Another Bell?!!

The bell theme continued tonight as Daniel opened the next countdown package. Inside was the book, "The Polar Express", written by Chris Van Allsburg. Daniel had taken a bell to school for show-and-tell today, inspired by the Old Lady book last night. He wants to take it back to school Monday. Raymond and Daniel listened to the story and then, since it was Friday night, we watched The Polar Express movie.

Swallowing Bells?!!

Okay, Daniel has figured out we are opening books every night. Raymond got to open the package tonight and in it was the book, "There was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Bell!" It is a new book the boys had never had read to them, so they were excited that there was something new to this countdown surprise. Reading the book is always fun, too.

A Cozy Blizzard

Raymond had the honor of opening the package labeled "Open Dec. 2 ~ 23 more sleeps until Christmas". Tonight's surprise story is The Christmas Blizzard by Helen Ketteman. It is a tall tale that I bought through Scholastic several years ago and we also have a cassette tape with the old man telling the story of the Christmas of '22 when he was a boy. Tonight we listened to that tape while looking at the book. They are predicting snow tomorrow in our forecast.

Sheila's List

Reading has always been a favorite activity for me. As autumn is approaching I have found that I have a slew of books on my reading list. I am trying to be able to recommend books to kids in my Literature class, and I am somewhat out of touch with what they are reading now. So much new literature has been written since my older boys were in middle school. I have read a few, but not as many as I should. Right now I am reading the novel Fairest written by the author Gail Carson Levine who also wrote Ella Enchanted. I am also reading Hatchet with my students at school. I had read it about 15 years ago when Joe first hit middle school. I also have other Gary Paulsen titles in our collection including Brian's Hunt, Brian's Winter and his newer book The Voyage of the Frog. Naturally I have more experiences with novels boys enjoy, but I need to get in touch with some of the literature the girls are enjoying.

I know I am an expert in the preschool to intermediate age literature. In fact I have quite a collection, and get regular updates from Amazon and Scholastic on what is new.

Raymond is still finding plenty to read in our home collection. He has read most of the Magic Tree House series, and I am trying to get him to read some of the other classics (Encyclopedia Brown, Mouse and the Motor Cycle, etc.). He is reading Chocolate Fever to us this week. It is a newer title he ordered from Scholastic last spring, and he is just now reading it. He is very unimpressed by his school library and keeps bringing the same books home over and over. We also keep buying new titles he is interested in reading.

Daniel has adored Dr. Seuss since early last spring. We get a few titles by other authors read every day, but he keeps coming back to the Dr. Seuss titles. He has surprised himself lately by how much he can read. He will ask, "Does that say _____?" He then gets excited that it actually does more often than not. He is also "reading" pages of Hop on Pop and Go Dog, Go.

Hello from My World!

The purpose of this blog is to document my journey as a child of God, a wife of twenty-four years, a mother of 5, a homemaker, a pet owner to two beagles and a gecko lizard, a middle school math and science teacher, a photographer, a scraper, etc. My interests are many, my time is stretched, but I want to get all I can out of life. My biggest challenge today is getting it all organized.

*I have started using a planner again. After a couple of year's of just using master lists and Outlook, I really look forward to getting my schedule, routines, calendar, to dos, goals and people contacts all back in one portable place. This is still a work in progress, but the planner is now with me always. I am trying to have a separate section for work routines and to do lists this time around, as in the past I put everything on the same list and work somehow took over the rest of my life. Work appointments and deadlines do go into my calendar, as it is the one place where it all fits together.

*I have recommitted to a group that is working on organizing our homes. I check in as often as I need, but at least once a week I share my progress.
*Aside from teaching full time, I have contributed to education the past several years by being an active part in the site council for the school where I work and working on the board for the PTO for my children's school. I like to be in the know and to help make good things happen for the young people in my world.

* I am again on a spiritual journey to read through the Bible in a year. I am reading it in chronological order, a text compiled by Harvest House Publishers with commentary by F. LaGard Smith. I read through this New International Version five and six years ago, and it really is a great way to experience God's word. I am following the scheduled readings and catching up if I miss a day. For my supplemental reading I am also rereading The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren and published by Zondervan. I went through this about four years ago, and it was good. I am going at my own speed, which, at present, is one or two "days" each week.