Last Mini Vacation Of The Summer!

Well everyone, I'm feeling a little better with this bronchitis. It's still here a bit but hopefully gone soon. Thanks to everyone that has wished me well. The last time I posted I mentioned how I was going to read The Book Whisperer: Awakening The Inner Reader in Every Child, by Donnalyn Miller. Well, I'm just about finished with it and I am really impressed with this book. It's written very well and is a fun read.

Three Big Ideas From This Book:

*Reading should be fun and exciting!

*Students need choice!

*There are no "struggling" readers..just dormant, underground, and developing. 

(Loved these terms she used..she went into detail and examples of each of these types of readers, these three terms are much more positive!)

The BIG idea I agree with Donnalyn is students should have choice. They NEED choice! If a child feels as though reading is "work" there is no joy in that. She goes into examples of interest surveys that students complete at the beginning of the year to readers notebooks. Donnalyn also goes into how she as a child discovered the love of books. It was an enjoyable read and I reccomend it to anyone who is looking to revisit how they teach their reading workshop. Donnalyn teaches 6th grade, I teach 5th..I found it to be a great fit. I think any grade level would benefit from this.

The first day of school is approaching (the end of the month) so my fiance and I went on our last little mini vacation of the season! Maine is a large state, I'm from Western Maine and have never traveled too far East. Well, we went on a road trip....and four hours later we arrived in blueberry country! Check out some of the pictures: 

We then made it to Beals Island, a small lobstering village! It was so beautiful and fun to watch the boats. I enjoyed walking on the beach when the tide was out looking at shells. So beautiful!

 We also went to Boston, MA for two days.. I rode the T for the first time! 

Phew..after four days of road trips I am ready to do a little refocusing on the teaching front. Many of the blogs I follow have already started school. I have a few more weeks to go. I'm at an interesting place currently with my classroom...I'll be posting more soon! I'm glad to be back and to have 33 followers! Can't wait to reach 50..100..?? :)