February Carnival of Children’s Literature

Be sure to set aside some time to check out the February Carnival of Children’s Literature this weekend.  Chock-full of great posts, you don’t want to miss this one!   In other news, I am sick. Again.  I have been sick for almost a month straight now.  Whatever is going around right now is awful.  Hoping [...]

Virtual Author Visits

I have been researching the possibility of virtual author visits lately.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it is a possibility due to our school network configurations.  However, I love hearing about how authors and teachers are approaching this new medium.  Author and middle school English teacher Kate Messner recently collaborated with author extraordinaire Laurie Halse [...]

Teammates by Peter Golenbock

Today I used Peter Golenbock’s Teammates for a lesson on inferencing themes with my 6th graders. I had never read Teammates before this week and I had no idea I was missing out on such a great book! Teammates is the story of baseball player Jackie Robinson’s friendship with PeeWee Reese, a teammate who risked [...]

Share a Story – Shape a Future, A Blog Tour for Literacy

Share a Story – Shape a Future, A Blog Tour for Literacy     There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all. ~ Jacqueline Kennedy ~      Stories encourage dreams – reading helps kids make their dreams come true. That singular idea – that we [...]

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

When 13-year old Kyra is told that she must marry her 60-year old uncle, because God has said so, she is horrified.  Kyra, her three mothers, twenty siblings, and her father live in the Compound where the Prophet controls their lives through “visions” from God.  Members of a polygamous group, they live in the desert [...]

Memoir Mondays

My classes began revising their memoirs today while I did my best to conference with each of them. As I read memoir after memoir, I was stunned by the way my students were baring their souls in their pieces. I read about blankies that taught them about growing up, sons who watched their fathers recover [...]

Slice of Life Classroom Challenge

Are you looking for a cool way to integrate more writing into your classroom this coming month?  If so, be sure to check out Two Writing Teachers!  Stacey just posted a short guide on how to get ready to host a Slice of Life Challenge in your classroom.  I hosted a challenge with my class [...]

Readergirlz OPERATION TEEN BOOK DROP!

I am so excited about Operation Teen Book Drop 09!  Readergirlz just put up details about this years event.  What exactly is Operation TBD?  Operation Teen Book Drop is an amazing project that brings donations of thousands of fantastic YA titles to hospitalized teens all over the country. We are delighted to be teaming up with [...]

Walden Media Plans New Movies

Am I the only one who didn’t know about the movies Walden Media has put into motion?  According to Publisher’s Weekly,  they begin filming Beezus and Ramona next month!  How awesome is that?  And Disney star Selena Gomez has been cast as Beezus, which I think sounds great. In the development stages are another Narnia [...]

Scat by Carl Hiaasen

Scat is Carl Hiaasen’s latest book for middle grade/YA readers. Nick Waters and some of his friends are pulled into an eco-avenger’s plot to save endangered Florida panthers and put a halt to illegal drilling going on in the Everglades. When Nick’s strict (and sort of crazy) biology teacher goes missing during a wildfire that [...]