A Bit of Me(Me)- 10/15/11

We all leave our “footprint” on the world, in one way or another. In our daily lives, we each do something or are someone that makes the world a little better simply by being ourselves. Danielle from There's a Book created this wonderful, weekly meme to learn a bit more about bloggers in this blogging community we all have come to love. The idea is to share our lives outside of books. Each week a question will be posted. Your job is to answer in the following week’s “A Bit of Me(Me)”. You can link up here with your post that answers Danielle's questions from last week.

We understand that some of you are skeptical about putting yourself out there on the internet and completely respect that. If ever a questions is posed through this meme that you feel is too personal for your liking, feel free to post something else. We don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable with what they share and promise the kids will always be “kid-friendly”. Really, this is a primarily children’s and young adult site, you know?

So, let’s get started!

It's Halloween this month- what are your favorite Halloween activities? Do you decorate for the holiday? Go to haunted houses? 

This is a weird question for me.  In my "old" age I have become more jumpy and I really do not like haunted houses or anything like that.  I have been to Halloween Horror Nights twice and I am such a scaredy cat! So, Halloween to me has just become a day where I buy candy for the couple of kids who come to my house and then it taunts me to eat it.  


Now,  when I was a child and teenager, I loved Halloween! I dressed up and went trick-or-treating until I was 19 years old.  My favorite costume memory was when I dressed up as a bag of M&Ms and my sister, brother AND dog all wore complimentary costumes (that my mom made!).  As you can see, Halloween was also a big family holiday because we had certain traditions that happened every year.  My mother always made the most delicious chili and apple dumplings while my dad was in charge of answering the door.  I loved that he would play spooky music, wear a really scary mask and scare the little kids as they'd come to the door.  My dad was such a cool dad! 


So- what about you? How do you make Halloween special?

Next week’s A Bit of Me(Me) will be hosted by Danielle at There's a Book where she will provide the link-up and the next question for the following week. Thanks everyone! See you next week!

Now, your turn! Link up below and tell everyone “A Bit of You!"

Next Week’s Question (link-up with your answer at Danielle’s site): If you could pick one TV show, one movie, one song and one book to limit yourself to for the rest of your life, what would you choose? 

Have a question to add? We love suggestions! Just leave them in the comments and I’ll share them with Danielle so we can think about adding them in as we go! Also, feel free to grab either of the buttons for your own “A Bit of Me(Me)” post (or create your own), but make sure to link back to There’s A Book. (You can also resize these down to a smaller size if you’d like.)

Partnering With Parents Wrap-Up

            

            For the last month and a half, we have been sharing guest posts about how teachers and (a) principal involve parents in student’s literacy development. I love all the ideas that have been shared and have gained so much from them myself.

            The term “lifelong learner” seems to come up again and again but I really do believe that it’s true or should be true for educators. It helps me to see what others are doing and to take those ideas and see how they can fit into what I do. It is so valuable to share with others and to reflect and rethink what we do so we are striving towards doing the best that we can.

            After going through process of National Board certification, I realized that working with parents is something I needed to improve upon. That year I reached out to parents and set up mini-conferences outside of conference time to survey parents about how they support their child with reading. Based on the surveys, I presented them with some ideas for how they could do more to help their child.

            Anything teachers can do to get to know families or what a student’s home life is like will help in working with students and with understanding what we can ask of parents. As a mother of two sons, I have gained some perspective as to how hard it can be to manage everything at home and work while still trying to help my kids play and learn. (It's completely different when you are the parent instead of the teacher!!!)

            Learning what each parent does really helped me to realize how different their thinking is from mine. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that not everyone is as crazy about reading as I am. And even if they do read at home, they might still benefit from my expertise as a teacher.

            Here are the three biggest things I discovered from surveying and meeting with parents that I would not have known otherwise:

1.     A mom of a 7^th grade student was sneaking in to her son’s room at night to find what book he was reading in his backpack. She would read the book and then slip it back into his backpack without his knowing.

*When I met with this student’s mom I suggested she actually talk to her son about what he was reading. She could ask him questions about what he was thinking about the book or give her opinion of what was happening or what would happen next. My focus was to get her talking to her son about what he was reading to help check his comprehension and give him her thoughts about the reading.

2.     Parents of a kindergartener had never ever taken him to their public library and little reading was done at home because his grandmother was taking care of him while parents were at work. His grandmother only spoke Spanish and was not literate in English to help him.

