BOOKS! BOOKS! BOOKS!

As a child, books were hard to come by. I always dreamed of having my own bookcase filled with my favorite books. I come from a working class family that had very limited resources for such "luxuries". My parents had very little formal education in their home countries, BUT they did understand the importance of a well-rounded education. Every Friday, one of my parents would take us to the library for read aloud time followed by some kind of art activity. I LOVED Fridays. The idea that I could "borrow" books, have time to read them, and be entrusted to take care of them was very bewildering to me. As I grew up, I began to purchase my own books. I have so many books now, both at school and at home, that I have a hard time finding space for them. I now have to rotate books by holidays, themes, and my favorites. I may not spend money on expensive purses, but I do buy every month from Scholastic (I try to follow the limit I have set for myself--some months I do better than others).

Why go down memory lane? Well, to sum it up, I LOVE books, reading, and more books. This is the reason for my post today.  I came across this website called We Give Books. This organization is dedicated to delivering award-winning books so you can read and share beautiful stories with children in your life both at home and at school. There are literally tons of FREE ebooks you can choose from and filter by author, genre, and age group (the highest age group is 10 y.o.). It is very easy to join and did I mention it is FREE!

Books opened up a whole new world to me. It was my escape many times. Above all, I have such wonderful memories of books that were read to me both at school and at my local library. This hunger for books that I still feel, is what I hope to instill in my students at school.

A great book to read to your students this October is Goodnight Goon by Michael Rex. It is a monsterized parody of Goodnight Moon by Margret Wise Brown. There are so many activities you can do with your students:

• compare and constrast 
• create a goon and describe it
• write your own version of Goodnight ____?____
• discuss the elements of a parody

 Simply click on the picture below and start reading.

Let me know what you think. How would you use it with your students?