Blood of Olympus

With the exception of the final Harry Potter novel, I don't think I've ever been more nervous to finish a book.  

Earlier this week I finished The Blood of Olympus, which was the tenth adventure involving Percy Jackson and friends.  I was really pleased with how everything was wrapped up emotionally at the end. I was also very proud of how Rick Riordan handled one of his main characters dealing with his homosexual feelings as well as feelings of isolation and depression due to feeling like an outsider.  (I mean, his dad is Hades after all.  It's not like he's the most well-liked god of Olympus.)  This book did an amazing job of tackling some tough topics in such a gentle way.

My 59 page teacher guide is now available {here}.  I have vocabulary suggestions for each chapter, comprehension questions (with suggested student answers) and homework/responses to literature.  I've also imbedded extension activities and project ideas for students.

My chronological order sort should be available tomorrow!  I had plans of finishing it while at the DMV this morning, but it was far too loud.

I'm sad to see my literary friends go, but know it's only a few short months until the next series is unveiled!

 

What Not To Do

TLC's 4 Weddings is a glorious combination of ridiculousness, over-the-top weddings, and catty brides.  I'm using the marathon to do bridal research and so far, it's come to a rather lengthy list of what I don't want.  

Update: I shared this list with B.  His thoughts are italicized. 

Cute moments:

I enjoy the sweet moments between the newlyweds where they gush about each other and the "yay we're married" moments.  One particular groom seized the moment to drop a few "that's what she said" comments when his blushing bride was commenting on the day.  She just laughed, kissed him, and went right on talking.  

I enjoy the heartfelt vows.  B and I are writing our own (and I need to make sure he remembers agreeing to this.)  Some made people laugh and some were tear inducing...both of which are my goals.  I've got two lines of ours written...so good progress.
He claims he doesn't remember this.

I think it's cute when the couple is clearly enjoying their day.  Sometimes the groom sneaks a butt grab in during the first dance and I can see that goober I'm marrying doing the same (sorry mom!)
He giggled and said he'd probably do that.

MOH speech that included playing the "OMG I'm engaged it was beautiful call me asap it's like a movie ahhh!! love you bye"  voice mail from the bride.  


Things that I want (that I hadn't thought about before this epic marathon):

• A sizable dance floor.
• Smores?! I don't know if this is possible and I'm sure I'd spill on myself, but I want smores now.  

Things we'll be skipping:

• Strange fruit sculptures.
• A beach scavenger hunt to collect trash. (I wish I was kidding)
• A mechanical bull at the reception.  Bachelorette party? Sure.  Reception? Mmm...no. "Oh hell no" is all I got for this one.
• A bag piper to greet guests. He thinks this is a lovely idea.
• A "wild game" carving station.  
• Squid balls. 
• Themed ushers.
• Tattoos at the reception. (That can't be a good idea.)
• College mascots. (Sorry Sparky and Hey Reb!)
• Wild animals at the reception.  (There were lemurs, elephants, skunks, tigers, etc)  I understand having a reception in an aquarium, but your wedding should not be confused with a petting zoo.
• A moose (or any animal) ice sculpture.  I'm not big on the ice sculpture situation in the desert to begin with.  He wants a swan ice sculpture.  We shall see.
• An instagram/twitter/4square check in interactive wall.  I don't really want people on Facebook during the wedding.  Taking pictures? Absolutely. Dancing? Yes. Taking silly selfies? Yes please.  Upload the pictures later and enjoy yourself in the moment. 
• Peacock feathers.  I don't know why feathers are a trend. 
• A grand entrance...on a yacht.  Or a Cirque du Soleli entrance. Or in a boat. Or with dry ice and a spinning wall. Or on a float in a parade.  Or in a Russian Egg that descends from the ceiling. Or a horse drawn carriage.
• A themed officiant.  Mar, you aren't wearing a captain outfit...sorry love. 
• Lighting a unity...volcano.  Yes, baking soda & vinegar to cause a chemical reaction...in a white expensive dress.This idea he is completely on board with.

Motivation Monday

It's one of my last Mondays (and summer days) without plans and I am fully taking advantage of my pajama time!

However, that doesn't mean I'm not being productive!

I'm finishing up my teacher guide for The Blood of Olympus and the matching chronological order sort for TpT.  I'm cleaning up around the house and starting to pack my bags for back to school.  I've got a few small craft projects to finalize and some engagement tasks (emailing potential venues).

Even though it's a pajama Monday, I'm super motivated to make the most of my day.