*I explained to the parents that the library is free and that all they need is a Driver’s License or other form of proof of the residency to get a library card. I explained that the library has books, books on CD, DVDs, CDs and other resources all totally free.

3.     A mom of a 5^th grade student wasn’t reading with her daughter because she only completed school through 4^th grade in Mexico and couldn’t read with her daughter in English at home.

 

*When I realized asking this mother to read with her daughter was unrealistic, I started downloading audiobooks to an iPod so the student could listen while reading the words along with the book. I suggested that the mom could sit with her and listen and maybe understand some of the story in English or possibly learn more English by listening along with her daughter.

What I took away from sitting down and talking to parents about what reading is like in their home is that if I do learn about a student’s home life it helps me to be able to know how to best help parents work with their child at home. If I can show parents that I care and take into consideration what is happening in their homes, then I can make suggestions that they can actually carry out. Communicating with parents allows me to better empathize and work with families to help their children love reading outside of school. 

I haven’t called parents in for mini-conferences since two years ago but I do survey my students and talk to parents on the phone or through e-mail more than I ever did before. It amazes me how much we can learn from letting parents talk to us about what they are dong and what works and doesn’t work for them. Developing effective two-way communication makes a huge difference compared to just sending home notes or handouts with ideas but not getting feedback from parents.

Thank you for reading our series on working with parents! We are always learning and I hope that between our guest bloggers and myself you found something worthwhile that you can implement or coordinate with what you are already doing in partnering with parents. The main tenet that seems to run through all of our posts in this series seems to be getting parents involved and sharing our ideas about what we do to encourage students to read.

Please share what works for you in partnering with parents or what idea you think you would like to try! Thanks again to all our guest bloggers! We appreciate their ideas!

  

Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow & The Boy Who Dared

Special double review!!! These two books are my favorite companion books and felt that they should be reviewed together, so I am sharing them both.  A 2 for 1 special :)

Title: The Boy Who Dared
Author: Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: 2008
Genre/Format: Historical Fiction/Novel
Summary: Helmuth Hubener thought that Hitler was going to fix Germany, but the longer Hitler was in power, the more Helmuth realized that there was social injustice happening. 
What I Think: Based on a true story, The Boy Who Dared, accounts Helmuth's life and the choices he makes. Told in flashback, I felt that some of the suspense is taken away since you know Helmuth's current situation right from the beginning of the story; however, even with knowing the outcome, I wanted to read to figure out how Helmuth got there. 

The exposition of the book helped me understand the extent of Helmuth's society at the time which made me even more sympathetic then I would have been just jumping into Helmuth's life. Although we all know about World War II and the Holocaust, unless you have read other books on World War II Germany, you may not understand the extent of Hitler's power and brainwashing. With The Boy Who Dared, we follow Helmuth through his feelings about Hitler and the decisions he made.

This book is fabulous to read with the nonfiction book by Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Hitler Youth, which recounts the history around the Hitler Youth and what Helmuth was living through. (Hitler Youth reviewed below!)
Read Together: Grades 4 - 8
Read Alone: Grades 5 - 10
Snatch of Text: "It's morning.  Soft gray lights slips over the tall redbrick wall.  It stretches across the exercise yard and reaches through the high, barred windows.  In a cell on the ground floor, the light shifts dark shapes into a small stool, a scrawny table, and a bed made of wooden boards with no mattress or blanket.  On that bed, a thin, huddled figure, Helmuth, a boy of seventeen, lies awake.  Shivering. Trembling.
It's Tuesday.
The executioner works on Tuesday." (p. 1)


"It grinds Helmuth's stomach, the way Hugo makes all the decisions, as if he is the father." (p. 39)


"A sparrow flits by.  Nearly tempts him to the window, but he stops himself.  Wants tot save the best part off the afternoon for later.  Doesnt' want to sit, either.  As so he paces.  Eight steps the length of the cell.  He pushes off the back wall, turns, takes eight steps back, pushes off the front wall.  Back and forth, back and forth." (p. 74)


                                            *                                 *                                      *


Title: Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow
Author: Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Publisher: Scholastic Nonfiction
Publication Date: 2005
Genre/Format: Nonfiction/Novel
Summary: During World War II, Hitler controlled more than just the military; he controlled the entire country of Germany. Much of what this book explains are parts of the WWII history that is not taught in our schools and shows the true extent of the power that Hitler had over everyone. 

