Wow!  We had a great turn out for our first Summer Reading Challenge!  We had 39 students participate.  I can't believe how many books everyone read.  I am still counting them now!

Hopefully many students enjoyed reading or at least started a good habit.  Summer reading, or reading any time, is so important! 

Students who participated in the challenge and followed the guidelines, were eligible for a chance, or chances, to win a 75 book home library sponsored by Student Council.  Here are the winners for each grade level: (first and last initials are being used)

• Pre-K - MS


• Kdg - CA


• 1st  - TA


• 2nd - GB


• 3rd - EF


• 4th - SP


• 5th - BF

Those students who did not win the grand prize will still recieve a goody bag of prizes, including a coupon for a free book! 

Check back often to find out what's new and what's up with reading here at VP!

It's time to say goodbye to summer.  So sad, but true.  I hope all of you had a wonderful summer.  We enjoyed a lot of time laughing, reading, swimming, and just plain laying around.  School for many start this week.  We are back on Tuesday!  It was so much fun to see so many smiling faces on Meet the Teacher night!  I can't wait to see everyone.

Here are some things to remember:

• Reading Logs are due Friday, August 21.


• No late forms will be accepted.


• Make sure your name is written on the form(s).


• Make sure Mom or Dad signed your form and titles of the books are listed.


• Turn in the form(s) to your teacher.


• Print off forms if you need them.


• Winners will be announced on Monday, August 24!

I hope you enjoyed reading over the summer.  Every summer I challenge myself to find books that I love so much that I am sorry they are over when I am done reading them.  Reading is an adventure you can go on any day, any time, any where you like!

So with 4 weeks left of summer, what are you doing to have fun?  We've finished up our vacations and enjoyed a great 4th of July!  The weather has been outstanding for enjoying outside activities.  We will be heading to the library tomorrow to have some story time and check out some new books.

Our last trip the library was such a success! We found some great books for Logan who loves animals and is learning to say words.  Celia found 3 great reads!  We read a book titled Odd Velvet.  This was my favorite of the bunch.  It's about a girl named Velvet.  When she is at school, the other kids find her "odd".  She makes her teachers gifts instead of buying them.  She eats her lunch from home instead of from the cafeteria and did not have a brand new outfit the first day of school.  Well, you may be thinking what is so odd about all of that?  Nothing!  Read this book to find out what Velvet's friends find out about her.

Another great find was Love, Ruby Valentine.  Celia loves Valentine's Day and the holiday shelf was close by.  This was a cute story about a girl named Ruby Valentine.  She loves Valentine's Day and sets out to celebrate the big day with everyone in her town.  But after spending all of her time getting ready, she is so tired she decides to take a short nap.   But something unexpected happens!

We have been enjoying reading time each day this summer.  I hope you are finding time to get some fabulous books!  I am hoping to get in a few more books in before summer ends!

My vacation to Wisconsin has come and gone.  I have been able to finish two more wonderful books. One was a book that is geared for my profession of teaching.  I enjoyed reading The Book Whisperer because it was confirmed what I, and many wonderful teachers, already know.  You must read every day.  You must find great books to read.  Share your thoughts about what you have read and be ready to hear from others about books they are reading.  I was so excited about this book that I had called my friend almost  immediately to tell her to read it!

The second book I read took me only a few hours to read.  The first page had me hooked.  I was drawn into the whirlwind of Jack Osborne.  He is a middle school boy who starts his tale by explaining to us that he is on airplane to somewhere, but he doesn't konw where.  He and his family had boarded the plane before anyone else and he's wondering if anyone noticed.  This was a captivating story from beginning to end about the web of lies Jack has to spin in order to survive in the book called Zach's Lies by Roalnd Smith.  I will definintely be looking for other books by this author!  What have you read?  Feel free to post your book reviews by clicking on the Comment box below this post.

Today I finished Marley: A dog like no other.  What a great book.  I had a hard time really relating to this story because I am just not a big dog person.  However, I found myself in tears at the end.  This book is a testament to what makes family so important.  It was an easy read and well written.  I would recommend this book to anyone who really loves animals or just loves dogs!

