i mean, that’s where the day got it’s name in the first place, right??? this evil teacher, mr. mayfield, made his students labor so hard, day after day after day, that a special day was created to honor everyone’s attempt to read a billion books a week – and write responses that were never exactly creative enough to meet his high demands (b/c he was creatively brilliant – i mean, a superhero with a binder battling a tragedy bear??? you just can’t make this stuff up people…)

“rickey and robinson” – book on the relationship between jackie robinson and the GM that signed up to break baseball’s color barrier – amazing as it is, the author knew both guys – i just honestly assumed everyone was dead from that situation that could add light on the subject – so it was a very good read – regardless of your interest in baseball, robinson is a great biography read

“you might have known me…” – biography on phil hartman(n) – he did SNL – he did tv – he was on peewee’s playhouse – he voiced troy mcclure on the simpsons – really funny/creative guy to read about – his end was tragic

“buffy the vampire slayer: season eight, volume 1” – okay, i don’t think i have any audience members out there, but those of you that regularly read comics/graphic novels – mega props – i was thoroughly lost and confused trying to do so – lots more to them than i ever figured – i definitely got a lot out of it

remember, all day reading and writing on labor day or else you fail sixth grade!!!

maf

greetings to all, especially those that keep adding to my spam folder (you know who you are dave – why can’t you be un-spam-y like your older, wiser brother??? 🙂

“hope” – biography on a great comedian – if you’re new to this, all comedians, yes all, seem to these really tragic backstories – hope at least wasn’t moody – which was nice – but he wasn’t like a great dad or anything – he was probably the only entertainer to dominate vaudeville, radio, tv, and movies – all at separate times – so learning about him was learning about the 20th century – i definitely remember his latter specials – so that was fun to relive and think about

“steelheart” – one high school BOB down… the basic story of steelheart is “trying to defeat evil superman” – this book was definitely written for movie work – less about any character development and more just a rather fast moving plot – i say that, it really bogged in the backstory – but i finished – will NOT be reading the second book (of course it’s the beginning of a series)

my second graders on sunday are now planning evil things for my sixth grade – b/c they didn’t have enough lego people to play with – i blamed it on my sixth grade messing everything up, nice, right???

maf

that was buffy, season one – the season everyone looks back on and says “oh, they look so young”…

“How to tell if your cat is trying to kill you” – i started the week with a very serious book – fortunately, i read the book in time to avoid the bell rub trap my parent’s cat had set for me – people of cats, listen – you must too read this book before it’s too late and we speak at your funeral about how you never saw it coming… 🙂

“team challenge” – book of team games – i made copies on some interesting ones – and some notes – i hope to get them into the classroom this week

“romeoiette and julio” – whatever – BOB No. 1 for me – hated it – awful book – why was it put here on earth??? to torture those of us that think we can write and send off our work and get no feedback – and then to discover that apparently, someone loved this book enough to publish – i just wonder where i go wrong and that author goes right – argh…

happy blogging this week (note the spelling jordan m:)

maf

this is apparently our new “welcome to church” song for grade school – my shuffling skills aren’t great – neither is my “go bananas” part:)

“movie and TV Top 10s” – quick read – like 36 pages – on movie lists – highest grossing – best ratings – etc. – “best actor” compared to “best actress” in matters of youngest – the women were way, way younger than the earliest male winner – i think the earliest male actor to win was like 29 – and maybe a 17 year old girl won best lead female – interesting…

“great games” – we played one of the games with four square – well, a modified version – i have at least 10 others i found that seemed decent to try (unlike my attempt today with “I have never” with my second grade – tragically, none of them made a sand castle this summer)

“wait for it” – book on “how i met your mother” – what was my favorite TV show until season 9 – and definitely the finale of season 9 – of course, this author loved season 9 – so what i liked about the book, the author seemed to like what i didn’t – so i did learn a bit

happy journaling this week

maf

so happy “week of” – wow, it seems so far away and then POW, summer just leaves you – of course, the heat is around to stay at least through football season

“The President’s Devotional” – a year’s worth of devotionals President Obama was sent from one of his advisers – like most devotional books, you can plow through the book quickly – of course, it doesn’t mean you learned much – and like most devotional books, some days are better than others – and different days hit different people – i did like the personal stories about the president – and his faith

“Elvis” – wow, this was a sad book – i learned a lot – Elvis and Michael Jackson are both people i wanted to read biographies on – b/c their music made so many people happy – there was almost a tragic flaw to it all – and with Elvis – I just wish he could’ve found joy/happiness in something – his search was sad – but again, I learned a lot

“guide to writing YA books” – i have a note Monday to write a few things down to teach in class – like the author included a seven-step plot outline – which I thought was good – and some tips for Nanowrimo – of course, one flaw of the book is that it’s basically saying “write like Twilight if you want readers and a book contract” – and my creative outlet in writing could never be done that way – hence, i write wacky stories about a Binder of Truth, a detective, and a stalker that protects us all

“the terrible reasons why i run” – oh, what a funny, encouraging read – the author was me – a former fat kid that sometimes feels he’s still an injury away from being that kid – the part about sleeping in to eat waffles with the kitty was one of my favorite parts

yep, busy week – about to get even crazier on monday

maf