Library

What do you do with thousands and thousands of children's books when you retire?

I've been dealing with this dilemma now for several months. After over 40 years of collecting and buying books, I decided to make a library for my grandkids. First, I sorted through all my books and gave a lot of them to my school. I chose only my most favorite ones to keep. Which ended up being quite a few. It's taken me almost six months to decide how I wanted my library organized but I think I'm almost there.

The shelves and boxes are from IKEA. 

 My daughter-in-law did the cute vinyl!

 I grouped the books by genre, authors, levels, and favorite read-aloud. I labeled the boxes so the kids can find what they want but also so they can put the books back when they're finished. There is just one more thing I'm working on and that is cataloging all the books into my laptop for a check-out system. Each family has a book bag and comes often to pick books to take home. The older girls LOVE to play 'school' too.

Needless to say, the grandkids are LOVING it! And so are their moms. Not to mention, grandma LOVES it too.

Mix It Up

A little while ago, I shared a post about the book: 'Press Here' by Herve' Tullet. You can check it out HERE.
My firsties LOVE this book and enjoy writing their own books after Mr. Tullet's style.

 

Well, I was happy to discover another book by Herve' Tullet.

This book is great for teaching colors and how to mix them to get purple, orange, and green. Like his other book, this one is interactive as well. The reader needs to follow the directions by shaking, pressing or turning the pages to watch the magic and fun appear.

I'm sure kids will also be able to springboard from this book and use their imaginations to write their own fun, interactive stories!

Of course you can get the books at Amazon.com but I found both books at Costco today for only $9.99, so I just had to grab some for my grandchildren. I guess I've started my Christmas shopping already!

Happy Teaching!

Problem and Solution FREEBIE

It looks like I have been neglecting my blog for a little while. I've been very involved in life for the past month and blogging has not been on top of the list. So sorry.

I'm teaching Problem and Solution this week and just made a little practice sheet to go along with my Smartboard slides. I hope you can use it in your classroom.

Click HERE for a free download.

I also finished reading one of the best books I've read in a looong time.  'Crash Course' by Kim Bearden is very inspiring. It's not just for teachers. A lot of blogger recommended it this past summer when it was released. So I thought I'd give it a read. Boy am I glad I did. I loved the format with 'Class Notes' and 'Homework'. It will make you want to be a better teacher as well as a better human being. I'd sure LOVE to visit the RCA and see Kim in action.  

Well, thanks for stopping by. I'll try not to be a stranger and post more often.

Have a great week!

We Love Books! Some Favorites by Julia Cook

I can't believe I haven't posted in almost a month. Sorry! I've been a little busy. My summer started just one week ago after all my professional development and collaboration meetings. Then I've been doing some much needed cleaning and organizing at home. Plus some shopping and spending time with the grandkids! 

I don't know if you're like me but it takes me a few week to settle into summer. I'm on the go, can't sleep in, working to get all the things done on my 'saved-for-summer-project-list for at least the first 2 weeks. Then I start to RELAX and CALM down!

One thing I have been doing though, is keeping up on my blog stalking. I haven't been commenting like I should (vow to do better) but I have been reading. Deanna Jump is doing a fun linky this summer. Every Tuesday she is sharing some of her favorite books and then has a linky for others to share. If you want to find some great books you'll want to head over to her blog every Tuesday. Click Mrs. Jump's class.

The books I'm sharing are by one of my favorite authors Julia Cook. Julia was a former school counselor and teacher. She couldn't find a book to effectively teach children the differences between tattling and telling. So she decided to write her own (A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue). Now she's written over 50 books. She says, "In order to teach a child, you must enter their view of the world." I LOVE that! I think when teachers 'enter their world' they will be more successful educators.

If you haven't read some of her books, you really need to. They are great!

I read 'My Mouth is a Volcano' SEVERAL times during the year. It really helps those kiddos who blurt out all the time.

At the beginning of the year, I do a little unit about tattling and bullying. These 2 books help start the discussion.

