second place,
the books that come behind great books.

So grab a cup of coffee, cozy up on the couch,
& read on about your favorite book's younger siblings.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Welcome to the first post in my Sequel Saturday series!

Today I want to share two sequels I'm currently reading and enjoying very much. The first in each of these series prompted a swift detour form my summer reading list and a rushed order from Barnes and Noble :)

The Variant Series by Robison Wells

I found Variant at the Scholastic Warehouse Sale back in May. It is a fast paced story about Benson Fisher, a boy who has spent his life bouncing from foster home to foster home, until he receives a scholarship to Maxfield Academy. Benson thinks this will be the point in his life when things finally start to turn around... boy was he wrong. Now he is trapped in a school determined to teach him nothing useful and monitor his every move. Maxfield Academy has no adults and the students have formed gangs in order to stay alive. Detention = death in this stunning debut novel. Feedback picks up right where Variant leaves off and proves to be equally riveting!

The Eighth Day Series by Dianne K. Salerni

I ordered the Eighth Day from my classroom Scholastic Reading Club flyer at the end of the school year. It's about 13-year old, and newly orphaned, Jax waking up one morning to a world without people. The following day everyone's back and Jax is left feeling crazy. But with the help of his guardian Jax learns that he is part of a select group of people who have the power to experience a magical Eighth Day, an extra 24 hours between Wednesday and Thursday. The story is exciting and rooted in Arthurian legend and magic! It was a big hit in my classroom and I'm sure the sequel will not disappoint!


Check back soon for full reviews on all books featured here!

What are you reading this summer?
Happy reading :)

Walking up the "Summer Slide" one book at a time...

We've all been there before... That daunting task of getting students to read over summer vacation. As teachers we know how important summer reading is to help combat the "summer slide" that takes place over the months of July and August. Reading during the summer helps improve and retain literacy and language skills. Studies show that students who don't read or read rarely over the summer experience a decline or stagnation in their reading skills when school starts in the fall.

We don't want all the hard work done over the course of a school year to unravel at the beach or by the pool. We need to keep kids engaged in learning opportunities throughout the summer. Sounds simple enough, but how can we compete with the attraction of the great outdoors, sports, video games, and trips to the beach?

The answer is to keep reading FUN! We need to make reading as exciting as a pool party or the latest video game. Here are some tips for keeping reading fun and fresh throughout the summer:

1. Use technology to your advantage! Most families I know have an iPad or tablet and kids love to use them. There are some awesome interactive ebooks out there that will keep kid's attention. LeapFrog has some great ebooks for younger kids to use with their LeapPads. There are also some great sites out there that will help keep students engaged in literacy and language activities. RAZ Kids provides students with leveled texts that they can read themselves, have read to them, and even record themselves reading. They also complete quizzes after each book to earn points used to dress up their avatar. Storyline Online is a video database of favorite children's books read to you by celebrities. One of my favorites is Thank You Mr. Faulkner, by Patricia Polacco. It may be a picture book, but it's a good story perfect for 4th-5th graders. This book has a strong message about bullying and acceptance. Check out the Storyline video for this great book below:
2. Find new and interesting books! There is nothing more detrimental to a struggling reader than a boring book! To keep kids engaged you need to find out what they are interested in. Then search around to find books that are just the right fit. Throughout my 9 years teaching I've come across two very reluctant readers. Each one was considered a "troublemaker", did not care about their school work, and did not have any support at home. Instead of writing them off I guided them to read My Side of the Mountain, by Jeanne Craighead George (I based this on their love of the outdoors). The results were magical! Instead of being a distraction to the class with their usual shenanigans they had their noses in that book 24/7. Their classwork started to improve, homework was getting done, and their overall outlook on school changed. They were all the proof I needed that the right book in the right hands can be a game changer. Here are some great books, old and new, that might help grab the attention of your reluctant reader:
   
3. Create a climate for reading! Students need to see you read! Simple as that. We all have busy lives and often think "Who has time to read for pleasure?" But how can we expect our children and students to read when we don't? Kids need to know that their teachers and parents read for fun. Seeing adults read creates positive role models for students and helps create a community of readers in your school (or home). I know it's tempting to sit and correct papers or wash the dishes while your students/children read independently but fight that urge! I bring in a book from home and read while my students do. They often ask me about what I'm reading and we'll have impromptu discussions about our books. Here's what I'm looking forward to this summer...
   