The Hitler Youth began as a voluntary organization to support Hitler, but it quickly became a way for Hitler to control the youth. Soon the Hitler Youth was not voluntary and they were being used in much the same way as the military. 
What I Think: This book tells true stories of children in the Hitler Youth and children that were brave enough to speak up. It is truly horrific and fascinating. Susan Campbell Bartoletti uses a combination of narrative and expository writing to take her reader on a journey through Nazi controlled Germany starting with their depression and taking us through the the end of World War II. By intertwining true stories of the youth of Germany with historical fact, Bartoletti pulls at your heart strings and shows the true effect that Hitler had on the entire nation. It also takes you through the steps that Hitler took to brainwash the entire population, starting with the most desperate citizens, including the youth. 

Although many nonfiction books are hard to get through and are dry, this one has a voice to it that is deeper and more sensitive than most. You become connected to the people of Germany and the youth of the story, so it doesn't matter if that I already know the outcome- you have to know how they make it out of their deceit filled situation.
Read Together: Grades 4 - 8
Read Alone: Grades 5 - 10
Snatch of Text: "The dark streets were already flooded with thousands of excited people, who, like Melita, were running out to watch the victory parade in honor of Adolf Hitler... Melita couldn't understand why her parents didn't support a great man like Adolf Hitler, who said that a person's money and titles didn't matter.  All that mattered was whether a person contributed to the well-being of the people." (p. 15-16)


"Throughout the war, Alfons saw so many mangled bodies that he felt immune to the horrors of war.  But one day a superior officer shocked him, saying, 'Do you know that we are slaughtering tens of thousands of Jews and other subhumans every day in Poland and Russia?"
Stunned, Alfsons looked at the officer.  He was a decorated war hero who had been reassigned to the Hitler Youth after he had lost his left are in battle.   But despite the officer's rank and experience, Alfons refused to believe that the Nazis would systematically murder people, and he told him so.
Furious, the officer swore at Alfons, " Hasn't it occurred to you yet that you and I are serving a mass murderer?"

                                            *                                 *                                      *

Read Both Books With: Parallel Journeys by Eleanor Ayers, Alfons Heck & Helen Waterford, Briar Rose by Jane Yolen, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Resistance: Book One by Carla Jablonski, London Calling by Edward Bloor
Reading Strategies to Practice with Both Books: Making connections, Asking questions
Writing Strategies to Practice with Both Books: Attention grabbers, Dual/Parallel story lines, Characterization, Multiple Perspectives, Narrative Nonfiction
Writing Prompts: After reading both books, why was Hitler able to manipulate and affect the youth of Germany the way he did?
Topics Covered: Cross curricular- Social Studies, Hitler Youth, War, Choice, Death, Fear, Loyalty, Mistakes, Prejudice
Translated to Spanish: No

Happy Book Day Ashfall!!

Ashfall has been one of my favorite teen books I've read this year!  It is full of action, suspense and truly held my interest throughout.  I also was completely fascinated by how much research Mike Mullin did to perfect the science and art behind his book (www.mikemullinauthor.com).  

SO... I wanted to repost my review to help celebrate Ashfall's Book Day!! Enjoy :) 

Title: Ashfall

Author: Mike Mullin

Publisher: Tanglewood Press

Publication Date: October 2011

Genre/Format: Sci-Fi/Novel

Summary: Alex was left alone for the weekend while his family goes to visit relatives. While home alone, the supervolcano in Yellowstone erupts unexpectedly and Alex is suddenly thrown into an apocalyptic disaster and all he wants to do is find his family who is over 100 miles away.

What I Think: In my review for Susan Beth Pfeffer's apocalyptic novel, Life as we Knew it, I said, "This is the first book I've ever read that made me be scared for an apocalypse... this book terrified me; however, this made me not want to put the novel down." Ashfall does what Pfeffer's book did, but Ashfall also intrigued me in a different way because of my fascination with volcanoes- I was filled with a mix of terror and fascination all through the novel. Mike Mullin took a possible future disaster that in all speculations could happen and threw us as readers into the middle of it.

When you start the book, you know that a horrible event is going to happen. Alex, our narrator, tells us how different everything is now, but this slight preface cannot prepare you for all of the destruction, criminal activity, devastation and loss that happens throughout this novel.

