Virginia is for Book Lovers Blog Hop

I am thrilled to be joining my fellow Virginia bloggers for a blog hop that embraces our love of reading! Each of us is happy to share a book and resource that we LOVE to use in the classroom for this very special hop. Not only that, but you'll find a book giveaway on each page of the hop, with a super huge giveaway at the end, which just happens to be here! 

I've always been a fan of reading. My dad used to read to me every night, and I cherished those moments with him. I remember going to the mall with my family, and dad and I would sneak away to the bookstore for what felt like hours while mom shopped to her heart's desire. I was that kid who would get in trouble for reading way past my bedtime. Books have just always been a huge part of my life, and I love that I get to read with kids all day now that I'm a reading specialist! Even better, now I am also able to pass down that love of reading to my son with some of the same books that I grew up loving and listening to my dad read.

As a classroom teacher, I loved choosing books for read-alouds and literature circles. Now that I see three grades and only have groups for a short period of time, I have transitioned over to more picture books. I've actually fallen in love with this and get so excited when I find a new book to share with my kids. The reason I like using picture books is because we can actually finish a story without worrying about forgetting before we meet again. It's also a quick and easy way to focus on comprehension strategies and still have strong discussions about the book. I have so many favorites that it's a good thing I get to work with multiple groups in a day.

One of my MANY favorites is John, Paul, George, and Ben by Lane Smith. Not only is it funny, but it also works into our Social Studies lessons perfectly in the upper grades. I discovered this book shortly after I began teaching and have used it almost every year since. It takes five of our founding fathers and imagines what they were like as a child. I use the book as a lead-in to discussing the Revolutionary War, but it's also great for talking about reputations and how our actions define us.

I'm sharing a sample freebie to accompany your reading of John, Paul, George, and Ben from my larger Literature Unit. This freebie includes an activity where students create a story about another famous person's past as a child.  In addition, I'm giving away a copy of my book in the Rafflecopter below. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

To celebrate our love of reading, Virginia bloggers have also put together an additional mega-giveaway. One lucky winner will win ALL of the books (that's 19 wonderful books) in our hop! Each blogger will send you the book they've talked about. Imagine receiving 19 wonderful books for free on your doorstep and sharing them with your lovely students! Follow all the way to the end to enter!

Thanks so much for hopping by! 

Are you ready?

Mark your calendars! There is a blog hop on the way! And trust me, you won't want to miss it!

That's all I've got. Today was snow day #8 for us, and I'm beyond ready for warmth and pretty green grass. Not that sleeping in wasn't nice...

Currently March

It's March! For once (and wouldn't you know it's the time that I actually was ready for February), the month really did fly by. Maybe it's because I didn't manage to work a single full week between being sick at the beginning of the month and then snow the past two weeks. Wait. I lie. I did work a full week that very first week. I think.

Listening: Recently I've worked way less than I've been at home, so it's a strange feeling to even be at work. Although Mondays are a little nicer after a 4 day weekend, especially one that followed an entire week off from school. Anyway, breaks are still nice. And mine is just about over...

Loving: March is always a favorite because it's when I can finally hope for spring weather. And I'm especially ready for it now because my clothes are getting uncomfortable and I can't wait to wear dresses. This belly is starting to get HUGE!

Thinking: We put our house on the market about a month ago, but we haven't had any bites yet. I would love to be moved into our new house before this baby gets here, but we'll be cutting it close at this point. In other words, I'd love for someone to put a contract on our house THIS MONTH so we can get through closing before the end of May. Prayers!

Wanting: Before Christmas, I was so good about planning for a month at a time (and then just moving things around and making copies at the end of each week for the next). I haven't gotten back in that groove yet, and these snow days aren't helping. Last week, I didn't get around to making my plans for this week, so I had to hurry and put them together this morning. Now I'm already working on next week's, but I'd like to plan all the way up to April 3 by the end of this week. Then I'll just have a few weeks left after break and before testing begins. Are we really that close to the end?!

Needing: Last week, my boss handed me a copy of Strategies that Work to look over and help our teachers make sure their instruction is appropriate and as good as it can be. I brought it home knowing we'd be out a few days for snow, but I didn't even pick it up. Other than moving it out of the way. I need to work on that this week...

