Have spent about 5 days working in our new classroom and there are now fewer boxes and the student desks and chairs are much more visible. I even have the beginnings of 1 bulletin board up! Spent parts of 3 days vacuuming my teddy bear collection before they go into storage. I will miss them, but have kept a few for display during the school year.

Read another great story nominated for one of the Washington Book Award programs. Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things by Lenore Look with pictures by LeUyen Pham is a story boys will enjoy and so will the girls! I can hardly believe a female author wrote this great story - guess she was inspired by a boy named Sam. Alvin is an amazing kid who loves superheroes and is a superhero himself "Firecracker Man"! A problem, however, is that while he can talk at home and on the bus, he has never talked at school - it is just too scary!

My next read is N.E.R.D.S.: National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society by Michael Buckley. With NERDS made up of a team of 5th grade super spies including: Duncan "Gluestick" Dewey, Ruby "Pufferfish" Peet, Heathcliff "Choppers" Hodges, Julio "Flinch" Escala, Matilda "Wheezer" Choi, and Jackson "Braceface" Jones, this has to be a fun read!

posted 8/18/2011 4:55 PM | comment | view comments (0)

If you like puzzles, games, and/or reality TV you may get a kick out of The Gollywhopper Games by Jody Feldman. Gil Goodson's has collected and studied everything he can about the Golly Toy & Game Company and the Gollywhopper Games gives him the opportunity to use this info as the games are broadcast live on television.

The Gollywhopper Games remind me a bit of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but with a contemporary twist or two, and unexpected events and lots of action.

Happy Reading!

posted 8/11/2011 12:10 AM | comment | view comments (0)

If you love dog stories or even just like dog stories, Tango: The Tale of an Island Dog by Eileen Beha, is a great choice! Tango, a Yorkshire Terrier, goes from living a pampered life to falling overboard from a yacht. He is luckily rescued from a beach of Prince Edward Island, Canada, but his tags which show what his name is and who he belongs to disappear creating a mystery with many twists and turns.

Definitely worth your time to read!

posted 8/10/2011 11:57 PM | comment | view comments (0)

I almost forgot to mention what a great 2 days I spent reviewing and learning more about using a SMARTBoard (interactive whiteboard) and the SMART Notebook. We will have a new SMARTBoard in our classroom this year. I anticipate it will be quite a learning tool for ALL of us.

Now I'm off to work on more SMART Notebook activities!

posted 8/5/2011 10:45 PM | comment | view comments (0)

I am halfway through Scat by Carl Hiaasen which is nominated for the 2012 Young Readers Choice Award Nominee, and it is a great story! Put together a tough teacher, a mysterious fire during a field trip to a swamp in the Florida Everglades, and two students who want to solve the mystery of their teacher's disappearance and you have just a few of the people and events included in this terrific story!

Happy Reading!

posted 8/5/2011 10:24 PM | comment | view comments (0)

Hello and welcome to Ms. Mensinger's 4th Grade Classroom Blog!

posted 7/24/2011 1:58 AM | comment | view comments (0)

With just a week or so left in July, I've already been working in our classroom, choosing a class mascot, reworking this website, and selecting decorations (bulletin board borders, accents, etc.). I have also started reading the books nominated for the 2012 Sasquatch Reading Award and 2012 Young Reader's Choice Award to share with my students.

I can hardly wait until early August because I will be attending a SMARTBoard Tech Camp in Seattle. We will have a new SMARTBoard (interactive whiteboard) in our classroom this year and I want to be ready for us to use it as much as possible.

posted 7/23/2011 11:38 PM | comment | view comments (0)