best books of 2017-2017

This school year I have finished 22 books! Here's a list of all the books I have finished:

1. Dogman, Dav Pilkey
2. The Outsiders, SE Hinton
3. Ghost, Jason Reynolds
4. The Water Princess, Susan Verde
5. Life, Cynthia Rylant
6. Jabari Jumps, Gaia Cornwall
7. Solo, Kwame Alexander
8. Wishtree, Katherine Applegate
9. Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom, Lynda Blackmon Lowery
10. Refugee, Alan Gratz
11. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, Trevor Noah
12. Inside Out and Back Again, Thanhha Lai
13. After, Anna Todd
14. After We Collided, Anna Todd
15. After We Fell, Anna Todd
16. After Ever Happy, Anna Todd
17. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
18. The Dream Keeper and Other Poems, Langston Hughes
19. One Last Word, Nikki Grimes
20. Love, Hate, and Other Filters, Samira Ahmed
21. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Benjamin Alire Saenz
22. Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng

Looking back at the list, I feel super proud that I was able to accomplish all of that. Our goal was 25, but 21 is still great. By reading this books, I was reminded that you can get lost in a book (the After Series by Anna Todd was that!), that sometimes you just need to read something super easy for fun (Dogman), and that sometimes books are written so beautifully, you want to pick out all the little lines and put them all around your home (Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe). Here are my top three books from this school year that you should read!

#3 The After Series, by Anna Todd

So these are romance books, and definitely edgier than even YA books. Love stories, drama with a couple of college kids, and the back and forth of the relationship between Tessa and Hardin. She's the good girl, he's the bad boy, and there's all kinds of secrets and drama at play. I'm pretty sure I read all four of these books in December - they were so good all I wanted to do was read in my free time. Books can definitely be even better than the movies or TV; and speaking of, this series is in production for a movie for next year!

#2 Love, Hate, and Other Filters

I loved this book because it told the story of someone so different from me. Maya Aziz is American-born, but she is Indian and Muslim. I was able to learn lots about that culture and religion, and the book is set in Chicago, so I loved to see what train she might be taking or the neighborhoods she was hanging out in. The main character is also REALLY into creating videos, so it was cool to see how she viewed her world through a camera lens. Finally, theres a big theme about not judging people based on their outward appearances. A bombing happens, and immediately, Maya's family is targeted because of their race and religion. That isn't cool, so it's good to live her experiences to see what that might feel like, and to be aware of our own biases we might hold.

#1 Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Best book, hands down. It's the story of Ari and Dante, both high school guys. Ari has never had a friend, and Dante is very social. They meet by accident, and then go on to have this awesome friendship. Eventually Dante comes out of the closet and shares with his family and friends that he is gay, so you have to see how that plays a part in the book. I don't want to give much more away, but read this to be mesmerized by the beautiful language and the tale of friendship. It also shows that boys don't always have to be these tough guys, and shows how we all deal with emotions and feelings differently.

So there you have it. What are you favorite books of this school year? How many have you finished?

summer shelfie list

Today's the day!
Today's the *official* three year anniversary.
HBD BigTime Literacy!

Hola amigos, time for another post in the #btbc16! Today we're sharing our summer reading lists!

Here's mine:

Already finished Me Before You - it was good. I've read about half of that Success for Teens book (it's the teen version of The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciples into Massive Success and Happiness), but I haven't been able to find it since I came home from Nashville.

Last night I Started Use Your Words & Selected Poems (two of the three books for this challenge). Use Your Words is great, but the poetry is a little difficult for me. I think that is the first poetry anthology I've bought!

You are a Badass is an Arbonne recommendation, and then at a yoga class a few weeks ago, the teacher was reading to us from it. It's subtitle is "How to stop doubting your greatness and starting living an awesome life." I'm so excited for that one!

You is a thriller my friend Holly recommended, and two of my friends from school are reading/going to read that one, so extra little book club there.

