It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Thank you to Kellee and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts for hosting It's Monday!  What Are You Reading?  You can check out their blog for some great ideas for new reads.  I'm so glad to be back into joining this wonderful group.

I was finally able to read The Runaway King, the next book in The False Prince trilogy.  I bought the book as soon as it came out and it's been making the rounds in my classroom.  Since I couldn't bear the thought of taking it out of my students' hands (nor do I think they would have allowed it to happen), I downloaded another copy on my Kindle so I could read it at home.  Like False Prince, this one is a page turner.  Prince Jaron is at his best as he outsmarts those who are out to get him.  It's been very popular in Room 114 and I think I'll need to get a few more copies for my classroom library next year.

I've seen Timmy Failure:  Mistakes Were Made on Goodreads a couple of times, so I decided to read it next.  This funny book is going to appeal to many of my readers.  Timmy has his own detective agency, but unfortunately, he's not very good at being a detective.  There are many opportunities to help kids infer what is REALLY happening in the story, when poor Timmy hasn't a clue.

My professional read this week was Assessment in Perspective:  Focusing on the Reader Behind the Numbers.  Today is the beginning of the blog tour, so I hope you will check it out.  Claire and Tammy succinctly explain the many types of assessments we give our readers, the purpose of these assessments, the importance of triangulation, as well as the need to share our knowledge with our students.  This book gave me so many things to think about in our data driven world as well as put a new light on the work we do when assessing our students.  I highly recommend this book.

Finally, this next book isn't about or for school, but it is about educating myself about eating in a more healthful way.  I read The Engine Two Diet last year, dabbled in plant strong eating, and then went back to old habits when life got very busy and we began eating out a lot.  I felt so good when I was eating a plant strong diet and decided to get back into it at the beginning of the month.  My Beef with Meat arrived at my door early this week and I was so glad it did.  There is lots of information dispelling myths of eating a plant strong diet, and some great recipes.  It's a quick, easy read and pretty funny in some parts.  If you live in the Columbus, Ohio area, the author, Rip Esselstyn will be at Whole Foods in Upper Arlington this Wednesday from 4:00 to 7:00.