Spring Break Plans: I'd love to actually go somewhere, but any trip past an hour starts to get a little painful at this point (I'm 6 months along and will be 7 by break). We may make it down to the beach one day, but that will be the extent of "travel". Instead, maybe I can start thinking about putting Caffrey's room together. We have a theme in mind, but that's as far as we've gotten. As for cleaning and relaxing, I try to do those every day. It's so hard to keep the house clean enough for a showing, especially when we aren't getting any showings right now. Come on, warm weather!!

Teachers are HEROES!

After a solid week off from school for snow and really cold temps that wouldn't let it melt, we finally went back yesterday for a normal week (that is, if the snow doesn't really come Thursday). It took a lot of work to actually get out of bed and get ready, but I'm glad to be back into some kind of routine!

With the upcoming TpT sale, we want to help you find "heroic" products that have helped others in their classrooms. I recently received some wonderful feedback on my Brain Teaser Puzzles. These puzzles are geared toward upper elementary/middle school students. They are great as independent, fun practice for drawing conclusions and critical thinking.

Click on the image above or {here} to go to the products. This is just one example of the puzzles. I used to love them as a child and hope your students do, too!

Now head to Diane's blog for more superhero products and information on how to link up. Happy shopping!

Creating Readers at a Very Young Age

We were out all this past week because of Presidents' Day and then a lot (for us) of snow! I wanted to share something this week, but I just couldn't come up with anything to write about. Maybe that's because in the past two weeks, I've only taught for two days? That could be part of the reason.

Anyway, today I'm sharing about my experience with pre-readers as a mom over at Adventures in Literacy Land, so be sure to head over there and check it out!

Hopefully now that we're all healthy, the weather will also let us have a full and useful week of school. I need to get back into this "working 5 days a week" habit soon. Of course, now my doctor's appointments are becoming more frequent for this baby. I'm almost in the third trimester. Eek!

Book Talk Thursday: Olive, My Love

I'm blogging!! It's been a crazy week of Keagan and I both home sick with the stomach bug since Saturday night, but we're finally both on the mend and I am back at school to finish out the week.

I love joining Andrea's link-up whenever I can, and I have a great Valentine's Day find if you're still looking for something cute to use tomorrow.

I had the book Olive, the Other Reindeer already, but I hadn't heard of this book until I was looking through Jivey's Better than Basal pack and saw the title. I immediately went online to check it out from our library and am so glad I did. It's a precious book! Olive gets a little confused with the difference between her name and "all of". In the Christmas, book, she thinks she can be one of the reindeer. This one is similar, but there is a little twist at the end.

I used the book to review plot. We used a graphic organizer from Erin's graphic organizer pack below (which is amazing, by the way), and the students were able to fill it in on their own as I read the book to them.

One other great thing about this book is that it's so easy that I'm taking it home tonight to read to my son. But it has a complex enough story line that the students were challenged to think about what they had to put in each section of the graphic organizer. Plus they will understand a little more of the humor as older children. I'm so glad I found this book. Valentine's Day is not one of my favorite holidays, but this story made it a little more fun! What's your favorite book for Valentine's Day?

Currently February

Wow! Usually February is my least favorite months, but I'm kind of excited to see it here. January has felt long, and there are some exciting changes coming. Each month brings us closer and closer!

Listening: I LOVE this show, but we can never seem to get it working with our satellite. Oh well, I can watch it with our Roku and catch up within the week. :-)

Loving: We've been going to Remnant for a little over 1 1/2 years, and it's been a great decision! The pastors are not afraid to speak the truth, and the church is growing all the time. If you live in the Richmond area and are looking for somewhere to go, please come check us out! It's so nice to have a community that I know will hold me accountable and challenge me to grow.

Thinking: We are putting our house on the market and trying to expand a little. With Caffrey on the way soon, we would like to have an extra bedroom. Prayers that the house sells quickly because I would love to move before this one gets here!

Wanting: I'm so jealous of Northern VA and all of their snow. We've had one ice day, but there hasn't been a good snow here in quite a few years (even with the 11 days we were out last year). At one point, they were saying tomorrow could be 12-16 inches, but now it looks like it will only be rain. How depressing...

Needing: Self explanatory. There's always laundry to be done...

Pageant Title: Funny story, I actually WAS in a few pageants in High School and even won "Miss Congeniality" one year. That used to be my favorite movie. And besides, pageants are supposed to be fun, right? I mean, if you can win some money too, then so be it. But how often do you get to put on a fancy dress and get all dolled up for everyone to stare at you? Okay, that was a little terrifying. Good thing the lights almost blind you to the people seated!