Yes, that is right. I have been called a Scholastic-aholic several times throughout my life. In grade school, the highlight of my month was bringing home the Reading Club Flier and seeing what new books were now available. As a teacher, Scholastic provided me with a means to build my classroom library and offer additional resources to my students. Then, working with community agencies, Scholastic provided a ways to help other nonprofits and afterschool programs. I am a huge supported and want to highlight three ways parents can support their child and their child's school through Scholastic.
Project Stella Book Talk: The Warden’s Daughter
One of my favorite books that I read as a teacher to my fifth grade students was Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. I am excited to have come across his new book published last year, The Warden’s Daughter. This is a historical fiction novel that tells the story of Cammie O’Reilly – a twelve-almost thirteen year old girl who lives in an apartment above the cell blocks of the Hancock County Prison. She interacts every day with the prisoners that live there and she has authority – they listen to her because she is the Warden’s daughter. The one thing she doesn’t have is a mother.
“She Writes Comics” – Women in Comics
Currently, Stella's biggest ambition is to be an artist/illustrator and so I want her to have some strong role models who use art to make an impact. Unfortunately, my initial search for women in art did not give me what I was looking for. Then this morning I decided to look for "Documentaries about Art" on Netflix to see if there is anything that Stella can watch (and be interested in). I found She Writes Comics, a documentary that tells the unknown story of women in comics.
Way of the Warrior Kid – A Highly Recommended Read!
One of my top summer recommendations right now is this book - Way of the Warrior Kid: From Wimpy to Warrior the Navy Seal Way by Jocko Willink. It currently has 5 out of 5 stars on Amazon with over 590 customer reviews. I get asked many times about book recommendations for boys that may be reluctant and in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. This book is a ROCK STAR recommendation.
PhilanthroParties Book Review
I recently found a copy of the book PhilanthroParties: A Party-Planning Guide for Kids who Want to Give Back at our local library. I was excited to see this book as I was talking with another mom about our daughters getting to an age where they no longer desire gifts at Birthday parties but want to do something a little different. This book is all about parties with a purpose.
Creating Highly Effective Service Programs for Young People – Session Reflection One
I just finished my first session at the ServiceUnites 2018 Conference. The two presenters are from faith-based organizations and work with youth on a daily basis - not just with one-time service projects and mission trips but in developing ways for service to be a part of life.
Event Planning for Student Leaders – Your First Steps
It is very exciting to be in a position to plan events for your campus. Thinking about all the things you can plan that students will enjoy or will learn from is really fun to do. However, the event planning process can be overwhelming. And it is really not fun to put a lot of work and resources in to planning an event to have no one show up or have people complaining about the event when they do show up.
First Steps in Event Planning by Student Leaders
It is very exciting to be in a position to plan events for your campus. Thinking about all the things you can plan that students will enjoy or will learn from is really fun to do. However, the event planning process can be overwhelming. And it is really not fun to put a lot of work and resources in to planning an event to have no one show up or have people complaining about the event when they do show up.
She wants to be a YouTube Star
But becoming a YouTube Star is not easy. The time and effort it takes is hard. We made a couple of videos - my husband filmed and directed as Stella and I tried to let our personalities "shine". I do think every video had someone crying during some part of making it.
Banned Books that may be on your Summer Reading List, part one
As we were checking out books in the library we found this book - Silenced in the Library: Banned Books in America - that caught our attention. The following books series have been challenged or banned in schools and/or libraries in America's history.
Teaching 4 Impact 