It’s Saturday and that means it is time to reflect on the week and celebrate things both big and small. Join our community and celebrate this week by linking up or just stopping by the host Ruth Ayres’ blog to read others’ celebrations.
This summer, I am really working on making sure to honor my extra time off. In many years past, I have spent a lot of time pressuring myself to make goals and be productive. Although this is a good practice for self-improvement, my perfectionist personality really makes it into something more to be stressed out about. So, this summer, I have some goals, but I am really intentionally giving myself a break.
For example, I had every intention of participating fully with Teachers Write this summer. I am at home and not traveling and I have a lot of time on my hands. I was sure this summer would be my summer for doing each and every exercise and becoming a writer with a capital W. Alas, this has not been the case. After agonizing about feeling guilty that I was not making time for this writing for a few days, I decided to let myself off the hook. This isn’t going to be the summer of Teachers Write for me. And guess what?! I feel fine about that. I actually am being more consistent about writing daily now that I removed that pressure from my shoulders. For now, I am giving myself the goal of 500 words a day. It isn’t much, but it is manageable and I am making progress on my novel.
This week I am celebrating FUN
- Yoga in the park on Monday mornings has been fabulous! The sounds of nature surround us as we work through our class. The instructors have designed a class that starts with 30 minutes of Vinyasa yoga and then the rest of the class is a restorative Yin yoga. It is just the way to start the week!
- On Tuesday, I went to Madison to spend time with my mother and my sister and nieces. My sister has been in town for the month of July and I have loved the extra opportunities to love and snuggle her babies.
- Also on Tuesday, we celebrated my birthday early by going to one of our favorite restaurants. Paisan’s restaurant has been in Madison since 1950. My mother and uncles worked there as college students and we have been going to this restaurant for as long as I remember. I recently discovered that I am gluten-sensitive (It has been a discovery that both helps me feel better overall and depresses me about the future of all yummy food consumption). Paisan’s has a gluten-friendly bread that they can use to make sandwiches and their cheese breads. AWESOME!
- I also asked my mother to get Gigi’s cupcakes. They also have a gluten-friendly variety! I enjoyed some great birthday treats.
What do you have to celebrate this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments!
The Secret Horses of Briar Hill by Megan Shepherd takes place in an asylum for kids during World War II. The kids at the home are all infected with Tuberculosis. The main character sees horses in the mirrors but no one else sees them and they do not believe her. Then, one day, one of the winged horses from the mirror world shows up in the gardens that she is exploring. This is an amazing book. I highly recommend that you find it for your classroom library for middle grades. I was able to read an advanced copy from NetGalley. This book will be available in October.
I am absolutely an Austen fan. I love, love, love all of Jane Austen’s books. So, when I heard that Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld was a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, I knew I had to read it. I actually listened to the audiobook and absolutely loved this story! It was fun to hear how the author interpreted the events and gave a modern spin to the scandalous behavior of Lizzie’s sisters. I highly recommend this book to any fans of Jane Austen as well as any readers who like a good love story.
What do you need? This is the provocative question that a new social media site is asking teenagers in this thriller novel. The story follows the quick downward spiral into danger that happens as teenagers join the site and get what they desire by doing tasks. The tasks that are asked of them get progressively more dangerous and turn out to be deadly to some. Need by Joelle Charbonneau is a really good psychological thriller. I highly recommend this one for high school and up.
The Magician’s Elephant was a great little fantasy story. It almost read like a fable. I love Kate DiCamillo. She is amazing and this is another fun book to recommend to my students.
Winter is a phenomenal conclusion to a series that really just continued to get better and better throughout the books. I really love what Marissa Meyer did with weaving in the elements of the fairy tale stories into a science fiction series. I highly recommend the whole series.
Being the Starfish by Neal Anderson is a book about network marketing. I am doing some personal development and thinking about how to grow a business with doTERRA and since I am a reader, this is how I learn.
I had both of these Ranger in Time books on my shelf. I love the way Kate Messner brings different historical periods to life in this series. I highly recommend getting this series for grades 3 and up.
The Power of Habit was really interesting. It made me evaluate a lot of what I do and gave me some good ideas about how to change some of my habits. I thought the ideas about organizational habits were intriguing. This is definitely a good book for personal development, especially for leaders that might be looking to change their organization’s habits and culture.
Underworlds: The Battle Begins by Tony Abbott is one I will look forward to introducing to my students. It is a good start to a series and I am interested in reading the other books now too. I like the fantasy adventure and the references to mythology in this book. It would be a good one for kids that aren’t quite ready for Percy Jackson, but are still really interested in myths.
The Seventh Wish by Kate Messner is outstanding. She manages to treat a very heavy and serious subject in a way that is appropriate for kids. These kinds of stories are so important because there are so many kids in the world who, unfortunately, do have to deal with having drug addicts in their families. I think the treatment of this subject was tastefully done and that this will be an important book for many students. I also appreciated the glimpse into the world of ice fishing and the world of Irish dancing. I highly recommend having this book in your library for grades 4 and up.