Mrs. Saunders' Lovelies

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

NF 10 for 10!

It's Wednesday and I did not blog yesterday...oops, but I figured if I didn't have anything to blog about then I shouldn't fret. Who wants to read blab anyway? Anyway, I am linking up today for #NF10for10 with Julie Balen from Write at the Edge

and I am also linking this up with Kid Lit Frenzy for Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday.

Here are the rules for NF 10 for 10

What: 10 nonfiction books you can't live without
Hashtag: #nf10for10
Who: Anyone interested --- educators, media specialists, librarians, parents, etc.
When: Wednesday, February 19th
Where: All posts will need to be linked at Write at the Edge. Then I will move them into a jog resource during the week of the event.

So, here are my 10!!!

Goodreads Review

I hope you enjoy my 10 favorite nonfiction books!! Please check back tomorrow and link up for my first Theme Reading Thursday Linky Party!!! I hope you have a lovely evening!

Monday, February 17, 2014

It's Monday...Mentor Text!!!

Happy Monday...we were supposed to be off today, but with our crazy weather a few weeks ago, we had an ice day...so, here we are!!!

I am linking up today with The Reading Tutor/OG for Mentor Text Monday.

This week we are searching for books that teach figurative language. I have chosen 2 this week...

Goodreads Review

Owl Moon is a "whole package" kind of book. It has several different types of figurative language; metaphors, similes, and onomatopoeia.

The second book I chose is Velma Gratch & the Way Cool Butterfly

Goodreads Review

I adore this book, mainly for the pictures, but when I noticed it had figurative language in it as well, I decided it was perfect! It starts off with a few similes and then there is some onomatopoeia later on in the book, but it is a super cute story and again, I LOVE the pictures!!!

I am also linking up for a linky with Teaching With Maddeness for her new Must-Read Monday!!

My book this week is a sweet book called Our Tree Named Steve by Alan Zweibel. I love this book so very much!! The words and pictures are beautiful! I will soon be working on some printables for this book...it has recently been added to my "to do" pile...

Goodreads Review

That's all for today!! I hope you all have a lovely Monday and check back Thursday for a new link party!!!

Sunday, February 16, 2014

A Peek at My Week and Storybook Sunday!!!

I was gone all weekend at a wedding that my sweet little girl was the flower girl for and she was just beautiful!! We made it home and now I am trying to catch up on my blogging, but it is very hard here at my parents house because the internet service is absolutely horrible....so, I'll do my best!!!

I am linking up today with Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for A Peek At My Week!! This is my first time linking up and I am excited about it!! I love linky parties and am working on starting my own that I hope all will join in. It will be on Thursdays, so please stay tuned for more information!!

Now for my week...
This week my 3rd-5th graders are in the library rotation, so I will have classes in the morning and be open the rest of the afternoon for students to come to the library to check out books.

During rotation time this week, my students will be taking a Bluebonnet Book Challenge test to try out for our Battle of the Bluebonnet team. It is a pretty tough test, but I hope I can choose my team by the end of the week, because we really need to start practicing. Apparently last year my school won....I can't lose this year!!

As I mentioned last week, we got a load of new books. The students are really excited about checking them out, but I am going to make them wait a little longer (fun torture) because I want ALL of them to have the opportunity to preview them before they all get checked out. I didn't want to just put them on the shelf because I was worried they would just get lost in the sea of books.

On Friday I will be having my second Blue party for the students in 3rd and 4th grade that read at least 10 Bluebonnets this year. They seem to have a lot of fun at the party. We play Bluebonnet Bingo, do a fun story match, eat ice cream with blue sprinkles, and have blue colored sprite. Good times had by all!!

In GT this week, my 5th graders will continue their CSI lab and hopefully we will make some headway in figuring out who our suspect is. I am still trying to decide what the next project will be for 4th grade... I really need to hurry because I have them on Friday. With 3rd grade we will be starting a candy bar project that I think they will really enjoy!!

This Thursday-Sunday, we will be house/dog sitting for some friends...I am kind of excited about it because we will get to stay in town, which means I don't have to get up as early and leave my house around 5:30. I can actually leave the house around 6:45....YIPPEE!!!!

That's my week... I seem to be busier than I thought I was:)

I am also linking up with Paula's Place for her Storybook Sunday Linky party!!

A few months ago I was scouring my bookshelves in the library trying to find a book to bring home to read to my daughter when I came across Ugly Pie. When I got home I started reading it and immediately fell in love with the pictures and words. I love to use different voices and sing the song that is embedded in the story. My daughter absolutely loved it!! I have been saving it for a read aloud, because I want it to be the perfect time for the story! Here is the Goodreads review.

I hope you all have a great evening and a lovely week!! Please check back on Thursday for my linky party!!!

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday

Wednesday and in perfect Texas weather fashion it is absolutely BE-U-TI-FUL today!!

