The Book Search

I'm still digging through all the new titles in my library and not to brag, but boy, did I make some great choices! The first one is a picture book called "Egg Nature's Perfect Package" by Steve Jenkins.  I think Steve Jenkins is a genius.  His other books (like "What do you do with a tail like this?" or "Eye to Eye") have impressed me and my students for quite some time, but I picked this one up today during our free reading time during my fourth grade book club (I need to model for them, which is how I justify reading during the school day!).  I started reading and I don't think I even got to the second page before I started looking around for someone to show it to.  You have to know that this kind of behavior makes me insane when the kids do it (Look!  Look at this!  Oh my gosh, you have to see this!  Wow, can you believe this?) and I COULD NOT STOP MYSELF.  By the third or fourth page (when he's comparing the size of giant squid egg, ...

A few months ago, I was approached by one of my colleagues to see if I wanted to help her teach an all day class through an organization called SEFLIN .  If you don't know it, SEFLIN is a group that supports libraries in Southeastern Florida by providing training both online and in person.  I've taken some really great classes with them and so I jumped at the opportunity to teach one, especially face to face.  Our topic was "Using Technology to support the library program" and we had a blast putting it together.  My colleague, Michelle Cates, is the media specialist at Freedom Shores Elementary, and this girl has got it going on.  She is doing some really amazing projects with her elementary students so it was fun to think up new projects that I'm going to do with my own students.  One of my favorite things that Michelle talked about were brain breaks.  My brother is an occupational therapist in eastern NC and this is something he's been supporting in ...