4. Celebrate reading accomplishments! Every year our students in CT are asked to complete the Governor's Summer Reading Challenge. Mostly it's a pamphlet where students list all the books they read over the summer. It's cute, but alone it does not provide any incentive for students to read. At our school students get 1 inch of duct tape for ever book they read. Then, the use their duct tape to tape a teacher to the wall during lunch. It's fun, but it's not a huge motivator. I know a lot of schools that have great reading celebrations when school starts in the fall and I'm hoping that our school will soon too. This year I created a points system for summer reading that I will have my incoming students use. They get points for reading in various setting and for reading various types of text. During the first week of school they will count up their points and trade them in for a reward or celebration (I'm still working out what that will be...) Click on the image below to get this activity for your classroom: 
   

Good luck to teachers and parents everywhere as we battle to defeat the "summer slide"!
I'd love to hear how you keep your students engaged in summer reading. Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Have a GREAT summer!

Book Review: The Slated Trilogy

Have you ever finished reading a really great book and experienced a feeling of anger and frustration? Not because the book was over... but because you wish you had written the book yourself? I LOVED Slated so much I found myself wishing that the story was mine. I wished that story had come from my imagination and flowed through my fingers onto the paper. Teri Terry did a fantastic job creating relatable characters, making you fall for them, and then throwing them (and your emotions) through the ringer. Be careful, just when you think everything is over another surprising plot twist sneaks it's way in!

Slated is set in a futuristic London where student riots have caused the government to go to extreme measures to protect their youth. Kids under the age of 16 who are suspected of committing terrorist acts are sentenced to undergo a procedure known as slating. Their memories and personalities are wiped clean essentially making them a "clean slate". They are assigned to a new family to start their lives over with no memories of who they once were or what they had done to warrant slating.

Kyla has been slated and given a second chance... as long as she plays by the government's rules. She's sent to live with a new family and forced to wear a Levo, a device that monitors her happiness levels. If she drops to low it causes pain, blackouts, and possibly death.

Slated follows Kyla's journey as she tries to find a way to fit into her new life, understand her romantic feelings for Ben, another slated, and put together pieces of her past that keep popping up when she least expects it. Through twists and turns Kyla struggles to know who to trust. A difficult task when she doesn't even know who she is. Be prepared for an adrenaline pumping adventure you won't be able to put down!

This book would be perfect to use for literature circles in upper grades, especially for fans of modern dystopians like Hunger Games, Maze Runner, and Divergent. Slated provides a great opportunity for students to discuss what is ethically right and how much control governments should have. It would also be great paired with Among the Hidden (Haddix). Having one group reading Slated and one reading Among the Hidden would lead to great classroom discussions as both books feature governments abusing their power. (Oh how I wish I taught 8th grade right now!!)

Don't forget to stop by Reading Toward the Stars for...

Happy Reading : )

LOVE the Scholastic Warehouse Sale!

Last Monday I finally seized the chance to go to a Scholastic Warehouse sale! 

I've received the emails in the past letting me know that the Warehouse Sale was coming to town, but never made the time to go. This year, however, I decided to go with my grade level partner and our 6-7-8 ELA teacher. 

It was my first time there and I was skeptical about finding good deals or anything useful for my classroom. I stepped into the room, my jaw dropped to the floor, and all my previous worries melted away! It was like your regular school book fair on steroids!

Our 6-7-8 ELA teacher had been to one before, so I relied heavily on her guidance and headed to the famous $24/box section first. Literally, anything you can pack into a box from that section is only $24! They had all sorts of books ranging from picture books to adult bestsellers. I watched in awe as she filled box after box. She cleaned the shelves, finding enough copies (20+) to make class sets! One of her boxes contained 24 hardcovers of Just Ella (Margaret Peterson Haddix), 5 copies of Hunger Games, and multiple copies of Scat and Skink (Hiaasen). All for 24 bucks!!!

