Summer Reading Update - final

Summer is over. I'm trying not to think that in a whiny tone. While I am looking forward to seeing students and getting this school year started, I know that the first few weeks are super busy and there's not much time for reading. Here are the last few books I read this summer:


(releases 2/25/14)


(releases 4/15/14)






I'd say it was a successful summer of reading. While I didn't get to all the titles I wanted to read, I was able to get through over 100 books and some were real treats!

So, what did YOU read this summer?

Summer Reading Update

Things started amping up for school last week, so my reading has slowed down considerably. In fact, I missed my goal of reading 50 books in July by six books. But what I have lost in quantity, I have picked up in quality. A couple of these are fantastic.

July 28

July 30

August 1

August 3

Summer Reading Update

Instead of reading my way through last week, I spent it helping my son clean out and re-organize his bedroom. I also started a review book from a publisher that I just didn't care for. I wanted to give it a few chapters try, but since I didn't like it from the start, I wasn't jumping at the chance to read when I got a break. I finally gave up on it. So, only three books this week, and I am considerably behind my goal of 50 for July (only at 38). We'll see how this week goes....

July 22


July 23


July 24

Summer Reading Update

I'm still working towards my 50 book goal for July - and I need to kick it into gear because I am off my pace! Here's what I read over the last week:

July 14

The Silver Six


Cardboard


July 16

Killer Crullers


July 18

Hen of the Baskervilles


July 20

Rules of Murder

That takes me to 35 books, out of 50. I'll be doing a lot of reading this week!

Summer Reading Update

Well, we are back from our vacation, which included a trip to the American Library Association's annual meeting. To say I am in book heaven would be an understatement. In fact, I think we have moved into "too much of a good thing" territory as I have books I have bought for myself, books I brought back from ALA and books from school stacked around the house waiting for my attention. And my attention is often elsewhere with other projects I want to get done before school starts back up in a few short weeks.

As June came to an end, I moved from the #bookaday challenge into #SummerThrowdown. Summer Throwdown used to be a teachers vs. librarians reading contest, but to keep things friendly, this year we are all setting personal goals and working to reach them together. My goal for the month of July is 50 books. As of right now, I have read 13. Here is the list of what I have read since the last time (and I will blog about most of these as the summer goes on):

#bookaday June 28th - Tragic Toppings


#bookaday June 30th - WARP: The Reluctant Assassin


Summer Throwdown
Are the Dinosaurs Dead, Dad?


Lion vs. Rabbit


Penguin's Hidden Talent


Being Frank (Advanced Reader Copy or ARC provided by publishers to bloggers, reviewers, librarians, etc.) - this has been one of my favorite books so far this month


Secret Pizza Party (ARC)


Year of the Jungle (ARC) - this has been my other favorite. And yes, the author is the same person who wrote The Hunger Games


Thomas Jefferson's Feast (ALA Sampler)


The Snatchabook (ARC)


Brick City


Sea of Monsters Graphic Novel


Star Wars Jedi Academy (ARC)


Spy Academy: Mission Twinpossible
[no picture available - this was a prize for the library summer reading program - from Scholastic]

3-2-3 Detective Agency




I have NO idea what I am going to read next. I have a mystery that I take here and there so I have something to read if I have to wait, but lately I haven't been waiting much (or I have been chatting instead of sitting). Hopefully I'll get to dig into some new material this weekend. I do have a box from Amazon coming tomorrow....

#bookaday update June 25th

I haven't quite kept to a book every day, but I'm keeping close. Those 29 picture books last week really help keep me on target when I miss a day! Here's the list for last week:

June 17 - Fatally Frosted


June 18 - Sea Monster's First Day and Crankee Doodle
       

June 19 - nothing

June 20 - Don't Pigeonhole Me


June 21 - The Book Whisperer


June 22 - Sinister Sprinkles


June 23 - Evil Eclairs



I'll be blogging about most of these on my book blog in the next couple months. When you read a book every day or so, but only blog every three days, you start to get a surplus, which will be fantastic in August when I don't have time to read because school is starting up.

