It's Monday - What are you Reading?

It is Monday and again I am joining in the meme over at Mentor Texts.

Hop on over and join in over at the Mentor Text Blog. Just click on the picture 
                                                 

I read this and enjoyed it. I have a few more in the series that I will put into the class library and I hope some of the girls will enjoy it. Maybe I could talk some boys into it too!  They are so mad on the Greek Gods from the Rick Riordan books. Recently I put the George O'Connor graphic novels of the Greek Gods into the class library and they have been ambushed.  Pow! Very popular.

This was one of my Newbery challenges, I started with a little trepidation, readers seem to either love or hate it!  However while I was not head over heels in love with it I found it interesting. A somewhat mixture of genres - I was reminded of Lois Lowry and the The Giver with the idea of sameness and differences on the planet they go to to free their Dad.

It was a pleasure to read this 50th Edition and read about the author and see some of her drafting of the book at the end of the book.



This week I am going to read The Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I have the whole set for the classroom, I am not sure if I will read them all, but would like to try a few for the sampling!

Teacher Dashboard Changes my Mind.

Today I joined my ICT cluster - Kapiti- for a day with Dorothy Burt from the Manaiakalani cluster in Auckland.  It was my first real look at how google apps might be used very effectively in a classroom. A feature that she mentioned that I really liked was the Teacher Dashboard.  This was really the selling point for me.

The group that Dorothy Burt comes from are using 1 to 1 devices in the classroom and I liked that too, and their way of bringing that about. They have formed a trust, and they lease to buy to their students.  It is a decile one area and they make the cost very small per week.

While our school may not go this way, my Principal's brain was ticking over beside me, and I could see that we will explore it with our Board and parents and find our way of doing it. So I am rather excited by that.

I have been a great user and fan of Edublogs for the last few years because of the way I can manage the student blogs.  However I now see that next year I would definitely consider switching to Blogger and using the teacher dashboard alongside it.  I can see how student emails and google docs - which we already have - and other websites that we already belong to  will seamlessly fit into this.

My Principal has already emailed harpara.com to discuss with them our buying Teacher Dashboard, so I think it won't be long before we are giving it a whirl.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It is Monday and again I am joining in the meme over at Mentor Texts.

Hop on over and join in over at the Mentor Text Blog. Just click on the picture 

This past week I read Kira Kira by Cynthia Kadohata, 2005 Newbery Award Winner.  It was a great insight into what it might be like for an immigrant family in a new country. It was about family, hardship, courage and loss. 

I also read Sidekicks by Dan Santat - graphic novel.  This was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it, I know it will be popular in my class. I thought it incorporated some great values around loyalty, forgiveness and friendship.

This coming week it is going to be A Wrinkle in Time and I would like to read one of the Goddess Girls to sample them - probably Artemis the Loyal.