It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 4-21-2014

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (IMWAYR) is a weekly challenge begun by Sheila at Book Journey to encourage others to share the books they are reading each week. Jen at Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers added the "From Picture Books to YA" element to Sheila's idea. Many thanks to these four women for creating a fun way to share our reading lists. Please be sure to visit their blogs and see what they've read over the past week. 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 4-14-2014

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (IMWAYR) is a weekly challenge begun by Sheila at Book Journey to encourage others to share the books they are reading each week. Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki over at Unleashing Readers took Sheila's idea and added "From Picture Books to YA," spreading the IMWAYR concept to a much wider audience.  

Yes, I know I've been slacking off big time with IMWAYR lately. In my defense, I've been occupied with administering STAAR and preparing for the TLA conference. Now I'm ready to get back on track. 

When I wasn't administering the state test, working on my poster presentation, or preparing for a road trip with another librarian from my school district, I've been mostly reading professional development books to improve my library program. 

Spotted at 2014 Texas Library Association Conference

TLA Swag - Where do I to start?!

That's all the swag I picked up at the 2014 Texas Library Association annual conference in San Antonio over the past week. The two stacks of books are mostly ARCs that I can't wait to get my hands and eyes on. What you don't see in the bags are more books for teacher giveaways; posters, pencils and bookmarks for students; and teaching guides for about a dozen young adult and children's books.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 3-31-2014

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.  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.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 3-17-2014

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.  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.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 2-10-2014

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.  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.

Taking a cue from fellow librarian Julee Murphy (@JuleeMurphy) over at Book Egg, I'm including books I've used for library lessons over the past week. Indeed I think these books should be included in every It's Monday! What are you reading?, even if it's the second, third, or umpteenth time reading the books because these great books are still worthy of reading, and of course, sharing.

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. 

Giddy about Getting Book Into Readers' Hands

It's been a while since my last blog post, but at least I have good reasons, in my opinion, for falling behind. You see, the students and I have had a very busy month. We've been working on coding, making video booktalks to inspire others to read (I will blog about both of these projects later), and most importantly, enjoying our book fair.

Owls, books, and research - oh my!

It's December, and that means it's time for students in all grade levels to prepare for the upcoming research project. But I'm adding a new twist to the introduction to the research process this year that will hopefully make the experience more enjoyable and meaningful for the students. 

Making Connections

Some of the books students explored in the library during National Picture Book Month. 

October was Connected Educator month, and you might be thinking about that when I mention the word "connections," but I'm actually talking about a different kind of connection - the kind we want our students to make with books.