I haven't done very much reading in the last two weeks. I've had some great professional development opportunities though! Two weeks ago I attend a math recovery training. It was amazing! Last week I attended the All Write Conference. It was also amazing!
So, what have I been reading? Well, my notes, for one thing! I have looked back at my notes from each workshop several times. There are just so many great things that I don't want to forget. I figure rereading will help commit the ideas to memory.
I was able to squeeze in two books this past week. The first I found in a library give-away stack at the end of the school year. It was a young adult chapter book that had been in our library but had never been checked out. Seriously! Not once! The name of the story is what really caught my attention though, Jake's Orphan. I'm not sure what it was about the title, but it grabbed me. The story, by Peggy Brooke, takes place in the 1920's (not my usual thing) and is about a young boy who is sent from an orphanage to live and work on a farm. The deal is, if the family likes the way he works, he will be adopted after one year. If they aren't satisfied with him, he returns to the orphanage. It is very different from what I am normally drawn to, but it was a good story and an easy read.
The next book is Vulture by April Pulley Sayre. I was lucky to hear April speak at the All Write conference. This was a book that she showed parts of and spoke about. I was hooked by the pictures, the easy text and the way the readers can interact with the text. I only wish I had gotten my hands on this book before the end of the school year. There were several boys in my last this year who would have LOVED this book.
This week:
I'm planning to dig into some professional reading with Katie Wood Ray's The Writing Workshop and Kathy Collins' Growing Readers. I also have Same Sun Here by Silas House & Neela Vaswani that I hope to start. HOWEVER, I have requested See You At Harry's from my library and when I get the call that it's in...everything else will be put on hold. I've been waiting to get my hands on that one after hearing so much about it!
Good luck on your reading adventures this week. That is a great list. I get the, "everything else will be put on hold," should SEE YOU AT HARRY'S comes in. That is high on my list of priorities as well,(when I can get one)!
ReplyDeleteThey Sayre book looks great, as all her books are I think. I loved Same Sun Here, a very sweet book & unusual in the letter writing. But, See You At Harry's is a priority, it's great. Thanks for sharing about the other book too Robin. What a sad thing children are subjected too sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI love professional development! It is so much fun to learn and grow- reading notes is so reading :)
ReplyDeleteI cannot wait until you read See you at Harry's- it is so brilliant.
Happy reading this week! :)
You sure have a great collection of professional texts to dive into this summer. Happy reading!
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