Summer Fun and Shopping

Hello!  I know I haven't been blogging regularly lately.  It is Summer and I have been enjoying it.  We have recently returned from a trip out West.  My girls and I flew out to Utah, then drove to Jackson Hole Wyoming and Yellowstone.  It was a beautiful trip, but holy guacamole was it cold!!!!  Not only did we see remaining snow, it actually snowed while we were at Old Faithful.  So my girls first time seeing snow was June 17th!

Now I have a few weeks at home to catch up on a few things and relax a little.  I'm trying to get into a routine mixing summer fun with a little work.  We are also driving up to D.C. later this summer.  It will be our first long car trip.  Let me know if you have any tips or advice of what to see and do on the trip from Florida to D.C. or while we are there.

I've also been doing a little shopping.  Check out what I just ordered.  I am so excited to get it!  It will be perfect for centers.  They are accepting pre-orders now at half off.  Click here if you decide to order one.  (It is my referral code.)

A New Book to Love!

Hello all!!  I am finally out of school and back in the blogging world.  My last day was Friday, June 6th.  In addition to the normal end of year checklist, I also had to add packing and moving my classroom to the list.  Then on Saturday, June 7th I had my daughter's 13th Birthday Annual Beach Bash!  Of course I didn't get it all moved in my 1 paid post-planning day, so I was back up there moving more stuff today.  (I really have too much stuff!!!)  Enough about me and my life, on with the good stuff!

I am linking up with Mrs. Jumps "We Love Books" Tuesday linky.  It was one of my favorite reads last week.  Bloggers are linking up featuring their favorite class read-a-louds.  I have found some pretty good new books to add to my wish list.  I can't wait to discover a few new books this week. Click here to "jump" over to Mrs. Jump's page.

I am sharing one of my favorite books with you, "Henrietta Hexagon and the Triangles".  (It was actually written by childhood friend of mine.)  This is a very touching story about adoption, family and shapes.  It is available on Amazon as a paperback book and for Kindle.  (You can read it for free if you have Prime.)

As an infant, Henrietta Hexagon was left alone in a shape sorter with no one to care for her. She was found and adopted by a family of triangles. She loves her family more than anything but she can't seem to get past the feeling that she doesn't quite fit in. 

One warm spring morning, Henrietta goes outside searching for hexagons. She does manage to find one but in doing so, she finds herself in a very sticky situation. She heads back home feeling down and defeated but when she arrives, everything changes! This sweet story about adoption and family relationships also subtly teaches a valuable math lesson. Children will adore Henrietta and will also learn the important lesson that it doesn't matter what you look like on the outside, it's what's on the inside that counts.

I love reading this book to my class when we are covering shapes in math.  It is also a great story to map.  The story is also a fabulous book to discuss problem and solution.  Here is a cute story map you can use to accompany the book.

If you would like to learn more about Mandi and the book, go to her blog blogwithmandi.wordpress.com and see a few more pages from Henrietta Hexagon.  Mandi was kind enough to Skpe with my class and the students really enjoyed meeting the author and illustrator.  Talking with Mandi made my class realize they can be real writers and illustrators too!  She really inspired the students in my class.

I hope you discovered a new book to add to your collection of class read-a-louds.  I was able to teach so many great lessons with this story.  What is one of your favorite read-a-loud stories?