Maria's Mélange

Just a quickie post today... and I'm sure that many of my normal buddies won't be posting this week. It's "Screen Free Week" - but I'm not really participating. Call me a rebel. I know that there WILL be other posts at Teach Mentor Texts, so be sure to stop by!  Not many "wow" books this week... though I did get through two more Newbery books! That takes me to 74.  If you'd like to see my other posts from this past week: Tuesday - " Rites of Passage ", my Slice of Life post Thursday - " New to Who - Geekling Edition " A favorite post from the week, where I reflect on what my boys think of Doctor Who so far! Sunday " Batty About Colossus Rises " - Kathy and I wrap up our discussion.

It's the final post for The Colossus Rises! Check out our first few posts here: Intro Part One Part Two As always, my thoughts are in purple and Kathy's in blue. Be sure to visit her blog - The Brain Lair - for the other half of the conversation! The End! I’m going to stick with a 3 star rating on this one, even though my son loved it. I’m starting a science fiction mini unit with fourth grade readers, and one of them grabbed this right out of my hand the moment I held it up. What sold her? The mythological style of cover and the Riordan blurb. I really want to hear what she has to say when she finishes. She’s a voracious reader, but I don’t know that fourth and fifth graders who are so incredibly voracious are as picky about little plot points or flat characters as we can be. Which is why this will have a prominent spot in the library now that I’m done with it.  I didn’t love Insignia and that hasn’t been in the library since I book talked it months ago

What do you do to watch more Who?  Hook your children on the series!  I had recently started watching the series, and no one else in the house was interested. Then, my older son came home from a sleepover. His friend likes Doctor Who, and they had watched part of an episode. As a huge science fiction and fantasy reader, he was intrigued. He came home and insisted that it was time for him to check it out. My husband declared that they should start from the very beginning. Netflix to the rescue! We sat down with a bowl of popcorn and clicked "play". The boys stuck with it, and we watched four episodes  before they called it quits. Perhaps starting with the first Doctor wasn't the best idea. Honestly, even I was a bit confused at first. The special effects were something.. special. I have every intention of going back to watch the older episodes, but this wasn't the way to win the boys over. So we jumped to the new series for them. Well, *I* jumped. My husban

Inspired by watching my son cross into Boy Scouts, followed by celebrating a Bat Mitzvah and a Confirmation in the past few weekends. Rites of Passage You stand before the crowd. Resplendent. Proud of your accomplishments, yet a humble smile lights your face. Speaking the language of your ancestors, which you chant with beautiful intonation and grace. Sharing your insights and wisdom, your words and shawl remind us you are now teacher as well as student. This was my second Bat Mitzvah - the first was several years ago. I am honored and privileged to sometimes be invited by my former students (as they generally leave me when they are 11). I was impressed by the powerful way the Bat Mitzvah shows the community that the young woman has taken a step into adulthood. I especially love how they not only chant portions in front of the entire crowd, but also share their own well researched thoughts about it.  It is so clear that scholarly discussion about the religious

It's Monday again, time for insomnia and reading cool posts by amazing readers! Check out other posts at the Teach Mentor Texts website to help feed your need for great new reads. Fairly slow reading week - at least as far as completed books go. I have several that I'm working my way through (One audio Newbery, one paper Newbery, among others) This past week I also wrote about: Tuesday - " Why I Teach " Thursday - My boys share their current reads for THIRSTday .      And I discuss an amazing episode in Season 1 Doctor Who - "Dalek" Saturday - Kathy (The Brain Lair) and I chat about the  second portion of The Colossus Rises Sunday - My Couch to 5K progress

I posted a few weeks ago about my new healthy living resolution - taking on the Couch to 5K challenge. While many of you have seen my periodic twitter updates, I thought that I'd do an update on how I've been doing so far. Let me start this by reiterating that I am NOT a runner. I have never been a runner. In fact, in middle school my primary reason for becoming a goalie in field hockey was to avoid running. The only reason I ever broke a 10 minute mile was because it was a requirement to get an A in PE in high school. I've always been willing to do almost anything to get my A... Since high school, I don't think I have ever run. Not once. I've done a variety of types of exercises along the way - like yoga and kickboxing - but never running. What was I thinking when I decided to start this routine? I'm honestly not sure. Maybe it's the lovely influence of all my twitter friends and their daily #RunTeacherRun tweets. Maybe it's the fact that I'v

Batty About Books picks up with the second section of  The Colossus Rises by Peter Lerangis As always, I host my thoughts  (in purple)  with Kathy's responses  (in blue)  here. Kathy's blog - The Brain Lair - is where she posts her thoughts with my responses. Don't miss hopping over there this week, because we had an extended discussion about the Hero's Journey as it relates to this book in her section! Our earlier chats are here:  Chatting about the cover  and previewing Part One Section Two - Chapters 16-32 I still believe this book will be hugely appealing to the middle grade set who adore Percy Jackson and Harry Potter, and I’m enjoying the story, but I think its literary merit isn’t as high as I hoped when I first gazed at the cover... AGREED! I’m not sure it will appeal to Harry Potter fans though unless they are just starting the series and haven’t seen the movies.  I don’t think there’s enough meat to engage those readers. I see it more for r