We have been working on reading time every day.  This is a nice addition to my day, especially since it has been raining so much!  The kids just sit in thier pile of collected books read and look at the pictures.  My favorite is when Celia reads to her stuffed animals or, if she's being nice, to her brother!  We'll be heading to the library to pick out some great books for the week!

Today's website features some fun reading material.  Reading4Kids.com offers fairy tales to read and fun games to play. Read with your child or have him/her read it by themselves.  It's a fun site and really promotes reading!  If you read a story from this site, please post a comment to this post and let me know what you read.

My daughter is learning how to swim and not having a lot of fun during lessons.  To help ease her fears, we checked out some books about swimming.  We found "I Can Swim" and have been reading it every night.  Yesterday, she tried floating like a starfish as the boy does in the book.  Who says books aren't powerful?

 I am reading Marley right now.  The author does a great job of descibing the actions of the dog. Our family had a dog, or several dogs, while growing up.  I was and am still not a big dog person.  However, I can really feel what's going on  in this story because the author makes the story come to life! 

So, what are you reading? What have you read that you have enjoyed? Let us know by posting a comment to the blog!

Yesterday we attended story time at the Kirkwood Public Library.  The theme was art, and the stories were great!  While I'd love to share the great titles, I could not get that information as I was trying to get Logan, who is not quite 2, to sit and listen.  We sang songs and the librarian told and funny story about a monkey drawing a picture of his mom with the help of his animal friends.  All the while, I am thinking about how story time should count for the summer reading challenge.  So if you attend story hour at your local library, or any library, be sure to write that down on your reading log.  Only, make sure you pay attention to the titles of the books so you can write them down.

Happy first day of summer!  Today marks the first day of the Valley Park Summer Reading Challenge.  Make a goal to read 20 minutes each day.  Research shows if kids read 4-5 books at grade level over summer, they'll return to school w/ maintained or improved skills.  This will be you!  I aldready caught one soon to be 5th grade student reading a book in her mom's car at school!  See, books really are portable!

This blog is designed to allow you to post comments about books you are reading and read what other are reading about.  I will frequently post information about new books, books review sites, sites to stories online, and more. 

If you want to post a comment about what you are reading, what you liked, or even ask me a question, click the comment button at the bottom of this post.  Please do not use your real name or any personal information.  You can use your initials and grade level for the following year to tell us who you are:)

Check out the books in my library on the right-hand part of your screen.  If you would like me to add a book you have read to my library, let me know.  This is a great way to get ideas for new books.  You can also check out the KidderLit button underneath the library.  Here, you can read first lines of great books.  If it interests you, click on it and it will tell you the title of the book.  See, you can never run out of ideas for finding good books!

Lastly, don't forget you can visit school during regular school hours to Take a Book, Leave a Book.  Write your name and date on the message board so we know you were there

Today's website to check out: 

• Bookwink - Listen to book reviews of children's book.  You can search for books by title, subject, author and grade-level.  This is a wonderful site!

Happy Reading!

It's been a long process for me to figure out how to find time to get a podcast done and what to include.  With the help of some savvy fourth graders, we got the first project done.  We are calling our podcast RATT Radio.  RATT stands for Reading and Technology Together.  We have 3 segments to the show.  A Book Nook which highlights a recommended book.  Poetry Cafe allows students to share poems they have performed for our class.  The final segment is Valuable Vocabulary.  This segment reviews vocabulary we have worked on in class. 

Please listen and enjoy.  We would love to get your feedback!

Independent Reading, just-right reading, reading on your own...what is it and why do it?  Independent reading in school consists of time students are engaged in reading a book on their own at their independent reading level.  During this time, students should be reading and practicing the skills they have learned in class.  They should be interacting with the text and thinking about what's going on.  Here are some resources to professional sites that have researched the effects and importance of independent reading:

• Independent Reading