I'm sure you've had kids in your class that need to learn specific social skills like: appropriate space, sharing, confidence, paying attention, taking NO for an answer, and so on. Julia has a series called 'Best Me I Can Be' to teach children social skills. You can recommend them to parents or use them one-on-one with the child.
If you click on the books above you will link to Amazon.com for more information.

If you can't tell by now- I LOVE everything Julia Cook writes!

Happy summer reading!

Are you a 'Pooper' 'Pointer' or 'Scooper'?

I LOVE this book!

It is a true story about a dog that does his 'business' on a soccer field and his owner fails to clean up after him. So the teams have to play around a pile of dog poop. Everyone from parents, to referees, to coaches, to players point out the poop and advise all to stay away. But no one takes the initiative to just clean it up. Author Kirk Weisler does a great job explaining about the poopers (problem causers), pointers (tattlers, do-nothings) and scoopers (fixers, problem solvers) in this world.
Which one are you?
I've got to admit that at times I've probably been a little bit of a pooper and a pointer. But this book inspires me to try a little harder to be a scooper!

I was first introduced to this book several years ago at our first faculty meeting of the year. I had a wonderful principal, Jeanne Bates, who read this book to us and then presented each of us with our own book and a little plastic piece of fake doggy poo. She challenged us to put our fake doggy doo-doo on a shelf and let it remind us daily "Which one are you?"

Our school's character trait word for the month is INITIATIVE. That's a pretty hard word to explain to first graders. So I read them this book. They loved it! At first, we had lots of giggles every time I read the word poop but they got over it. We had a great discussion after about taking initiative but it also turned into a discussion on tattling. I loved how they were able to see that the 'pointers' are not taking initiative to help solve the problems but are just adding to it. I've seen a difference in the tattling and lots of kiddos are jumping in to help each other.
 I love it when a book inspires kids!

Click on the book below for a link to Amazon.com


Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Press Here

My kiddos absolutely LOVE this book by Herve Tullet.

Have you read it? It's an interactive book that has the reader pushing dots, shaking the book, and blowing just to name a few of the things you're asked to do. Magical things appear on the next page as you do as you're told. I think I need to order another one because they are wearing this one out!

My firsties LOVED it so much they wanted to write their own. I've got to say, I think they turned out pretty amazing. I couldn't take pictures of them all but here is one I'll share.

You've got to LOVE any book that gets kids reading and writing!

Happy Sunday everyone! Thanks for stopping by.

Meet the Author and Illustrator

We had some very special visitors at our school today. Our fantastic librarian, Mrs. Adams, planned an awesome assembly for just the first and second graders. She invited the Buehners to speak to us. They are the husband and wife team that author and illustrate the cute Snowman books. I found out that you say their name with a long e- (Bean-ner). They have made 22 children's books with the Snowmen series being their latest.

It was so interesting to hear how they create a book from start to finish. They told the kids it takes over a year. They showed them sloppy copies, editor notes, thumbnail sketches, and oil painting canvases of some of their books.

They talked about how they get ideas for a book. Mr. Buehner told the kids how they came up with the idea for the snowmen series. He had built a snowman in the front yard. One morning they noticed the snowman had moved from the middle of the yard to next to the porch and now had some soup in his hand. They laughed about it for weeks before they discovered some good friends had stopped by one night to deliver a gift for a sick family member of soup and bread. When they arrived, the Buehner's house was dark because everyone had gone to bed. Seeing the cute snowman, they decided to play a practical joke on them and proceeded to move him over by the porch. Later, the Buehner's thought it would make a great story.

Cara writes the story first and then Mark gets busy with the art work. Sometimes he'll spend up to 4 weeks on just one pages by the time he sketches, makes changes, and paints it. Each picture is painted in oil paints on canvas. Just amazing.

They took time to autograph books and take pictures.

I was super excited to get this book WITTILDA. It's out of print and now it's autographed as well!

They have several great books you really should check out.

It really makes you appreciate how much work goes into making the picture books we LOVE!

Thanks Buehner's for sharing your wonderful talents!!!