This is a wonderfully thoughtful post by The Nerdy Book Club. Check it out. It makes you really rethink your book choices. Unless your district takes book choices out of your hands that is. Information is always good to have but let teachers take the information and make decisions that best meet their students needs I say. This is full of thoughtful info to help you make some good book choices!

http://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2014/09/13/top-ten-things-people-said-5th-graders-couldnt-read-but-did-by-taylor-meredith/

Thank you!

I am so excited to say that my Donors Choose project was fully funded today. Thanks to all the donors my students will be able to use 2 Ipads in my reading groups.  You guys are awesome! I will use this blog to update how we will be using them. Google gave the final big donation to make it happen. Thank you Google! You Rock!  Here are two emails, I got from Donors Choose explaining what Google did for my students and Kansas City Teachers.  #Google #DonorsChoose

Troy, Once upon a time, in a city not so far away called Kansas City, Ms. Boltz's students were asking for science centers so that they could learn about insects and plants. Just a little ways up the road, Mr. Pohlman's students would like to explore the world of printmaking with a rotary screen printing press. One state over, Mrs. Belden's students are requesting drums to explore diverse cultures. A few weeks ago, our partners at Google asked us what we thought was a hypothetical question: would it be possible to support every DonorsChoose.org project in the Kansas City area? They were so moved by the work of local teachers like you that they decided to fully fund every currently live project, donating more than $200,000 to classrooms in need. Happy, happy back to school from us and our friends at Google, and thank you for inspiring us and our partners every day. The DonorsChoose.org Team

Troy,

Hooray! Google Kansas City from Kansas City, MO just gave to Read, Write and Think and wrote:

"You go out of your way every single day to give Kansas City students the education they need and deserve. From all of your friends at Google Kansas City, we?re proud to support you, this great city and all its local teachers. Today, to say thanks for everything you do, we?re funding your project and all projects in the greater Kansas City metropolitan area. We hope this helps kick off an amazing 2014 - 2015 school year full of creativity and new learning experiences for your students."

I am so excited!

Ellin Keene Visit

Here are some notes that were put together from a visit by Ellin Keene to my school. She is very good. She is easy to follow and very down to earth, but direct and to the point as well.