Chapter Book of the Day – Page 15

Road Work Ahead (in the book club!)

My Book of the Week

Road Work Ahead by Anastasia Suen
A transportation picture book

Copyright: April 2012
Ages: 3-5
Hardcover
Publisher: An April 2012 Scholastic Book Club paperback!

“Suen’s sparse rhyming verse leads readers through the busy scenes and uses simple vocabulary that suits both the youngest listeners and those just beginning to read.” ~ Kirkus Reviews

“A batch of Grandma’s homemade oatmeal cookies beckons, but for this backseat narrator, the sights and sounds along the road to her house are equally compelling.” ~ Publishers Weekly

Activities:

Play the Road Signs Matching Game.

Find out more about Cars, Trucks, and Construction Play.

Watch the construction site video.

Make a Traffic Light Necklace with yarn and stickers.
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Picture Book of the Day

The Adventures of Granny Clearwater and Little Critter
by Kimberly Willis Holt (Author) and Laura Huliska-Beith (Illustrator)

Booktalk: The Clearwater family is heading west in their covered wagon. But when Granny and Little Critter are accidentally thrown from the back, they are suddenly on their own.

Snippet: They flew through the sky for almost a mile until they landed stuck to a prickly pear cactus. Granny kept napping as if nothing has happened, but Little Critter’s eyes popped open wide as he watched his family’s wagon disappear from the horizon.
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Chapter Book of the Day

The Gray Wolf Throne (A Seven Realms Novel)
by Cinda Williams Chima (Author)
528 pages

Booktalk: Han Alister thought he had already lost everyone he loved. But when he finds his friend Rebecca Morley near death in the Spirit Mountains, Han knows that nothing matters more than saving her. But nothing prepares him for what he soon discovers: the beautiful, mysterious girl he knew as Rebecca is Raisa ana’Marianna, heir to queendom of the Fells.

Snippet: Three lean young men in Ardenine civilan garb played cards at a table by the door. Four had come in, but one of them had left a while ago. Several times, Raisa looked up and caught one or another of them staring at her. Apprehension slithered down her spine. Thieves or assasins? Or just young men showing interest in a girl on her own?

BONUS! See the video!

[youtube=http://youtu.be/bXksII_uVG8]

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Literary Links

Ready to write your children’s book? Apr 4-May 23 (online) writing workshops begin next week!

How can you help your child learn to read?
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My NEW chapter book is Just So, Brianna (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Nonfiction Monday

Picture Book of the Day

Surviving the Hindenburg
by Larry Verstraete (Author) and David Geister (Illustrator)

Booktalk: On May 6, 1937, the giant German airship the Hindenburg exploded in a ball of fire as it attempted to land at Lakehurst Navel Base in New Jersey. Of the 93 people on board, a remarkable 62 survived, including Werner Franz, the ship’s 14-year-old cabin boy.

Snippet: As the Hindenburg‘s cabin boy, 14-year-old Werner had many chores to do for the officers and crew–setting tables, washing dishes, making beds, cleaning boots and uniforms. Much of the time, Werner lived and worked below deck.

BONUS! Download the teacher’s guide!
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Chapter Book of the Day

Attack of the Killer Video Book Take 2: Tips and Tricks for Young Directors
by Mark Shulman and Hazlitt Krog (Authors) and Martha Newbigging (Illustrator)
76 pages

Booktalk: Originally published in 2004, Attack of the Killer Video Book has become indispensable for budding filmmakers and video production classes. This updated edition has been revised to include new technology, with hot tips on digital cameras and editing; shooting on a phone or webcam; adding cool and safe special effects; and much more. Aspiring directors will discover tricks and techniques for becoming a camera sharpshooter; lighting like a pro; making awesome music videos; and using social networking sites to post and promote their movies.

Snippet:
Let There Be Lighting:
Your camera can adjust to the color of light because it has an automatic light balance. That means it works to make white things look white, even if there’s yellowy light on them. Then all of the other colors shift, too.

BONUS! See inside the book!
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Nonfiction Monday

Nonfiction Monday

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up is here at Booktalking.