What are your goals for today? 

How do you stay motivated during the summer?

Curriculum Must Haves! {Week 2}

I love reading Diane's blog posts on {Fifth in the Middle} and {Fancy Free in Fourth}.

This week's blog challenge is about curriculum must-haves. 

Our district, perhaps like most, is in a state of turmoil.  We've adopted the Common Core State Standards without curriculum to match, expect teachers to make due with out dated text books (seriously, the books are older than my students), and expect teachers to do more with less...including less money.  Yup, we took a pay cut and an insurance hike, so double whammy to the bank account!  To make matters worse, new to state teachers are given a several thousand dollar hiring bonus and to make up for the teacher shortage, retired teachers are invited back.  I have no issue with (qualified) retired teachers returning to the district, but I do have a problem that they receive both a salary and their retirement accounts.  Yup, they're allowed to double dip into funds, yet current teachers all took a pay cut.  

We also adopted the standards (which I have no problem with), but then rebranded them the Nevada Academic Content Standards (NVACS).  Why?  To deal with the critics who are outspoken against the Common Core.

From what I've read of the Common Core (which is not the whole thing, just the elementary portion), I don't really see a problem.  Are the standards perfect? No, of course not.  But the depth of what is expected of our students is much deeper then previous standards,  Seeing how Nevada is consistently at the bottom in terms of educational testing for a wide variety of reasons, I think challenging our students is a good thing.  When you're close to the bottom, you can only go up!

Long story short, we have no provided curriculum and have to rely on collaboration to create our lesson plans.  There are lots of inconsistencies across the district, but at least everyone in my grade level (and school) are pretty much on the same page.

So let's dive into this week's blog challenge and look at some curriculum must haves:

I can't say enough good things about this book.  We start each math lesson with a warm up that focuses on building number sense. 

We've tweaked it a little to roughly follow this format:

Mental Math Monday: The focus is on decomposing and composing numbers for computation.

Ten Minute Tuesday: The focus is on logic puzzles and brain teasers.

Word Problem Wednesday: The focus is on multi-step word problems and making sense of the problems.

Thinking Thursday: More logic puzzles and "tricky" problems.

Fast Facts Friday: Timed tests to focus on multiplication and division facts mastery.

Must haves:
Teachers pay Teachers products!

My novel guides are a life saver! I'm trying to keep track of several different novels at once with my small groups, so it's nice to have all my notes and homework questions in a nice, organized fashion.  

I've also founds tons of free stations that are great for independent and partner practice during RTI time!

As an added bonus, most stores are having their back to school sale right now! I know everything in my store is currently 20% off!  Go get inspired.

 

This book was truly a life saver.  I struggled with knowing how to teach phonics, phonemic awareness, and fluency.  I felt pretty good about my comprehension strategies but struggled with foundation skills.  This had great strategies and graphic organizers.  My copy is well loved:

Finally, one of my go to websites: FCRR (Florida Center for Reading Research)

This site has graphic organizers, centers, and games broken into grade level bands (K-1, 2-3, and 4-5).  They've recently added the Common Core State Standards to the center activities so it makes it even easier to find what your students need.

What would you add? Join the conversation!

Currently in August

A few months ago I saw Bailey at Brave Love, which is a super fun blog that you should also follow, doing "currently" blog posts and I decided to give it a try!

Reading... nothing :(  I just finished The Blood of Olympus last night and my copy of Love and Logic isn't here yet.  I'm also eagerly awaiting Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard but that's not due out until October.

Playing... various silly iPad games. I recently found Oregon Trail and the inner eight year old inside is thrilled. No one has died of dysentery yet!

Watching... nothing currently, but lately there have been epic amounts of TLC's (ridiculous) bridal shows. B even watched a few hours of "Say Yes to the Dress" with me.  He also asked if I'm going to have two gowns.  (The answer is no.)  I'm eagerly awaiting the next season of Once Upon a Time and Arrow to be on Netflix!

Trying... to be productive while still enjoying my last few weeks of summer.  I'm trying to knock out small wedding crafts like these:

We'll do a questionnaire at our engagement shower in Sept and have people vote on who they think the statement applies to: me or B.  He has mustache ones that are currently drying.

Cooking... nothing! Just enjoying left overs.

Eating... healthier, or at least trying to! 

Drinking... a mimosa.  It's Sunday morning, it's brunch time!

Calling... no one. I'm enjoying quiet time.

Texting... my gals.  I will be off to deliver Jamberry wraps in a bit!

