Reliable Read Alouds --Chapter Books

 

Since I went back to work, I'm looking at what read alouds I can cover this coming school year. In the 4 months I was in my position this past year, I read them First Light and When You Reach Me. Both I HIGHLY recommend for the 4th grade crowd. Since our students "loop" and we do combined grade levels, I won't read the same books again. But I've read these to other classes in the past and they're always a hit. 

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane- This is a masterpiece. It's so incredibly sad and and makes you ponder in an uncomfortable way. I"ve read it to multiple classes and don't know if I can do it again. I read it to 3rd grade two years ago.

Penny From Heaven- Also a masterpiece. I've read this to myself more than once and also to one 4th grade class in Alaska. There's a lot of history that goes along with it, so it takes some explanation. I think this might be great toward the end of the school year. 

The Bears on Hemlock Mountain- Wells read this with me two years ago and my 3rd graders read it as a little novel study this past year. Very historical in its context so it takes some explantation, but it's absolutely perfect for sequence, problem/solution, drawing conclusions, making predictions. Short and sweet. 

The Report Card- Andrew Clements is the master of the school story (and has a book called The School Story) but The Report Card is engaging and brings up all kinds of questions surrounding "does school really matter?". I read it to one 4th grade class in Colorado, I believe. 

Turtle in Paradise- By the same author of Penny From Heaven, but is shorter. It's more nuanced and needs more explaining (takes place in Key West in the 1930s) and has slightly more adult themes (poverty, not knowing who your father is, a derelict mother who sends you away so she can enjoy her honeymoon). But it's about kids on an adventure and the students always think it's funny. 

Real quick:

Can we talk about how book covers used to mean something? Now everything is identical with a gamified look. Gag. 

Bunnicula- I've read this EVERY year I taught 4th grade. It's such a favorite of mine and I'll read it this fall. 

Number the Stars- I prefer to do this as a novel study (I own a set of 30....), so maybe in the spring? I did read it aloud to one class in Alaska and they adored it. But I think I've done it most years I've taught 4th grade. 

Bob- I read this to one 3rd grade class in Missouri and they really enjoyed it. So did I. It's pretty new. It's got a magical twist and kids like that. I think I will do this in January? 

Because of Winn-Dixie- I have read this more times than I can count and I don't actually like it (funny, right?). It's such an important story for the 8-9 age group and we will probably read it this year. I might start the year with it. I just absolutely can't stand it LOL. 

The Mayflower Treasure Hunt- I read this during November while I teach them about the first Thanksgiving and I pair it with What Was The First Thanksgiving?

If you have any middle grade read aloud suggestions, I'm all ears! I'm always looking for something to add to my library. 

What to Buy/What to Skip

BUY: I bought Sutton these shoes from Target--The See Kai Run Basics line from Target is superior to the regular SKR website. Half the price, better quality in my opinion. 

SKIP: I wanted to get her these Adidas but $45+ seems like a lot for 4 year old shoes? She doesn't need Adidas. She just needs quality shoes. 

(These were $60 on Amazon but I really love them.)

SKIP: I splurged on this two years ago, used it less than 5 times, and hated it. It makes your hair greasy. Do not recommend. 

(bad pic but I already threw it away)

BUY: I've been using this since 2007 to control flyaways in the front. Cannot recommend enough. 1/3 the price of the B&B invisible oil too. 

SKIP: Aldi creamer is terrible. It's why I still have to shop at Walmart even though Aldi is cheaper, overall. 

BUY: V8 Energy Drinks are really tasty, if you're into that kind of thing. I don't do energy drinks very often. 

SKIP: Bloom tastes like a chemical cocktail by comparison. (We bought these for a trip.)

SKIP: Bubbl'r is the worst of all. I'll never understand how anyone can drink them. They taste terrible. (This was free at Target one day.)

My villain origin story on hating Bubbl'r: They sold them in the school cafeteria during elementary lunch (2 years ago). I tried to explain that they have caffeine --it says equivalent to a cup of coffee on the can-- and no one would listen to me because the upcharge on these made the school money. My 8-9 year old students would be sipping Bubbl'r on their way out ot recess and then they were unmanageable and falling asleep by 2pm. Again, no one cared. 

BUY: I have this issue where I buy bulbs of garlic and forget I have it or don't use it all in time and it goes bad and then there's garlic paper all over the cupboard. I saw this for less than $2 in the store last week and thought it was a fantastic compromise. Totally worth it. I just keep it in the fridge. 

SKIP: Don't buy these chicken nuggets. The texture is the most unsettling experience. If you want this brand, buy the regular nuggets and if you want dino nuggets, buy any other brand. Gag. 

Currently. In July.

