Don't believe my heart will be left there but I'm going to SF!

It's been a wild week!  Started off with my mission to figure out how to make it to San Francisco for the  ALA Annual Conference and with some emails and phone calls, it happened!  The lead to me leaping and jumping the rest of the week!  I purchased my tickets Thursday morning and didn't touch the ground all day.  I will be at THE NEWBERY BANQUET, cheering and crying and laughing and who knows what, right there for KWAME!  We only had 400 11 and unders shouting "Kwame! Kwame! Kwame!"  I can't imagine what 1,000 will sound like?  (Or would they be a bit more reserved???  I know I will be shouting it regardless!) AND I will be at the CSK AWARDS!  I'll tell you what, I love Jackie Woodson--and really, that's another committee I'd like to be on some day as well.  So yeah, it was tough to be grounded this week.

The Greater Capital Region Teacher Center is funding part of my trip as professional development to help me teach a class on the Newbery in the fall!  I'm so excited for this opportunity!  It will be an insane Fall (daughter's Bat Mitzvah, NYLA in Lake Placid, AASL in Columbus, OH) but those will all enhance the teaching of the class!  I just wish ALA Midwinter (in Boston in 2016!) wasn't so early (January 8-12)! That's insane!  We're going to have to start our Newbery project in October!

I had some time to really dig into my Junior Library Guild box of books later in the week and I LOVE them all!  The highlights are:

Matthew Burgess's book on ee cummings illustrated by Kris Di Giacomo.  Yeah, ee cummings used to be my favorite poet of all time  (like we read one of his poems at our wedding even) until I met this guy with the initials, KA.

Then there was this one, Roger is Reading a Book.  It's new to us in the US this year and is funny! The illustrations actually remind me of Christoph Neimann.  The ending made me laugh out loud, for real!

Another great book was a beautiful biography, Talkin' Guitar by Robbin Gurley, on Doc Watson. I used to listen to a bluegrass show on WRPI every  Sunday morning called "Sunday Morning Coming Down" and they played Doc Watson all the time. The illustrations in this book are gorgeous and a great introduction to a musician I am sure not many of my students have heard of.

There was yet another beauty of a biography in my box this week about a patriot who baked gingerbread for Revolutionary War soldiers. A fun and fascinating read that made me want to eat some gingerbread, of course! 

There were other gems in the box, including Completely Clementine, a new graphic novel with a rutabaga as the central character and more! This really was a great month for Junior Library Guild! I hope I get to see them at ALA to tell them so in person. 

It was field day on Wednesday and Mrs. Donato jumped with me after school because we were twinning orange bandanas.

Mrs. Ciampoli and Mrs. Nolan's first graders are almost done with poetry. The zoo projects are coming along and Mrs. Segarra's class started animal research. 

Beginning Monday I will start chaperoning some classes down to the public library. A nice little walking field trip, although the uphill on the way back could be a good workout for some! 

2 1/2 more weeks of school and then ALA!!! San Francisco or BUST!