Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Any Which Wall

just want to give a plug to Laurel Snyder's new book, which came out YESTERDAY - Any Which Wall.

I am going to pick up my copy today, so I don't have a review, but I will!  

See all the details on Laurel's Blog here and then go pick yourself up a copy.

Oh and if you are in the Atlanta area, I will see YOU at the book party at Little Shop of Stories on Monday at 4pm - you KNOW it will be sure to rain here... again.. so what else do you have to do??


Tuesday, May 26, 2009

hmm.. not sure if I will be ordering this book

My new favorite book blogger - Lori over at Get in the Game alerted me to the organization Daddy's Hero's - an organization dedicated to bringing families together through the stories of baseball and sports- how COOL is that - well or so I thought, until I went over and saw their newest book - "The '86 Mets, Buckner and the Bambino" - as most Red Sox fans will remember, that day/video of Billy Buckner will live on in history forever- every time I see it (and who hasn't seen it, it is on EVERY World Series highlight clip show EVER produced since 1986!) I cringe just a little (the same could be said for the Bucky "effin" Dent homer too).

In all seriousness, I think this is a great idea for an organization and look forward to checking out some of their titles - now if they could just write one about the 2004 World Series, then I might be happy!

MY last day

I am getting ready to head into school for MY last official day.  Of course I will have to go in over the summer to do a few things, one thing on my list is to spend a day trying to figure out the new equipment they dumped in my TV studio this spring ("they" being the county I work in) but otherwise I am not obligated to enter this building until August!!

I have a post up at my school blog, check out the video, I found it on a blog I read, I love the expressions the kids use while singing!

And in weather news, if it does not stop RAINING here in GA I might go insane!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

180 days

Today is the 180th day of the 2008-2009 school year, which also means it is the LAST DAY of school for students - woohoo!

As I end my second year in public school I am reflecting on what we did in the media center this year... here are some highlights:

* Had author Laurel Snyder come in and have a lunch & learn with a special group of 4th graders
* Had illustrator Michael White give presentations to all 1100 of our students (PTA arranged & paid for this)
* Had FABULOUS author visits with Deborah Wiles (grades 3-5) and Nina Laden (grades K-2)
* had two fairly successful book fairs, which in this economy, I was quite surprised at!
* had an AWESOME used book fair, where we raised $500 for the local Children's Hospital
* helped to host our school's annual Polar Express Night
* did countless story times and research lessons to students - my favorite story times of the year had to be Make Way for Ducklings and Boo Bubbles. Oh and we did send letters to the President and to Mo Willems (we've heard back from Mo, still waiting on Mr. President!!)

So now I have time to bask in the sun and hang by the pool - well sorta - I am *hoping* to get some good planning in - since so many grade levels hear my story times I try not to repeat too often, so I try come up with new things every year - and sometimes (well, most weeks...) that means I am barreling through Target or WalMart on a Sunday night looking for the materials I need for the storytime project I will be doing with 300+ kids that week - not the wisest use of time or money (in most cases, MY money). BUT as always, I am sure the summer will go too fast, my boys are still playing baseball (does it EVER END I ask) and my daughter and I still have a dance recital to get ready for. I have a STACK of books I can't WAIT to get my nose into and I have a few author events that I can't wait to get to too - (Laurel's book party at LSOS on June 1st - can't can't wait!!).

Happy last day of school!!


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Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Summer reading

School here in my neck of the woods officially ends a week from today - well for the students anyway and I have been busy telling my students about my summer reading program - which really is just putting together reading incentive program from the local library, Barnes & Noble and Scholastic together in a brochure and offering the students a treat from me when they get back to school in August if they participate in at least 2 of the programs.

To check out my program, check out my school blog (which I have ignored since October... I'll try to do better next year...)

I already have a STACK of books I want to read this summer and a list of projects a mile long -but first, we still have baseball games and dance recitals to get to - hopefully after June 15th I can get some good summer fun going! But for now, our neighborhood pool opens this weekend - I see some poolside reading in my future!

Friday, May 8, 2009

Used Book Sale


Today was our 2nd annual used book sale in the media center.

One of the reasons I love working with children is that once in a while, you come across a really special kid - a 5th grader here, Hannah is just that kind of kid. She came to our Principal last year with an idea to hold a used book sale and have the proceeds go to our local children's hospital, she had a friend who had a cousin who was being treated for cancer and she just had to do something.

Well, we decided to do it again this year and again have the money go to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta - my family has used this hospital many times, so it is a place to close to my heart and they are AWESOME!
We had a TON of books donated this year, but didn't seem as busy for the purchasing this morning, so I am going to hold the sale over until Monday, hopefully many of these books can find good homes. We are selling the books for .50 for paperbacks and $1.00 for hardbacks. I will find a place to donate the books we have left over. As Martha Stewart says "It's a good thing"