Some favorite parts:
*Loved that Alex described history books and si-fi books as past & future history.
*The analogies throughout the novel to help readers understand what Alex is going through are superb. My favorite was describing explosions as Zeus machine-gunning thunder.
*Liked that Mike Mullin never felt he needed to explain about the gay couple who lived across the street from Alex, it was just normal.

Read Together: Grades 7 - 10

Read Alone: Grades 7 - 12

Read With: Life as we Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer and its companions, How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff, The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan, Nonfiction books about volcanoes and Yellowstone

Snatch of Text: "The bookcase was filled with computer games, history books and sci-fi novels in about equal proportions. Odd reading choices maybe, but I thought of it as past and future history." (Chapter 1)

"But unlike thunder, this didn't stop. It went on and on, machine-gun style as if Zeus had loaded his bolts into an M60 with an inexhaustible ammo crate. But there was no lightning, only thunder." (Chapter 3)

There are more snatches of text that I marked later in the book, but I do not want to give away any of Alex's journey.

(I read this book on my Kindle, so I do not have exact page numbers, only chapters.)

Reading Strategies to Practice: Making connections, Visualizing

Writing Strategies to Practice: Analogies, Descriptive, Characterization, Plot development

Writing Prompts: Alex ends up home alone when the volcano erupts because he was fighting with is mother. What is a time that you fought with a family member that you later regretted doing so?; Alex has to make many choices as he is struggling to find his family. What is a decision that Alex made that you disagree with? One that you agree with?

Topics Covered: Integration- Geology, Survival, Volcanoes, Challenges, Death, Teamwork, Fear, Family

Translated to Spanish: No

Grandpa Green

Title: Grandpa Green     
Author: Lane Smith   
Illustrator: Lane Smith  
Publisher: Roaring Book Press  
Publication Date: August 2011   
Genre/Format: Realistic Fiction/Picture Book
Summary: A young boy tells the story of his great grandfather’s life as he walks through his great grandfather’s topiary garden.
What I Think: This book made me all sentimental. I love grandparents. I grew up with my paternal grandparents living close and spent a lot of time with them. We saw them frequently and my grandma and grandpa were very special to me. My maternal grandfather died before I was born, but my maternal grandmother spent a lot of time with us when she was here visiting from Guatemala. My maternal grandmother, Mamita, as we call her, is still alive and living now in Guatemala. It meant so much to me that she was here for when both of my sons were born and got to meet both of them.

Now that I am a mom of two kids, grandparents are important in a different way. I love that my sons have their grandparents there for them. My parents help a lot with taking care of my kids and being there for them. The boys both love going to their house and being able to spend time with them.

I believe it is to important to know how life was for generations before us and to hear an older person tell about life when he or she was growing up. This book celebrates Grandpa Green’s life but it also respects Grandpa Green as an elderly person who sometimes can’t remember things any more. I love the idea of a book that shows how important our grand-people are and shows them respect. Obviously, we can show kids how to treat elderly people with respect, but this book reiterates what actions are showing and makes them more cognizant of how we need to respect the lives people have lived and understand if now they may not be able to remember. 

In my attempt to improve my communication and involvement with families, I created a family interview to send home with kids. My interview focuses on questions the students can ask their parents or other family members about when they first realized the student had a hearing loss and what they did and how they felt. Obviously, this activity applies to my students, but I think developing some kind of focused interview with family members really tells a lot about their history. I remember being in 5^th grade and having to interview my grandmother. It was interesting how many stories she told me just because I asked her when otherwise she might not have told the stories.

Having a celebration of grandparents would be fun or asking grandparents to come and read with the class. There is something magical about grandparents and they should be celebrated. I think this would be a great opportunity for kids who might not have grandparents to be able to spend time with elderly people even if they aren’t their own grandparents. 

Read Together: Pre-K - 12 
Read Alone: 3 - 12 
Read With: The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman, When I Was Little: A Four-Year-Old's Memoir of Her Youth 
Snatch of Text: In fourth grade

he got chicken pox.*

*Not from chickens.

He had to stay home from school.

So he read stories about secret gardens

and wizards and a little engine that could. 

Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Autobiography, Biography, Personal Narrative 
Writing Prompts: Write five questions you would like to ask your grandparent or elderly friend about his or her life when he or she was growing up. Write a personal narrative about your favorite memory of you and a grandparent or a parent from your childhood.
Topics Covered: Family, Aging, Life, Memories 
Translated to Spanish: No

   

A Bit of Me(me) - 10/8/11

Thank you Crystal at I Totally Paused for hosting A Bit of Me(Me) this week and thank you also to Danielle at There's a Book for creating this meme!

As for this week's question....

Have you been on a cruise? Where did you go? Would you do it again... or never again? 

I loved the one cruise that I have been on! It was in February 2005 and was just a short cruise to the Bahamas, but it was such a fun experience!!  Where else can you act like there are no cares in the world?! 

Highlights: 

• Singing karaoke with my sister. 

• Going to the top deck of the boat with my sister, brother and Jim, my now-husband, and pretending to be Jack and Rose from Titanic. 

• Winning a tiny trophy for trivia.
• Dressing up and going to the fancy dining room with my family. 

• Walking through Nassau with my husband and listening to people ask him, "Pretty lady, can we braid your hair?" until they saw that he was a guy. 
• Jim was growing his hair out to donate it to Locks of Love in honor of his mom who had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

I hope that I get to go on another cruise one day as I truly enjoyed myself!

Partnering with Parents - Week 5

Our final Partnering with Parents guest blog post is by Stephanie and Erin. They are both early childhood teachers together at a public school early childhood center in Illinois. They both have classroom blogs where they share early education ideas and stories: Stephanie's Classroom Blog & Erin's Classroom Blog.  


They are going to focus on tips for parents of young children. Because they both work in special education, they are also including tips for reading with children with special needs. Between the two of them, they work with children of a variety of cognitive levels, special needs, school readiness, and development. Erin is the mama of twin 1 year olds, so the topic of reading with young children is near and dear to her heart personally as well as professionally. Stephanie doesn't have children of her own, however, the 29 she does have M-F and the young ones in her personal life have caused her to have a  great interest in helping parents.

In education, but especially in early childhood, it is the belief that parents are a child's first and most important teacher. When we meet out students, they have spent the last 3 years learning and growing because of the education they have received from their caregivers. We know that the parents of our students are trying their best to raise their children in the best way they know how. It is, however, important to us to help them along the way. We both believe strongly in communication and community with parents. A child's day in preschool is only 2 and a half hours long. We do the best we can to impact our students in those 150 minutes, but one of the most important things we can do is to be part of the team that is with the child the rest of the day. 

It is important to us to develop trusting relationships with families. Our classrooms are open and we believe that the parents of our students are just as important to their child's education as anyone at school with a specialized degree. Because we develop these relationships with our parents, they are open to the tips and ideas we share with them. 

Through our classroom blogs, notes, and weekly newsletters, we share with parents tips to help them interact with and promote literacy in their children. Our classroom blogs are an especially useful tool for reaching many parents. Our trick to get parents to regularly read our blogs? Post lots of pictures of their kids! Parents love to see pictures of their kids! And we love to share pictures with them (of course after getting permission signed at the beginning of the year). While we have the parents hooked in with the classroom blog, we use that opportunity to share what we have been doing in the room and tips for extending that learning at home. Though some of the families we serve do not have computers at home, many of the families are so motivated by seeing pictures of their children, they make an effort to use computers at the library or at houses of friends and family members. 

Another motivator for the parents is their kids! We share the slideshows at school with our students. In turn, they get excited to watch them and ask their parents to see them again at home. One student even said to Stephanie, "I know what you are going to do with those pictures! Put them on my computer!". By reminding the students we are going to post pictures on the computer, we are encouraging the students to encourage their parents to check it out at home on a regular basis.

When we are focusing on a specific book as a theme in the classroom, we will post literacy activities that can be done with their children at home. We also post ideas for discussion and expansion questions and topics. The internet is an amazing place and we often share relevant links with families to help them expand their knowledge base and ability to help their child develop literacy skills. In addition to books, songs and fingerplays are great early childhood literacy activities. We encourage this to be continued at home by videotaping the kids singing songs, posting videos of songs or fingerplays found on youtube, or sending home lyrics in our newsletters. Young children love to sing and by giving the parents the words, they can become active participants in this aspect of their child's learning.

