Adventures with Books!

So I haven't posted here much this year!  But I'm still interested ... just trying to figure out what to share since I'm not active in the classroom.

In the meanwhile, I've begun a new adventure ... with Usborne Books & More.  I don't consider myself a salesperson, but I do care a lot about children and about literacy!  So putting those two together to become a book lady made sense.

Usborne Books & More is an award-winning publisher of children's books (birth to 14+).  The company chooses to sell most of its books through independent consultants instead of bookstores.  I've had Facebook parties, home parties and participated in kids' events in booths.  It's a great way to talk to people about the value of literacy and share good books! (There's more to the company too ... book fairs, fundraisers and grants! I'll share more on those later).

Already I have several favorites!




I love, love, love the academy series!  Not pictured are the Science Academy, Astronaut Academy, and Pilot Academy.  These are activity books ... perfect for upper elementary. Kids learn while doing fun activities - a real summer boredom buster!















I started this series ... and loved The Four Fingered Man!  I read it with a group of third graders, but I want to read the rest of the series just because!

I have this creative writing book ... been thinking about improving my writing skills :) Really - if you have a child, niece or nephew that loves writing ... this is a great gift! And there are several books in this series: My First Story Writing Book; Write Your Own Story Book; Write Your Own Adventure Stories; Write Your Own Mystery & Suspense Stories; and Draw Your Own Comics! There is a story writing book for every budding writer!

And of course I need to mention math, right? 


This one is a sticker book!  We have wipe clean practice books and lift the flap math books as well ... fun practice for elementary children!

I'm having fun sharing books and literacy tips!  If you are interested in knowing more, join my VIP Facebook group ... it's no pressure, fun way to look at reading with and to kids!  

Favorite Education Books

Writing about my favorite education books is a tall order ... I love to read, and I especially love to read about education topics.

Here are a few of my favorites ... books that stay close by ... books that are ear-marked with sticky notes!

The Strategic Teacher: Selecting the Right Research-Based Strategy for Every Lesson by Silver,

Strong, and Perini
The subtitle ... selecting the right research-based strategy ... is why I like this book. I like the study of strategies and like knowing that lessons can be improved by using strategic structures. I wrote about using this book for lesson planning here, here, and here!


Total Participation Techniques: Making Every Student an Active Learner by Himmele and Himmele

Again ... it's the subtitle that caught my eye ... I want every student to be an active learner. In this book there are numerous structures for class activities, for getting students to participate! I wrote about ideas from this book here!

Teaching Numeracy: 9 Critical Habits to Ignite Mathematical Thinking by Pearse and Walton

Can I say it again ... the subtitle ... igniting mathematical thinking!  YES!  The authors make the connection between elementary reading strategies and math ... applying those strategies to mathematical thinking. While this book says it is written for K - 8, there are applications for secondary math teachers. I wrote about the critical habits in several posts ... you can find the posts here!

I've mentioned my favorite books on questions, questioning in more than one blog post. Here is that list:

• Good Questions for Math Teaching: Why Ask Them and What to Ask, K-6 by Sullivan and Lilburn
• Good Questions for Math Teaching, Grades 5-8: Why Ask Them and What to Ask by Anderson and Schuster
• Good Questions: Great Ways to Differentiate Mathematics Instruction by Marian Small
• More Good Questions: Great Ways to Differentiate Secondary Mathematics Instruction by Small and Lin

For inspiration, I read Teaching with Heart: Poetry that Speaks to the Courage to Teach by Intrator and Scribner.

Last I love picture books. These are not necessarily "education" books but they help me wrap my head around the simplicity and beauty of math. Picture books are great for introducing lessons. I've catalogued a number of books on this Pinterest page. Here are a few specific favorites!

• Missing Math - a number mystery is a rhyming story about all the numbers disappearing. This book would be a great book to start the year. What if there were no numbers - how would that affect our lives!?! 
• If the World Were a Village is an awesome book about statistics and percentages. The author crunched numbers and presents the world as if there were just 100 people. The book is a colorful similarity to a website with a similar title: 100 People: A World Portrait.
• Infinity and Me sparked an idea for an enrichment choice board that I wrote about in a previous blog post.

I look forward to reading about everyone else's favorite education books!

Time to Read!

This week I've read three and a half "beach reads."  Simple stories of love, redemption, forgiveness ... chick lit ... easy and fun.

Then I checked my blog roll ... and this post appeared: 8 Books That Will Challenge You As a Teacher (and Learner) This Summer by AJ Juliani.  As I read his post I realized I have some serious reading to do this summer <smile!>

Here are the books he mentions ...

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance 

pair with Mindstorms by Seymour Papert

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari 

pair with Deeper Learning by Monica Martinez and Dennis McGrath

Originals by Adam Grant 

pair with The Innovator’s Mindset by George Couros

Creative Confidence by Tom and David Kelley

pair with For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood…And the Rest of Ya’ll Too by Christopher Emdin

You'll have to catch his blog for the explanation of why he recommends the books and why he paired them the way he did.

And then I checked the comments ... and these were recommended ...

• Creative Schools by Ken Robinson
• Disciplined Dreaming by Josh Linkner
• The Accidental Creative by Todd Henry
• A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger
• The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults by F.E. Jensen
• Lost at School by Ross Greene
• The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals by McChesney, Covey and Huling
• Lock In by John Scalzi

Time to check these out!

By the way - nothing wrong with reading super light reading, the beach reads!  For this first-born A-type personality, learning to rest/relax is important.  The easy reads help!

#70Days Made 4 Math Banners

I had the opportunity to participate on our school's interview team today from 1 pm to 6:15 pm!  We talked with several good candidates - can't wait to hear who our new team member will be.

In the process, one gentleman had been to a workshop recently.  We asked him to share something he had learned.  He mentioned one fun strategy for reviewing vocabulary or defining a concept.  Three students "play" at one time. They work round robin style.  The catch, each student says only one word.  So player one starts a thought to define a concept or vocabulary word.  The next student adds one word, then the third student adds a word ... and round they go until they complete the definition. It sounded like fun!

Today I finally finished banners for my classroom (or almost finished, need to add a spot of glue to keep the banners on the string)!  I can't get into my classroom yet, but here they are on my closet at home!

One banner will hang in the front of my classroom, and the other will hang on a side wall.  

There aren't many "free" days left before school starts.  I'm sorting through books, decorating materials, and plans to determine what I need to work on next.

These are the books I've collected this summer - the ones I've spent the most time with.  My favorites are The Strategic Teacher and the Math Tools books! I hope to return to these before school starts - I am excited about infusing more of these strategies in my work!

I also purchased 2 picture books!  I love to use picture books in my classroom when I can.  I plan to use these two when I share a presentation next week about projects in the classroom.  I don't have a solid plan for using them in my classroom yet ... I just need to spend a little time daydreaming about how they might fit in our curriculum!  Missing Math - a number mystery is a rhyming story about all the numbers disappearing.  This book would be a great book to start the year. What if there were no numbers - how would that affect our lives!?!  If the World Were a Village is an awesome book about statistics and percentages.  The author crunched numbers and presents the world as if there were just 100 people.  The book is a colorful similarity to a website with a similar title: 100 People: A World Portrait.

Next up are finishing the presentations that I am sharing on Monday.