A quick THIRSTday post from the boys... Be sure to visit David at Eat the Book , as he was the originator of this fun weekly theme.  Younger: The Key and the Flame . "I like the magic wand" I won a copy of this book with some COOL swag! When it arrived, younger (3rd grade) promptly snatched it and the awesome bookmark from me. He's reading it and is really enjoying it so far. Yesterday morning he proclaimed it "awesome" and in the evening in the car he kept chuckling and saying "cool". I asked him what was so cool about it, but he doesn't want to give me any spoilers. Guess I've trained him well! Older: The Doctor Who Character Encyclopedia I like this book because of its many intriguing characters and strange aliens. Umm... yeah... I mentioned that I'm corrupting them, right? On that note - don't miss my other post today where I talk about the episode "Dalek" . This is also the most recent

 Season 1 Episode 4 "Dalek" What can the conflict between alien races teach us about human nature? Can we fight through anger and hatred to find compassion and acceptance? It becomes glaringly evident how much the Doctor needs Rose in the episode “Dalek”. They complement one another. Rose is the voice of compassion and reason in the face of the Doctor’s unwavering anger and hate for the dalek. Their friendship pulls him back from plunging into the darkness. source  http://pinterest.com/pin/230739180880417849/ Anger leads to hate...  It may be a quote from a different movie, but it certainly fits Nine here. His anger toward the lone dalek is completely understandable, given their history, but the way he handles his feelings makes it clear he is heading down the dark path. In the past few episodes, we’ve seen him take a hard stand before, and he’s even let villains die. He showed no mercy to Cassandra in her weakened state. There’s something differ

There's a buzz going around now. Tired, huddled masses of teachers yearning to breathe free. We ask ourselves, and each other, "Why do you do it?". Many of my friends have had their say, and there's even a new blog created called "Use Your Outside Voice" to help document why we are here and why we stay. Of course, we only teach because it's such an easy job that anyone can do it, right? Anyone who has stepped foot in a classroom EVER can tell you that isn't the case. Just like any responsible citizen who puts in a full day's work - we are tired at the end of the day. Children are amazing, and touching the future is exhilarating, but the job is far from easy. So, the question remains.... why do I teach? In middle school and high school, my future was filled with promise. Everyone told me that I was such a "smart" girl and I could "do anything I wanted". I considered astronomy, archeology, chemistry... I was encouraged t

Welcome back to "It's Monday, What are you reading?" Big thanks, as always, to the Teach Mentor Texts team. Check out their blog for more fan-tastic posts. Why yes, I did skip posting last week. There's this man, you see... and it's all his fault. Yep, that's him.... If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know about my newest obsession. I've hooked my children to the extent that - when we were at the bookstore on Friday night - they spotted a table of Doctor Who books and "forced" me to purchase a book... twisted my arm, even!  (Though I'm avoiding reading a lot of it so that some things don't get spoiled). I've devoted a new feature on the blog to my new fandom, created a board on Pinterest... you might say I have a problem. But I'm back, and I did actually read enough over the course of the last TWO weeks to share it with you today! Science Fiction: I listened to Hitchhiker's Guide as part of

Batty About Books and...   The Colossus Rises by Peter Lerangis Last week we chatted about the cover and shared links to the prequel and the trailer. This week, Kathy (aka @thebrainlair) and I tackle the first 15 chapters of the book. We plan to split this book into 3 segments. Come along for the ride! As always, my thoughts are in purple with Kathy's responses in blue. My thoughts are hosted here, and Kathy's thoughts with my responses are at The Brain Lair blog . Add your thoughts in the comments! Section One: Chapters 1-15 The story starts off with a bang - “One the morning I was scheduled to die, a large barefoot man with a bushy red beard waddled past my house.” I was intrigued, to say the least. The first few chapters set the humorous yet adventurous tone of the book. I think this will hook my students into the story quickly, and help them deal with the fact that the backstory takes a while to develop. This is EXACTLY how I started my section - with t

Aliens on Vacation  (Intergalactic Bed and Breakfast #1) by Clete Barrett Smith (Goodreads Author), Christian Slade (Illustrations) Hardcover, 251 pages Published May 3rd 2011 by Disney-Hyperion  (first published January 1st 2011) ISBN 1423133633 (ISBN13: 9781423133636) Source of book: Public Library (though I will be adding a copy to my classroom library!) Goodreads Summary:  David, otherwise known as Scrub (don't ask), isn't happy about leaving Florida and his friends to summer with his grandmother in "Middle of Nowhere," Washington. When he arrives at her Intergalactic Bed & Breakfast, he isn't surprised by its 60s meets Star Wars decor, but he is surprised by the weird-looking guests. It turns out that each room in the inn is a portal, and his grandma is the gate-keeper, allowing aliens to vacation on Earth. Grandma desperately needs Scrub's help with welcoming (and disguising) the tourists, shopping for cartloads of aluminum foi

Aliens of London and World War Three (a two part story)  I didn't remember being especially enthralled by these two episodes the first time through. They have some seriously over the top silly moments, and at least one thing I found problematic.  Even so, the second watching of two episodes that wouldn't rank anywhere in my favorites lists had enough bits of joy to rank a full post. Especially now that my "first watchings" are into the second season and I'm desperately missing Nine.  “900 years of time and space and I’ve never been slapped by someone’s mother…” — The Doctor  Oh, he totally deserved it. Rose's poor mother was a basket case, worrying about her. I am old enough now to feel empathy for Jackie. We raise our children and hope that they will be safe and happy.  Oh, why can't her daughter be happy AND safe? Will she ever be able to accept that Rose's world is so immense now that the idea of stepping away from the Doc