If you've been inspired to pick up your reading pace this summer, too, I'd love to hear what you are reading!

Thank Twitter for My Tribe!

I'm not sure how it happened.... I've had a Twitter account for awhile, but in the last month or so I've been using it throughout the day and really getting into the swing of it.

While I can't remember what got it started, I do know what has kept it going - teacher talk! I have found a community of teachers and librarians who are on twitter talking about books and reading and teaching and students and authors and all the other things I adore. I have found tweetchats like #kidlitchat and #teachchat.
I have found reading challenges like #bookaday and #SummerThrowdown (I am SO excited about this one - teachers and librarians competing over reading. I can't wait to find out more!). I've been introduced to new authors, new books for my students and new professional development for me, both books and events.

One event starts next week and that is #TeachersWrite. It kicks off next Monday and will be several weeks of writing prompts, writing blog posts and writing encouragement for teachers/educators who want to put their money/time/effort where their mouths are and do the things they ask their students to do all school year long. I can't wait! You can find out more about it here.

After two years in our school library, I feel like I am still getting a feel for my role at school - a feel for what teachers are passionate about what parts of their jobs and what form that passion takes. I haven't found the readers yet on staff - the folks who are reading what the students are reading, and talking to students about the things they are reading and clicking with kids over books. I've seen hints, and I am getting to know the teachers who read often to their students. But I still haven't clicked with anyone on the same manic-book-loving level as I am in my building.

But I have found those people on Twitter. In fact, a lot of them make me look like an amateur. So I am learning a lot and trying to find my way and my place in the conversation. But it is encouraging to feel like part of a "tribe" of folks who are passionate about books and connecting students with stories and developing readers. I am eager to look back over this summer and see how I grow and how I am energized for a new school year by these folks and these activities.

#Bookaday Update June 18th

I'm still working on the #Bookaday challenge issued by Donalyn Miller and the folks at the Nerdy Book Club.

This week was uber-productive because I read a lot of picture books and early readers for school. Actually, I recorded all the picture books, but didn't even bother with the early readers - it felt too cheat-ish.

Here are last week's books:

June 10 - five picture books
June 11 - 29 picture books
June 12 - nothing
June 13 - nothing
June 14 - The Platypus Police Squad: The Frog Who Croaked by Jarrett Krosoczka

June 15 - Galaxy Zack #1 and Amelia Bedelia (the new chapter books) #1
   
June 16 - The Good, the Bad and the Witchy by Heather Blake


I find myself feeling guilty if I do too much reading on a week day when our house is a disaster area and needs so much attention. So those two days where I read nothing? I worked on the house. I did work on the other days, too, but I am trying to find some balance, like working during the normal school day hours and relaxing in the evenings. Hopefully I'll find a good rhythm soon so I can enjoy my summer and my reading with more joy and less guilt.

#Bookaday update

By the time this posts, I hope to have the library closed down for the summer. When I left work on Thursday, the office was cleaned out and ready for business in August. The library itself, though, needed a few more projects done. Hopefully by now, Tuesday, it's all finished and I am officially on summer break.

Since I made good progress last week and had to go in for a meeting on Monday, I took Friday off and spent the whole day reading. So, I decided to kick my #bookaday (use this hashtag on Twitter to see what other folks are reading) challenge off a few days early. I know most of the teachers and librarians participating in this are reading kids books - either WITH their kids or for their work, but I was in the middle of a re-read of the Alien series by Gini Koch, so I kept working through those this weekend. I'm not sure what I'm going to read this week - I have so many choices I almost don't know where to start. So, here's my update through Sunday:

June 7 - day 1 - Alien Diplomacy  by Gini Koch
June 8 - day 2 - Alien vs. Alien by Gini Koch
June 9 - day 3 - Alien in the House by Gini Koch.