Every Single Second was a book I picked up from my Instagram feed - I think it's geared for the intermediate grades. Echo too, keep seeing that one from friends!

My teaching PD books are Write Like This, A Mindset for Learning, and Bringing Words to Life.

So, I've got some work to do this summer, but it's so nice to just wake up and the only thing on my agenda is to read - maybe at the park? the beach? lakefront? I'll take it :-)

What are you reading this summer?

An InLinkz Link-up

currently June!

Wow, it's really June. As in summer is coming! As in three more days of work (only two more with kiddos). As in sleeping in until 8 and the Today Show with coffee! As in time to reflect, rejuvenate, and recharge! As in vacations! So excited!

Thanks to Farley who always takes time to host her party so everyone knows what is up Currently!

Listening to... Chelsea Dagger!

Yep! Blackhawks defeated Anaheim on Saturday night so Chicago is so excited for another championship series! Check out what I mean about excitement from boyfriend and friend:

!!!!!!!

Loving... summer vacay is almost here!
We would have been out by now, but had this problem in February:

I don't even care that we have three more days - I'm so happy that it's getting to be summer again. Well, wait. It was 44 and rainy all weekend - Cubs game cancelled, but anyways, I am hoping that there's some sunshine and warm weather in our future.

Either way, I'm sleeping in every day very soon!

Thinking....about all my new #shelfies!
I'm nerdy, right? But I am really excited to read a bunch of great books this summer. I already have Radical Reflections by Mem Fox and Reading Workshop 2.0 by Frank Searfini, but I just ordered:

And Serravallo's book is on the way, too:

What I know about myself as a reader: I need to schedule time to read. I always want to read, but if I don't plan it out, I get distracted and will choose writing (here, mostly) over everything - writing over exercising, over watching TV, over cleaning ....everything. I want to make sure I set time aside to read (and exercise!) this summer so I get to do all the things I want to!

Oh, forgot to mention that I will be rereading Daring Greatly again and holding a book study for it in July! It is part of my BigTime Blogging Challenge of writing every day, but each Thursday in July we'll be writing about the book! Check out the details of the writing challenge here and please join me for as much writing as you'd like to do!

What are you going to be reading? Should I throw a few more titles in the amazon cart?

Wanting.... a few of my friends to get on Twitter.
You hear me Jennie? and Katie? It's time. You're going to love it! You can thank me later :-)

Needing.... a clean, packed up, organized office
I'm talking about the one at work, the one where things just keep being dropped off, more stuff to organize, more stuff to put away. It's cool, but it's a lot of work, and I have just a little time left. and I have only one box.

Totally need an alpaca! :-)

Summer Lovin
So many things I'm excited about:

1. My niece is coming for a whole week to stay with me!
2. Going to California with girlfriends and then the boyfriend is coming too!
3. Participating in Illinois Writing Project with my writing buddy!
4. Going to Florida for a week and I'll get to see my mom and stepdad and relax on the beach!
5. Lots of time to do whatever I want to do!

So that's all for June! Thanks for stopping by and check out my End of the Year Reflection Linky and my BigTime Blogging Challenge!

Happy Summer!

currently february

Good morning from a very snowy Chicago! Love the first of the month and Farley's Currently Party!

Listening to.....the quiet of the snowfall
It's a winter wonderland here! I think winter has finally found us, and I'm glad it's on a day that I don't have to be out cleaning off my car at 6:30 to get to work on time. The snow really is beautiful and peaceful - when you get to admire it from inside your cozy home! (And take a pic through the window!)

Loving....Remind
Are you using this to stay connected with the families of your students? If not, read the post I wrote about it yesterday and get connected! So easy and convenient!

