random thoughts

  • Is it weird that I walk around my own home with my black winter hat on my head for hours after i come home from work?
  • Funniest scene in a book so far today…Junie B. Jones hanging from a set of crutches in the nurse’s office after hiding in her kindergarten class!! J and I giggled hard about that at story time tonight!!!
  • We read the book Duck tonight and J said, when we finished, “fake, fake” -she went on to explain how while she liked the book it wasn’t believable that a carousel duck would be able to walk around. It is hard for 6 year-olds to understand fact/fiction but her response was valid and true.
  • Little Hoot-what a fabulous little gem about an owl who is forced to stay up by his owl parents (another one of those why didn’t I think of that story line!) by the author of Little Pea.

Peaceful Reading…

The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis


The book blogging club at my school are reading this wonderfully brutal book by Deborah Ellis and they love it! The book has so many things my students don’t understand and they just read it and go “read it, it was good.” That’s it!! How can I get them to explore more, go deeper? I want them to have a greater aha moment with the book but maybe it is okay that they just like it. On their blog I have requested they find out more information yet they continue with one sentence comments, i.e. “why did they take him away when he didn’t do anything?” The writer is refering to the father being dragged off to prison by Taliban soldiers. It’s not a “bad” question, it is just not a deep question. This group has now read The Devil’s Arithmetic as well as this book and I am just waiting for this big amazing moment of comprehension and it may never come. Maybe it is just hidden inside them and it will appear next year when they go off to sixth grade.

Peaceful Reading…

Thanksgiving

Now I feel a little guilty…not over how much turkey I’ve eaten, because I didn’t have any…but that my last post was almost a week ago! I have been having a lovely Thanksgiving at my brother’s home in Deephaven. We have had great food, wonderful wine and great company. Our four children have played well. Watching the three little ones chasing each other around outside in makeshift Star Wars costumes was a big highlight!!
We also took a trip into the city to see the Minneapolis Children’s Theatre presentation of The lion, the witch and the wardrobe, which was stunning. I love children’s theatre!!
ahhh, there is something wonderful about relaxing with close relatives and sharing lots of mashed potatoes!!

Peaceful Reading…

Story Time



This week I came across two fabulous books that are my new story time favorites!! I read The Night Pirates by Deborah Allwright to Kindergarten classes this week and it just has great language in it. I love the idea of the little girl pirates!!! And that they borrowed Tom’s house to steal treasure. I love that the big pirate guys ran away. This is a flolicking, non-scary read for all pirate fans. The second book is Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk. This book could be used for all ages to teach genre as well as writing skills. Library Mouse lives in a busy public library and he reads at night. At some point, he decides he should write a book and he writes a biography of life as a mouse. I used this to introduce fiction/non-fiction to 1st and 2nd graders.

Peaceful Reading…

I love what I do…

Ya know, celebrities are always saying “I can’t believe they pay me so much to do what I love…”

For me, it is more like I can’t believe they pay me so little to do what I love!! As a public school teacher/librarian we really don’t make enough. I plan on the weekends for my classes during the week. I plan all summer for the upcoming year. The rewards are plentiful though. Some of the time I get to sit in a big comfy chair that used to be my Grandmother’s and read to young children. I just started Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo (love her) with three third-grade classes. I just finished a Kevin Henkes unit with 1st and 2nd grade and an Eric Carle unit with my kindergarten classes. Reading, what a great way to get through the day! Lilly would say “Wow”.

Peaceful Reading…

Five books

I am juggling so many different books right now especially when I get tied up (so easily) in this online world of blogging and commenting!! I am reading The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen for a 5th grade blogging book club I am working with at school and reading The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan with another 5th grade book club-both great books and very, very different. I am, also reading The Magician by Michael Scott, a follow-up to his book The Alchemyst. My son and I have read this series together and we love this sequel as much as the first one. I am trying to read The World is flat by Thomas Friedman because I’m interested in his new book and thought I should look at this one first and Little Heathens byMildred Armstrong Kadish, an Iowa farm story.
Wow…I should shut off the computer.

Peaceful Reading…

Things I love…


Okay, it is not environmentally-friendly but I love taking a bath…a bubbly bath w/ patchouli bubble bath! i know all the statistics about how taking a shower uses less water but there is very little comfort in water drizzling over you. Something about a hot bath soothes all that is wrong in the world and tonight after a very hectic day I had to have one. It is amazing and I usually am able to read a few chapters this way until I’m all shriveled like a prune.

Peaceful Reading…