I know, I know...

Okay, I know it's been awhile since I've posted! I promise to get something up soon. With school starting next week, things have been just a teensy bit busy for me. Be patient, posting will resume soon!

Children's Classics

I've decided to participate in this monthly "meme" from Jennifer at 5 Minutes for Books. (Thanks should go to my friend, Jen, who mentioned these blogs on her own blog.)

Anyway, the idea is to respond to this simple prompt:

• Would you recommend the book? To whom?
• If you wouldn't recommend it, why do you think it's been so popular?
• Has your child recently discovered a classic author? What is his or her perspective on the differences in classic and contemporary children's writing?
• Have you recently shared a childhood favorite with your own child? How did you each respond to it?

As always, picking just one book is really hard, so I've decided to pick two books. One of which was my absolute favorite as a child and the other one being a book that I have recently discovered and that has become an absolute favorite to share with my 4th grade class each year.



When I was a kid, I absolutely loved reading Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing by Judy Blume. In fact, I still have the original copy that I received as a gift when I was probably 8 years old. I keep it in my classroom and show the well-worn, much loved, tattered book to my students each year. They think its funny that a book they enjoy reading so much, along with its sequels, is a book that I enjoyed reading so very long ago. (I'm not really sure that at 27, I'm that old, but too them, me being 8 years old was soooo long ago).

I would definitely recommend this book to any child who is struggling to find a book that they can relate to. I really feel that there is something in this book for every kid. Most children, around 4th grade, are dealing with siblings, either older or younger. For me, I was dealing with older siblings and reading this book made me so thankful that I didn't have any younger siblings to deal with.

I do use this book, each year, as a read-aloud with my students, right at the beginning of the year. It is so much fun to listen to them laugh as I read the tales of Peter Hatcher and of course his little brother, Fudge. In the weeks following, they simply devour all of the sequels to this book. I can't keep them on the bookshelves of my classroom. My husband and I have talked about how we can't wait to be able to share this favorite of ours with our own little girl, when she is old enough. (Right now we just can't wait for her to make her appearance in October!)

While this isn't the most classic of literature, and it doesn't take a lot of work to read, this book is great just for introducing kids to larger chapter books and the great genre that is realistic fiction.

The other book, which I have just recently (a few years ago) discovered is The BFG by Roald Dahl. Oh My Word! Where was this book when I was a kid? Oh right, it's a fantasy book and when I was a kid, I hated anything that wasn't realistic fiction. Another teacher at my school suggested I read this book to my class. I wasn't really sure that it would be a good fit, as it is pretty lengthy and my class, at the time, suffered from ultra-short attention spans. But, I decided to give it a try, and boy, I was not disappointed. I'm not really sure who laughed more while we read it out loud, me or the kids?

As always, Roald Dahl does a fantastic job of weaving a story together. We learn about Sophie, a young orphan girl in London, who mistakenly witnesses a giant (The BFG) blowing dreams into a house across the street. Since giants aren't supposed to be seen by "human beans," as the BFG refers to them, he snatches her up and wisks her away to Giant Country. A dreary place where the BFG, along with 8 or 9 other giants live. We learn that the BFG is a rare giant, as he is kind and gentle. The other giants, well, let's just say they're less than "refined."

The challenge in reading this book comes in navigating the language of the giants. They speak English, but it certainly is confusing. For example, they don't say, "Am I right or wrong?" Instead they say, "Am I right or am I left?" The only food available to the giants are "snozzcumbers" and the only beverage would be "frobscottle," which causes "whizzpoppers." Needless to say, the kids got a kick out of this book, and each class I have shared it with since can't wait for read-aloud time. I even had one student, this past year, who after we read The BFG, was so into books by Roald Dahl, that by the time the year had ended, he had read all of Roald Dahl's books, including his autobiography, Boy.

If you're looking for other fantastic, middle-grade, chapter books, make sure to stop on over to 5 Minutes for Books, and check out the other great suggestions. Happy Reading!!!

What the games are all about!