Thinking....I need to read more!
I know I mentioned this in my New Years Resolutions, but I really do want to turn the TV off more and spend more time with books. I'm proud of myself though - I read a whole book last week and it was great! It was The Duff - appropriate for high school girls (but I'd probably give it to my former 8th graders!) Soon to be a movie and now I'm ready to watch it on February 20th! I'm now just starting Orphan Train and it's good, too. I just get sidetracked on Instagram and Pinterest and with Parenthood and Scandal. Oh, and the Bachelor of course...but, gotta commit to the books!

Wanting....a new iPhone
I've been waiting for tax season to come around because I really want a new phone. For the first time, I'm going to get one with a bigger storage - I'm always snapping pictures and videos and need more space! Can't wait for my tax return to come back later this month and the new technology to make me a happy blogger!

Needing....a beach vacation
Yes, in the same post as me loving the snowfall, I am also needing some sunshine and Vitamin D. Mom, are you reading? I'd love to visit on spring break...wink, wink! :-)

Pageant Title...Ms. Everything Just So
Yeah, I just like things how I like them. Example: I have a binder where I keep old to do lists, notes for my evaluation, and the Teacher's Contract and Union Meeting notes. I brought it home and made each section it's own printed title page with graphics and cute fonts. Example: I like only these certain pens in blue ink. Example: I only like taking notes at meetings and PDs with a notebook and pen, and not just any notebook, the notebook I bought for that school year. I just like things how I like them....anyone else with me?

That's all for me this month! Have a great February and please follow me if you want to keep in touch!

irc in review, days 2-3

Hi all! Well, I'm sitting in the Starbucks in the Hilton, ready to write before my last session at 10:30. I'm still at the Illinois Reading Council (IRC) Conference. This morning I heard Jay Asher speak at breakfast. Yesterday I heard Lucy Calkins. Lots to share!

Lucy
Well Lucy never disappoints. I'm a warm-fuzzy kind of teacher, so I appreciate it when presentations tend to this side of my personality. Lucy does it flawlessly, while connecting it with our own teaching and the Common Core.

She began by saying, "We need to say no to say yes so we can take our profession back."

Our profession is under attack - make no mistake about that. Corporate profiteers and people who have never set foot in a classroom think they know what is best for our profession. Just yesterday on Twitter:

Campbell Brown was like a news anchor or something. Not an educator. Yet right now, she's leading a lawsuit in NY to do away with tenure. Did you see the two people who retweeted to her after? People who are outside of education don't understand that teachers fight for their kids every day - and tenure allows us to do so.

But I digress.

My point with Lucy is that you have to say no to things so you are freed up to say yes to others. I say no to Basal Readers and Worksheets and yes to Reading Workshop. I say yes to putting authentic literature in children's hands, giving them consistent blocks of time for reading, and then I do this with intensity. I track it. I study it.

I also say yes to guided reading. I've been studying Jan Richardson's model and then I plan for guided reading so that kids can get what they need.

I say no to 100's of things - so I can say yes to the things that matter the most. Lucy said that the degree of implementation is important - if you implement 10 things with low to a medium degree - none of them are going to make a difference. But, if you pick one or two, and do them with a high intensity, you're good to go!

Say no to say yes. I like that.

The other big idea she spoke to is that we need to listen to our 2 or 3 big truths in our lives and then bring them to our teaching. Lucy is not against the CCSS, because they have allowed teachers to do great work in literature. We now dive much more deeply into author's craft and structure, we go back to the text as we discuss and ground our conversations in them. While there are things about CCSS that I'm not fond of, I do agree that they have caused me to improve my teaching - take the standards deeper and think about the levels of work my students are producing.

That being said, Lucy suggested that 10% of the CCSS should be what we bring to the table. We should include our passions and bring our life themes to the work we do.

One of my big themes, when I taught in middle school, was the idea of social justice. I wanted kids to use literacy to change their communities - it was powerful and purposeful work that I took to them. We read about things that lots of people skip over as to not offend anyone, but they were important to do so. When I get to work around my life's themes, my work is better and the children's learning is deeper.

