My Excitement about August 5th, 2014....The Bats are coming again!!!!

Bats In The Band

Written and Illustrated by Brian Lies

Houghton Mifflin Co., 2014

ISBN 978-0-544-10569-0

Available to Pre-Order at Amazon

I placed my order on June 18th, 2014

I can not wait to share this new book with my students in September!  I have not even seen this book in person but if it is anything like his other three, it will be a hit in my classroom!

As you can see from my previous post I am a HUGE Brian Lies Fan!  

http://happy2teach-myblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/more.html

Brian Lies has three additional Bats' Books: 

Bats At The Beach

Bats At The Library

Bats At The Ballgame

Along with an extensive list of books which he has illustrated.

I proudly have these books displayed in my classroom along with a stuffed bat! My students can not wait for their turn to read with the bat and they even try to recruit a couple of students to listen to them read.  This is what makes teaching so incredible, the opportunity to see students excited about reading!

I also enjoy visiting Brian Lies' Website because there are wonderful activities which go along with his books!  Take time to check it out!

As a side note - My pup looks like the bats with his big ears :)

Waiting for my delivery from Amazon :)

Great Joy

Do you ever wonder why you became a teacher? Why do you spend the countless hours at home differentiating your lesson so that your students understand the concept you are trying to teach?  And why once a lesson is over you sit and think of how you can change and make that lesson better?  

Then it hits you! 

POW!!!!

The student who is smiling from ear to ear because they are so proud of what they wrote!  

Or the student who is so excited because they reached the correct answer in math!  

Or the student who just stood in front of the class and read an entire book with confidence and then the class gives them a standing ovation!

This was my day today!  Watching my students succeed and overcome obstacles is why I do what I do every day!  

Meeting New Educators...

I have not taking time to blog in a long while but I have decided that because I am meeting so many incredible educators through Facebook and Twitter it is time to jump back into the saddle!

I would like to start with ...

http://theenlightenedelephant.blogspot.com/

I happen to meet this incredible educator when I was on a blog hop which was a blast, I received so many FREE great lessons as well as finding new educators to follow!  Melissa created this incredible clip art set and it is available at 1/2 price for a limited time on Teachers Pay Teachers!  Don't Miss out!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-To-School-Supplies-Clip-Art-Set-1-783223

I can not wait to use this clip art!

DEN Goes Viral Project Success

In the Fall I had the opportunity to participate in a wonderful project with the DEN (Discovery Education Network).  We had to pick a topic and then create a video similar to the “Did You Know” Video created by Scott McLeod. 

Chad Lehman, DEN Community Manager headed the project and I was one of the Team Leaders.  The topic I chose was “iPads In The Classroom”.  I love using iPads in the classroom but wanted to learn more information from other educators.

I created an Edmodo group and approximately 22 members joined the project.  We had a lot of great discussions along with asking everyone to contribute facts for our video.

Tom McLaughlin, a DEN Star, offered to put together the video for us.  He put together the entire video on his iPad1.  Tom also blogged about this experience at Behind The Scenes of the Did You Know iPad Edition. 

To wrap up the project we had a video conference with Chad Lehman!  We talked about the pros and cons of the project.  Chad wrote a wonderful article which featured our video! 

I hope this summer to have the opportunity to work with the same group of terrific educators along with inviting some new ones to create a part II of our video!

New Year’s Resolution

Well, once again it is that time of year again when we reflect on last year and look towards a new year.  We always set expectations for ourselves such as losing weight, exercising more, and even getting more sleep.  I actually made two lists this year.  The first list was for me, the second list was for my professional development. 

I have a list of blogging topics which I have wanted to blog about since September.  Well, it is time that I start blogging regularly.  At first I thought I would blog weekly and then realized quickly that it is the 9^th of January, I was not going to keep that resolution very long.  So I made the decision to blog monthly and perhaps bi-monthly if I have the opportunity.

New Year….New Me!

What is your Professional Development New Year’s Resolution?

App Page On My Blog

Hello Everyone!

Well, it has been a while since I have posted.  I will be adding to my App Page because that is where I am spending a lot of my time recently!

Please take some time to check it out!

More

More

By I.C. Springman

Illustrated by Brian Lies

I could not wait till I got home today from school to rip open the box from Amazon.  I was tracking this box since yesterday and I placed the order well over a month ago!

You are probably wonderful how a picture book can bring so much excitement to an adult.  Well, I want to let you know all about it!

I have always been a huge fan of Brian Lies.  He is a wonderful author and an incredible illustrator.  Brian Lies wrote and illustrated books such as Bats in the Library, Bats at the Beach, Bats at the Ballgame,  along with many others.  

While in grad school I was taking a children's literature class and had to write and present about my favorite author.  Hands down I knew who I was going to write about and was actually looking forward to this assignment.  I thought it would be fun to write to Brian and ask him if I could interview him.  I did not expect to get an answer but within a day I heard back from Brian saying he would be happy to help me out!  (I admit, I screamed with excitement, glad no one was around).  At the time he was illustrating Bats at the Ballgame so it was easier to communicate through email. He was so kind and answered all my questions.  It was an incredible experience and to this day I give Brian Lies the credit for the A in that class. 

So you can imagine my excitement when I heard that he was illustrating a new book.  More is a beautifully illustrated book and the words are simple but powerful.  The combination of the two truly makes an incredible book.  Immediately, I thought about how this book will be fabulous to use in the classroom.  The story teaches a lesson (you will have to read the book), plus I can see how the students and I can spend a lot of time talking about the pictures and what they see.

Another inspirational book to add to my library!  Thanks I.C Springman and Brian Lies for a fantastic book!

Check out Brian Lies website

You can get lesson ideas, learn more about Brian Lies, or see his sensational illustrations. 

http://www.brianlies.com/index.htm