Baby You Can Drive My Car

 

I love road trips. Period. There is nothing better than packing up your car, pulling out of the driveway and heading to a destination multiple states and hundreds of miles away from your zipcode. For years, I would drive my kids from upstate New York to North Carolina for some cousin time.  We termed it "Road Camp." The first year we read about this place called Wright's Dairy-Rite off of Exit 222 on I81 in Virginia in "Diners Drive-Ins and Dives." We had to stop. Moving forward, we couldn't drive south without pulling up and ordering lunch in Staunton, VA.

Ahhh...I am so looking forward to more long car rides in the future. Until then, I will have to be happy with reading about them.

The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise

Dan Gemeinhart's adventure of 12 year old Coyote, her dad, Rodeo, on the ultimate road trip from Florida to Boise in their bus, Yager, was a favorite of so many of us last year.  Since we've been quarantined, Dan started sharing Coyote's story aloud.  Here is chapter 1 but you can find more chapters as part of Dan's Coyote Sunrise Book Club on YouTube.

Thanks to Henry Holt for posting this guide on how to make a memory box/treasure chest.  Not only does it pair well with Coyote Sunrise and is perfect for today's world, it is also is a great segue into the next road trip book I am loving right now.

Clean Getaway

I listened to the audio of Nic Stone's book this week and loved it.  It made me want to grab my 95 year old Super Bubby in New Jersey and drive. Somewhere.  She always talks about living in Missouri before my grandfather went oversees.  That's where she learned to drive.  Or we could stay close take a short drive to the Jersey shore.  And then make a treasure chest. And drink hot chocolate.

Scoob and his G'ma are on the ultimate road trip through the south trying to retrace her steps with his grandfather back in the 60s when it wasn't even legal for the two of them to be together.  Even now dark skinned Scoob with his white grandmother get some looks. This book will inspire you to do some research when you are finished-Medgar Evans, Loving vs. Virginia, Emmett Till, the Green Book--are just a few. Here's a full discussion guide. And finally, you may even want to watch the 2018 movie (PG-13) "Green Book."

PS-Dion Graham has many accolades for his audio books. This one is going to get him another one.

Sign Off

Seriously, you will never be able to look at a road sign the same way after reading this book.  It is so good with a great surprising ending and I promise I would say all these wonderful things about this book even if Steve and I weren't friends.  Today, as we are quarantined to walks around our own neighborhoods, go on a hunt and check out the signs. What do you notice? What stories can you make up about the figures on the signs? Is there something about a sign that you never saw before? I'll be completely honest, there is a sign I passed all the time that I never knew was there until I saw it in Sign Off. And the school sign?! We can discuss that for hours.  Well, hours is what we have now so go check it out and let me know your thoughts!

Until then, I will continue to be positive and dream of my next road trip. We're not putting many miles on our vehicles these days so an extra 1500+ this summer or fall won't hurt. xo

The week BEFORE the last week of school

A new school week is about to begin.
Celebrations.
Giggles.
Joy.
Antsy kids (and teachers) ready for break to begin.

As far as the week that just passed, I want to share three highlights with you:

Phone a Friend

If you read no further, please check this out. OMG! Kwame Alexander called me for his finale of his Facebook show, #Bookish! I was SO NERVOUS!  I don't even think I sounded coherent or intelligent.  Let's just say thank goodness for the editor!  Kwame wanted me to recommend one book for lower elementary.  One book?!  The pressure to pick just ONE book.  Well, I picked Debbi Michiko Florence's Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen*.  I think this is a great chapter book for beginner readers.  I read it aloud to the first graders and we were on the edge of our seats at the end of every chapter.

Then, Friday Kwame was on NPR.  You, too, can get in on the poetry...

Oh, for the love of reading

We are nearing the end of our Newbery book groups.  What a success! We had 16 groups lead by many different people including a recess monitor, principal, assistant superintendent, PE teacher, library volunteer and a secretary. End of book parties began happening including my own with cream puffs, homemade salsa and guacamole with my Lucky Broken Girl kids.