Nonfiction Detectives

100 Scope Notes

Shelf-employed

Kidlit celebrates Women’s History Month

True Tales & A Cherry On Top

Anatomy of Nonfiction

Biblio File

Archimedes Notebook

All About Books with Janet Squires

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Spring 2012 Call for Nonfiction Monday Hosts

Nonfiction Monday

We’re looking for Spring 2012 Nonfiction Monday Round-up hosts.

Go here to sign up.

Edited to add: The list filled up before noon!

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Nonfiction Book Blast 2012

Susan Goldman Rubin booktalks Music Was IT: Young Leonard Bernstein

on the Nonfiction Book Blast blog today…

Save the date! June 23, 2012 Nonfiction Book Blast 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

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March 2012 Carnival Of Children’s Literature

Our March 2012 host is Just Children’s Books!.
Add YOUR post to this carnival by commenting here.
The deadline for adding your post is TODAY, March 26th.
The carnival will go live on March 28th.

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My NEW chapter book is Just So, Brianna (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Here Comes the Bus

My Book of the Week

Here Comes the Bus by Anastasia Suen
A Bebop Easy Reader

Reading level: Guided Reading™: B DRA: 2 Intervention: 2
Paperback: 8 pages
Publisher: Bebop Books

A Chinese American girl takes the bus to school and greets her friends, one by one, at each stop.

Also available in Spanish as Ya viene el autobús

Activities:

Use the lesson plans from the 91 page Illinois School Bus Safety Program.

First School has school bus music, coloring pages, crafts, and online games.

Play the online School Bus Safety Games.

Visit the Traffic Safety Kid’s Page for coloring pages, puzzles and a word scramble.

Download Free Bus Safety Presentations in PowerPoint.

Use these lesson plans with your class.

See inside the book
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Picture Book of the Day

St. Patrick’s Day
by Anne Rockwell (Author) and Lizzy Rockwell (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Mrs. Madoff’s class celebrates St. Patrick’s Day!

Snippet: On St. Patrick’s Day, I wore my green shirt, green pants, and even my green striped socks. Pablo wore green sneakers.
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Chapter Book of the Day

Tails of Spring Break
by Anne Warren Smith (Author)
128 pages

Booktalk: Everyone, it seems, is going somewhere fun for spring break-everyone except Katie Jordan and her family. Even her best friend, Sierra, is going to Hawaii! But then Katie realizes she’s not the only one being left behind-what about all those poor lonely pets? And so Katie sets out to save her spring break with a pet-sitting business. But Katie hadn’t bargained on having a business partner-especially not someone as awful as Claire Plummer!

Snippet: On the last day of school before spring vacation, it sounded like almost every kid in my fourth grade class was getting away from Oregon. They were going places where the sun was shining. Places like Disneyland and San Diego. Even Hawaii!
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Literary Links

Research Shows that Books without Text Can Increase Literacy, Vocabulary Skills in Children with Developmental Disabilities

Join @CBCBook in celebration of the 93rd annual Children’s Book Week, May 7-13, 2012! #CBW
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My NEW chapter book is Just So, Brianna (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Nonfiction Monday

Picture Book of the Day

Touch the Sky: Alice Coachman, Olympic High Jumper
by Ann Malaspina (Author) and Eric Velasquez (Illustrator)

Booktalk: See how Alice Coachman, born poor in Georgia, became the first African American woman to win a gold medal at the Olympics.

Snippet:
Alice’s teacher saw
something special
in that never-sit-still girl.
She took her to a track meeet
whereS a boy leaped
over a crossbar
into a pile of sawdust.
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Chapter Book of the Day

Right To Play
by Jesse Goossens (Author)
144 pages

Booktalk: Johann Olav Koss, triple world skating champion and winner of four Olympic gold medals, wants to make it possible for everyone, everywhere, to have the opportunity to play. “Everyone” includes those children who, through war, natural disasters, violence or famine, have lost everything. It is for this cause that Koss has given up his career as a top class athlete to found the organization Right to Play. This book takes the reader on an adventure around the world–through schools in Rwanda, refugee camps in Palestine, the slums of Mali and the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The reader will meet child soldiers who have returned from war, children who have to survive on the streets of Africa, and boys with nothing but a rolled up T-shirt as a football because they have nothing else to use.

