ESCAPE FROM MR. LEMONCELLO'S LIBRARY

Because I'm a CYBILS nonfiction picture book judge, right now, I'm reading, ummm, mostly nonfiction picture books. Every once in a while, I have to squeeze in a little fiction. This morning I finished MR. LEMONCELLO'S LIBRARY by Chris Grabenstein.

And I loved it!

The town of Alexandriaville, Ohio has not had a library for 12 years, then a very wealthy benefactor, Mr. Luigi Lemoncello, the owner of a famous game company,  donates millions of dollars to build a new state of the art, high tech facility in the old Goldleaf Bank Building. All of the twelve-year-olds in the town are invited to participate in an essay contest, which allows them to spend a night in the library at a Grand Opening celebration.

 Kyle Keeley, who is not a book lover, enters the contest because it is rumored that the library has video game consoles, and he is currently grounded from the consoles at home. He and his best friend, Akimi Hughes, are two of the contest's winners. When they get to the library, they discover that not only do they get to spend a night in the world's coolest library, they also have the opportunity to participate in another contest, which involves solving puzzles and piecing together clues to escape from the library. The winner will get to be a spokesperson on Lemoncello game commercials for a whole year!

ESCAPE FROM MR. LEMONCELLO'S LIBRARY is a little bit of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, a little FROM THE MIXED UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER, a little Scrabble/Boggle/Trivial Pursuits, and a whole lot of literary references!

Can't wait to share this one with kids!

CELEBRATE THIS WEEK!

I'm participating in Ruth Ayre's weekly "Celebrate This Week." Head over to Ruth's blog for lots more celebrations. 
 
Today I'm celebrating learning.

Not kid learning.

Adult learning.

My adult learning.

Because I'm learning something new.

Over the past couple of months I've been learning to use Google docs.

It started this summer. I was teaching an class for my district. One of the other teachers used a google doc, with links to a variety of articles and websites, for her syllabus. One afternoon we were planning for the class and she showed me how she set up her syllabus. And I decided that if I wanted to be a hip and with-it 21st century teacher, I might want to try google docs also.

And so I did. And it went kind of ok, but I didn't feel great about the experience. Sometimes my students could access the things on my document and sometimes they couldn't. After the course was over, students wrote to me, wanting to revisit certain articles, and I couldn't figure out how to maintain access (I still haven't figured out that one). I wasn't sure I really liked Google docs, or that I would use it again. It just felt like a little too much.

This year, when I went back to school, we had a new assistant principal. She had come from a district where staff members were expected to use Google Docs and she liked Google docs. A lot. She uses them all the time. And so gradually, with her support, I have been continued using Google docs.

And I'm getting better. A whole lot better. In the past week, I've used Google docs to collaborate with our leadership team to set the agenda for an upcoming Professional Development day. I've learned how to create conditional formatting on a spreadsheet. I've entered data in that same spread sheet and shared it with teachers. This morning I will be meeting with my principal and assistant principal creating a presentation. I'm sure we will be doing it on Google docs.

And I'm feeling pretty proud of myself. Pretty hip and with-it and 21st century.

My learning hasn't been totally straightforward. A few weeks ago, I had trouble accessing my district gmail account because I didn't know that I had two accounts-- one personal and one professional.  My assistant principal help me set up spreadsheets for monitoring student writing, but then when I tried to share them at grade level meetings, no one could access them. One of the second grade teachers helped me figure out conditional formatting, because I didn't know how to do that either

But with every failure, I learn something new. Become a little independent and a little more confident.

And I'm remembering. Thinking about Brian Cambourne, whose conditions for learning have been foundational to my practice.

And I'm remembering. Learning takes time. Lots of time. It takes engagement. The belief that something is worth doing. And that I am a person who might be able to do it some day.  Learning involves  risk taking. And mistake making.  It's messy. It involves approximation. And feedback. And supportive peers. And lots and lots and lots of practice.

Today I'm celebrating adult learning.

And remembering how important it is to create those same conditions for teachers and kids.

Because learning takes time.

SLICE OF LIFE

Today was a big day at my school.

We had an author visit. A real, live author visit.

Now to some people, that probably doesn't seem like a big deal. But remember, I work at a school that is 98% free lunch. The families at my school are what might best be described as "working poor." We have parents that love their kids a lot, and support us as best as they can, but we don't have a PTA.We don't have fancy teacher lunches or silent auctions. And we don't have author visits. Those things just don't happen very often in urban settings.

But today we had an author visit.

A month or so ago, we received a call from the Denver Public Library. The library was bringing Monica Brown, author of Marisol McDonald  Doesn't Match/ Marisol McDonald No Combina; Orbis Pictus Winner Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People, and most recently, Tito Puento: Mambo King/Rey de mambo to Denver. She would be visiting some schools. She wanted to talk to second graders. Our school had been selected.

We were thrilled to death. 

For the past few weeks, our second graders have been reading Monica Brown's books. They've visited her website and read her biography. They've created posters of their favorite books.

And today Monica Brown visited our school.

The second graders were beyond excited.  I do a second grade intervention group at 10:30. "Did you know today the author is coming, Dr. Carol?" they asked (more than once).

