Hey, friends! I hope you are enjoying summer. I have a few author copies left of The Creativity Project, and I thought they would be better served in your hands than sitting in a box in my classroom. If you’d like to enter the giveaway, just click on the cover of the book below and sign up.
Reading in the summer is so much fun. I never follow the plans I lay our for myself at the start of summer, but beginning with a plan always helps me get the ball rolling.
What books do you plan on reading this summer? Please let me know in the comments below.
Click the links below to purchase the books talked about in this video:
Managing a classroom library is tricky. Books are coming and going, and if you don’t have an effective checkout system, you are probably going to lose a bunch of books. I’ve tried a bunch of different systems over the years, and nothing seemed to work for my students.
In this video I talk about the different checkout systems that I tried, and what we currently use.
A girl, a potato, and a very sad flamingo star in this charming sequel to I’m Bored by New York Times bestselling author and comedian Michael Ian Black and celebrated illustrator Debbie Ridpath Ohi.
Everyone feels sad sometimes–even flamingos.
Sigh.
When Flamingo announces he’s feeling down, the little girl and Potato try to cheer him up, but nothing seems to work. Not even dirt (Which usually works for Potato.)
Flamingo learns that he will not always feel this way. And his friends learn that sometimes being a friend means you don’t have to cheer someone up. You just have to stick by your pal no matter how they feel.
In this video I talk about my love for The Book Whisperer, Kate DiCamillo, and Jennifer L. Holm. I also share some advice for new teachers, and I talk about what it is like teaching in the town you grew up in.
I had a lot of fun filming this video for NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers’ Program with my pal Pablo Cartaya. In the video we share some writing tips for young writers.
I love creating book lists with my students. It is a great way for them to reflect on their reading, and give book recommendations to their classmates.
In this video I share how we are ending the year creating “best book” list for a classroom book.
Interviewing Anna Meriano about her book Love Sugar Magic: A Dash of Trouble in Austin was so much fun. Her 2018 middle grade fantasy novel is amazing, and my 5th grade students are loving it.
Leonora Logroño’s family owns the most beloved bakery in Rose Hill, Texas, spending their days conjuring delicious cookies and cakes for any occasion. And no occasion is more important than the annual Dia de los Muertos festival.
Leo hopes that this might be the year that she gets to help prepare for the big celebration—but, once again, she is told she’s too young. Sneaking out of school and down to the bakery, she discovers that her mother, aunt, and four older sisters have in fact been keeping a big secret: they’re brujas—witches of Mexican ancestry—who pour a little bit of sweet magic into everything that they bake.
Leo knows that she has magical ability as well and is more determined than ever to join the family business—even if she can’t let her mama and hermanas know about it yet.
And when her best friend, Caroline, has a problem that needs solving, Leo has the perfect opportunity to try out her craft. It’s just one little spell, after all…what could possibly go wrong?
Debut author Anna Meriano brings us the first book in a delightful new series filled to the brim with amor, azúcar, y magia.
Selecting the last read aloud of a school year is so darn hard! In this video I share how I selected our final read aloud, the title, and why I picked it.
I don’t read a ton of young adult fiction, so I am super selective of the titles that I read. I’m really glad that I decided to read Cynthia Leitich Smith’s Hearts Unbroken. It is an amazing 2018 young adult novel that readers are going to love.
When Louise Wolfe’s first real boyfriend mocks and disrespects Native people in front of her, she breaks things off and dumps him over e-mail. It’s her senior year, anyway, and she’d rather spend her time with her family and friends and working on the school newspaper. The editors pair her up with Joey Kairouz, the ambitious new photojournalist, and in no time the paper’s staff find themselves with a major story to cover: the school musical director’s inclusive approach to casting The Wizard of Oz has been provoking backlash in their mostly white, middle-class Kansas town. From the newly formed Parents Against Revisionist Theater to anonymous threats, long-held prejudices are being laid bare and hostilities are spreading against teachers, parents, and students — especially the cast members at the center of the controversy, including Lou’s little brother, who’s playing the Tin Man. As tensions mount at school, so does a romance between Lou and Joey — but as she’s learned, “dating while Native” can be difficult. In trying to protect her own heart, will Lou break Joey’s?