In these times when it's hard to be a teacher, Lucy says that what's inside spills out. So what are your big themes? How are you taking them to your classroom? What are you sharing with your students?

Jay Asher
Jay Asher is the author of 13 Reasons Why. It's a mystery novel about teen suicide. I appreciate this book because not many people are having conversations about this topic. Lots of times we want to shy away from things like this because they're hard. But his book addresses lots of reasons and can provide a "lived-through experience" (Peterson & Eeds) that can help adolescents who may have thoughts like this.

So this morning he talked all about he came to be a writer, how it was a long process from his first book, 12 years ago (Hey Easter Bunny, You Forgot Something!) to 13 Reasons Why and his newest novel, The Future of Us.

He shared his writing process, the waiting until he finally got a letter of acceptance, and then emails that he received from adolescents about how this book helped them - one boy wrote to say he was going to stop being a bully. Another girl noticed someone in her class who was demonstrating some of the warning signs of suicide. The girl called her and talked her through everything. She probably saved her life.

That's the thing with writing - words have power. Words can make cause people to change their behavior or thinking and help someone. It's so amazing that his book, which was a work in progress for 12 years now touches children's lives in 30+ countries!

Also: He was hilarious!

There were some other sessions, but these were the highlights the last two days. I'm thankful for a district that values conferences and learning sends so many of us away to learn new things. Here are all of us with Lucy Calkins before she got to speaking:

Lucy Calkins, D100 Principals, Literacy Coaches, and Reading Specialists

Also, I really appreciate how my principal pushes Christine and I to grow in new ways - this was our first time presenting at the IRC and not my last! I've already got a bunch of ideas for next year!

Anyone else attend IRC? What did you think?

Have a great weekend!

a cautionary tale....and fave books

Write your post.

Link up with BigTime Literacy!

Remember the Rule of 3!

Today's BTBC prompt is to write about your favorite books as a kid or as an adult. I do have some favorites now, now that I've been a teacher and have some great mentors and colleagues who showed me the way. But...back when I was a kid, not so much.

The problem? Basal readers. My teachers never made me do independent reading. Sure, they taught us about reading with a basal and we read stories from a said textbook, but the lessons never went to independence with Just Right books. I grew up a kid who wanted to be a teacher and I never liked to read! Is that ludicrous or what?!?!

I share this with you because if you are a teacher who only uses a basal and does not create the space for students to do authentic, self-selected, independent reading, what you're teaching them won't transfer. The kids might learn some things about reading, but unless they have a way to apply it, it doesn't really do much. I've already talked in another post about the accountability piece, and I can go more into detail (let me know what's still unclear!), but kids have to read independent, self-selected books, or they won't become readers. End of story.

Now that all that's out of the way, I can share some of my fave books that I've found since I became a teacher!

First, a picture book:

Amos and Boris is a beautiful tale about unexpected friendship. Amos, a mouse, and Boris, a whale, unexpectedly become friends. When you read it to kids, be sure to use a squeaky voice for the mouse and a deep voice for the whale. They'll love it, and you'll love reading it to the kiddos!

A book for meditation and well-being:

I found out about this book through yoga. The teachers would read passages from this one to us at class and I had to have my own copy! It has 365 different passages - one for each day of the year - and they are about all different topics: love, acceptance, being kind to yourself, regret, moving on, etc, etc. You can read them according to the day of the year it happens to be, or you can look up topics based on how you're feeling. I've loved it when I've felt happy and it's a source of comfort when I'm feeling sad. Highly recommended!

A chapter book:

This is my all time fave book, ever! It was recommended to me by the librarian at the first elementary school I worked at. Read it with my first group of sixth graders, liked it, but didn't love it. Read it with another group of sixth graders...liked it again. Then talked to someone about the ending, who offered a new interpretation of the ending and *then* I loved it!