Sparkling- The pool is sparkling. Honestly, this is the summer of swimming and every bit of energy is going into this swimming pool. 

That, which you can see in this picture, is a hole in the liner. We are now sure the owner knew about it. The tell-all on this house is coming soon and let's just say it'll have more tea than Collin Gosselin's upcoming book. 

Grilling/Cooking- These are my two go-to dinners for summer. Both just require grilled chicken: Lemon Chicken Pasta Salad and Grilled Chicken Orzo Salad. 

Heating Up- In lieu of complaining about the heat, I will...complain about the humidity? The sunshine? The UV ratings? 

I truly believe summer seasonal depression should be classified in the DSM-V. 

One month down.

Using- Or, trying to use my summer break effectively because I have a lot I want to do before August, but mostly I'm just dealing with this kind of stuff every day: repeating myself, preparing snacks, and arguing with small children. It's hilarious because I used to think summer would be easier when my kids were a little older. Nope. The last easy summer I had was the one where Sutton was a baby. 

My iPad screen shattered this week so the 4 year old has had no screen time :) I absolutely refuse to buy her a tablet. 

Celebrating- The state of Kansas added the certifications I completed in Missouri to my Kansas certificate. They weren't super nice and friendly about it but they couldn't argue so I'm counting this as a victory. The Seal of Literacy was two full years of work. Even though they don't put this on MO certificates (yet) or call it THE SEAL OF LITERACY, it's the same coursework. They are requiring it in KS now, so I'm glad I was able to transfer it. 

I have a lot of posts coming up next week: books, product reviews (what not to buy), and a recap of our Wyoming trip. I've been very out of sorts the last couple of weeks with traveling and feeling deluded about the fact that it's 95 degrees every single day. 

Happy 4th!

Linking up with Currently!

Summer Reading List (for kids!) and Why I Went Back to Work

 

free to download in my TPT store

We've absolutely lost the art of asking kids to read real books. 

In May, I found this great Youtube channel with a feature called First Chapter Friday. The host reads the first chapter of a classic-ish fiction book to kids in order to hook them and get them to want to read the whole book. Since I was only with my 3rd and 4th grade students for 3 months this year, I was only able to read them two chapter books as read alouds. I told them if I "had them for more time", these are the books I'd recommend because everyone should read them by the end of 4th grade. So I made a summer reading list! 

All of these can be found on the Youtube channel and I hooked those kids with these first chapters, for sure. Some of my students had already read a few so they were able to check those off the list immediately. 

 In addition, we watched the Disney version of The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler because I was using a novel study for it with a student. They absolutely loved it. And we also watched Rikki Tikki Tavi....We saw a fictional story about a character called Mongoose Man taking down a snake (long story) and I was like yeah, mongooses are the natural enemies of snakes and so we had to watch Rikki Tikki Tavi. They loved that too! (We did not read it...it's usually a middle school short story.)

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I thought I wrote a little bit about stopping homeschooling and going back to work but maybe I never did?  And to say I feel like a hypocrite and a fraud would be accurate. Or rather, maybe I only talked about it on Instagram? But, regardless, here's the explanation:

In January, we realized that we're likely going to retire here in Kansas. This is where he's stationed, this is where he'll finish his career (99% certainty) and we might as well settle in, right? We decided we'd buy a house and plan for next steps, such as what am *I* going to do? What are the kids going to do? All those big life decisions civilians usually have years to ponder must be made within weeks in the military life. 

I started looking around and thinking that I'd go back to work in the fall but there is no full-day pre-k in the state of Kansas' public schools. I'm not completely sold on the public schools at this point as a teacher and as a parent anyway so, okay, that's fine. But I couldn't take Wells to school if I got a job because there was nowhere for Sutton to go. Then, I couldn't work if I sent him to school anyway because Sutton would still be at home. It was a lot of inner turmoil. I could write some Big Thing about why I lost steam with homeschooling but, honestly, my kids just love going to school. I don't know what else to say about it. The co-op was a struggle because it gave them a taste of that organized learning and they wanted to go every day. Our co-op was only 3 times a month! It was a problem, you know? 

I had toured a private school last fall because I wanted Sutton to go to preschool when she was 4 (this coming fall). A fun fact is that private education is USUALLY the only place you can find full-day prek. Then Wells was like "why can't I go too?" --that's when I knew homeschooling had a shelf life for us.

There were signs.

I found out through a mom friend that this local private school would be hiring soon so I decided You know what, I'm gonna send them a resume and maybe get hired for next year. And, because it's a private school, I needed to see what the salary/tuition balance would look like. It's not like just enrolling your kid and pulling a paycheck. They have classroom size caps and all as well. It would have to be mutually beneficial to everyone for this to work out. 

