It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 1-20-14

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is weekly challenge begun by Sheila at Book Journey to blog about the books readers enjoy each week. I've enjoyed posts by several members of my PLN, and I'm excited to finally take the plunge into It's Monday! What Are You Reading? For some wonderful reading suggestions, please visit Teacher Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers, who took Sheila's It's Monday! What are You Reading? challenge and gave it a kid lit twist.

Book Review: The Mark of the Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson

The Mark of the Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

The Mark of the Dragonfly is a coming of age story about a girl named Piper. Only thirteen years old, Piper lives in Scrap Town Sixteen as an orphaned "scrapper" after the recent death of her father and struggles to make a living by repairing broken machinery.

Promoting Literacy through World Book Talk with Brad Gustafson and Heather Cooper

World Book Talk (#worldbooktalk) is undoubtedly my favorite collaborative project that aims to connect the world while promoting literacy. Created by principal Brad Gustafson  and teacher Heather Cooper, World Book Talk, as the name implies, is a collection of book talks from people connected through the Internet and shared via Aurasma's augmented reality technology. 

Seeking Book Recommendations from my PLN

I admire Edie Crook's (@WESMediaCenter) quest to collect book recommendations from her PLN. As soon as I read Edie's tweet about the project, I suggested two books for her students, one which was also suggested by another fellow librarian, Julee Murphy (@JuleeMurphy).

The idea that librarians and teachers from all over the world are suggesting books for young readers excites me beyond description. Therefore I would also like to invite my PLN to add their book recommendations for students in Kindergarten through 5th Grade at my school.

If you are interested in suggesting books for my students, please fill out the Google Form below.

And just like Edie did, I'll post pictures of your recommended books in the hands of eager readers!

For more information about Edie's idea please visit her blog Search. Discover. Share. Don't forget to make a suggestion (or two) for her students!

A Simple Activity to Help Students Set Personal Goals

This activity was used with 3rd through 5th graders, but as a former secondary teacher, I think it could be used with middle school and high school students as well. It'd be a nice activity during an advisory period or used as part of a campus character development curriculum.

Augmented Reality in the Library

With augmented reality, I saw an opportunity to inspire upper elementary students to explore our selection of picture books, get creative, and use that creativity to encourage younger students to read. I asked fifth graders to choose one Caldecott book to read in order to participate in this project, but they were allowed to use a non-Caldecott book if they wanted.

Book Review: The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant by Joanne Wiebe

The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant by Joanna Wiebe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley, and a little bit of patience, I received an advanced review copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Anne Merchant is a sixteen year old girl who has spent her entire life in one of the richest neighborhoods in the U.S., Atherton, CA. Unlike her extremely wealthy neighbors, Anne grew up in a modest environment, having lived in an apartment above her father's mortuary.

Behind the Scenes of My Nerdy Book Club Post

Yesterday my first ever guest post was published on the Nerdy Book Club (@nerdybookclub) website. It was about my experience as a parent with raising a reader, and it was written in celebration of my daughter's eleventh birthday. If you visit the blog and read the post, you'll see a picture of my daughter in front of a stack of books. That picture tells only a small part of the entire story.

Book Review: Maisy and the Missing Mice by Elizabeth Woodrum

Maisy and the Missing Mice by Elizabeth Woodrum (@ewoodrumauthor)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I haven't had much luck finding interesting self-published books. I'm happy to say that Maisy and the Missing Mice has finally changed my experience with self-published books. I purchased the Kindle version of this book for $2.99 in order to preview it. However there are print copies of the book available for $5.85 through Amazon as well, and I will be purchasing a copy of this book for my school library collection.

2014 Reading Goal and TBR List

This year I'm trying something new with my reading goals, thanks to Goodreads. I've never really kept track of books that I've read but now that I have a Goodreads account, I thought it'd be fun to create a list of the books I want to read this year and create a reading goal. (After all, I need to model reading habits for my students, right?) 

 For the time being, my goal is to read 300 books in 2014. 

App Review: Annie's Picking Apples 2

I am so happy to have the chance to share a math app with you -- Annie's Picking Apples 2 from RealFunLearning (@realfunlearning) -- recommended by the developer for ages four and up. However, I think it could be used for kids as young as three, especially if they seem advanced and are able to easily grasp new concepts.