Then Mrs. Kelliher, our fifth grade math teacher, started a group with Someday Birds.  We showed the trailer (included at the end of the blog) and kids put their name in a hat to be picked for this Tuesday/Thursday lunch group.  Only six got in, but one bought the book with his own money so he could join, too.


I got this email at about 8pm one night from our Special Ed teacher:

So I approached her about leading a group after school.  Again we showed the book trailer (also at the end of this post) and this time so many kids wanted to sign up that we ended up writing down the kids who didn't. Kids were asking when they were going to find out and you would have thought we were announcing the lottery winners when we told them who got in. Oh, for the love of reading and the power of the Newbery project.

I Love You Like a Pig

Mrs. Kosinski's first graders are coming up about once a week now to read a book and then do an activity related to the book.  We're calling it #ReadItMakeItTakeIt. It's been great--we've tied shoe laces, sewed buttons, made mochi (*see above under "Phone a Friend) and on Friday we made a special book for a friend that is moving to another district.  We read Mac Barnett and Greg Pizzoli's I Love You Like a Pig and then wrote our own similes for people we love. Tomorrow I will upload them into Calameo and everyone will be sent the digital copy.  The book will be dedicated to Eva. We are so sorry she is moving.  We love her like a juicy strawberry in June.

Mr. Slim Goodbody

I almost forgot we had an assembly on Friday that I highly recommend. Mr. Slim Goodbody kept students from K-5 AND adults entertained for over an hour!  I'm not sure who else could do that.  Kwame, maybe?  We were all laughing, attentive, engaged...it was great.  Kudos to the PE Department (my mentee included!) and the PTO for inviting him to CES. Here's the link to the website for the information on the assemblies.  Of course, I took a leap with him.

Now on to this week.  I can only dream about what's in store...

Book Trailers

Some Kind of Courage by Dan Gemeinhart

It's October 1890 in Mission, Washington and the only loved one Joseph has left is his pony, Sarah, until she is unrightfully sold.  This is Joseph's story.  His story of a survival quest to get her back by foot, over roaring rapids, through forests and conquering so much more.

By his side from almost the get go, is Joseph's new friend, a Chinese boy who speaks no English, Ah-Kee.  When they first meet, Joseph and Ah-Kee, in their native tongues, share their stories and how they've got to where they are on that day.  Joseph says, "I sure enough didn't know a word of what he was telling me, but I reckon it had to do with the same kind of stuff stuck inside me:  family, and things that were lost, and having no place to call home." (p. 34).  This is the story of Joseph finding those things that were lost and his search for a new place to call home.

A grizzly mama, a drunk, a new baby, a roaring river, an outlaw and more.  This is a story where your heart will beat faster and faster and you will never be able to predict what comes next. In the fall when my students are critiquing Newbery 2017 contenders and finding prominent themes, they will have many to choose from in this book:  courage, perseverance, friendship, adventure, love, and, of course, family...Joseph is fighting for his family through and through.  "I do have a family, sir," he tells the outlaw, Caleb Fawney. "They're just all dead.  But they're my family just the same..."(p.195)

Mr. Davidson, one of the many Joseph meets along the way, got it straight when he told Joseph, "It's your heart.  It don't beat right.  Hearts always go like this: ba-pum, ba-pum.  But with yours I can only hear the pums, not the bas's.  You are missing half your heart..." (p. 158)  I'm telling you, when you read this book make sure you have set aside enough time to read it in one sitting and don't be alarmed if you only hear the pums until the end.  I'm almost positive I was missing half my heart while I was following Joseph on his journey.

I cried. I smiled. I even giggled.  But most of all, I rooted.  I rooted for Joseph (and Ah-Kee) to find his Sarah, his home and his family and guaranteed, you will, too.

This was 10:00 am--Notice I had just begun.
The rest of my day was shot because I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN.