I’m just really enjoying the holiday break, and today I’m reflecting on reading aloud The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane with my 5th graders recently. We really enjoyed reading this book as a class. The students loved the story, … Continue reading →

I enjoyed a nice visit to my local Indie bookstore this weekend, and picked up (among other books) a copy of Ann Martin’s Book, Rain Reign. The main character, fifth grader Rose Howard (her name is a homonym) is on … Continue reading →

I was thinking about how grateful I am to be able to teach with real children’s literature every day. Two books that I recently added to my classroom library are Ivan:The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla, by … Continue reading →

    This week it is the beautiful book by Louise Erdrich, The Birchbark House. If you have never read this book, you must put it on your “Books to Read” list. It is often called “the book that takes … Continue reading →

The Magician’s Elephant
Continue reading →

In my 5th grade classroom, we are currently reading The Tiger Rising, by Kate DiCamillo, as a central text in our character unit of study. I have decided to engage the class in a mini author study, so I have … Continue reading →

  This has been a hard month so far, but things are starting to look up. I am sharing some old favorites today: This is definitely the year of Kate DiCamillo, and I continue to be in awe of how … Continue reading →

Once again, I am making an attempt to be more consistent with my blog posts. Life has a way of getting in the way sometimes, but I am finally getting a handle on how to best use blogging to share … Continue reading →

Today I am reading a beautiful picture book from the brilliant Nicola Davies called The Promise. This is a beautiful book to start the year off thinking about the big idea of “pay it forward” and also of ways to … Continue reading →