Ramona Recommends August Book Club

Hi!! Welcome. I am so glad you have come over here to join me in August's book club. I am so grateful to Courtney at Ramona Recommends for allowing me to host this month. These books will run from August 6th - September 3rd. You've got lots of time to discover the magic in the following two books!  Link up at the bottom of the page and don't forget to sign up for a zoo animal adoption. 

After having read this month's selection I knew I had to email Courtney about hosting it on book club. 

You can find The One and Only Ivan here.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Here is a fabulous book review from Sweet on Books.

Here are some questions to help guide you as you read it. I have also included some lesson ideas and resources. 

*If you are new to book club please introduce yourself, your blog (if you have one), and the grade you teach. 

Questions to ask your students:

1. What did you think of this book? Did you love it as much as I did?

2. Did it make you think about animals differently?  How about the zoo, circus, or other places where animals are living in captivity?

3. I have provided lesson ideas below, but how might you teach this to your students?  

4. How does Ivan view himself as different from Ruby?  

5.   How does Ivan plan to make Ruby happier?  Do you think it will work? Why or why not?

6.  How does Ivan use art to express himself?  How do you use art to express yourself?  

  

7.   What is the theme in the story?  How does it apply differently to different characters? 

8.   Have you ever made a promise you thought would be hard to keep?  How was your promise like Ivan's promise to Stella? 

Lesson Ideas: 

The San Diego Zoo along with many others have options for "zoo adoptions."  Please consider adopting a zoo animal with your class.  He/she could even be your class mascot! I've included some links (just click on the pictures below), but you could also check your local zoo to see if this option is available. 

 

         

I have created a sign up and a Facebook page for animal adoptions.

  

Resources About The One and Only Ivan:

1. I created a Pinterest Board for The One and Only Ivan. 

2. There is a great teacher guide at Harper Collins.  This one is fabulous!

3. This is the author's site. 

4. This is the page for Kids Planet for Endangered Species Facts.

 I am so excited to hear from you and hear your thoughts! If you have questions for me, feel free. 

Primary Teachers: this one's for you! 

You can find The Day the Crayons Quit here.

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

Here is a fabulous book review from Kids' Book Review.

Ideas: 

1. What to do with Crayons? 35 kids activities with crayons from Hands on as We Grow

 

2. Writing freebie from Ms. Fultz's Corner.

 

3. Coloring sheet from OMazing Kids

 

4. Write a Letter Freebie from Peace, Love and Learning

  

Questions: 

1. What does it mean to write persuasively?

2. Who do you think wrote the letters?  (Point of View)

3. How would you use this book to teach Persuasive Writing and Point of View?  I'd love to know what you're doing with this book, so please share a blog post link or comment below. 

Resources: 

I have seen numerous resources and activities to be done with this book. If you have others please share. 

1. I created a Pinterest Board for The Day the Crayons Quit

2.Jodie's blog, Family Dinner Book Club, offers a variety of questions, activities, and even a link to a menu! 

3.  Here is a great teachers guide from Reading is Fundamental.

Thanks for joining us. I hope you have fun. 

An InLinkz Link-up

August Currently and Two Days of Fun

I can't believe it's August already! I'm a day late, but you can read why in a moment.  I'm linking up with
Oh' Boy 4th Grade for August Currently.

Listening: Sometimes it's nice to have nothing on in the background.  Fewer distractions means more work gets done. Right?!?  Not with Pinterest at my fingertips!  

Loving: My husband took me to one of my favorite restaurants in Albuquerque last night for our anniversary.  I'm actually going to do a blog post on it in a few days, so look for Hometown Hidden Gems.

Here's a little preview...

  

Thinking: I have no idea where July went and I have so much I need to do before school starts!  I'll have to remember this...

Wanting: I have a huge list of books that I still want to read!  On the list is the Secret Series.  They look fantastic! One of my friend's daughters let me borrow The Name of This Book is Secret.  Such a sweetheart!  Now if I could only learn how to add time to the day...

Oh and by the way, I'm hosting Ramona Recommends on the 6th, so make sure to visit to see which books I've chosen for August Book Club! They're wonderful!!! 

Needing: I'm clueless when it comes to decorating!  I need a classroom fairy to come shopping with me to help with my choices in fabrics, ribbons, contact paper, etc.  I do have some friends making curtains and vinyls for me though.  Love you, girls!

First Day: We were able to get our classroom keys on Thursday, so I've been doing a little at a time.  We start staff meetings on Wednesday and have Meet the Teacher on Thursday!  Here are some of the things I've been up to...

Thursday consisted of moving furniture and unpacking some.  I'm thinking I have too much stuff and need to have a yard sale soon!  This will be my ninth year teaching, and I've taught 1st-4th grades, been in 3 schools, and at least 5 different classrooms. That's a lot of moving!!!  You'd think I'd be better at all of this by now!

 

 

I bought my ribbon, fabric, and spray paint for yesterday's project and headed to school.  I got to work on decorating bulletin boards and spray painting some of my old storage containers.  I completed my four little containers and started on my larger one, when...MY PAINT RAN OUT!  I grabbed the second paint can {glad I bought two!}and started painting, when...NOTHING came out!  So I had to run to Hobby Lobby to exchange it.  I can never just run in and out of that place! So after looking at more fabric, browsing the sale aisle, and looking for curtain rods, I was on my way back to finish what I'd started.  Two hours later, I was able to complete my project! {shouting from the rooftop}

 

As you can see, I'm doing black, white, turquoise, and gray.
What color do you think I should use for my curtains? 
And should I add another color to the mix?

Next up: curtains, desk, re-upholstery, and more!

Back to School and Happy Anniversary!

I got my keys yesterday and spent the day in my classroom!  My furniture was in the middle of the room and there were boxes all over the place, but my tile was clean! So far, only my new rolling cart was broken.  If anyone would like to donate a new one, I'd love you forever and ever ;) 

 I totally forgot my camera at school yesterday.  I took before and after pics, so I'll share some of those with you this afternoon.  I decided on some colors and went shopping for ribbon, poms, spray paint, and fabric.  Let's see what I can do with all that this weekend. 

Here are some of the things I bought...

 

Did you know that Hobby Lobby has glitter ribbon?  I'm thinking I need to add that.  What color do you think I should add?  I really value your opinion, so please, please, please leave a comment :) 

Today, my husband and I celebrate our 4th anniversary!