Snippet: Barely two weeks after the death of his father, Isaac had to pack his things together. He found it hard to keep back the tears when bidding his mother, brother and sister goodbye before getting into the van for Rwanda.

BONUS! See the video!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVJQ-3Kwy14]

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Nonfiction Monday

Nonfiction Monday

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up host is Rasco From RIF

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Nonfiction Book Blast 2012

Ginger Wadsworth booktalks First Girl Scout: The Life of Juliette Gordon Low

on the Nonfiction Book Blast blog today…

Save the date! June 23, 2012 Nonfiction Book Blast 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

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Literary Link

A Survival Guide for Beating Information Addiction (via @zenhabits)
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My NEW chapter book is Just So, Brianna (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Friday Reads

Picture Book of the Day

Zero the Hero
by Joan Holub (Author) and Tom Lichtenheld (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. That’s what all the other numbers think of Zero. He doesn’t add anything in addition. He’s of no use in division. And don’t even ask what he does in multiplication. (Hint: Poof!) But Zero knows he’s worth a lot, and when the other numbers get into trouble, he swoops in to prove that his talents are innumerable.

Snippet: Unlike most numbers, Zero believed himself to be a hero. He just needed a chance to prove it.
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STEM Friday

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

The STEM Friday Round-up on March 9, 2012

is at Practically Paradise.

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Chapter Book of the Day

I Lay My Stitches Down: Poems of American Slavery
by Cynthia Grady (Author) and Michele Wood (Illustrator)
34 pages

Booktalk: Through imagery drawn from quilting and fiber arts each poem in this collection is spoken from a different perspective chronicling the various experiences of American slaves: a house slave, a mother losing her daughter to the auction block, a blacksmith, a slave fleeing on the Underground Railroad. Each poem is supplemented by a historical note.

Snippet:
North Star:
Age six saw me with a new master. He
was no slaver. Instead of tobacco
fields, I plowed the planes of Euclid. Instead
of flax, I spun my way through Homer’s verse.
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Poetry Friday

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by Gathering Books

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Nonfiction Monday on March 12, 2012

Nonfiction Monday is coming!

The Nonfiction Monday Round-up on March 12, 2012

is at Rasco From RIF.

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My NEW chapter book is Just So, Brianna (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Young Readers

Picture Book of the Day

Bright Baby Touch & Feel Colors
by Roger Priddy (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: Each page in this board book has a new color and a new object to touch and feel.

Snippet:
yellow
banana
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Chapter Book of the Day

Mercy Lily
by Lisa Albert (Author)
240 pages

Booktalk: Lily’s mother has slowly been losing herself to multiple sclerosis. After traditional treatment fails, she uses bee sting therapy, administered by Lily, to alleviate her pain. Lily is trained as a veterinary assistant, so she can easily handle the treatments. What she can’t handle is what happens when the bee sting therapy fails and it becomes clear that her mom wants to die.

One beautiful spring day, Lily’s mother asks her for the most impossible thing of all—mercy. While navigating first love, friendship, and other normal worries faced by high school sophomores, Lily also has to choose: help her mom go, or cling to her fading life for all it’s worth.

Snippet:
I take the bees outside, unscrew the lid of the bee jar, and listen to their angry buzzing.
“I hate you,” I whisper.
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March 2012 Carnival Of Children’s Literature

Our March 2012 host is Just Children’s Books!.
Add YOUR post to this carnival by commenting here.
The deadline for adding your post is March 26th.
The carnival will go live on March 28th.

_____________________________________________________________________

STEM Friday on March 9, 2012

STEM Friday is coming! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

The STEM Friday Round-up on March 9, 2012

is at Practically Paradise.

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Literary Link

Create a Query that Gets a ‘Yes’ (via @CBIClubhouse)
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My NEW chapter book is Just So, Brianna (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Great Books

Picture Book of the Day

The Goodbye Cancer Garden
by Janna Matthies (Author) and Kristi Valiant (Illustrator)

Booktalk: After Mom and Dad tell Janie and Jeffrey that Mom has cancer, the whole family goes to the doctor to ask questions. “Is Mom better yet?” Jeffrey asked. “Not yet,” she said. “But we’re working very hard to make her better-probably by pumpkin time.” That gave Janie an idea…the family plants a vegetable garden. As the garden grows, Mom’s treatment progresses…surgery, chemo, head-shaving and other side effects, radiation…and when it’s all done, there are healthy pumpkins and a healthy Mom!