It's been nice reading grown-up books for awhile after the reading blitz I did during the final quarter of the school year (In a contest with other teachers, I earned 474 AR points from April 8th through May 17th.). I may stick with the adult titles for another week or so before digging into my kids lists. We'll see.

So, what are you reading this summer?

#Bookaday Challenge

Teacher and author, Donalyn Miller (author of The Book Whisperer which is on my summer reading list) has hosted a book-a-day challenge for the past few years. You can read about the challenge here.

I have decided to join the group this year - this sort of challenge is right up my alley. I love that I can read whatever I want - books for school, professional books, books for adults, books I've already read. It doesn't matter. Of course, it will help my school life in the fall - and my shelf-bowing to-be-read stacks - if I read things I haven't read before. But I have some "comfort books" I love to revisit when I have free time. And I am hoping for a LOT of free time this summer.

Teachers are officially done on the 4th of June, but I've given myself the rest of that week to work. I know me. I will use this week to do a full inventory of the library. I've never done one before so I don't know how long that will take. Then I have some year end cleaning or sorting to do next week. And, as always, I have books to catalog and process for the library. So I will start the challenge on the 10th of June. And I've already told my son we might have to head back to school the first of August to start getting ready for the new year. So I'll wrap up the challenge (officially, at least) on the 31st of July. So, that's 52 days. And 52 books.

It sounds delightful! I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Reading Race to the Finish

This winter, two of our teachers asked if we would ever be able to do something so the teachers could do Accelerated Reader (reading books, taking quizzes, earning points) like the kids do and see which teacher could earn the most points. I loved the idea and talked to the principal and we were able to make it happen.

Thus, the Reading Race to the Finish was born. Teachers and staff members opted in or out of the program, based on what time they had available. They have six weeks to read books and take quizzes and the top three point-earners will receive a prize.

We are only two weeks in and everyone seems to be having a great time. Classes are setting reading goals for their teachers, kids are recommending books, and those of us taking quizzes get to see the program from the other side.

Yes, I am taking quizzes, too, although I am not competing with the teachers. I read too much for my work for that to be fair. [Instead, students will be guessing how many points I earn this quarter and the winner will get a prize and his/her class will get an ice cream party.]

Here are some of my observations so far:
* All of our cautions to kids about not skimming through books before taking quizzes and about not waiting for months after reading something and then trying to take a quiz on it are completely on target. I tried to do both and lost points in the process.

* Something powerful happens when students and teachers are reading the same things. I have really enjoyed hearing teachers talk about some of the more popular books the kids are reading. I'm curious to see if the reverse happens, too, as I have teachers reading adult books and some Christian fiction books that happen to have AR quizzes. If nothing else, at least the students are seeing their teachers as readers.

* I am working toward a significant goal for my part of this "race," so I'm not reading books that don't have quizzes.  As an adult, I know this is temporary. Once this program is over, I can read what I want. But my students don't always have this luxury. Sure, they can read what they want this summer, but once school starts again in August, most of them will eschew books without quizzes, even if they want very much to read them. This makes me sad.

* There are days when I can't read as much as I want to. Sometimes I go three or four days without reading any significant amount. This has been true all year - seasons of a book every day or two and others when a week goes by without any reading. Sometimes it's because I just finished something amazing and I can't bring myself to start something new. Sometimes it's because I'm busy with other things. But now, the reading dry spells matter! If I'm not reading, I'm not earning points! Then I think about my students. They have busy seasons too - seasons when they have baseball every night or three tests in one week or nights where their families have made plans and they are required to tag along, or times when they just need a break from intense reading. I wonder if we, the teachers, remember this when we set goals for our students. Do we give space to our students for those days where they either don't want to read or just don't have the time? Do we label the strong readers as such early on and maintain high expectations for them that don't allow for a natural ebb and flow?


I imagine observations and insights - as well as fun - will continue over the next few weeks of this contest. It's   become a fun way to wrap up our school year!

BONUS BLOG: Reading Challenges

This month I have signed up for several reading challenges. You can read about them here and track my progress on the side bars of this blog and my book blog.