What We're Reading Wednesday-Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson

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Book Review-The Shadow Throne by Jennifer Nielsen

Title:  The Shadow Throne
Author:  Jennifer A. Nielsen
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date:  February 25, 2014
Source of Book:  Netgalley

The Shadow Throne is the third book in The Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielsen.  War has come to Carthya. When Imogen is kidnapped, King Jaron makes a plan to rescue her.  Of course, nothing is ever easy for the Ascendant King, but don't discount Jaron just yet--he always has a plan.

I thought this book was the perfect conclusion to the trilogy.  At this point, Jaron knows who he can trust and who his real enemies are.  Though young, he never loses sight of saving his kingdom and the people of Carthya.  Nielsen gives a conclusion to all characters in this book, leaving the reader satisfied.  This is probably my favorite children's series since Harry Potter.  You can't help but to love and root for Jaron.

I am still at a loss in which genre to classify this book.  It is definitely Middle Grade/YA.  I prefer to classify it as Middle Grade, but when shopping for the books at Barnes & Noble, I had to look in the YA section.  As far as genre, though, I have mostly seen it listed as fantasy.  My only issue with this is that I believe fantasy involves magic and this book does not.  I prefer to think of the genre as a cross between fantasy and historical fiction.  The kingdom is a made-up place (fantasy), but takes place in the past (historical), though there are no historical facts in this book, which is a key component of historical fiction.  I never know how to describe the books in this trilogy, except that they are all excellent!

Rating:  4/5 stars.

Week-end Randomness

Look what I've been up to this week....

Yep, that's what my room looked like when I walked in this week.  Actually, I had been in one time before and moved two bookshelves and left.  Haha.  No, really, I had the kid with me and he was way too bored.  This is what happened:  

At the end of the first day of mission: organization, this is what the room looked like:

I arranged the desks first, on the advice of a seasoned veteran.  I was complaining how it's just so overwhelming when you first walk in and you just don't know where to start!  In a previous post, I wrote about how I still was unsure how I wanted to arrange my room.  Well, I decided to make the group meeting area in front of the Smart Board.  I arranged the desks in tables scattered around that meeting area.  I need to buy another rug because the one I have is too small, but you can see the corner of it in the bottom right picture.  In the top picture, I have organized my library.  Once that was done, it finally started to feel like a classroom again.  I organize my library by genre.  I use the black dishpans you can buy at the Dollar Tree.  The red bins came from Scholastic when my district ordered 900 books for each grade level!  I try to keep them separate as best as I can, so the Scholastic books go in the red bins and the books I have purchased go in the others.  

You might see I have some bulletin boards already done.  I actually left some things up from last year because I knew they weren't going to be painting.  My Daily 5 posters are still up, but that was just an oversight and I will be taking them down because I make them with my students while we are launching each component of Daily 5.  

My first official day back is not until Tuesday, but I am working Monday as though it is a real work day.  My mom is actually going to come in and scan books into my Booksource app while I do other things around the room.  It's always nice to have a helper and to help me stay focused.  Otherwise, I end up spending a lot of time talking to friends and coworkers that I haven't seen all summer!  

Another little excitement in my life is...da-da-dah...

That's right, I ordered an Erin Condren teacher planner!  I went back and forth, and I found one similar on Etsy that was less-expensive, but she really sold me on that You Tube video posted on the EC site!  I decided I MUST have one.  So I spent a little extra dough and added extra checklists and additional plastic page protectors and hopefully it will be everything I hoped it would be.  

Another really random thing from this week, but kinda goes along with my EC planner is these new pens...

Have you seen these yet?  They are Pilot Frixion GEL pens...that are ERASEABLE!!  What?!  AYFKM?  That's short for "Are You Freaking Kidding Me?!"  They are amazing!!!  Someone I follow on Twitter tweeted about them and how they are on sale on Amazon, so I splurged.  I bought two sets.  That's how much I KNEW I was going to love these pens.  And my expectations are exceeded.  Yes, they are that amazing.  And they're super colorful, and so much fun to use to write in my new EC planner!!  By the way, they are still on sale and the $2 clickable coupon is still active, so go buy them now!  

One last exciting thing that happened this week is...

Yep, that's what you think it is.  The Quiestest Pencil Sharpener from Classroom Friendly Supplies.  

You know what that means?  A review and a giveaway is coming soon!!

My Classroom Library

We have the Accelerated Reader program at my school and for the last four years I have organized my books by AR level.  I don't love AR.  In fact, I loathe it.  Students choose books for the wrong reasons, as much as I try to teach them the I PICK strategy. Also, the quizzes are on the knowledge level of Bloom's Taxonomy, and many ask students to recall very small unimportant details, while I'm trying to teach them the bigger picture:  theme, making connections, etc.  I feel there are more important ways to get kids reading than to have them take a computerized quiz after every book.  I have decided that next year, although I am still required to use AR, I am going to make it as minimal as possible in my classroom, starting with my classroom library.  


While packing up my room last week, I took the time to take a good, hard look at the books I'm keeping in my classroom.  I have over 500 books, and I would say at least 50% were purchased by me.  I have an affinity for books.  Every year I always say I'm going to scale back on what I buy for my classroom.  This never includes books.  I was just at Ollie's on Friday and purchased about 15 books again.  I don't know if Ollie's is regional, but if you have one in your area, check it out!  Hardcover books for $3.99!  


Anyways, this week I had my class help me sort my books by genre.  Of course, the majority of my books are realistic fiction and fantasy.  I also sorted picture books, fiction animal books, fiction sports, science fiction, historical fiction (which, as a Social Studies teacher I had a ton of), biographies, non-fiction Earth & Science, non-fiction history, and non-fiction general.  I was pleasantly surprised at the broad selection my students have to choose from.  I didn't feel as though my classroom library was utilized this year as much as it should be, and I blame my AR leveled-sorting.  Next year, my classroom library will be sorted by genre.  I teach genre, why not sort the books that way?  


Organizational tip:  While packing up my books, I placed them in gallon sized ziplock bags and marked the genre on the bag.  When returning in the fall, I just have to put the pre-sorted books in their bins.  I also kept a list of the # of books I have in each genre, so if I'm out at half-priced books, Ollie's, or yard sales, I know what I should be on the lookout for. I know I'm definitely going to add some poetry books and folktales to my collection. 


What tips do you have for organizing your classroom library?  Do you organize by genre or level, or both?  Do you put color-coded stickers on your books to make sure they get returned to the appropriate bins?  How do you ensure your books get returned?  I would love to hear your input!