Long story short, the principal called me the next day and asked if I was interested in next year or if I could start right away. They had an immediate opening. A teacher had left in October unexpectedly and the principal had been teaching the class. After a series of interviews and discussions and so much paperwork, I was hired. 

Wells was in the 1st/2nd grade class, Sutton was enrolled in all-day prek-3, and I had a class of ten (10) 3rd and 4th graders who hadn't had an assigned teacher for 4 months. The learning curve was STEEP. I mean, mountainous. It was the Swiss Alps. The first day I drove home thinking what did I do? and I legitimately regretted it for like 7 hours. But Wells and Sutton were SO HAPPY and JOYFUL and loved their first day and I knew I just had to keep going. (e.g. imagine 10 year olds who hadn't had structure or management or someone reliable day in and day out to teach them ->> that's a hard crowd to win over).

In addition, Scott was gone a lot this spring so it was a lot of pressure on me but it gave us a purpose each day. He also left this entirely up to me and I knew I could never ever (ever) complain about getting up early and going to work because he always offers me the out of you don't have to work if you don't want to. Alas, I like money, so I would rather contribute financially to the family if I can (sorry, it's the truth). 

Funny story: I did spend a lot of our homeschool mornings getting up between 8-9am while he took care of the kids' breakfast, etc and when I told him I was going to start getting up at 5am again, he didn't believe me and thought the very idea was hilarious. So it became a personal challenge of yes, I can do this. 

I started right after Valentine's Day and February/March/April was a blur. In May, I started plotting out/planning for next year. I won't go into deep details about everything I've been doing there --only other teachers would find it interesting-- but I am blown away the way the school has taken us in and made us part of their community. My kids are so loved and cared for there. It's not that different from our last school actually; Wells and Sutton have this ability to become the friendliest strangers anywhere they go. It truly feels like we've always been there. 

So, the short answer as to why I went back to work is that we decided to just settle in here. It's part of military life: if you never unpack, you never unpack. You have to unpack and build something for yourself wherever you go. I think a lot of spouses make the mistake of never doing that and are permanently miserable because of it. A spouse/friend gave me that advice years and years ago: you have to unpack, even if you're only there for a year and your husband rolls his eyes and complains about putting nail holes in walls. There's no alternative if you want to actually experience life along the way. 

Monday things.

1. 

Marines using crayons because that's where they rank in the academic level of things is one of my favorite military jokes

I can't even begin to dive into the details of everything lately, but this carousel on Instagram spoke to me: 

2. We went to a birthday party at a bowling alley yesterday. Wells got a strike the first time he ever threw a bowling ball. 

3. Our friends PCSed to a new state yesterday so we had one last weekend of swimming and playing. 

4. I placed an Aerie order last week and got 3 t-shirts and a pair of shorts for $60 total. Use the app! Shipping is free and you automatically get 10% off, in addition to any other discounts. 

The Easy Shorts were/are $15 and are perfection.  I got a medium and they're very comfy. The Everyday Tee is about $10 right now and I got this one in a small. 

My new room already had a mirror on the back of this door. 

5. I love these hydration packets. They're affordable and they are actually what my acupuncturist used to recommend back in Colorado. In the summer, I tend to undereat and under-hydrate because I have no routine. I started feeling it last week; I get very dizzy and almost develop a vertigo after spending days in the sun. Especially if I'm stressed and overwhelmed. This has happened to me for years, unfortunately, so I'm trying to just stockpile electrolytes this summer. 

I found my Simple Modern tumbler and was using it last week for the first time in a year+. It does NOT keep drinks as cold as a Stanley. I hate to say it, but Stanley wins. I don't have a Hydrojug, but I have a HydroFLASK and that thing is still the GOAT. Owala is somewhere in the middle. 

Books lately.

To say I've fallen behind on my yearly reading goal is an understatement. I usually pick things up in the summer though!

I've looked back through my posts and I cannot find any book updates since the beginning of February. So here we go....

***The theme is "lying", apparently.***

I gave Everyone is Lying to You 3 stars. I really enjoyed the beginning. I thought it was poignant and timely for this culture we live in. The end got a little out of control. It would've been 4-5 stars for me but it got a bit unnecessary (audio).

Count My Lies was really good. I can't remember why it didn't get 5 full stars but I read it compulsively over a couple of nights. It's free on Kindle Unlimited so you should grab it to read this week if you haven't yet! (BOTM hardcover)

I gave Read Between the Lies 5 stars without question. It was an insane psychological ride and I can't believe more people didn't rate it higher. If you like a slighty unstable narrator, this is for you. I couldn't put it down. (Kindle Unlimited)

It's Not Her was awful. I must've been feeling really generous on the day I gave it 2 stars. The system is rigged because this is not a good book. (BOTM hardcover...not linking it because I don't think you should read it.)

