it's monday!

From Mandy:
I have hit the travel bug portion of my summer break!  Last week I was visiting with family in Alabama, this week I'm with Cheryl in Michigan for Choice Literacy workshops, and next week I'm cruising to the Bahamas!  My mind wanders way too much during audio books, so my reading time was a little limited last week. 
I finished:
The Fairy-Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm #1) by Michael Buckley - A new series to love!  I was lucky enough to pick up the next 3 books in the series when I visited one of my favorite book stores last week.  I'm pretty sure these will be a big hit in my classroom.

In Search of Mockingbird by Loretta Ellsworth - My favorite thing about this book was that it was set in the 80's!  I have a whole list of 80's fads that were mentioned, like crimped hair, jelly shoes with lacy socks, banana clips.

Currently reading:
Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage - I'm almost done with this and actually hope to finish it right after I'm done posting!  Mo, the main character, is my favorite kind of character... a quirky, spunky girl who learns about herself while taking control.  Coming to love Mo while reading this has me thinking about all those spunky girls and some new thoughts are still swirling about all of them...

From Cheryl:
I read started Divergent by Veronica Roth and couldn't put it down. It is filled with great writing & fabulous characters. I found myself wondering what faction I would have chosen, but I think I agree with Four, I want to be all five. Must find sequel.

Fourth Stall chapter 3. As recommendation from Mandy, I've picked this book up many times and was intrigued by the teaser on the back. I'm curious as to where this story is going when you're office is in a bathroom stall.

I'm just starting What Really Matters for Struggling Readers by Richard Allington. One of my summer goals was to read professional books that I didn't have time to read during the school year. Mandy picked up this copy for me on her visit to Alabama. The title for chapter 2: "What Really Matters: Kids Need to Read a Lot." Allington writes, "the more effective teacher routinely had children reading for forty to forty-five minutes of each hour allocated to reading instruction." It is making me rethink the structure of my reading block.