A Bit of Me(me) 2/19/11

It's time again for A Bit of Me(me) hosted by Danielle over at There's a Book!

This week's question:

What super-power would you most like to have and why?

Growing up, I remember watching a show called Out of This World.  It's about a girl whose dad is an alien.  Because she is half-alien she happens to get some exciting super-powers.  Here was my favorite super-power.  She would take her index fingers and slowly put the tips of her index fingers together...and when she did this, time would stand still!  She would freeze time and then if she wanted to unfreeze someone, she could go over to them and unfreeze him or her.  Tell me this would not be an unbelievably useful super-power???  Freeze time and I could get all my housework done AND get a nap in so I could then unfreeze time and hang out with my family.  Or, freeze the world and unfreeze my family so we could relax for a while and then go back to real life.  Awesomeness.

For my alternate super-power, I would love to be able to teleport.  I want something like an easy button from Staples that I can press and zap myself to where I need to be.  I don't even want to think about calculating how much time I spend in my car on a daily basis, but if I could simply disappear and reappear without all the driving time in between that would be great.  Plus, it's good for the environment!  The only downside would be that I'd lose all my time to listen to my audiobooks...but with my time-freezing powers I could just freeze time to read like crazy, and then un-freeze time after I get caught up with my TBR pile.  Can you imagine being caught up with your TBR pile!?!?

Those are my dream super-powers...I actually think the teleportation deal is plausible.  I like to pretend out there somewhere in this big, wonderful world a scientist is pouring all of his or her energy into accomplishing this.  I can dream, right?

 

Library Thursday Blog Hop 2/17

It's Library Thursday again hosted by Lazy Girl Reads!  

I missed it somehow last week...it was a crazy week...but I'm back!

Honestly, I went to the library last night to load up on audiobooks because I am down to my last audiobooks.  I'm in the library though, and my fingers just itch to grab books I see that I have wanted to read!  I couldn't resist!  It might be a problem...thankfully, I don't have to pay for books at the library or my husband would not be happy with me!

Here are the audiobooks I went for:

And here are the miscellaneous other books I ended up bringing home. 

They were desperately begging me to bring them home, I had to!

 

Henry's Freedom Box

Title: Henry's Freedom Box (Caldecott Honor Book)    
Author: Ellen Levine   
Illustrator: Kadir Nelson 
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: 2007    
Genre/Format: Biography/Picture Book   
Summary: This books tells a story of the Underground Railroad about Henry, a man who grows up in slavery but escapes slaver by mailing himself in a box to freedom.  
What I Think: This book is an extraordinary example of text and artwork working together to make an unforgettable book.  Henry's story is heart-wrenching: he grows up a slave, is sold when his parents have died, and then after he is married with two kids, they are sold and he finds himself alone and distraught.  I can't believe that he actually climbed into a box and asked to be nailed in and sent north.  The unbelievable-ness of the story makes it so memorable by itself.  For me, the illustrations made it even more etched in my memory.  The artwork is stunning and Kadir Nelson does an amazing job of using the illustrations to really convey the mood and feelings from the text.  
     I have been committed myself to read more nonfiction this year and finding books like this one has been really exciting for me.  I especially love nonfiction picture books that bring history to life and encourage kids to think like this book does.
Read Together: K - 12 
Read Alone: 3 - 12 
Read With: My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by Christine King Farris, Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport,  Copper Sun by Sharon Draper, Chains and Forge by Laure Halse Anderson
Snatch of Text: 

  “’No!’ cried Henry

   He couldn’t think.

   He couldn’t work.

   ‘Twist that tobacco!’

The boss poked Henry.

   Henry twisted tobacco

leaves.  His heart twisted

in his chest.” 

Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Asking Questions, Making Predictions 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Expository, Personal Narrative 
Writing Prompts: Explain what the Underground Railroad was and how it worked.  Write about a time in your life when you or someone you know has felt hopeless and what you did.
Topics Covered: Slavery, Family, Despair, Love, Courage, Creativity 
Translated to Spanish: No

       

Happy Valentine's Day 2011!

I probably could have posted these fun books before Valentine's Day, but I'm posting them now anyway.  Peanut and Little Bird have the book Hug by Jez Alborough in their Valentine gift today.  This picture book is so cute, it's basically wordless except for a few dialogue bubbles.  I hadn't read it before but when I saw it at the bookstore I had to have it!

Here are other love-ly books we've been reading this month!

Zero Kisses for Me by Manuela Monari is about a little guy who doesn't want any kisses from his mom...until he's tucked into bed at night and gets a little scared...then he wants a kiss, but only from his mom!  This completely reminds me of Peanut so we got a kick out of it!

Phileas's Fortune: A Story About Self-Expression by Agnes De Lestrade is such a beautiful book.  Poor Phileas lives in a world where words are for the rich.  He desperately wants to talk to the girl he likes but doesn't have all the words to express his feelings.  Luckily, quality counts over quantity when it comes to telling her how he feels!

