2018 Reading Goals

Every year since 2012, I have participated in the Goodreads Reading Challenge.  Some years I read more than others, but I always have managed to meet my reading goals.

Last year, my goal was to read 150 books and I ended up reading 160 books.  Here are some of my favorite reads from 2017:

         

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This year, I have set my reading goal for 150 books.  I have already made a big dent in that goal, reading 20 books in January, thanks in part to almost a week off due to snow.

Here's a peak at some of what I've been reading:

          

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I also like to let my students know about my reading life.  I keep a reading goal poster up on a wall need the circulation desk.  I update it with book covers of what I've been reading.  I have my reading goal highlighted on the poster.  My students like to look at what I've been reading and also will point out how close I am to meeting my reading goal for the school year.  It actually helps keep me on track and motivated to reach my calendar year goal.

My original goal was to read 100 books by the end of the school year.  I met that goal during our snow days last week, so I had my classes help me determine a new goal to set-because we don't stop reading just because we met our goal. We keep challenging ourselves.  My new goal is now 150 books by the end of the school year.

Do you set reading goals for yourself?  Are you on Goodreads?  You can follow me on Goodreads.  I am Jnase1 on Goodreads.

*I'm an affiliate for things I've bought or used personally.  If you click through any referral links (if included), at no cost to you, I will earn a commission if you make a purchase.  Thank you for your support in this way.

Football Fun

It's almost Super Bowl time so it's the perfect time for some football themed centers.

This week, second graders practiced shelf order with my football themed shelf order center.  I first reviewed how and why books are organized in the Media Center and then we moved to tables to practice shelf order.

To make it more like a game, we played the center in Minute to Win It style.  I set a timer I found on YouTube and students raced to be the first to finish putting cards in the correct order.  We played it several times and they begged to play it again.  It was a big hit!

You can purchase a copy of my football themed shelf order centers in my TpT store. There are three different levels of difficulty in this center: easy, average and challenge. Click HERE to see it now.

I also have a football themed call number sorting center.  This center asks students to separate their cards by call number type.  Click HERE to see it now.

Are you doing anything special to celebrate the Super Bowl in your Media Center?  Let me know in the comments below.  =)

Paws for Books

Our Scholastic Book Fair is coming up soon and the theme for spring is "Paws for Books." I am doing some fun things to build the excitement for our book fair.

I created these fun freebies that I am going to use with my Kinder and Firsties this week.  

You can edit them to add your book fair information on the right side where the open book is.

I will also have the bookmarks available during our book fair.  You can download this file for free in my TpT store by clicking HERE.

I am also going to be having a selfie contest to help build the excitement of the Book Fair.  I am asking families to use a dog or cat photo filter to take a selfie and post it on our school's Facebook page for a chance to win a $10 gift certificate.  These fun filters can be found on free apps like Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Snapchat, and the MSQRD app- most of which parents will have already on their smart devices.  Our school's facebook page is private, so it will be completely safe for our families to share these fun selfies.  

A fun way to advertise for you Book Fair is through e-invites.  A cool site to use to make e-invites is Paperless Post.  You can choose from their designs or even upload your own.  They have templates for flyers that are free and easy to customize.  You can check them out HERE.

These are just a few ways that I am trying to build the excitement around our Book Fair and get our kids' paws on some great books.  Do you have any great advertising ideas for book fairs?  Share them in the comments below.  =)

Terrific Technology Tuesday

The cooler weather last week inspired me to do a lesson about penguins with kindergarten this week.  So today, a kindergarten class followed along with a nonfiction and fiction pairing of books about penguins that I found on the FREE (for educators) eBook website Epic!  I also found a short but fun FREE  video about penguins on National Geographic Kids. They loved it!  They even walked around like penguins to get to their seats for the next part of our lesson.  At their table, students colored a picture of a penguin that we "magically" made come alive with the FREE augmented reality Quiver app. You can download the penguin picture and many other augmented reality pages for free on the Quiver website.

You can check out their "magical" penguin pictures below.

And best of all, all of this fun learning was FREE!

Are you familiar with the website and app Epic! books?  It is a free resource full of thousands of eBooks.  Educators can get a free account and can add students.  Books can be assigned and students can read those books from mobile devices that have Internet access.  Parents can purchase home access for a subscription fee of $7.99 a month.

I have been using Epic! for around 2 years now and recently became Epic! Certified.  One of my goals this year is to get certified in some of my favorite websites and apps, and this was a quick and easy first step. 

It's super easy to get your certification once you set up your account.  There are only 7 simple steps to go through, all of which are spelled out for you exactly how to complete each step.  If you already have an account, I would encourage you to work on getting that certification.  You'll learn more about how to use Epic!  and you will feel accomplished once you complete it.

Do you use Epic! or other types of technology in your Media Center? What's your favorite website or app?