October 21st-25th

Food for thought…

I love books! I love reading them, talking about them, buying them. I make no apologies for my Amazon bill and am always on the hunt for a used book store. The gift card for Amazon you gave me last week is gone already, spent on books, of course! This weekend, I took some time to relax and read and it felt so good! I finished up Wake Up Missing by Kate Messner (a science YA thriller) after downloading the first four chapters from her website for free! I also started And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini, my November book club read. I’m also reading Bill Bryson’s childhood memoir The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, which I discovered last week after listening to him speak at the Sacramento Bee Book Club event featuring his newest book One Summer: America 1927. Right now, I have 10 actual books on my bedside table, and more on my iPad. There are also books in my office including Donalyn Miller’s The Book Whisperer and Ame Dyckman’s latest book Tea Party Rules. I love them all! Last year, I set a goal to read 365 books in 2013, or an average of one per day. My Goodreads page says I’ve read 72, and that I am 220 books behind! What really happened is that I lost track of the books I read and forgot to log them. I wanted to count the books I read to my first graders, as well as my personal and professional reads. At the end of 2013 I may not be able to say that I read a book each day, but I can say without a doubt that I loved books each and every day of the year! My book inspiration comes from many places- Twitter, my friends, my book clubs, and even authors! I connect with many authors on Twitter, and Ame Dyckman is awesome. She sent bookmarks, stickers, and some cute pins for every kid in our school! In the next few weeks, I’d love to come read with your class and share some goodies! She would love to hear from your class, and is going to Skype with our school when we open our new library! Here's the book trailer for her latest book!

   

Also, it’s the time of year where authors, librarians, and bloggers start making predictions about the American Library Association award winners for the year. Last night, I checked out this School Library Journal post which shares predictions for both the Newbery and Caldecott awards. This year’s American Library Association’s award ceremony for youth media will be held on January 27th and is streamed live! My most recent Amazon purchases are all from this list! Here’s the book trailer to Journey by Aaron Becker. I can’t wait for it to arrive!

I’d love to know what you’re currently reading! Leave a comment at the bottom of this post to share your book love. Happy reading!

Dates and Details

October 21-November 15th Kids Can Food Drive- Boxes in front and in cafeteria for grade level drop off

October 23 late start Wednesday - PIPs

October 21-25 Book Fair!

October 24th- Jennifer off campus in PM

October 25th- Jennifer at CUE, Maria and Julie will be acting administrator that day

October 25th 11:00-11:30 Mad Science Assembly (regular lunch schedule)

October 28-November 1 Red Ribbon Week Spirit Days: (more info to follow)

• Mon Oct 28th- Don't be crazy- be healthy! Crazy Hair day
• Tuesday October 29th- Healthy kids make dreams come true! Wear your pj's
• Wednesday Oct 30th- Team up and be healthy-- Wear your favorite sports gear or team jersey
• Thursday Oct 31- Don't be scary- be healthy! Wear your Halloween costume or dress in orange and black
• Friday Nov. 1st- Sock it to unhealthy choices! Wear crazy socks 

October 30th- Late start Wednesday- whole staff collaboration in lounge
November 1st-: Early release Friday- 12:45-2:00 whole staff collaboration in lounge, after 2:00 grade level planning/prep
November 15th- Star Academy Movie Night

Things I loved this week:

Watching the 2nd grade communities unfold in the hallways... Be sure to check out their amazing murals!
Watching the TK kids come to school so excited because they brought pumpkins!
Having Alex officially join our Star Academy team!
Hearing Tammy say she was inspired!
Being joined by almost 50 parents at our first parent meeting, and sharing the news that we are already almost halfway to our goal of raising $32,500 in just the third month of school!
Watching first graders write in their notebooks and hearing their nonfiction chants from my office!
Hearing from one of the parents in Saryn's class how much they appreciated her efforts with a student who had to move unexpectedly
Seeing so many families at the Harvest Festival!
Watching first graders giddy with excitement as they boarded the bus for their first field trip
Having kindergartners offer to help me open yogurts!

Tech Tips
Tammy shared the Screen Actor's Guild StorylineOnline  where celebrities read. Thanks for the tip!