Pinning... wedding ideas.  (Mom, I added you as a collaborator, so you can pin ideas to the wedding board too!)

Tweeting... about my pets. I love them.  Sorry twitter & instagram followers!

Going... to the DMV this week.  I'm expecting it to be an all day adventure on Wednesday, so I'd better find a new book to read. 

Loving... naps. Plus they're encouraged during the summer!

Hating... how frequently I burn myself on the hot glue gun. I am an adult, gosh darn it! I should be able to handle the glue gun.  Also hating that the naps will be severely limited again.  Oh, and hating Waffles's love of cat poop. 

Discovering... patience.  Walks with Waffles are still an adventure.  Yesterday there was a roller blader and that was simply terrifying for her.

Thinking... about what I still need for my classroom.  I stocked up on new highlighters (although I probably need another pack of six) but am sure I need new markers, pencil sharpeners, and colored pencils for the buckets.  Good thing there are Target coupons AND Cartwheel's discount.

Feeling... lots of emotions about the end of The Blood of Olympus.

Hoping (for)... a good bunch of kiddos this year!

Listening (to)... nothing.  B is out with friends and I'm enjoying the television being off.

Celebrating... Mike & Monique's upcoming wedding!  My future siblings in law are getting married Saturday and I'm excited for them.

Smelling... nothing. Thank you allergies.

Thanking... friends for their love and support on all the wedding matters.  Thank you for not letting me be a bridezilla and giving me a few minutes each convo to provide them with updates before we talk about all the other exciting things in our lives.

Considering... a walk with Waffles before it gets too hot.

Starting... to get excited for back to school!  Not the work part, but the seeing my friends on a daily basis part! (In other words, I sound like a teenager.)

Finishing... folding laundry.  There are only two of us and it frustrates me, so I can only imagine how much there will be when there are kids involved.

What are YOU up to currently?

I tried

I've blogged before about making our engagement shower banner:

However, it's not going as planned.  

I'm not pleased with how the letters are turning out and the gold dots are destroying my markers.  It's also taking way longer then I planned, so it's time to switch courses.

I'll be printing large black chalk board letters at work.  B will help cut them out and I'll glue them on. 

I looked into borrowing a Cricut machine and buying a template, but this way will be cheaper.

Plan C it is!

Book Blog Hop!

Diane from Fifth in the Middle (one of the blogs & TpT stores I follow) posted earlier about books that are being used in the beginning of the school year.  Obviously I love books and totally hopped on board with this book blog-a-thon!

I'll be using a few different picture books during the first week of school before starting our first novel, The Lightning Thief. 

Picture Books:

I use Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is? to start our math conversations.  

Before we go over Number Talks and math norms, we read this and start talking about the size of things in relation to another.  I think it's a great way to subtly introduce place value without mentioning those vocabulary words. 

I read Boris Ate a Thesaurus to start our conversations about word choice.

It's a silly book and they love it.

I also use My Mouth is a Volcano to talk about classroom norms.

It ties in well with listening and speaking norms, which we establish within the first few days of school.

I also leave out copies of Ms. Nelson is Missing, First Day Jitters, Unique Monique, and Thank You, Mr. Falker  for students to read during independent reading time.  


I also start the year with Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief as our first novel.  It's great for seeing how the chapters build on one another because the author does an amazing job of foreshadowing.  Students (hopefully) were exposed to Greek Mythology in fourth grade, so it's nice to tie in with their background knowledge.

As an added bonus, the main character Percy, isn't a typical hero.  He struggles with dyslexia and ADHD (a side effect of being a demigod) and has trouble in school.  My students really get into the book and as an added bonus, there are many, many sequels!

Directly following The Lightning Thief is The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labryinth, and The Last Olympian. 

There is a Greek & Roman spin off series with The Lost Hero, the Son of Neptune, the Mark of Athena, the House of Hades, and the Blood of Olympus (which I'm finishing tonight!).  What is great about these books is the narrator flips every few chapters, so you get multiple perspectives.  This literary technique lends itself to some interesting discussions.

There is an Egyptian trio of books: The Red Pyramid, the Throne of Fire, and The Serpent's Shadow.  These also alternate narrators between Sadie and Carter Kane, two very different siblings.  Their sibling love-hate relationship is beautifully and subtly captured in the different ways the chapters are narrated.

Since Rick Riordan is determined to drain my bank account with his amazing books, I'm super excited about this new series:

It stars Annabeth's possible brother?! The last name can't be a coincidence.

What do you read with your munchkins?