A few years after that, I read it with seventh graders. Loved it. But then, when I waited to read it until eighth grade...that was the best. Sixth graders: too much of it goes over their head. Seventh is better, but eighth is the best. Highly recommend. I'd read it with kids every year if I could!

Side note: The movie version is coming out on August 15th! Read the book before then (and leave me your comments about it here!)

Anyways, sorry to cut it short (I orignially wanted to put 5 books on the list) but I had a late night because I saw Taylor Mali at The Green Mill tonight! Do you know about him? He wrote this spoken word poem called What Teachers Make:

I'll post all about my evening tomorrow! Let's just say there were laughs, there were tears, and there was inspiration to keep on keepin' on with the writing. More to come tomorrow! :-)

An InLinkz Link-up

book obsession

ICYMI, we made a collaborative blog for the community at my elementary school. So far we have a few posts from a few different teachers, including one that was a Wordle of all the places you could read over the summer. One of our fifth grade classes came up with that, and it was a cool idea! I tagged it as "reading habits" and then I got to thinking about reading habits and reading rituals and that got me thinking about all of my bookshelves!

I love my bookshelves, especially when they are super organized. (I just fixed up my home book shelf before I did it's photo shoot!) Here it is:

This is from IKEA and it's survived move after move. I don't think it's going to make one more though, but I love it so much I'd buy it again.

Anyways, across the top I Have some of my favorite books - I was obsessed with Nicholas Sparks and used to read everything he would release. By the 10th book, it was the same story over and over again - set in the charm of the South by water with a love story that has some kind of terrible problem. But, loved them when I was into them! 

Then of course you see the Twilight books. Don't judge! Twilight was the first book I reread - I went through that series when I was doing my reading specialist certificate. Loved them...and I will always have a special place in my heart for those books!

Across the middle row I have lots of books about teaching and professional topics. I brought a few home from work that I need to revisit this summer. Then I have another favorite author, Jodi Picoult:

She's in the middle of that one - I had more of her stuff but took them to school when my eighth graders were nearing the end of our time together....The way she unexpectedly twists her stories will leave you like....whoa! Highly recommend her stuff- some of it is darker than others, but great stories.

Some of the other books in that stack I tried but didn't finish - like Anna Karenina and Wuthering Heights - I think I need to try again. The Promise of Stardust - don't remember the plot of that one but I remember it was super good. So how is that for a recommendation? :-)

Finally, most of my collection of my critical literacy books:

When I taught eighth grade, we always had our year-long theme be "You can change the world," which came from ideas from these titles. I'm hoping this summer to work on my units for the Social Justice Projects and publish them to TpT!

Well that's what is at home, along with assorted books laying all over the house:

At work, I have two more shelves - This one (also from IKEA) houses all my professional reads:

and this one holds all the picture books that Christine and I have:

This is some $20 book case that is on it's last leg, but it holds fiction on the top and NF on the bottom. When I was in grad school that's when the major book purchasing began happening. Here are a few of my favorites to teach with:

This one is about a rat who has a lisp and gets bullied. Then one day, his lisp comes to his aid as he (unintentionally) makes his school community better. This book is adorable and great for building community in your classroom!

Chato's Kitchen is a book about a low-riding gangster cat. I love this book because I totally do voices for the cat and the mice. Pretty sure there are some other books that feature Chato, too. 

I love Chewy Louie - it's a great text for an easily identified plot line. The dog chews up everything and the family goes through all these steps to help the dog stop chewing, including a singing therapist lady. Great book!

I've used Freedom Summer as part of my middle school Social Justice unit. Anyways this story is set in Mississippi in 1964 and is about two boys - one of which cannot do the same things as the other because of his race. It's a great way to open conversations about racism - in the past and current day!

So there you have it, all of my book cases! Do you feel any particular affection for yours? I'm sure you do, if you love books as much as I do!