So, I couldn't stay up last night to watch the best moment of the Olympics (so far), but thanks to our DVR, I was able to watch it today, over and over again. If you are feeling clueless, I'm talking about the men's 4x100 freestyle relay finals. You should really check this out. Watching it this morning, I already knew the outcome, but I was still on the edge of my seat (figuratively, of course).

Anyway, this moment is why I watch the Olympics. It's just so exciting to watch these athletes see all of their hard work pay off. Plus, it's just a bonus to see/hear another country (the French) totally trash talk us and then have to eat a large helping of humble pie!

Olympics Begin Tonight!

It's that time again! Once every two years, the world pauses and watches as thousands of athletes compete for those coveted gold medals. I must admit that the Summer Olympics are my favorite. I enjoy the winter games, but the summer ones, in my opinion, are just more fun to watch.

I do find it strange that I enjoy the Olympics so much, being that I'm really not a big sports fan. I can't explain it, maybe it's that we always watched the Olympics when I was a kid. Maybe it's all of the media hype. I don't really know. All I do know is that my DVR is going to get quite the workout in the next couple of weeks as I settle in to watch my favorite events. These would include swimming (go Michael Phelps!), gymnastics (how in the world can they be that flexible??), track & field (no one should be able to run that fast), and soccer (that's really more for Jeremy than me).

I also know that I'm ready to welcome Bob Costas back into my home so he can tell me the personal and "behind-the-scenes" stories of all of the athletes. How is it that he is such an iconic figure of NBC, yet we really only see him every two years at the Olympics??

I look forward to more memories being created. I'll never forget watching Kerri Strug being carried out by Bela Karolyi during the 1996 games in Atlanta, along with their memorable routine to "Macarena." Watching the "Dream Team" win the gold in Barcelona is another favorite memory.

So for those of you who are going to watch, what are your favorite events or favorite Olympic memories?

Summer Reading - Children's Literature Edition

This summer I have had the chance to finally spend some time reading. I love reading and during the busy school year hardly find the time to get it done. But, this summer, I was determined and boy did I meet my goal!

One of my favorite genres would be children's literature. Being that I'm a 4th grade teacher, that shouldn't seem real strange. It's one of the first things I check out when I'm a bookstore or library.

Thankfully, for the sake of our family budget, most of my "kid lit" books are purchased at a reduced price, thanks to my monthly Scholastic book orders. I'm also a frequent shopper of the semi-annual Scholastic warehouse sale in my area. I think Jeremy cringes deeply when that time of year rolls around. For those of you interested in "kid lit," I encourage you to check out the Scholastic warehouse sale site. They usually have 1-2 locations in each state and it's truly a wonderful thing. I also pick up used books at garage sales and thrift stores. How can you say no to finding a Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle book for a quarter?

This summer I have discovered a new fantasy series that I was surprised to actually enjoy. After last summer and the release of the final Harry Potter book, I was sure that I would never read fantasy literature again. I've never actually cared for the fantasy genre, but like the majority of the world, I found myself longing to know more of this magical world where Harry Potter and his friends lived and was sad when it all ended last summer.

I was a little leery of this new series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, written by Rick Riordan. It is about a boy, Percy, who finds out that he is the son of a Greek god. I have never been interested in Greek mythology and find it all to be a little confusing, but decided to persevere and finished the first book of the series, The Lightning Thief. It was such a good book that I immediately told Jeremy that he needed to read it, since he really does enjoy Greek mythology. He couldn't put it down and right away wanted to know when we could get the 2nd book in the series. Thankfully, by the time we discovered this series, the first four books had already been released. We're currently waiting, somewhat impatiently, for the fifth and final book of the series to come out.

This isn't a series that I can put in my classroom, as the content is a little too mature for my 4th graders. However, for my nephew, who is going into 6th grade, I think this series is ideal. It's very entertaining, while managing to hold you in suspense. Overall, it's just a really well-written book.

The end is in sight

There have been decreasing flea sightings, leading us to believe that the end is in sight! Much google research has been done and many "home remedies" tried. We seem to have won this battle!!