Snippet: One sunny Saturday in March, Dad and Jeffery dug the vegetable bed while Mom and I drew a map.

“Everybody choose two vegetables,” I said.

I already knew mine–cucumbers and tomatoes.
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Chapter Book of the Day

Juniper Berry
by M. P. Kozlowsky (Author) and Erwin Madrid (Illustrator)
240 pages

Booktalk: Juniper Berry’s parents are the most beloved actor and actress in the world—but Juniper can’t help but feel they haven’t been quite right lately. And she and her friend Giles are determined to find out why.

On a cold and rainy night, Juniper follows her parents as they sneak out of the house and enter the woods. What she discovers is an underworld filled with contradictions: one that is terrifying and enticing, lorded over by a creature both sinister and seductive, who can sell you all the world’s secrets bound in a balloon. For the first time, Juniper and Giles have a choice to make. And it will be up to them to confront their own fears in order to save the ones who couldn’t.

Snippet: One night, when they thought I was asleep, they left the house and walked into the woods. I followed them. I didn’t want to be caught so I kept far back. They walked for a long time, almost in a daze.

BONUS! See the video!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGBlysm1JCY]
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5 Great Basketball Books

It’s almost time for March madness!

Basketball’s Greatest Players
by Sydelle Kramer (Author)
Uncover basketball history in this Level 5 easy reader biography.

Cool Basketball Facts
by Abby Czeskleba (Author)
Learn cool basketball facts to share with your friends. Easy reader

Fair Game
By Trisha Speed Shaskan (Author) and Erik Christenson (Illustrator)
The new kid doesn’t play fair…what will the others do? Easy reader

Let’s Talk Basketball
by Amanda Miller (Author)
See how the game is played in this easy reader illustrated with photographs.

Michael Jordan
by Lisa Wade McCormick (Author)
Find out about one of basketball’s greats in an easy reader biography.
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Literary Links

Ready to write your children’s book? Mar 7-Apr 25 (online) writing workshops begin today!

Short Genres, Big Messages: writing workshops for 3rd-4th grades (via @ChoiceLiteracy)
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My NEW chapter book is Just So, Brianna (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Girl’s Guide to Volleyball

My Book of the Week

Girl’s Guide to Volleyball
by Anastasia Suen

I grew up in Florida and California, where the volleyball nets are up at the beach year round. We played volleyball in school, too. Unlike many other sports where you only play one position, in volleyball, you move around the court and play every position. Pass-set-spike!

Booktalk:
Are you a girl who loves to nail the perfect spike? Get in the game! Take your knowledge of volleyball to the next level. Learn the positions, skills, tips and tricks that will help you stay sharp on and off the field.

The ultimate guide to being the ultimate player or fan! Whether competing on the field or cheering from the stands, readers get the inside scoop on all the rules and key strategies of their favorite sports. Plus, find recipes, crafts, and activities to show your team spirit!

Save the date! June 23, 2012 Nonfiction Book Blast 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

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Picture Book of the Day

The Umbrella
by Ingrid and Dieter Schubert (Illustrators)

Booktalk: A little dog finds an umbrella in the garden on a windy day. The moment the dog picks up the umbrella, it catches the wind and pulls the dog skywards. This is the start to fantastic journey around the world. The wind carries the umbrellas and the dog all over the world, from the desert to the sea, from the jungle to the north pole. A wordless picture book that tells a thousand stories.
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Chapter Book of the Day

Missing: A Liv & Death Novel
by Madeline Smoot (Author)
176 pages

Booktalk: Just like their names, Liv and Morte have always been opposites. The two can barely be in the same room together for more than a moment before all conversations turn into fights. It’s not until Morte disappears after a typical field party that Liv even realizes that she might actually love her brother after all. Missing is the tale of Liv’s journey to find out what happened to her brother the night he disappeared — to discover if everyone at the field party had really been typical.

