Wordless Wednesday

Techie Tuesday

OK you all... if you are NOT on Shelfari yet- what are you waiting for?
If you read books- you need to be on Shelfari.
If you like to keep track of books read- you need Shelfari.
If you like to keep lists of books you want to read some day- you need Shelfari.
If you like to set reading goals- you need Shelfari.
If you like to rate books- you need Shelfari.
If you have friends who read- you need Shelfari.
See- you just need Shelfari!

I don't know what I used to do before this site. It's time for you to get hooked too! Check it out.
It will take you about 5 minutes to set it up for yourself and you can track so much of your reading. Be sure to follow my reading too!
Find me- Leach's Literacy Training!
Happy Reading!
Happy, Happy Shelfari!

I'm Teaching KIDS Tomorrow

Oh I'm so excited! I'm going to teach KIDS tomorrow! Real, live kids!

I've been asked to come and be a guest reader in a classroom. I think they just expect me to read a few books- but the teacher in me can't JUST do that! Oh boy.... here's what I have planned!

I've started reading Donalyn Miller, you know the Book Whisperer's, second book Reading in the Wild.

I'm already loving it and I'm only on Chapter 2! (Which reminds me of a point in her first chapter-making TIME for reading and I am going to make some time to read Chapter 2 tonight!)

She has reminded me that we have to not only teach kids how to read, but how to love reading and how to incorporate reading into their lives, now and forever.  Her whole book is about how to cultivate readers in the wild- readers for life!

So I want to share my reading life with this group of firsties tomorrow.  The first thing I did to prepare for my "lesson" was walk around my house to "find" all the things I read.
I created a pretty large stack...

Sight Seeing Book
Books for School
Books for Work
Magazines
Journals for Work
iPad
Cookbook
In addition to the stack I wrote a list of my electronic reading life too- because these things can't be packed in a bag...
Blogs
Facebook
Twitter
Emails
Texts

I want to show these young readers all the things I read in my life and ask them to talk about all the things they read.  Next I am going to read them the book Read Anything Good Lately: 

It is an ABC through all the things readers can read.  

Following this book will be another book by one of my favorite authors, Todd Parr. I love his simple stories and Reading Makes You Feel Good is another good one for sharing a love for reading with young readers. 

There's a lot more I'd like to do, but I was only given 30 minutes. IF, and that's a big IF, but if there's time left at the end, I plan to read my favorite book from my childhood too... just seeing the cover of this book makes me happy! Does anyone out there know this book with Grandma Tildy?

Currently January

Let me start by saying, I AM SO LATE WITH THIS! But just pretend it is 3 weeks ago!

Happy NEW YEAR Y'ALL!

Another month of blogging where I admit- if it weren't for Farley and her Currently Linky, I would not have written anything! For realz! I am such a bad blogger. But alas, that was the past, and while I might not get any better at blogging regularly in 2014, I will try. I really will try.

So let's do this. First can I get a WHOOP for my Aggies and a Smell the ROSES for my Spartans? Both of my teams won their bowl games. It is a good day for this college football fan for sure.

Listening: My dogs are the cutest darn things! They are all around me right now in dreamland. 

Loving: It is almost Friday! Lord LOVE Friday! And this week was a short one- MLK, a snow day, and a late start!  I still can't wait for FRIDAY!

Thinking: See... this is SO OLD! It is January 23rd now. HA! January 6th has come and gone- now I'm thinking about PD day for February 14th! Yes- it's kind of sick right? Who puts Valentine's Day and PD day together? I HEART PD I guess! 

Wanting: The good thing is I'm only cooking for one these days- J. is out of town for work.  Dinner can be a bowl of cereal if I want it to be! 

Needing: It's sad as a teacher when you DON'T want snow days because you have too much work to do getting ready for PD Day (see above) and teachers I know in DC say they need to have school because they have assessments to do! MOY/TRC baby! I am so excited to see these scores. I've had many dreams about crying for happiness at the improvements across the district. Alas, I remind myself that true change takes more than 4 months. 

Memory: Jeff's sister gave Nerf guns to the kids for Christmas! The kids didn't know what to do with them until the adults showed them how! I haven't laughed that much in so long. Running around the house- hiding behind doors and in corners. The kids running alongside and collecting the ammo for us to reload! And- for the record- those little Nerf bullets HURT when they hit you at close range! I think I still have a welt... my husband was in trouble for that shot for sure! 

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

http://www.nsba.org/Board-Leadership/SchoolBoardRecognitionPrograms/RecognitionMonth.html

Thumbs UP Thursday

So I'm neck deep in creating PD... AGAIN. I swear it's all I do these days. Some days I love it, and some days... well... I'm just not feeling it. 