The Ballad of Valentine by Alison Jackson is such a funny book!  It's written to the song "Oh My Darling Clementine" so I have been singing out the words to this funny song about a man who wants to tell his Valentine how he feels but can't seem to get the message to her.

We've loved reading these books lately and have read them again and again and again!  

Have you read any of our Valentine's Day picks?  What are you favorite Valentine's Day books?  

 

A Bit of Me(me) 2/13/11

 Weekends get pretty busy around our house so I missed posted last week's A Bit of Me(me) post...but I really was excited to post it so I'm going to post both questions this week!

Last week's question was:

What's Your Favorite Color?

Technically, my favorite color would be pink if I had to pick a color, but I tend to just live a colorful life in general.  I love all the colors and wear lots of colors.  I'm a huge Vera Bradley fan and I started with one pattern and then I keep going back for more and more and now I have a nice colorful collection!

 

This week's question is: 

What is the single best trip you've ever taken?

Gosh, this is hard!  When I was in high school I was able to tour Italy with the orchestra and it was an amazing trip.  I remember it vividly and I hope someday I get to go back.  It was amazing to see things out of my history books in real life.  We also chaperoned an 8th grade trip to Washington, DC in 2006 and that was another trip I won't forget because I learned so much about our nation's history and got to see a lot of history in real life, too.  But I would have to say I have a sweet spot in my heart for Disney World and our trip in 2008 was a great trip.  I could have cried when we left and anyone mentions Disney and it's all I can think about.  Luckily, we're going again this year so I can think about it and know we'll be there soon!  

What I loved so much about our trip in 2008 was that we were able to take Peanut for the first time.  We were in Florida for my husband's grandmother's birthday.  All the extended family was there for a visit and then we decided to drive to Orlando to do Disney since we had already paid for the air fare to Florida.  Peanut was 14 months old and we knew he wouldn't remember the trip, but we were still excited to take him.  He knew who Mickey was and called him, "Mo Mo."  When we met Mickey for the first time, Peanut leaned over and gave him a kiss on the nose.  That moment alone made the whole entire trip worth it, he was just so cute and he loved seeing Mickey so much.  Now that we are going back again we've shown him pictures of the first time he went and now he'll tell people about how he has already been and what he did the first time.  Little Bean will be almost the same age when we go this year.  PLUS, we're my parents are coming with and we're taking my 2 nephews so this year might top that first trip with Peanut, but that's okay.  I'm excited!

If you want to see more of my most memorable trip, here are links to my blog posts when we went!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

 

Flat Stanley Fun!

Book Loving Boys is hosting a virtual Flat Stanley exchange!  What a great idea, right?  My first instinct was to sign up to do this with Peanut but now I think I'm even going to sign up with one of my students as well.  I love the idea of Flat Stanley in general.  I think he's an elementary school staple that all kids should get to participate in at some point.  In case you aren't familiar with this fun-loving flat-man, Stanley is a boy who accidentally gets flattened when the bulletin board above his head falls on him one night.  His parents aren't sure what to do about it so he stays flat.  Being flat, he can travel all over the place by just being folded into an envelope.  Many teachers and students color their own version of Flat Stanley and mail them to friends and family all over the world, waiting to get back pictures of him visiting fun places and doing fun things.  Pretty cool, huh?

I think the mail aspect of the whole thing is super fun...but I think that's because I love getting mail.  I love how this can easily become a lesson in writing friendly letters, addressing an envelope, and even geography.  Virtually, this becomes a lesson in technology...how we scan material, how we attach it in an e-mail, how we compose an e-mail, how we download a file, how we upload pictures.  Seeing your own Stanley in faraway places is pretty awesome and learning about different places around the world becomes exciting and fun.  It never occurred to me that this could be done virtually, but now that I've read how it will work it all makes sense!

Last night, Peanut and I made our trip to the library and picked up Flat Stanley.  I went with the original version but I just found out they also have a picture book edition!  That might be more up our alley, although last night at bedtime we did read chapter one and Peanut was following along and thought it was funny that he was flattened!

Besides the original chapter book, the picture book (above), and the sequels: Stanley, Flat Again!, Invisible Stanley, and Stanley in Space, there is now an entire series based on Stanley's adventures starting with the first one: Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventures #1: The Mount Rushmore Calamity and continuing now through six books, with the seventh coming out in April of 2011.  

If you want Flat Stanley, you got Flat Stanley!  Here's the link to the Flat Stanley Project page for more information.  Want to join up for the virtual Flat Stanley fun?  You can find out more about it and sign up at Book Loving Boys but hurry, because you have to sign up by February 20th, 2001.

Who's in?  Have you read any of these books?  I haven't read the adventures series yet so I would love to hear what you think.  Have you read and done the Flat Stanley project with your class before?  Any ideas or suggestions for making it successful?  Thanks for sharing!