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

such a fleeting, fleeting moment…

“Play with Passion” – only Billy could even guess who Rex Ryan is – and he wouldn’t really know until I gave him a bunch of hints – so a head coach book is lost on my audience, i get that – still, it was a decent book – he spent 1/2 the book talking about how awesome his dad was as a coach (the dad wasn’t) and how awesome the NY Jets are going to be (they aren’t) – my takeaway activity is this: he allowed the players to speak with the media – no restraints – but they had to mention at least two other teammates when they were interviewed – the players have caught on to the point that they have a game as to who can mention the most people – i thought it was a neat way to get players to realize there are people around them that make their jobs easier – so i’m trying to figure out how that works in the classroom b/c we don’t have that many interviews

“Cosby” – biography on the Jello man – or the Fat Albert man – or the original Noah – any of those work – even in his 80s, Cosby still hits the road and does his stand-up – which is amazing to me – the book brought back memories of my childhood with “the cosby show” – and the tapes my parents had of his stand up – which is brilliantly funny

“Queen of the Slayers” – in the words of a t-shirt i recently coveted “Buffy should’ve staked Edward to the heart” – my final book this week was fan-fiction – from “Buffy: The Vampire Slayer” – the book wasn’t great – surprised, probably not – and i’ll probably end up reading the other books out that go with the series – there are over 100 – so i have a long reading life ahead of me – but not recommendable fiction:)

band preview is when this week???

maf

come see me tomorrow at registration – the secret word is “detective,” and it will earn you fifty billion bonus points for the coming year…

“the greatest show on dirt” – minor league baseball in 1993 – or so – fictional book of life during that time – brought back memories – sadly, the plot line brought back memories of a terrible book:) basically, the plot line included the story of star-crossed lovers – where the lovely, pure girl falls for the world-toughened guy – for once, i’d like to read a story where the guy is actually as morally good – or better – than the girl – so reverse the stereotype that all women have to reel their men in and tame them…

“daddy” – by bob saget – from “full house” – one of the better shows of all time – definitely, not a book for middle school eyes or ears – although, saget makes his point that his humor isn’t harmful or threatening – i definitely understand his life a lot better now – a lot of sadness there – a lot of pain – honestly, his chapter about living alone and failed relationships was probably one i, and hardly anyone else, could identify with

remember, you want a top locker tomorrow:)

maf

media days are finally here – look for me to hang out with the vandy players

“what we found under the sofa and how it changed the world” – elem BOB – i’m now done with elem BOB – my memory working per usual, i think the last two elem BOBs i read weren’t good – but, the great thing about those books is that they’re done really, really quickly (sort of like missing girl:)

“joss whedon” – a biography on him – fabulous – wrote tons of pages of things we can do in the classroom – i’ve now started watching “buffy: the vampire slayer” – and i’m pulling hard for “dr. horrible 2”

“espn: those guys have all the fun” – for an 800-page book, it was pretty depressing – those guys may have fun, but they do a lot of stupid things – not that the talent comes to media days, but i will definitely steer clear of most of them (particularly, the radio guys) – one of the more interesting reads was how they botched getting sunday AND monday night football – i at least now know why most all sporting events are on cable vs. free TV

so there’s this back road behind chelsea park elementary – always deserted – b/c it’s a dead end – and today, a jeep tears out from it – at 6 am in the morning – an overnight adventure i’d probably not like to know about… 🙂

maf

happy 6th – and 5th -and 4th – i for one am very glad that with every passing day, the chances of being kept up all night with blasts are decreasing…

“the monuments men” – there’s tremendous irony that i read books that have been turned into recent blockbuster movies – and that my kids go to movies all the time – and i never do – but i read books all the time – and they never do – so with that introduction, you would think the odds would be good that if i read a book that becomes a hit movie that my kids are sure to have seen it – and of course, they haven’t b/c it’s either “too history-ee” or played opposite some romance humor whatever of the week – or was against transformers 5 – or, and if this is the real reason, i’ll laugh forever, the movie was rated R and so they couldn’t technically go (i doubt it was R – but hey, you never know)

anyway, “monuments” was my only book for the week – it took a while to get through – the scariest part to me is just how many ideas hitler had for transforming europe – in this case, steal major works of art, house them in a secret cave of a mountain in austria – and then flatten his old hometown that he deemed wasn’t “worthy” enough of him and rebuild it just the way he wanted – complete with new artwork – and before he committed suicide at the end, he still went down and looked at his models – that stuff terrifies me

so that said, “monuments” supplemented previous WWII things i knew – just moved the lens closer – in a war where the chase at the end was rescuing people being killed in concentration camps, i’m not sure the rescuing of artwork deserves the same laudatory praise, but those guys did all the good they could with the time that they had – which is all any of us can do, i guess

maf

it was great – we rocked the memory verses – the stories from the year – we didn’t get Heavenly Doughnuts like the 5th grade did, but we won everything else mostly…

“Gerry Lindgren’s Book of Running” – great story on interlibrary loan – Lindgren wrote it in third person – and only up through his high school days – but just an unbelievable glimpse of what running was like in the early 1960s (he was arrested 17 times – it was so odd that people would run that cops would assume he was trouble)

“scribe” – collection of the memories of a boston globe writer – sportswriter – he spoke of a dream to have a show that married sports and music – that most people love both – and i’d never thought of the connection – his chapter on college sports was good – b/c it’s such a business and it can be hard to not feel like the kids aren’t getting a lot out of it – he reconciled those two worlds pretty well

“framing faith” – a photojournalist outlined was that photos can teach use faith lessons – perspective – depth – insight – light/dark – good

how were the fireworks last night???

maf

so this will be an interesting “first”…

“Schools of Hope” – great book about one of Sears early presidents – who invested in the building of 5,000 plus African-American school buildings in the South from 1910-30 – he sponsored at least three in Shelby County – one looked to be in the Columbiana area – the book was a fascinating read – good without being preachy – the photographs alone were amazing

“Madamoiselle” – biography of Coco Chanel – the lady that gave us pretty purses and colognes:) Chanel was definitely an interesting read – she was abandoned by her father – the dad just left the kids after the mom died – Chanel had nothing to her name at 18 – and there were no options for women at that time – so what she did with her life was just amazing – that said, what she with the Nazis, collaborating during their occupation of France in WWII – that part was pretty unforgiveable to me – so forgive me if I go off on the next interlocking CC purse I see… 🙂

hope to get back to my story some time this week – first up is creating tests for the seventh grade to use across the county this year – yipee!!!

maf