Today however, I'm having a great time finding ideas for teachers in DC related to fluency and their Fluency Work Station. And in doing so, I found this! Those of you that do Listen to Reading and the Daily 5- you need this site! 

Hold onto your hat, gloves, earmuffs, and scarves! (It's cold out there eh?) 

Storyline Online!  

There are celebs reading books for kids! F-R-E-E! Oh yeah! Thumbs UP Thursday! Don't make fun of me if I am the LAST to know about this! 

My favorite is Betty White reading Harry the Dirty Dog! 

Have fun with this teachers! 

December Currently

December? What? Really? NO WAY! Goodness I say that every month and I'll say it again in January! Wait and see...

Listening: I seem to always be traveling when I blog these days. It's the only time there isn't laundry to do, things to clean up, and the list continues. And of course, some good music from back in the day is good blogging background music.

Loving: Oh yes! I was home in Michigan for a few short hours! All my favorite restaurants! So much good food- and so little time!

Thinking: Goodness I'm tired! So tired! I see an early bedtime in my future.

Wanting: I was at home in Michigan and leaving town was sad. I was also at a conference on my MSU campus and I never had a chance to STEP FOOT on it. Thought I'd go out the back door at lunch and walk along the Red Cedar River... but that never happened.  Oh well- I came home with a new t-shirt and a new coffee mug from my alma mater.

Needing: For sure- only got five hours of sleep. It was H-A-R-D to get up the next day.

Favorite Tradition: I love decorating the Christmas tree- mostly because I love all of the individual Christmas tree ornaments that decorate it. I have been collecting them over the years from vacations and exchanging them with friends. I smile with every one I hang and text the friend or family members that are attached to each ornament.  I think every year the tree gets prettier and prettier and my memories make me happier and happier.

Travel Brochure Menu

I know I am early... but this is a bit of a CELEBRATION! I currently have had 24,976 (make that 24,979 just while I was typing) visits to by blog! This is to CELEBRATE 25,000 (which I might get by the end of the week).

Now... 1,000 are probably from me. And 1,000 of them are probably from my best friend. But oh well- I am still going to CELEBRATE 25,000 visits with a FREEBIE! 

Think of a menu... lots of choices... lots of options... lots to eat. Using a menu in Literacy Centers (Work Stations if you are reading this in DC) is the same thing.  Lots of choices, options, and lots of things to do, which means YOU as the teacher can keep that activity in the Literacy Center (WORK STATION if you are reading this in DC) for a very, very, very long time! That to me says- go to HAPPY HOUR 'cause your work in centers (Stations-DC) is D-O-N-E, done!

Margarita anyone?

Menus can be used at any Center (DC- what are they called?) Think Reading Menu, Writing Menu, Word Work Menu etc. and click here if you don't already have mine.

Now I want to introduce you to another kind of menu that uses an authentic informational text- travel brochures! Who doesn't want to grab them when you see them in a hotel lobby or at a gas station? Well now you have reason to! Gather up all the brochures you can.  All you need is a stack of brochures and this menu- and voila!

Margarita anyone?  Cheers!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things...

So I've got a few favorite things these days... and I thought I'd take a few minutes and share them with you! Maybe they will become your favorite things too!

Number 1:

PowToon! Have you seen this? It's so fun and so easy! And of course FREE- or I wouldn't like it. You can make fast and easy presentations/videos to jazz up your life! I am already thinking of some fun ones I want to make- they will be about Guided Reading, so that might not be as fun as I'd like to think-but still! Check it out! 

Number 2:

An APL (Assistant Principal of Literacy) in DCPS told me about this book this morning- and by 11:00 a.m. I was the proud owner. This book takes what we know about Balanced Literacy and good teaching and couples it with a fresh look at how we approach those things now in the light of the Common Core State Standards. Don't tell anyone, but it's gonna rock my world! I have already devoured the chapters on Guided Reading and my highlighter was put to work. Several of the quotes are already in my PowerPoint for use in January's PD Day in the District of Columbia. Woo hoo! Melissa is learning new things and gaining new ways to think about things I knew! 

Number 3:

Another book, yes, but a different topic! This book is a new take on Writer's Workshop. Well, not really a new take, but some reflection by teachers who have been doing it as long as I have! Literally- she is only a year older than me. So it is neat to see her take on things, her learning curve, her triumphs and trials.  My highlighter is at work again inside this text too! That feels good. It's been a while since I've had time to read professionally. It's a MUST if you ask me. So I'm going to see if I can finish these two by the end of November- worse case- by the New Year?! Wish me luck. 

Do you have a favorite thing? Don't keep it a secret! Tell me in a comment!