Back to School

Back to school....back to school.  Sometimes I get that tune from Billy Madison in my head and I can't get it out.  Too funny.

Today, my kids wrote 6 word reading memoirs and I just had to share.  They are awesome and show that reading is still alive in middle school!  Yah!  I can't wait to book talk some good books tomorrow and get some of these tomes off the shelf and into the hands of kiddos!

 

A good read always helps you.

I love reading past my bedtime.

Middle School.  Not enough reading time.

Pleasure reading seems like forever ago

Reading always helps me relax everyday.

Good books do not like me.

Reading and me don’t get along

Don’t like textbooks.  Boring and big. 

Reading is life.  Get With It.

Reading all the time.  Not stopping

Haven’t found a really good book.

Reading is like being an adventurer.

Reading is an escape of stress.

.

Books are better the second time.

Imagine myself inside of a book.

I could read all summer long

I flip for a good book.

Opened  a book.  Fell in love.

I always read a good book.

Takes me to a different world.

Reading a book.  Leave me alone.

Not my favorite, but it’s okay.

Read.  You’ll never be bored again. 

I love reading all the time.

Reading since young.  Still loving it.

Love to read.  Book by book.

Reading is like being an adventurer.

I'd love to hear if you do this in your classroom or not.  The activity is taken from I Can't Keep My Own Secrets.

August Nightmares

And, here they are again, boys and girls...those ugly August nightmares. However, after 21 years in the BIZ, they are now interspersed with dreams of delightful classes where all are learning and amazingly quiet and cooperative. Hmmmm....

I am trying desperately to finish projects in my house these last few weeks and get my own children through their never ending lists of school supplies. I know that many districts around the country have already started, but here in Michigan we have a law that says we must wait until after Labor Day due to tourism. Next week begins my bulletin board brigade and the emptying of the boxes I feel like I just packed.

I'm Addicted

Okay, I finished the whole TWILIGHT series within ten days. Is that a strange record somewhere? My sleep time definitely suffered, as I usually started around 10 p.m. and couldn't put the dang books down! So, like every other 14-17 year-old girl, I have put in my pre-order for BREAKING DAWN, but I refuse to go to the party from 10- midnight this Friday! ha ha. My YA friend, Jennifer, said she read the series but just "wanted her [Bella] to choose the werewolf and get on with it." She did acknowledge that she is in the minority....I, on the other hand, have been scouring the web for info about the movie and I was delighted to find out that the hunky guy who played Cedric Diggory in HP movies is playing Edward! I just hope he and Kristin Stewart have some on screen chemistry or the whole thing isn't going to work for me. I feel like a teenager doing this stuff! I even went to cafepress.com to search "Edward Cullen" and I found PAGES of t-shirts, etc. My favorite is the one that says simply "I love Edward". I could actually get away with that one because my husband is named Edward as well. Who'd a thunk I'd love a silly vampire series so much!?

Meanwhile, on the homefront, I feel like I am swimming in a million half-completed projects from gardening to sewing to painting to school shopping. I pretty much made a mess out of Laurie Halse Anderson's writing challenge because I was only writing every few days, if that. But, she did post a "forgiveness" entry on her blog that made me feel better. How come I can't seem to get a routine going during the summer? I should start thinking about fall and teaching, but I am still trying to plan our last vacation the week before I return to work. I DID manage to get the small table and chairs repainted and varnished for the twins. But, I started that project last May. I am also trying desperately to get rid of a woodchuck/groundhog who thinks that I have planted zucchini just for his munching benefit!