I had lunch duty. "I can't finish my lunch," apologized a toothless seven-year-old. "I can't be late. The author is coming."

I missed the beginning of the visit because I had recess duty. By the time I got there, the kids had read My Name is Celia/Me llamo Celia and were finishing Marisol. They had learned a song. They had talked about Monica's two daughters.

I got to hear the kids ask questions. "What is your other job?" asked one little guy. The kids grinned when Monica said she was a professor. They actually already knew that, but wanted to confirm, I guess, that the information on her website was accurate.  And they had several questions about Monica's sisters (not to be confused with her daughters, but probably closely related). They also wanted to know what life lesson she wanted her readers to learn from Marisol. They all nodded in agreement when the life lesson Monica suggested was similar to what they had decided in class.
 After almost an hour, Monica had to wrap up and move on. But the celebration was not quite over. The second graders lined up, and Monica handed every single kid an autographed copy of Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match/Marisol McDonald no combina.

Today was a big day for the second graders at my school.

Today we had an author visit. 

Look up: Bird Watching Your own Backyard

I'm a CYBILS judge, so I'm reading lots and lots of nonfiction right now.  LOOK UP: BIRD WATCHING IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD is one of my most recent finds. And it's a really, really fun book. Each page is devoted to a particular aspect of bird watching/bird sketching. There are pages about color, shape,  feathers, noise, habitat, and a variety of other bird related topics. Much of the information is contained in cartoon bubbles coming out of the birds' mouths. There's a ton of information on each page, and I think it would be a kind of a hard read aloud, but I think it's a book that kids would find fascinating. I think it would be a terrific Christmas gift, especially if it was combined with a sketchbook and a box of pastels or colored pencils.

CELEBRATE THIS WEEK

Today 

I'm celebrating plans

that I cannot yet see. 

It's been kind of a hard time.

For the past ten years

my life has revolved around my boys.

 Homework. Chauffeuring. Cooking. Laundry.

Sports practices. Games. Tournaments. 

Crazy busy.

But I loved it. 

But now the boys are gone.

And life feels way too empty.

It's not that I'm not busy.

The workload at school is crushing 

I could spend every waking hour

Responding to student writing and entering data

and helping teachers plan.

But I know there has to be more than work

And I'm trying to remember 

what I used to do

and who I used to be

Before I was a mother.

I know it would be easy to jump right in.
Take a class in knitting or water colors.  

Teach Sunday School.
Do volunteer work with Young Life. 

Hook up with an organization that does service or rescue dogs. 

I could pursue an entirely different direction with my career.
I could try online dating
(maybe if I was just a little braver).

I could start over with foster care.

I'm trying though,
not to simply to fill
the empty time and space.

I'm trying to be quiet.

And wait for that still small voice.

Listen for direction.

Follow the path

laid out for me.

And it's really hard
to be still

in this season of quiet. 

Today I'm celebrating Plans

that I cannot yet see.

Ruth Ayres started Celebration Saturdays.
Stop by her blog for more stories and celebrations.

POETRY FRIDAY- A POEM AND A PICTURE BOOK

For the last few weeks, the weather in Colorado has been absolutely glorious- warm, goldredorange trees, blue forever sky-- absolutely perfect. This week, though, it's gotten much, much colder. Earlier in the week we had drizzle and frost, and now wind, so now the trees are pretty much bare. At this time of year, I always think of Robert Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay."

"Nothing Gold Can Stay"

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Robert Frost

I love Robert Frost. He's such an icon in American poetry that I kind of assume that he was always that well-loved and successful. There was a time in Frost's early life, though, when he struggled to find his voice, to be accepted, and to get his poetry published. A new picture book, PAPA IS A POET, chronicles that time.

PAPA IS A POET, narrated from the point of view of Frost's oldest daughter Leslie, tells of a time, when Frost "longed to be where he could lose himself among strangers, to write poetry without further shame to friends and family who looked upon him as a disappointing failure." Frost actually moved his family, his wife and four children, to England for two and half years. It was after that time that his poetry started being published in America. 

I love the format of this picture book biography. It reads like a story, but lines from poems, quotes, and other facts about Frost's life are embedded throughout. The end matter contains an author's note about this time, a few photographs of Frost and his family, and more famous quotes. My favorite:

"We go to school to learn what books to read for the rest of our lives."

And then, as if all of that were not enough, there are twelve Robert Frost poems, including Nothing Gold Can Stay, Birches, Mending Wall and The Pasture.

A lovely addition to any poetry library. 

 

SKELETON FOR DINNER- Margery Cuyler

I really want to get back to blogging about books. I'm really trying to get back to blogging about books. And between everything that is going on at school and at home I'm having a hard time.

Today I'm reading aloud SKELETON FOR DINNER. Big Witch and Little Witch are brewing their favorite stew. They decide to have a dinner party and invite Skeleton, Ghost, and Ghoul. Skeleton overhears the witches talking about "Skeleton for dinner," and thinks he is part of the menu.

Really fun word play. Bright fluorescent illustrations.
I think kids are going to love this one!

Review copy provided by publisher.