school – Page 4 – Peaceful Reader

Book Magic

I absolutely love it when I am able to see the fruits of my labor come alive. It doesn’t happen everyday and somedays it comes in such small doses that you have to look closely to see it. Today though the magic swirled up like fairy dust!

Two days ago the 5th grade girls in my book club-ten of them!- choose Ninth Ward for their next reading choice. I only
had 6 copies so I placed an emergency rush order through my wonderful Scholastic rep, Carmen. I expected the books to come on Monday so I was happily surprised to see them this afternoon in my mailbox. I plopped a sticky note on top of each book addressed personally to each young reader and then took all 10 books down and delivered them.

This is where the magic dust sprinkled down in a frenzy as I delivered the books the girls were gleefully dancing and prancing to get their copy much to the dismay of their classmates NOT privileged to be in the “reading club of cool”. I loved hearing the giggles and watching smiling faces of girls just learning to fall in love with reading!

Where has the month gone?

Oh, yes, my blog…

Sometime during August I completely forgot for days that a blog is something I do, or did. I love writing and getting responses and some weeks are busier than others but August-truly you slipped away from me.

My attention has been at school. My school began with teacher work week days creeping up on me like a bad cold. One minute your happily waking up late, making breakfast for everyone, and then sitting down and resting for like two hours with a book in your lap and then BANG-time to go back to work.

My attention has also been on getting Groovy Girl prepared for 5th grade. Mostly that’s me sulking for a few days on the fact that she is even old enough (how could it be!) to be in 5th grade. Where did that time go? She is sassy and smart and totally prepared for school days. She has a new backpack from Target with a matching lunch box. She has folders matched to notebooks in 5 different hues. She has new colored pencils, markers, a big box of Kleenex and a medium sized scissors for her 5th grade fingers. She has everything but a best friend ready for school. I don’t know why she has such trauma with friends she just does. Mostly many of the other girls are already bossy tweenagers while she is insecure and small-ish. She wants to play make-believe while other girls prance discussing training bra sizes or whatever and the others play kick ball. One or the other no in-between. She doesn’t like kickball. Yikes. It’s been a rough couple of years for her in the friend arena but that’s another story.

My attention has been on Teenage Boy who is going to grow out of his blog name soon. He started at a local community college on Monday. His high school began the process to close (big tears-me, not him) while he was a junior last year and he made the smart decision to graduate with the last seniors by taking two on-line courses. He finished on the last day possible to graduate and began his first week at HCC with four classes. Wow. That’s just about all the mother can say. Wow.

My attention has been on working out more as I’ve added ten pounds to my smallish frame. The summer of turning 50gave me an unusually shaped waistline and I’m not happy about it. My kids still say I’m the
“skinniest mom they know” but I can feel this lump like a perpetual baby bulge. I am trying to walk more and bring full time yoga back into my life. For now I’m wearing multi-colored muu-muu’s to school.

In other news:

My car was rifled through while I was volunteering at the Democratic office for two hours. The important objects taken were a very nice water bottle, my black sunglasses, a bag of quarters (about $18), and our Garmin GPS!! The strangest thing they took was a pair of Bob’s striped size 3 of Groovy Girl’s that we had ordered and then needed to return because she discovered a small tear in the canvas. “They” got a brand new slightly ripped pair of shoes-tags still on them! I hate the idea of someone going through my stuff and I’m not happy with myself about forgetting to lock it but they are just objects Lesson learned.

I finished Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn in like 3 days! Review will be forthcoming but know that it was GREAT. My women’s book group read James Joyce’s Portrait of an Artist as a young man. I couldn’t get through it and don’t know if I will ever go back. Joyce’s stream of consciousnesses was not enjoyable. It was my first free download to my Kindle Fire so there’s that to celebrate!

Most of all I’ve been paying attention to my blessings. This blog is one of them and I will bring myself back to it now. It was nice taking a short breather but I could tell I missed it the last two days.

What’s grabbed your attention this month?

Mailbox Monday on a Wednesday

My mailbox is generally crammed full of bills, catalogs and flyers. This week I’ve had a lot of books show up. Thought I should share my loot.