Quick announcement: This summer on July 1st, I will be doing a PD for our district so teachers can get their own blogs going. I am going to hold a BigTime Blogging Challenge, too, with prompts for each of the days in July! I'm going to add this topic to the list, so get your ideas ready for July so you can link up with me! Of course, the purpose of blogging is to come up with your own ideas, so at any point throughout the challenge, you can always write about a different topic rather than the prompt, but just know I'll have a link-up every day of July. I hope you can join!

Have a great weekend! Only three days left of school for me (plus two of curriculum the week after!)

What are you reading? (Five for Friday Style!)

Happy Saturday everyone! I am a little late linking up with Doodlebugs, but here's my five for Friday...all about what I've been reading lately!

This month, Ralph Fletcher has been sharing a poem a day on his blog, The Writer's Desk. (He's one of my favorite authors of books for kids and books for teachers!) This week, in second grade, I shared one of his poems, Rainbow in Ice:

After we read it a few times, we had kids write a response:

Here's Z's response:

Even though most of the poem is a little sad, about having the winter rainbow trapped in ice, I see where her thinking is coming from - finding a rainbow anywhere would make anyone happy!

I love that I can come to the blogs I follow for inspiration in my teaching! You can follow Ralph Fletcher here!

I started following The White Rhino - Ray Salazar. He's a Chicago Public Schools English Teacher and he writes lots about the kids he teaches and Chicago politics.

Chicago now has plans to open a new selective enrollment high school, named for our president. The thing is, that the school favors the higher income students of the north side....as per usual. I'm pretty sure that most (if not all) of the selective enrollment schools are on the north side. Meanwhile, the south side continues to be underfunded and doesn't have as many opportunities as the north side. This makes me so angry!

How will our city reduce the crime rate when we don't invest in the south side? This is why I also am following Amara Enyia and reading what she has to say.....

This girl is beautiful - inside and out. She's going to run for mayor of Chicago for the 2015 election. Her campaign wants to make a Chicago for the people...

She's been doing neighborhood clean-ups, meeting people on all sides of the city, and really just getting to know her neighbors on her "Unity Tour." Even though she's so young, she's super smart - A law degree and a PhD in Educational Policy. She worked under Mayor Daley when he was in office and then went and worked on a grass roots level on the south and west sides. She knows that there are people in our city who don't have a voice. She knows that Rahm is funneling money into big projects (DePaul Stadium...River Walk) that don't serve all the people of our city. She'll make a great mayor but we need to spread the word! Find her on facebook, on twitter, and at her website and spread it around!

Also - see her reaction to the new high school here.

This is a blog I follow and the writing on it is hilarious. In his post entitled "What Test Prep Is Not," he ends with this....

I'm seriously lol-ing. His voice is the best!! No matter what your opinion on standardized testing, we can all agree that he is a great writer!

Anyways, his posts are also pretty eye-opening about the state of our education policies. In case you're not following what I'm following, I'd say that this tweet is very much true:

For more on this, you can follow Diane Ravitch, Badass Teachers Association, (read more about the BATs here) and Network for Public Education. Then you'll be in the know of what I know!

Wonder

by R.J. Palacio

This book is about Auggie, a fifth grader who has a face that is a "medical anomaly." Some how, his genetics made his face look very different than everyone, and even with plastic surgery, he still looks very different than his peers.

He was homeschooled all the way till fifth grade, so Wonder is a story about his transition to school. What's great about Wonder is the narrator changes. Auggie narrates first, then his sister, then some kids from school. So, it's cool how Palacio unfolds the story bit by bit, depending on who is telling it.

I'm not all the way done yet, but over halfway and it's really great. Our fourth grade did it as a read aloud, and then I heard from my mentee that she read it with her sixth graders. Probably 7th and 8th could read it independently and get all the storyline and meaning from it.

Time to finish Wonder! What are you reading? Please share with me!

Happy weekend everyone!

PS - My blog is getting a makeover! It's currently in progress with Designs by Kassie and I can't wait to share it with you!