Once I overcame the shock I grabbed a box and started filling!

In my box are all the books you see above (I'm super excited to use the Neverland book Cave of the Dark Wind as a class novel next year!) plus a few others I forgot to photograph. I picked up the picture book Titanicat to complement my other Titanic teaching materials, grabbed a few copies of a Pirates of the Caribbean graphic novel, and threw in a book for myself to top it off (a Bones novel by Kathy Reichs!). All for $24! The Neverland books were priced @ $9.99 each and I snagged 20 of them, plus so much more, for $24! (If you can't tell, I'm just a LITTLE excited)

Now the rest of the Warehouse Sale outside of the $24/box section was 50%. They had everything you can find in recent Scholastic Reading Club flyers and more. Some books had "Final Price" stickers on them, so I asked if those were 50% off too... They answered YES and I double checked with a few other volunteers just to make sure because the deal was too good to believe. I found a few books that were marked at 79 cents and ended up ringing up at 40 cents when I checked out. SCORE! I bought 5-10 copies of each to make small group sets for literature circles/book clubs. Thats $2 for a small group set of 5 books!

To top it all off, I had a coupon from Scholastic for $25 off a $100 purchase. So everything I snagged only cost me $83. Over 100 books for less than 100 dollars. You can't beat that! Click {{HERE}} to find a Scholastic Warehouse Sale near you and don't hesitate to sign up.

You can bet that next year when the Scholastic Warehouse sale rolls around, I will be there.
I think I might start saving up now so next year's haul can be even BIGGER!

Happy Reading :)

Dusting off your childhood, one book at a time!

So many books to read, so little time! Probably the biggest dilemma every working book nerd faces. I seem to keep collecting new books to read but can't find the time to sit down with them. The balance between work and family is already a delicate one... throw in setting aside time to read for pleasure and the whole system falls apart! Perhaps once summer vacation begins I will have a little more time... (said no teacher/mother ever!)

However, I have been following a great book blog for a little while now called "The Perpetual Page Turner". Yesterday she featured a fun little post, sending her readers down memory lane. The post was a top ten list of her favorite childhood books you would read again (if you had the time!).  She had some staples from my childhood on her list. Who didn't love a good Sweet Valley High melodrama! And I practically lived off of anything RL Stine wrote.

So up into my closet I went to dig up a box of dusty paperback memories from my parents house.

Desperately seeking texts... & {GIVEAWAY} for your suggestions!

It's already December! Where did the time go?! Today I'm linking up with Farley @ Oh Boy Fourth Grade to bring you Currently December:

Listening: to Christmas music! The day after Thanksgiving a local radio station switches over to Christmas music 24/7. I couldn't be happier!

Loving: "The Affair" on Showtime. I started watching the show because Joshua Jackson is in it (my teenage crush from the Dawson's Creek days) and now I'm hooked! The characters are dynamic and interesting. I love how the show is told from two different perspectives. It literally is a "he said, she said" story.

Thinking: December came way too fast! I feel like we were carving pumpkins just last week. There is too much to do in the few remaining weeks till Christmas...

Wanting: More time to create TpT products to stock my store! I feel like my head is so full of ideas I am going to explode! All I need is a little more time to put everything together, but as a working mom with three little boys that is nearly impossible.

Needing: Novel suggestions please! I am on the Language Arts Committee in my school and the Language Arts Council for Southeastern CT and we are working on revising our core literature lists to meet Common Core expectations. This is where you come in! I need suggestions for texts you are using or want to use in your classrooms. Please add your suggestions to the sticky walls below. Include the title, author, lexile (if you know it) and what grade level you use it at. The first 2 people to comment on each sticky wall will receive a free copy of my top-selling City of Ember Unit from my TpT store!

Giving: A FREE copy of my City of Ember Unit to the first 2 people to comment on EACH sticky wall below!

Created with Padlet

Created with Padlet

Created with Padlet

I LOVE sticky walls and have created many through Padlet to use with my students. They are a fast, easy way to display student comments on a projector/whiteboard during discussions and lessons. A great way to quickly assess student understanding of concepts. Best of all... it's FREE!

Happy December!