Hello! Let’s start the first few months of the year off by sharing books we are reading! I love a good book suggestion. I often times switch between reading fiction and non-fiction (normally a parenting focused book) and we read children’s books on a daily basis too.
To see a comprehensive list of books I’ve read, check out my goodreads account.
Often times I will listen to a book on tape when life becomes too busy. This way I can listen while I am exercising or driving. I use audible to download my audio books.
A recent read of mine:
The Beach House by Jane Green
Ever since her life took an unexpected turn, Nan Powell has enjoyed living alone on the sun-drenched shores of Nantucket. At sixty-five, she’s just as likely to be found at Windermere, her beach front home, as she is skinny dipping in her neighbor’s pool. But when the money she thought would last forever starts to dwindle, Nan decides to do something drastic to keep hold of her free-spirited life: open up Windermere to strangers.
After placing an ad for summer rentals touting water views, direct access to the beach, and a sexagenarian roommate, Nan’s once quiet house is soon full of noise, laughter, and the occasional bout of tears. Between her eclectic new tenants and the sudden return of her son, Nan gets a taste of what life is like when you have someone to care for besides yourself. But just as she starts to happily settle in to her new existence, the arrival of a visitor from her past threatens to turn everyone’s lives upside down…
A parenting book I recommend:
Teach Our Children Well by
Focusing on rapport, tradition, pride of place, a sense of belonging, a standard of personal best, academic engagement, and support to independence, Teach Our Children Well shows how the personal authority that teachers exert, coupled with rapport with each child, motivates students to strive for their personal best . . . how academic engagement with a supportive, organized physical environment provides students with a chance to achieve long-lasting learning . . . how time spent building respect among students produces a sense of belonging . . . how, with such a scaffold for learning in place, students increasingly internalize what they have experienced and start functioning independently and successfully.
Specific examples and strategies, activities and projects that draw on diverse cultural backgrounds, anecdotes, photos, and student work samples come from urban classrooms where teachers have been instrumental in creating supportive learning communities. For elementary school teachers seeking to make their classroom climates more learner friendly, this book is a practical guide.
My kids pick:
The Sasquatch Escape by Suzanne Selfors
When Ben Silverstein is sent to the rundown town of Buttonville to spend the summer with his grandfather, he’s certain it will be the most boring vacation ever. That is, until his grandfather’s cat brings home what looks like . . . a baby dragon?
Amazed, Ben enlists the help of Pearl Petal, a local girl with an eye for adventure. They take the wounded dragon to the only veterinarian’s office in town — Dr. Woo’s Worm Hospital. But as Ben and Pearl discover once they are inside, Dr. Woo’s isn’t a worm hospital at all — it’s actually a secret hospital for imaginary creatures.
After Ben accidentally leaves the hospital’s front door unlocked, a rather large, rather stinky, and very hairy beast escapes into Buttonville. Ben and Pearl are tasked with retrieving the runaway creature, and what started out as an ordinary summer becomes the story of a lifetime.