Some of the tips that we share with parents about encouraging literacy skills:

• It all starts with TALKING. Talk to your child as much as you can. The more you talk to your child, the more access to language he/she has. Talking about the mundane parts of everyday life gives your child more education than you can even imagine.
• Point out words everywhere you go: grocery store, driving, watching TV, going for a walk. When you are driving, point out the letters in the McDonald's sign. When you are eating breakfast talk about the words on the Cheerios box. 
• Teach kids the love of reading through example. Let them see you reading your own book. When you go to the doctor's office, bring a book for you and a book for your child. Or pick up a magazine and go through it together. 
• Purposefully share with your child information you have learned from reading. "I read in the newspaper that it will be chilly today, let's find our coats" or "I read on the Walgreens sign that milk is on sale. We should stop there today and buy some."
• Let your child experience all different types of reading: print, electronic, books, magazines, newspapers, signs, flyers, food boxes.
• If your child isn't interested in books, find books about something your child is interested in. It is OK to read many books on one subject.

Some of the tips that we share with parents about reading with their children:

• You should read with your child sitting in your lap at times and other times where he/she can see your face. It is important for children to see facial expressions and lip movement while reading. Reading is also a great time to bond with your child. You can do both!
• Expand on the story when you are reading it. Point out things that you see while reading the book and relate them to your own experience. Ask open ended questions that get your child thinking. 
• It is OK to read the same book over and over. Children like repetition and predictability. Through this children learn that words always say the same thing. No matter how many times you read them. They learn to connect the written word with spoken language. If you try to cheat, they may notice! That is a great developing skill!
• Younger children may prefer books with rhyme and repetition. As they get older, they will start to sit longer and enjoy picture books with more of a plot.
• Looking at photo albums can be a great literacy experience for toddlers or kids with special needs. Books don't have to have written words to encourage language. 
• Write books about things you have done together. They can be simple words and drawings or include photographs. It can be as simple as a trip to the grocery store or as exciting as a trip to the zoo!

Some of the tips that we share with parents of children with special needs:

• If your child isn't able to sit and attend to an activity, feel free to read to your child while he/she is swinging on a swing or moving around the room. 
• It is great for them to hear the same story over and over if that is what they enjoy. You can expand on the stories by asking different questions or branching off into different topics each time. 
• If a child becomes obsessed with a book, you can encourage expanding his/her reading by setting a first/then rule. "First we will read 5 Little Pumpkins, THEN we will read Brown Bear Brown Bear"
• Add clipart of 1 important theme of the page to each page of the book to give your child a concrete idea of the point of the page. You can print off two of the same picture and as you read the book your child can match the pictures to participate in the reading process. 
• With deaf and hard of hearing children, it is important that they can see your face and/or hands while you are reading to them. It does not mean, however, that if they occasionally want to sit in your lap while reading that they can't.

One of our new favorite websites that has digital picture books for free!

WeGiveBooks.org 

Keep reading and connecting with families!

Thank you so much Stephanie and Erin for your wonderful ideas! We loved getting an early educators perspective.  I, personally, loved how they showed how important it is to start literacy education as early as you can.  They also showed how easy it is to help your child from a very young age.  What a great way to finish our Partnering with Parents feature!


Have a good weekend!

  and

Ida B.

Title: Ida B... And her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World
Author: Katherine Hannigan
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
Publication Date: 2007
Genre/Format: Realistic Fiction/Novel
Summary: Ida B. has the most perfect life that she could even imagine.  She is homeschooled and gets to spend her days learning from her mama, her daddy and the nature surrounding her home including the apple orchard, brook and the old tree on the hill.  Everything is exactly as she'd want it to be, but then tragedy hits her family and everything changes.
What I Think: I wish I knew Ida B.  She is such a neat young lady!  She is obviously a gifted young lady and I love how Katherine Hannigan translated a gifted/talented child's thoughts into this story.

I listened to the audiobook of Ida B. (which was very well done, by the way) and as I was listening I wish I was reading, because there were snatches of mentor texts everywhere!  Within the first couple of chapters, I was mesmerized with Katherine Hannigan's way with words!

