Lost Boys

And . . . what a better day to end a ghost story than Halloween . . . although reviewers call Lost Boys a "thriller" or "suspense," definitely there are ghosts!   One reviewer even adds this book is for "those who like their suspense mixed with the supernatural."  Interesting!   A great read . . . now back to Realistic Visionary, a study of George Washington, and then on to the four volumes on Abraham Lincoln for the Teaching American History Class I'm taking.

Hoping your upcoming week will be the best week ever!

Books! . . . and Talent Show

So, this is a sort of post-script to Parent Teacher Conference.  I learned a lot about the kids in my class . . . but I also got a couple of great suggestions for books and authors to read.  I can't even remember how Mrs Bird and I got onto the subject of reading Orson Scott Card, but we did.  Now reading OSC is like a huge stretch for me because my favorite genres don't usually include anything close to fantasy or science fiction.  Mrs Bird was talking about the book Lost Boys and I quickly took note of the title and decided to read it. . . soon.  Then this weekend, our daughter, Katy was up and I asked her if she'd read it since she is a huge fan of OSC (she's the reason I've ever read any of Card's works to begin with!) 

Bottom line is that I love to know what comes next in the book.  I sometimes HAVE to know what comes next in the book.  After talking to Katy, and prying just a little info out of her, I am sooooo excited to read Lost Boys and I'll let you know what I think once I've finished.  I'm thinking it's not a read aloud for fourth grade, but something to stretch one's thinking of the fabric of the universe.

Talent Show next Tuesday at 1:00.  If you can make it, great, if not, you already know your kids are amazing.  My jaw dropped a couple of time during practice today.  Yep, amazing! 

This year really is shaping up to the Best Year Ever!

Parent Teacher Conferences

When I first saw the calendar for this school year, I thought I was going to hate The New Format / Time-DayS for the conferences, but it was nice.  Seeing the parents of "only" 15 students per day was a pleasant surprise . . . and how can I complain about Friday off?  And after 21 years of conferences, I stumbled onto a magic phrase.  I've always asked parents if there were concerns they wanted to make me aware of, and they usually just smiled and said, no, everything is great ---  but this year I added "or anything else that needs to come to my attention."  Wow!  Thank you, parents, for sharing with me.  I feel so much able to understand your children and prepared to help them over their personal rough spots.

How could you not know that we finished reading Where the Red Fern Grows this week?  How can a kid not love it?  Well, okay, if a boy gets a little choked up, it hurts his pride --- that's a reason, I suppose!

Looking forward to getting back into the swing of things on Monday!  Have the Best Weekend Ever!

Read-A-Thon

Wow, already two days into the read-a-thon and I haven't read a word yet!  Better get busy!

All the potatoes are already dug from our garden but our tomatoes are ripening in the green house.  Last week I sprouted sunflower seeds for the first time.  Yum!

And Math?  I'm thinking that the Harvest Break is a total of 11 days and two are gone so how many does that leave now?  Let's see . . . I was three years old when the Flintstones first hit the airwaves on tv . . . I wonder how old that makes me?  . . . . (Hint: google Flintstones!  ;)

Reading:  Read-read-read-read!  Remember although getting money from pledges is nice, the most important part of the read-a-thon is reading!!!

Idaho History:  Could this be the warmest beginning of October ever?  I wonder how I could research that?  Hummmmm, I bet I could start at Google.

Science:  "red sails at night, sailors' delight. . . "  what does that mean???

Can't wait until Oct 11!  See you then!