My book order came in today, my book order came in today!!! Yes, I did the happy dance and then promptly stopped when I realized I had A LOT of work to do to get the books ready for the shelf. Well, I am very proud of myself for several reasons...
1st- I was smart and paid for processing (I did the happy dance again, when I realized my work had been cut in half, or more than half)
2nd- I got almost all the books labeled with AR color dots and the AR label inside the book (I will add that to processing next time)

I had pictures, but I can't seem to get my email to work on my phone, so I will hopefully share them tomorrow:(

Today I am linking up with Kid Lit Frenzy for Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday

and I decided to go with her theme of presidents, since Monday is President's Day!!! I have a few books today...

Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library by Barb Rosenstock; published in 2013

Good Reads Review

This was a book I received from Junior Library Guild...I love getting my books every month because it is like Christmas and they are always pretty good books. This one is no different. I have found that I love biographies and I must say they have come a long way from when I was younger. Authors are taking a different route when writing them and the kids are enjoying them as well. This is a great book explaining how Thomas Jefferson loved to read (obviously), but the neatest thing about this book is that it has little facts about Thomas Jefferson embedded throughout the book.

Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved to Read by Kay Winters; Published in 2003

Good Reads Review

This is a great book to read for President's Day. I really love the simplicity of the story and how the author relayed information to the reader in an easy way for young children to understand. The pictures add to the content as well and help keep the student's attention. Even though the story is written in a way that children can understand it easily, there is still room for explanation by the teacher.

Our Abe Lincoln adapted by Jim Aylesworth; published 2009

Good Reads Review

This is a great book for the younger grades because it is written in song to the tune of The Old Grey Mare. I think kindergarten and first graders would love singing the tune all while learning about Abe Lincoln at the same time! The pictures are cute and lead the reader to believe that it was a play performed by younger students. Check out this Youtube video of this man singing The Old Grey Mare (I hate to admit that I didn't know what the song or tune was until it started playing. I was a little embarrassed that I didn't know at first.)

I hope all of you are able to use some of these next week in your class for President's day!

The answer to yesterday's Geoguessr Challenge was.......Lake Monroe in Florida! so, who can honestly say they were close??? I dropped my pin only about 100 miles away...at least I got Florida right!!!!

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Techie and Tried it Tuesday!!

It's Tuesday and it was a cold morning here in south Texas...so weird! Today I am linking up with Technology Tailgate for Techie Tuesday and Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried it Tuesday!

My Techie Tuesday is this great site called GeoGuessr. This is a fantastic site for my GT kids!! Geoguessr is powered by Google and is ultimately a game played with Google Maps. When you go to the site it will drop you in a different location. The purpose is to use the surroundings visible in the picture to determine where you are. You then click on the map to pinpoint your location. You get points depending on how close you were to the correct destination, then you move to the next location. Here is a screenshot of one location...Can you guess where it is??? I will post the answer tomorrow!!!!

I love this "game" so much and the kids do too! I think it is a fantastic way to supplement any geography lesson!

As an added bonus to Geoguessr, kids can also create their own Geoguessr challenge by using Geosettr!!! They can choose locations in the world and have their friends guess where they are. The kids really love this because they get to try and trick their friends!!!

Now for my Tried it Tuesday...yesterday I finally got the nerve to start centers in the library it was a super duper success!!! My only regret is that I didn't start them sooner. The kids were so well behaved and engaged, I could hardly believe my eyes!! Thank you to Elementary Librarian for the guidance and great ideas throughout this process.

As most of you know this is my first year as a librarian, and while it is the GREATEST job in the world, it has been a somewhat difficult transition for me leaving the classroom and moving to the library. I have never really liked centers because no matter how much or how long I trained my students, the moment I started a small group all you know what would break lose. I spent most of my time getting the others to quiet down so I could concentrate on my reading group. In theory, centers are great, but for me they never really worked. All that to say I was a little reluctant to start centers in my library. But, then it hit me that I wasn't going to be pulling a small group, which meant I could devote my time to making sure they were doing the centers correctly and help other patrons locate and check out books.

the next problem was finding centers for each grade level, K-5...this is what I came up with:

Kinder- letter matching (a little too easy, I think I will change it to site word match or rhyming match. See picture below).

K-2: Theme reading (depending on the theme for the week. See picture below). This was going to be just a Kinder center, but I decided to use it for K-2, because I figured they would like the books.

K-2: puzzles (realized I needed 2 of these and now I think I need to make one harder than the other...on the hunt for fun/cheap puzzles now. See picture below)

K-5: Independent Reading center with stuffed animals (they love this! See picture below)

2 and up: Library Assistant (students had to shelve books on a cart in alphabetical order, see picture below). I think this may be a little hard for 2nd grade, so next time I will have them match call numbers with author names.

1-2: Book Recommendation Center (for this week I put the cute heart recommendation form out from this great resource that I found from the elementary librarian's blog and it's FREE...check it out here)

and here