I also loved the different issues that were dealt with in the story that aren't dealt with in many books for middle grades- human/environment interactions, change, anger,

As a teacher, I also am so glad that Ida B. met Ms. Washington- when you read the book you will see why. It is another book where you can see the importance of being a thoughtful, caring teacher and treating our students as individuals and people.
Read Together: Grades 2 - 6
Read Alone: Grades 3 - 7
Read With: Junonia by Kevin Henkes, Marty McGuire by Kate Messner, Touch Blue by Cynthia Lord, Word Nerd by Susin Nielsen-Fernlund, Mackenzie Blue by Tina Wells, The Great Green Notebook of Katie Roberts by Amy Hest, A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban
Snatch of Text: "Now a school of goldfish could go swimming in the pool of drool that dog makes while she's sleeping.  But as soon as he heard his name and saw me heading for outside he jumped up, cleaned up the extra slobber around his mouth, and in two and one-half seconds' time, he was waiting for me at the back door." (p. 4)

"Rufus and I hiked up the mountain- which isn't really a mountain, but 'hill' is just too tiny a word for it- till we got to the old tree that has no leaves and hardly any bark.  That tree's bare and white, and people think it's dead, but it's not; it's just older than old." (p. 13)
Reading Strategies to Practice: Making connections, Predicting, Visualization, Vocabulary
Writing Strategies to Practice: Imagery, Description, Characterization, Voice
Writing Prompts: Ida B. talks about her favorite sounds and sights by using descriptive language; what is your favorite sound? Sight? Smell? Feeling? Use imagery and descriptive language while describing your favorites.
Topics Covered: Family, Change, Challenges, Environment, Fitting in
Translated to Spanish: Yes

The Bermudez Triangle

Title: The Bermudez Triangle
Author: Maureen Johnson
Publisher: Razorbill
Publication Date: October 2004
Genre/Format: Fiction/LBGT Novel
Summary: Nina, Avery and Melanie are true best friends and have been forever.  It is the summer before senior year and Nina has the opportunity to go to a summer program at Stanford.  While there she meets Steve, a ecofreindly, totally cute boy.  When she comes home, she is in such a good place; however, while she has been gone, a romance has been budding between Avery and Melanie.  Now Nina has become the ultimate third wheel.
What I Think: This is realistic fiction in the purest of forms. The story follows three friends all trying to figure out something: love, sexuality, identity, commitment, friendship, their future... This is as teenagery as you can get. I really enjoyed how the narrative switches between point of views so you can see how each is dealing (though I wish the switches were marked better... Sometimes it was hard to figure out for a second). I also wish that more of Avery's POV had been included because she did a couple things that I still don't understand (though teenagers tend to do things that no one, even themselves, understand). 
Read Together: Grade 9-12
Read Alone: Grade 9+
Read With: So Hard to Say by Alex Sanchez, How Beautiful the Ordinary compiled by Michael Cart, Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan, Not that Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian, This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen
Snatch of Text: "Her mom was probably right.  Maybe she just needed to get up and put herself back in circulation." (p. 91)

"She felt alone. She'd felt alone all day. It got worse when she messed up with the note and then got all weird about Avery's rehearsal.  Why did she do these things, things she knew perfectly well would make Avery stress out?" (p. 178)

"Fired.  Fired was cool.  Fired implied attitude.  Fired was very rock and roll.  Fired was also broke, parents screaming, no money for her car, and no way of even thinking about going to New York City for school because her parents sure as hell weren't paying for Avery to hang out with purple-haired, clove smoking artsy trustafarians when Geneseo and Old Westbury were more affordable and infinitely less furrreaky...." (p. 202)
Reading Strategies to Practice: Making Connections, Predicting, Asking questions
Writing Strategies to Practice: Dialogue, Characterization, Plot Development
Writing Prompts: Who is your best friend? Why are you best friends?; What dreams do you have for the future?
Topics Covered: Friendship, Sexual orientation, Love, Loneliness, Change, Challenges, Doing your best, Happiness, Individuality, Perseverance
Translated to Spanish: Not that I can find