1. Soup Day by Melissa Iwai. Won this. From the author. Whoop, Whoop. Signed by the author to Groovy Girl. Wonderful gem of collecting ingredients and cooking with mama.

2. Ghost Knight by Cornelia Funke (May 2012) ARC. From Little, Brown and Company. Thanks Zoe. (Inkheart (the book, not the movie) tops my favorite book list.

3. The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart (April 2012) ARC. From Little, Brown and Company. Thanks also Zoe!

4. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan and The BFG by Roald Dahl both from Paperback Book Swap. I need to give out some higher level chapter books to some students and this was an easy (free) way to collect a few to donate.

5. The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jaime Ford. Purchased from Alibris for February book club, I’ve already read it but wanted to reread. Library copies were all out. Gee, I wonder who had them all?!

6. Learning by Doing by Richard DuFour. Used purchase from Amazon vendor. Want to read this for school purposes. Probably won’t get to really read it until summer.

Happy reading!

Summer Projects

Okay, I’ve survived the school meetings and have had the opportunity to work in my library and that is the best part. I’ve created a new schedule and checked out some books to a few teachers. I’m working on some lessons plans; long range and the next week or two. Things are coming together.

At home I had two summer projects that I wanted to accomplish:

1.Bring less packaging home by buying in bulk using my own containers

2. Menu Planning so I’m not crazy during the week.

The packaging project has gone quite well and I now have half a shelf in my pantry dedicated to my bulk buying. I planned on practice menu planning this summer but I never got to it!! We DID eat over the summer but it was just fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants-eating. We ate a lot of food from the farmer’s market over the summer and I did a lot of food-related posts for Weekend Cooking but the actually writing out of a plan did not happen. Sooooo…. Beginning of the school year is the perfect time to do this.

I’ve copied off the cute little menu plans from The Sister’s Cafe and I’m reusing a pink binder of Groovy Girl’s. She’s into lime green now and so the pink binder has been tossed out of her room and into my recycling hands.

This week’s plan:

Monday: Pasta with red sauce (prepared by husband because I had Good Spirits Book Club)
Tuesday: ~~Mushroom Soup~~ from She Likes Bento. Take out Pizza purchased by husband because I’m not feeling well and am slacking on the sofa.
Wednesday: Mushroom Soup-I have all the ingredients and it begs to be made.
Thursday: Tofu Stir Fry with garden produce
Friday: White Beans with Garlic and Herbs (from In The Green Kitchen; Alice Waters)
Saturday: Leftovers
Sunday: Roast Chicken with garden potatoes

My plan is to only try two new recipes during the week. The tofu stir fry is an easy recipe for me that I improvise all the time. Just like lesson planning helps me to stay organized at work so to should this menu planning for my after school time.

How is your week shaping up?

School Days

I have to wake up in the morning and go to a meeting for several hours-a meeting where I will listen to many administrators talk, talk, talk about how we are all doing an amazing job. We ARE doing an amazing job (most of us). Only to go back to our teaching jobs and be treated like we don’t really do an amazing job because of the lengthy checks and balances systems that has been put in place. It’s downright creepy, is what it is.

I love working with students-the bonus of my job while I’m in school Summer is a huge draw as well. Administration, guidelines, (extensive) lesson planning, meetings, meetings, meetings all bring me down. We are all on some list or another which says we are not successful and we can never get ourselves off the list because we have the same students who struggle through school. It is a never-ending cycle.

I’m pumped to go back, really I am. It is just a bleak scene in my district right now and I am having a difficult time getting pumped up for this ding-dang meeting in the morning!!

Is everybody else ready to head back to school? Do you have your school supplies purchased?

Friday Feature (a wee bit late)

Here I was going to be good about writing a post every Friday with some of my favorites from the week. I had a librarian’s district meeting today and completely forgot. I don’t even know if I want to get into how the meeting was so I am just going to focus on the books.

1. Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink by Diane de Groat-read this to first grade students; I love Gilbert- he makes mistakes-this time he goofs up by writing two mean Valentine poems to classmates. This is a great book about making choices and making amends. Kids laugh right when you read the title-you can’t go wrong with that! 5 stars

2. Louane Pig and the Mysterious Valentine by Nancy Carlson-I read this to kindergarten and first grade students and they solved the mystery! I’m happy to report that at least one child in every class figured out just who gave Louanne her BIG Valentine. But I have to admit I love all the other silly answers that the other kids give…like it was a DOG, her mom (even after it states in the book that the sender was a guy, I know, crazy), Gilbert (yes.) , oh the joy of spontaneous children. Priceless. 5 stars

3. The Valentine Express by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace– Her books-all of them-are beautiful. I love their craftiness (i’m not) and their simple yet delightful themes. Valentine’s Day is not just for romance but for showing how much we care for our friends, parents, and neighbors and this book gently shares that with easily little crafts and caring bunnies. It’s way better than Hallmark, really. 5 stars

Do you have Valentine books you love?

Kids love it but need to be reminded it is about caring about your friends and family not about the mushy stuff. Leave that to the teenagers, like my son who took it upon himself to locate and send flowers to his girlfriend-arriving on the day, a mixed bouquet. Hmmm. On that note I’m finishing my tea and heading to bed. Another busy Saturday awaits me.

**Stop back next Friday…I haveoh, so many Black History books to share.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

My Library Guinea Pigs and their fan club, the “GP crew”

Muliticultural Winner!

Oh, okay so I’m a little behind in my life but I eventually get around to it. I recently finished Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by the amazing Grace Lin, which was a Newberry Honor Winner in 2010. Even though it took me a long time to get to it, it was definetely worth reading. I loved the mixture of folktales into this family/friendship story. Reading this book could make you a better person, really and the message of being true to yourself will come through even for elementary students. The message is subtle though even with the wonderful fairy tale-like ending.

Book Synopsis:

In the Valley of Fruitless Mountain, a young girl named Minli spends her days working hard in the fields and her nights listening to her father spin fantastic tales about the Jade Dragon and the Old Man of the Moon. Minli’s mother, tired of their poor life, chides him for filling her head with nonsense. But Minli believes these enchanting stories and embarks on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man of the Moon and ask him how her family can change their fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures along the way, including a dragon who accompanies her on her quest.

Grace Lin, author of the beloved Year of the Dog and Year of the Rat, returns with a wondrous story of happiness, family, and friendship. A fantasy crossed with Chinese folklore, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a timeless adventure story in the classic tradition of The Wizard of Oz.

My thoughts:

I loved Minli’s character as she was all good things, brave and kind, but not too perfect. This is the type of book I want to save on the shelf for Groovy Girl to read as her chapter book skills improve. As a struggling third grade reader she wouldn’t make it all the way through it herself but one day soon and I want it to be waiting on the shelf with Beverly Cleary. I should have read it aloud to her but I used it as my school chapter book-reading it to myself to model good quiet reading to 4th and 5th grade students (and read it during my own lunch time) and now I have several students in mind to pass it on to for their own reading enjoyment.

I loved the images in this book-the goldfish man, the brilliant red dragon, the mountains-I would love to see this made in to an animated movie (a good one, of course) because I can picture it all so well in my head. I’ve enjoyed Grace Lin’s other books and use them for my lunch time book clubs with 4th and 5th graders but this book, in my mind, is a whole new level of excellence on her part! Way to go, Grace Lin!

Random Quote:

Feasting on juicy peaches, Minli and the dragon walked through the woods for many days. At night, when the dragon slept, Minli missed Ma and Ba. “But this is for our fortune, so they don’t have to work so hard anymore,” Minli told herself when she thought about the worry they must have been feeling. “When I get back, Ba can rest and Ma will never have to sigh again. They’ll see.” But the lonely moon never seemed to gaze comfortably down on her. [88]

If you have a young person needing a gift for the holiday season~this would be a wonderful book to receive!
I am an IndieBound affiliate and will earn a small pittance if you buy it from this site-Click on the title here….Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

Eight-Year-Old Whirlwind Weekend

I’m exhausted! It’s been a memorable weekend celebrating my daughter’s birthday. I still can’t believe how much she’s grown-really! I do take time to appreciate the small moments but no matter how much you hold them close they still grow up. I know 8 is not grown up yet but it seems like yesterday I was holding that tiny thing above. Happy Birthday to my peaceful sweet girl.