Snippet: My mother named my brother. Most people assumed that his name was short for Mortimer or Morton or something, but this being my mom, it was just the Latin word for death. My father pretended that he had agreed to the name so my mother could have her little joke. “My little life and death,” she called us. In reality, Dad had no say in Morte’s name. It was one thing to name me, his baby girl, his first-born, the Norwegian word for life. It was quite another to name his son Death.
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March 2012 Online Workshops

The March 2012 workshops will begin tomorrow Wednesday, March 7th.

Which workshop is best for you?

New to children’s books?
Learn about the different types of children’s books in the Children’s Book Genres Workshop.

Passionate about literacy?
Find out how you can write for children learning to read in the Children’s Literacy Workshop (for Writers).

Ready to write?
Write and edit your book in the

After you finish a writing workshop you can work through two more edits in a “work-in-progress” workshop, by rewriting your picture book or easy reader or working on the next chapter of your children’s chapter book or children’s novel.

The January workshop dates are March 7-April 25, 2012.

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Literary Link

Apple Won’t Sell Seth Godin’s Book With Amazon Links (via @eBookNewser)
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My NEW chapter book is Just So, Brianna (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Nonfiction Monday

Picture Book of the Day

Here Come the Girl Scouts! The Amazing All-True Story of Juliette ‘Daisy’ Gordon Low and Her Great Adventure
by Shana Corey (Author) and Hadley Hooper (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Juliette Gordon Low–Daisy to her friends and family–was not like most girls of the Victorian era.

Prim and proper?

BOSH!

Dainty and delicate?

HOW BORING!

Snippet: Daisy grew up in Savannah, Georgia when proper young ladies were supposed to be dainty and delicate. But Daisy came from a family of pathfinders and pioneers. She wanted adventure and excitement!
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Chapter Book of the Day

Cleopatra Rules!: The Amazing Life of the Original Teen Queen
by Vicky Alvear Shecter (Author)
128 pages

Booktalk: Cleopatra didn’t just rock the boat when she turned queen at seventeen. She rocked the world with brilliant alliances that kept her in power and in control for decades.

Snippet: She ruled all of Egypt, had Romans trembling in their togas, and made kings weak at the knees. Yet the glamour queen of the ancient world started out as…a bookish nerd.
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Nonfiction Monday

Nonfiction Monday

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up host is 100 Scope Notes

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Women’s History Month

March is Women’s History Month. Read all about it at the Library of Congress.

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March 2012 Online Workshops

The March 2012 workshops will begin on Wednesday, March 7th.

Which workshop is best for you?

New to children’s books?
Learn about the different types of children’s books in the Children’s Book Genres Workshop.

Passionate about literacy?
Find out how you can write for children learning to read in the Children’s Literacy Workshop (for Writers).

Ready to write?
Write and edit your book in the

The March workshop dates are March 7-April 25, 2012.

_____________________________________________________________________

My NEW chapter book is Just So, Brianna (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Friday Reads

Picture Book of the Day

Down by the Station
by Jennifer Riggs Vetter (Author) and Frank Remkiewicz (Illustrator)

Booktalk: An expanded version of the classic rhyme with trucks and trains and boats and planes!

Snippet:
Down by the depot, early in the morning
See the yellow school buses all in a row
See the school bus driver warming up the engine
Vroom vroom beep beep! Off we go!
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Poetry Friday

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by Dori Reads

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Chapter Book of the Day

A Black Hole Is Not a Hole (Junior Library Guild Selection)
by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano (Author) and Michael Carroll (Illustrator)
80 pages

Booktalk: If a black hole is not a hole, then what is it? Find out what black holes are, what causes them, and how scientists first discovered them.

Snippet: Nothing can out-tug a black hole. No army of tow trucks, no convoy of supersized earth haulers, no fleet of giant rocket engines. Not all of them combined.
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STEM Friday

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

The STEM Friday Round-up on February 24, 2012

is at NC Teacher Stuff.

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Nonfiction Monday on March 5, 2012

Nonfiction Monday is coming!

The Nonfiction Monday Round-up on March 5, 2012

is at 100 Scope Notes.

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My NEW chapter book is Save the Best for Last, Abby (All-Star Cheerleaders)