Piggies In The Pumpkin Patch

Title: Piggies in the Pumpkin Patch     
Author: Mary Peterson and Jennifer Rofe 
Illustrator: Mary Peterson
Publisher: Charlesbridge 
Publication Date: July 2010
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book   
Summary: The romping piggies venture all over the farm! 
What I Think: While this is a simple book, I love all the language that is packed into it. This is a perfect book for little ones working on prepositions like over and under but also great for older students working on using those grand $100 words like peek and sneak instead of overused words like look and walk. The illustrations are fun and the pigs are funny. It's fun to predict where these guys will go next! 
This would be a fun book to read and then have kids write about their own day or even write a class book about what they do for the day and incorporate prepositions and $100 words. Even better, this book is great for students who are learning English as a second language because it can give them access to how prepositions are used appropriately and also provide the visual to help them acquire some of the more obscure prepositions in English. As a Spanish speaker, I know transferring knowledge and use of prepositions from Spanish to English is not always easy because it seems like English does have many more prepositions with some zany rules as how and when to use them.
Read Together: Pre-K - 5
Read Alone: Pre-K - 5 
Read With: Over in the Meadow by Ezra Jack Keats, In the Small, Small Pond and In the Tall, Tall Grass  by Denise Fleming, Under, Over, by the Clover: What Is a Preposition? (Words Are Categorical) by Brian P. Cleary, Behind the Mask: A Book about Prepositions (World of Language) by Ruth Heller, If You Were a Preposition (Word Fun) by Nancy Loewen,
Snatch of Text: 

"Piggies in the pumpkin patch

peek

and sneak,

under crinkly, clean sheets,

over growing,

green beans, 

behind snoring, sleepy sheep,

into the clover field."

Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Making Predictions 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Personal Narrative  
Writing Prompts: Write like the author of Piggies in the Pumpkin Patch and tell about your day - where do you go, maybe around your house, around your school? Use $100 words and prepositions! 
Topics Covered: Farm, Animals, Adventure, Parts of Speech - Prepositions, $100 Words 
Translated to Spanish: No

 

A Bit of Me(me) - 10/1/2011

We all leave our “footprint” on the world, in one way or another. In our daily lives, we each do something or are someone that makes the world a little better simply by being ourselves. Danielle from There's a Book  created this wonderful, weekly meme to learn a bit more about bloggers in this blogging community we all have come to love. The idea is to share our lives outside of books. Each week a question will be posted. Your job is to answer in the following week’s “A Bit of Me(Me)”. You can link up here with your post that answers Danielle's questions from last week.

We understand that some of you are skeptical about putting yourself out there on the internet and completely respect that. If ever a questions is posed through this meme that you feel is too personal for your liking, feel free to post something else. We don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable with what they share and promise the kids will always be “kid-friendly”. Really, this is a primarily children’s and young adult site, you know?

So, let’s get started!

Have you met or worked 
with any famous people? 
Who? Where? When?

This is an extremely hard question for me to answer because I have had a chance to meet a lot of famous people - at least famous to me! My husband likes to collect autographs from athletes and we have met players like Brian Urlacher (Bears), Magic Johnson (Lakers), Michael Phelps (Olympic swimmer), Jenny Finch (Olympic softball pitcher), and lots of other athletes who we love in Chicago that might not be as recognizable to people who aren't from Chicago! My husband looks for signing events that they are doing and usually drags me with to take pictures and meet these athletes. It's sometimes crazy, but a fun hobby at the same time.


Lately, I've gotten into the same mode of getting autographs from authors. It's a lot of fun for me to meet some of my favorite authors. I have to give a huge shout out to Anderson's Bookshop in Napervile, Illinois where they have the best authors come through and very frequently. I was there this past week to meet Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry. 


I do have one more famous person that I have met. It's kind of silly because a lot of people don't know who he is but my husband is his biggest fan. Danny Gokey was on American Idol season 8. He was in the top three behind Kris Allen and Adam Lambert. He really is a great singer and since being on Idol he has become a great performer. We've met him a few times and most recently saw him at the pre-concert signing he did. 

Danny Gokey and me with my kiddos right after D was born!

Danny and I in August at Sundance Saloon

Next week’s A Bit of Me(Me) will be hosted by Crystal at I Totally Paused! where she will provide the link-up and the next question for the following week. Thanks everyone! See you next week!

Now, your turn! Link up below and tell everyone “A Bit of You!”Next Week’s Question (link-up with your answer at Crystal’s site): Have you ever been on a cruise? Where did you go? Would you go again...or never again!?

Have a question to add? We love suggestions! Just leave them in the comments and I’ll share them with Danielle so we can think about adding them in as we go! Also, feel free to grab either of the buttons for your own “A Bit of Me(Me)” post (or create your own), but make sure to link back to There’s A Book. (You can also resize these down to a smaller size if you’d like.)