Random Sunday stuff

I randomly found this linky party and it is perfect for all the stuff swimming in my head right now, so I decided to join! 

{one}

 School is out! I'll be honest, I love summer, but I also love my job, the routine and my kids...so I'm still in that in-between phase of being excited about summer but being sad because I had to say good bye to my fab 5th graders. womp womp. Give me a few weeks, some pool time and a vacay and I'll be wishing for a longer summer. :) 

{two}

Tomorrow I start a new round of curriculum writing. It is seriously so instrumental in making me a better teacher because you really have to immerse yourself in the standards. It's hard work but I love my team! I'm ready to get started! 

{third}

Check out my "Books I Want to Will Read This Summer" stack! 

This actually isn't all of them since I left my 2014-2015 Bluebonnet books at school :( I am going to try to sneak in tomorrow and grab them. (Side question: Do you have to turn in your keys at the end of every year? We do and it always causes a minor panic attack for me because I can't get my stuff if I need it over the summer!) Anyway, what is in your "must read" stack for the summer? Before Jackson, I used to spend hours poolside reading, so this summer will be a little different but I still want to read as much as possible--no summer slide for me! :)

{fourth} 

My brother has started designing and formatting some stuff for TpT for me! (I know I've been saying this for a while but it's really happening)...My to-do list of stuff I want to make is insane but I have it bundled into more manageable pieces. If I get it all done this summer, my life next school year will be monumentally easier. So get ready Mrs. Davis--our pedicure and planning sessions will start soon! :) [[Mrs. Davis is the amazing 5th bilingual reading teacher at my school and she is going to mirror my products, but in SPANISH!]]

{fifth}

I get to go to a reading conference with Donalyn Miller on Friday. Be jealous.

That's all for now! I'm totally digging the randomness of this "smorgasbord" linky. 

Reading in the Wild--You GOTTA read this!

Ok, I have been a total blogging slacker...but for good reason. I have been completely absorbed in reading. Seriously. I am reading this book

for a book study with several reading teachers, interventionists and librarians around our district and it has impacted me immensely. Not only have I received no less than a thousand ideas I want to implement or adapt for my own classroom (seriously...a thousand), it has reawakened the wild reader in me! I have read 3 books for pleasure in the past 2 weeks. Now, that may not sound like a lot but I have an 8 month old, I'm co-directing a play with 5th graders AND it's the end of the year. See, now you can be amazed. :)

This is an absolute MUST READ. Go get it now. 

Ok, now on to the fun stuff I've been reading: 

These books are GREAT! I was not expecting them to be this good and frankly, I only read them because one of my students insisted they were awesome. (He was right, but please don't tell him...it'd totally go to his head!) Besides funny (sometimes cheesy) little side jokes, the actual story is really great. I highly recommend these books to upper elementary kids. 

Ok. This book. Seriously. Just. I can't even explain. This book was such a surprise. I ordered it on a whim from Scholastic and I read this beauty in 2 days. My kids were dying to know what it was about and why I wanted to have extended independent reading time. It's about this girl who accidentally meets a boy via email--he sent his email to the wrong address (not exactly the best book for teaching internet safety, but you've gotta read it!). I would love to give you more info or a more complete summary but I promise, after the first page, you will be hooked. My partner teacher (the Math and Science teacher) has been cursing me the last two days because she has stayed up late reading it. I totally think it will be a movie soon. 

And now, I'm reading this: 

My partner teacher from last year (I seriously love that I have other book people that teach with me!) texted me last weekend and insisted I start this book immediately. I read the first 150 pages in two nights, then one of my terrible, horrible, no good students RUINED the ending for me. Ok, my student isn't terrible and horrible, she's actually awesome, but that stinker ruined the book for me, because she was telling me how someone else ruined the ending for her. Life is so unfair sometimes. {sigh}

I still want to finish it because I am not a book abandoner by nature and it is really good so far. Plus, if I want to see the movie, I have to read the book first! :) 

So, that's the reason for my blogging absence. Books. I mean, that's an acceptable reason, right? 

I'm curious: Have any of you read any of Donalyn Miller's books? What'd you think? What was your biggest "aha!" from them? AND, what are you wild readers, reading? 

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