Thank you to all those who entered my BlogFest Contest and became new followers. I hope you will visit often and find all sorts of matter to engage your brain. I will tally all entries and pick a winner-but tonight I have to go to bed. Yesterday we had six little girls here celebrating, had a beautiful birthday dinner last night with my Mom and today did more celebrating after church. My evening though has been taken up with lesson planning. I used to get my plans done for the beginning of the week and see how it went for the rest of the week but now we are required to turn our plans into our principal before Monday. This takes my lesson planning up a notch and requires more pre-planning on my part. It’s fine but it does require extra time on my weekend.

But the birthday girl was the main focus of the weekend; not the lesson planning or the BlogFest! I didn’t blog all weekend which means I didn’t have the chance to enter any of the great giveaways offered on other blogfest sites!! What with overnight guests and birthday cake making! I didn’t even get to post a food-related post this weekend!

I love my girl and am so happy to share in her celebration of life!!

She went from being a 3 # premmie to a human being who put together her party gift bags-in the buff! She is a free-spirit (where does she get that from, I wonder)

Oh, Saturday I Embrace You!!

Patricia’s Pickles at Brownies for Dinner

I know another Saturday will roll around in 7 days but it will be just the regularly scheduled weekend Saturday, not this fantastic summer Saturday I am blessed with today. I’ve been to the farmer’s market, bought some small cucumbers and 4 red onions and I’m preparing to make bread and butter pickles, for the very first time!! I know-the thought is overwhelmingly scary-Are you just a little nervous for me…

I’m going to use this man, Drew Kime’s help. When I googled bread and butter pickles his site, How to Cook Like Your Grandmother appealed to me on a soulful level. Plus he has pictures and a sense of humor (or at least he writes with one.) I have about 10 projects I am trying to finish up to give me a sense of satisfaction for my summer: How many do you think I can complete this weekend???

1. Bread and Butter Pickles
2. Organize certain clutter zones in our house. (about half done)
3. Continue to work on alphabet book (check)
4. Finish many books on my tbr pile (hmm, could have done better but I have been reading)
5. Lesson plans (school) (not)
6. Flip charts(school) (not)
7. Yoga every day (well, that back injury got in the way but I’m back at it)
8. Laugh a few more times with my children (check)
9. Eat ice cream (almost) everyday (YES)
10. Have everone ready for school by next week and the week after that. (darn close)

Yesterday I took my kids on a school shopping adventure to the Mall where we visited many stores and had a late lunch/early dinner in between. We found a backpack for my tiny dancer at The Children’s Place-she picked from the “boy” rack of BP’s- a purple/blue choice with skull and crossbones! Hey, I’m so glad she took a step away from pink and picked something so unique. At the inexpensive shoe place she found slip-on sneakers that (almost) match. I didn’t want to mention they were boy’s as well but hey, she loves them. For her gym shoes she did pick white ones with a silvery/sparkly swoosh so she hasn’t completely gone over to the darkside.

Teen-age boy was in a good mood (you know that’s rare if you also have a teenager:) and found sneakers he could live with at the more expensive shoe place but they were on sale so it was a go! I have a new dress code policy this year (I cannot go into details because it really mortifies me that I have a master’s degree and someone far superior to me has to tell me how to dress-well, it just raised my hackles) I can say it… “I have trouble with conformity.” We cannot wear “open-toed shoes” to school so no fancy sandals to match the heat. I had to shoe shop a little and found a great pair of Merrell’s on sale. Does anyone else work in a school district that dictates what you wear?? Share with me please so I can have a little hope that this too shall pass and I will live through it unscathed! Truly it’s hard to be calm about this!

I have several finished books to discuss (The Girl Who Played with Fire, Rainbow Jordan and The Girl Who Could Fly) and have to finish That Crumpled Paper Was Due Last Week before our family meeting on Tuesday night.

After today I hope to cross off number one on the list; bread and butter pickles!! I think I can, I think I can, I think I can! I hope mine will look half as good as the picture at the top and still be edible.

So what do you have planned for this glorious Saturday??