Things are really changing!

Wow this seems crazy to say, but I am finally finished with my semester. I have only one semester left of college. This last semester I will be doing my student teaching and I can absolutely not wait. I am so excited to immerse my life in to the life of a teacher. I can’t wait to have papers to take home and grade. I can’t wait to have a room that is kinda my own.

With all of these big changes in my life, I am working to become more professional and I am hoping to start collecting things that I can really use in my classroom. In May, I will be going to the big Scholastic warehouse sale that will be taking place in my community. I love this event because it is a wonderful way to receive a large sum of books for not a massive price. They do these twice a year in May and December. This time I am really going to be looking out for some great chapter books for grades third – fifth. I will also probably get several new picture books because I really can’t help myself.  Here is the link so that you can find the event in your community http://www.scholastic.com/bookfairs/events/warehouse/ . I am a huge supporter of scholastic, as I am sure you all can tell. I try to get the majority of my books from there and will, of course, have the book orders in my future classroom. I always try to encourage the children that I work with to read every day!!

I also have recently discovers Lakeshore Learning (http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/ ) I have not materials like this for my future classroom and while I know that once I get a job I will be given some money to get these things I would really like to start collecting some things now so that I am prepared for my future. This is the company that I will really be looking into. I see these products in every classroom that I visit. They are well made and seem to be long lasting. I will be buying some things for the summer teaching that I plan to do with kids that I am babysitting and I cannot wait to receive my first Lakeshore Learning box in the main.

This summer I also plan on doing some serious professional reading.  To start I will be reading about something that we all know I am crazy passionate about. I will be reading several books about helping students fall in love with reading. Right now I have started reading The Book Whisper by Donalyn Miller.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-Whisperer-Awakening-Reader/dp/0470372273/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398816113&sr=8-1&keywords=the+book+whisperer 

I have heard some many wonderful things about this book. It really makes me want to get out into classrooms and talk to students about what they love to read and sparking that interest. I also would really really love to read more on classroom management so if you all know many good books for this I would love to hear about them.  

As always, thank you for reading. Have you read any good children’s chapter books lately? Do you have any teacher books that you would recommend to a new teacher? Let me know and until then keep reading and never stop learning!!

Happy Reading!!!

Ms. Cara

Happy Easter!

            Happy Easter everyone! I hope that you all are having such a beautiful day with all of your family and friends. I wanted to share a book with you that has the sweetest Easter story. Right now I am not at my Preschool job because I am at practicum and I am so sad that I was unable to share this with all of my children. I would love to read this book and make big beautiful painted Easter eggs. There is always next years.

            The book is The Easter Egg By Jan Brett. This book is gorgeously illustrated like all of Bretts books. She offers the reader beautiful pictures that almost jump off the page!

http://www.amazon.com/Easter-Egg-Jan-Brett/dp/039925238X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398021520&sr=1-1&keywords=easter+egg

            The book doesn’t just offer beautiful pictures it also offers a wonderful story that shows that we all have special talents. The story follows a little bunny named Hoppi. Hoppi is hoping to make the most special Easter egg so that he can hide the eggs with the Easter bunny himself. Hoppi goes and visits all of his rabbit friends and sees that they are all so talented. He doesn’t know how he could possibly compete. He gives up and walks into the woods to find a lonely robin egg that needs to be kept safe and warm. In the end the Easter bunny says that Hoppi has the most special egg of all and takes him to hide the egg.

            I really like that this story shows that we all have our own special talents. It shows to never give up on your dreams. It is just a good story to read with your classroom or family.

            Does your family have any favorite Easter books? I would love to hear all about them. Have a beautiful Easter day!

Happy Reading!!!

Ms. Cara

Book Fairs are always a problem for me!

For the past few weeks I have been at practicum at a school that I absolutely love and I am now wishing that I could one day work there. We have been so busy and I have just been wiped out, but it is almost SUMMER!!! Summer means that I will actually be able to blog often; I can also read whatever I want! I am so excited for this freedom. I will also be finding out where I will doing my student teaching. I am so excited for this adventure to start.

            This week at the school I have been working at there was a scholastic book fairs. I honestly believe that these are probably some of the most magically things in the world. I love seeing a whole group of kids walk into their library and see it transformed into a wonderful little bookstore. I still get butterflies when I see one of the signs. At this school I received a 20% off discount and that made me so happy. I got three great books and I am pumped to share them with you.

The End (almost)

By: Jim Benton

http://www.amazon.com/The-End-Almost-Jim-Benton/dp/0545177316/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397936572&sr=8-1&keywords=the+end+almost 

This book just cracked me up. My dear friend and classroom partner, Natalie, read this to me in the library one morning and I was laughing so hard that I could hardly stand. I was reminded of We’re in a Book by Mo Willems. The book is so interactive. Children feel like they are in the story and that they are Donut the little blue bear. The book is the story of a little bear that wants nothing more than to be in a story. When his story is cut short on the second page he is devastated. It is so funny to watch how Donut tries to get back into the story. This would be great to read and turn the story in to a small play. This would be used in a station and it would be a good way for the students to practice their fluency.

