Currently missing my kiddos

Hello, friends! It is already time for another Currently... can you believe another month has come and gone? I swear the older I get, the faster time flies! No worries though, this is my favorite time of the year, so I certainly don't mind taking a moment to slow down to appreciate it. I just LOVE October, and after catching up on some of my blogging today, I can see that I am not alone in this.

I am excited to join Farley for another Currently linky! Be sure to stop by and visit all the amazing and diverse bloggers out there! Don't forget the rule of three!

Most of my Currently is self-explanatory, but I do want to go into a little detail about a sweet treat that I have discovered. I am so stoked to have found Planbook.com! It had not escaped my attention that a few teachers here and there have mentioned Planbook.com on their blogs, but I had not had a chance to explore it myself. Well, I finally took a moment to play with it, and I am totally loving it. I will keep you updated as I play and explore. 

Now...on to our CRAZY, busy week!

It was homecoming week here in Cabot...so that means Spirit Week!

All of the days were fun for the kiddos...I missed two of them though. I hated missing for one reason or another, especially since I missed out on some great pictures because of it.

I did manage to capture some cute, silly pics of our "shades" day...you know, our future's so bright we have to wear shades! Sweet kiddos! 

Some sweet girls sharing their shades! :)

 

In the middle of all of the Spirit Week craziness, we had our annual book fair. I know I have spoken in the past of my love/hate relationship with the book fair, but I guess each year it gets a little easier for me to get over the loss of all those bonus points. I always seem to find some great deals at our fair to help cushion the blow. haha

Check out what one of my kiddos bought me from the fair...

haha...Flamingos, Butterflies, and Zombies!
Do my kiddos know me or what?!

Look at those stacks of books...my kiddos collect their "to read" stacks in their cubbies, and these stacks become their future reading plans. This keeps them out of the library every other day ~ one of my pet peeves. When they finish one book, they have more than one backup waiting for them. When they get down to one or two books, we peruse the library together to create a new plan of reading ~ AKA a new stack of "to read" books. :)

As we continue to share and revisit personal narratives, we are planning and drafting our own. As we begin, it will be important for us to look carefully at narrowing our topic. Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee and The Screaming Mean Machine by Joy Cowley are two of my favorite ways to do this! I tell my kids to think small, but write big!

                    

 

I am totally loving our "twitter board." The kiddos are having fun with it, too! We have used it often as a quick exit ticket, but also for messages for our family...both grandparents for Grandparent's Day and parents for our first school Pep Rally. Below, the kiddos were asked to let their parents know how their fourth grade year is progressing so far. 

Speaking of our first Pep Rally...it was fun chance for our kiddos to share with their parents all they have accomplished so far. We had food, games, and time for the kiddos to bring their parents to their classrooms. 

It was fun to share with parents and just as fun to watch the kiddos share what has influenced them the most so far this year. Each kid shared something different without even realizing it, and it was fun to see. 

Even more...I love the visits from previous kiddos...

Our Common Themes in Literature display is growing... we have read tons of great mentor texts!

You can see from our morning messages, I had to be out two days this week. One for training and one to take Justin for his MRI. I sure miss my kiddos while I am gone, and boy, does it put us behind! We will have lots to do this week. I am so glad to have NO plans to be out this week. Fingers crossed that it stays that way!

 

Friday was the day I finally managed to get Justin in for his MRI. I have a feeling it will be good news, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. 

After leaving our appointment, we had to run a few errands, and we unexpectedly ended up at a Civil War battlefield, a pretty cool piece of history in Jacksonville. Crazy, I know...

I grew up not far from this site, and traveled over this bridge daily. It was nice to see the work that has been invested in marking and managing this historical site, Reed's Bridge Battlefield. 

It was also a fun time to share with Justin. We made a day of it; we don't often have this kind of alone time. Here he is resting his knee while I explored the site. I am not sure he enjoyed it as much as I did, hahaha... 

As we headed home, we stopped by to visit my mom and stepfather... just look at the beautiful new flamingo they gave me. I love it!

Justin ended his week standing on the sidelines. I think he is growing very tired of the knee drama and is very anxious to have it done with. I am just wanting my healthy son back. Whew...he is wearing me out. ;)

Holy cow...check out the creepy crawly visitor we had waiting on our door knob as we returned home from the Friday night game. I cannot tell you just how close Derrick was to wrapping his hands around this big ol' girl! He yanked his hand back at the last second, and knocked her down with a newspaper. This picture does not do justice to how big she was! So gross and creepy!

Just as I have asked my kiddos to set a reading goal of 40 independent books (inspired by the Book Whisperer!) I have set the same goal for myself, and I could not be happier that I did. I have loved all the new books I have read this year. 

Here is a wrap up for the last two weeks...cannot believe I forgot to post last week's books. 

I don't know if I could have a selection of books that are so different...

My latest  books include Finally by Wendy Mass, Strider by Beverely Cleary, The Fault in our Stars by John Green, The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer, and Ungifted by Gordon Korman. Although all of these books are so different, I loved them all. 

One of my kiddos unknowingly recommended Finally...she spoke so highly of it in our reader's notebook that I had to pick it up. (Thank you, Chloe!)  I am glad that I did...poor Rory seemed to have the most awful luck, but in the end she learned what was most important for her. Sweet story!

I cannot believe that I have just now read Strider. I had no idea it was a follow up to Dear Mr. Henshaw....I know...where have I been?! I picked this one up because many years ago we found a stray that Justin insisted we keep and name Strider. Now I know where he got his inspiration. I have a couple of kiddos in mind for this one!

The Fault in our Stars was such a moving story...I cried and cried, but I loved it at the same time. I fell in love with Augustus Waters! Just when I thought all I could do was cry, there was a bright note of humor and I would laugh out loud! LOVED it! This is not one for my kiddos, but I am so glad that I read it. 

The House of the Scorpion was an ALL TIME fave of Katie Byrd. She had raved about this one for years and finally recommended it to one of my precious kiddos last year. When she fell in love with it, I knew that I had to give it a try. Very dystopian...so you know that is right up my alley! I only hate that I waited so long to read it. There are some mature themes in this one, so I will only recommend it to a select few.  

Here is the notebook entry of one of my kiddos reading
The House of the Scorpion.

Last but not least was Ungifted! This reminded me so much of Korman's Schooled, and I loved it just as much! I love that each chapter is told from a different character's point of view! That is the same reason I fell in love with Schooled years ago. Both books provide a great look at theme, and both made me smile and laugh all the way through! Great reads for sure...I cannot wait to do a book talk on this one!

Oh my goodness....posting once a week makes for a very long post! If you have stuck with me this far, thank you!

Happy Reading, friends!