I generally like Robyn Harding's books and most are on Kindle Unlimited. I gave The Party 4 stars because it held my attention and kept me motivated to read after a very long dry spell (6 weeks maybe?) where I just couldn't find a book. (Kindle Unlimited)

John Marrs books are crazy and the beginning of this one started out really promising-like. I was seriously enjoying the audio of You Killed Me First and then it kind of went off the deep end for me. I don't think I finished it, but I invested a lot of time in the first half (his books are also pretty long) so I'm counting it. (Audible)

Freida McFadden's latest. I liked The Divorce and I read it in a day or two. I will say that the beginning is better than the end. It doesn't matter; I'll always pick up her books. (Kindle Unlimited)

Dan Gutman is a very reliable middle-grade author and I saw this recommended as a read aloud on a teacher's Instagram page. It came out a few years ago. I got it from the library and we listened to it in the car and Wells really enjoyed it. I would say it's great for audio or a read aloud. There were some weird things about it I DIDN'T like but you can read that in the reviews. Overall, I'd say Houdini and Me is good for middle-graders because it blends just the right amount of historical background with fictional/fantasy. (Libby audio)

So that takes me up to ...12 books for the year so far. Not great, Bob. 

But I'm currently working my way through these:

I read A Wrinkle in Time back in 2011, so I'm counting it. We are listening to it in the car. 

Currently. In June.

Alright, let's get this out of the way. I hate summer. I just do. Stop. Don't tell me I'm "doing it wrong". I've experienced summer in 6+ different states at this point and there's no good "summer". I am an absolute downer when it comes to summer and I don't care who knows it. 

I count down to the days getting shorter (12 more days!) because then at least I know time is moving in the right direction and also Labor Day Weekend comes as sweet relief. Memorial Day Weekend seems like an opening ceremony of sorts to a game I don't want to attend. I do often think that September probably has the best weather but it gets such a bad rap because we're all sick of summer weather by then that we don't appreciate it. 

Anyway. 

Enjoying: 

I reread the Shopaholic series every summer. 

It's been my consistency for probably 15 years. 

Wearing: Bouts of negativity and anxiety. Months ago, I mentioned that I woke up with this verse in my head and it just stuck with me. This happens a lot; I'll wake up with a phrase or Bible verse in my head and it'll just be there as a mantra for days. Unfortunately, the week we closed on this house, I knew it was a "get through it situation" and we're still in the throes of getting through it with a LOT (LOT) going on and that particular week I woke up with "embrace the suck" in my head. Because this is the military life and if you don't embrace the annoying, soul-sucking details of it that every civilian takes for granted --constantly keeping track of utility turn-on/off schedules, "where is ______?", trying to pack and move for the 2nd time in 11 months -- you will never get anything done. That stuck in my head for 2 weeks, at least. 

Now, we moved a lot before we had kids. Moving with kids is a WHOLE OTHER LEVEL. Because they're always hungry and always looking to be entertained while you are fighting for your life trying to shove furniture through doorways. 

Watching: Sutton's dance recital. It blows me away how well she did and how much she enjoyed it. There were tears for the first few lessons but there's a strict structure to the studio she attended and it worked out for the benefit of the kids. I fear we will be signing up again in the fall. 

Listening to: Like everyone, I'm on board with that Puerto Rico song. But I've been on an audiobook kick lately. At this moment, I'm listening to Sutton watch some cartoon on my iPad and Wells watches Minecraft-gameplay on the TV.

Again, this is a fighting for your life situation, being in military transitions with kids along. 

Buying: I got Scott this for Father's Day. Because I'm doing a lot of stuff around here but I refuse to cut grass and he spends most of his summers hopping from property to property maintaining the grass. 

And now Hodge Podge, just for fun:

What is something you find extremely difficult?

Putting away clean laundry. Keeping plants alive. 

{some quote from Fitzgerald}...how does summer make you feel?

See the introduction to this post. (Fitzgerald was a real piece of work by the way)

Pickles?

I like dill pickles on hamburgers. I like sweet pickles on barbecue sandwiches. 

June weddings?

Nope. We got married in September. Teachers do usually clamor to get married in June, but it wasn't an option for us. Military couples get married within the one or two week time frame that suits their schedules. I actually feel like I've blacked out about a lot of things in recent years but the last wedding we went to was at the end of July. 

Say something nice.

....I appreciate those, like Amy, who blog regularly and inspire me to keep going in this season of life. I think my problem is that I try to act and think like someone who hasn't lived in 10 houses and 6+ states in 16 years.