That is not a Good Idea!!

By: Mo Willems

http://www.amazon.com/That-Is-Not-Good-Idea/dp/0062203096/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397936429&sr=8-1&keywords=that+is+not+a+good+idea 

I have wanted this book since it came out last year. I read it in the book store the day that it came out, but I haven’t had the money to buy it. I love the story because like all of Mo’s stories it is so funny and it just really cracked me up. The book follows the story of a wolf and a goose. The wolf ask the goose to join him for dinner. That does not sound like a good idea. This is a great book to practice predictions with. The children will be surprised by what takes place in the end when there is a huge surprise twist. This book is great for and one that loves books such as I want my Hat Back  and This is not my Hat.

Reading in the Wild

By: Donalyn Miller

http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Wild-Whisperers-Cultivating-Lifelong/dp/047090030X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397936333&sr=8-1&keywords=reading+in+the+wild

I am so excited to start reading this book! I plan on reading some professional development sort of books in the summer. I like the idea of making appoint to educate myself on something that may not be taught in my classes, but I am very passionate about. This particular book is about cultivating a love of reading for your students. This is something that is some important to me in my future classroom. I am so excited to read this book. I plan on doing some serious high lighting and of course note taking. I will share all of my information here so that if you desire to use it you can. Also if you have read this book I would love to hear what you thought of it. What did you take away from the book and what did you use in your classroom. I am so excited to learn!!

             I am so excited to get some reading in and tell you all about it. Have you all bought any new books lately? Are there any books that you are just dying to tell me about? Let me know I would love to hear about it. As always you are welcome to comment here or on my twitter (@cara_farmer). I would love so much to hear from you!!

Happy Reading!!!

Ms. Cara

I am back!!!! And we are about to have Mo fun!!!!

So I am back after being gone for much longer than I should have been! I am sure every one was worried I had disappeared for good, but NO I am back and better than ever. Today I just want to talk about the two new Mo Willems books that I bought this week. I will say that right now money is really tight for me so buying two hard back books was a huge Huge HUGE splurge, but boy do I think that it was worth it.

We all know that Mo is my children's Lit hero right now. I love him and feel that he is probably a hoot to be around. This being said I much warn you that I think his two new books are just about the funniest things ever.

The first one that I want to talk about is Pigeon Needs A Bath! This book is the perfect addition to the Pigeon series. The story is about his the Pigeon is filthy dirty and he just doesn't understand why it is important to take a bath. This was funny for me and I am sure for anyone who has tried to give a child a bath because everything that Pigeon said was exactly what you may hear a resistant 5 year old say when you start to turn on the water. I read this to all my little preschool friends and they were rolling laughing. When I asked them what was so funny they said "well he's just like us." Mo does such a great job with relating to children and the kids love him for it. I had to read this story ten times yesterday.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Pigeon-Needs-Bath-Willems/dp/1423190874/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396710741&sr=8-1&keywords=pigeon+needs+a+bath

The next book that I want to talk about is also by Mo. It is a Piggie and Elephant book from 2010, but it is new to me. The book is Can I Play Too? This is a story about how sometimes friends are different and you have to learn to play with them in a different way. In this case the friend is a snake and he is different because he doesn't have any arms, but he still wants to play catch. In normal Piggie and Elephant fashion they figure out how to solve their Problem and warm your heart all at once.

http://www.amazon.com/Can-Play-Elephant-Piggie-Book/dp/1423119916/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396712078&sr=8-1&keywords=can+i+play+too

While I love how funny these books are and how kids can connect to them, I really love that Mo writes books that can be used for many things in a classroom. All of his books are really great for working on fluency and how to read dialog. These books are great for preforming fun little plays in small groups and they are a fun read aloud at the end of the day. Something I would really like to do in a classroom if I had maybe first grade would read one Piggie and Elephant book every week. I would start on Monday by reading it aloud and then I would talk about the lesson that was taught by the book. On Friday I would have the kids journal about how they would handle the situation that Piggie and Elephant were in. I think that this would be fun for the kids, but I also think that this would be a great way to have kids learn what it means to be a good friend. My book buying goal for the summer is to own all of Mo's books before I go into student teaching in the fall. You never know when they may come in handy!

I wanted to let you know that if you like how I review books you can follow me on good reads. I am under my name Cara Farmer (here's the link in case you want to follow https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/16209611-cara-farmer ) I also wanted to let you know that if you are an Educator this coming week at Books A Million you can get a 25% discount on anything that you buy for your classroom. 

I hope to hear some comments from you all. What is your favorite Mo book? Do you have an author you love like I love Mo? Let me know! I would love to hear from you. As always I hope you and your children or students are having great reading adventures.

Happy Reading,

Ms Cara