I brought home a giant bag of books to read from my classroom. (I think it is supposed to be a laundry bag, but it works perfectly for bringing home summer reading, or weekend grading.)

This morning I sorted through the books – it feels good to have things organized in piles. So good in fact that I’m wishing I had the money to just buy all the other books on my many lists… just to pile them up in To Be Read piles!

I have three categories.

Professional books to read, to help me plan my year. Everything from my new Math Teacher Resources (I only brought 2 home so far…) to Thrive which I started and haven’t had time to finish, and Lively Learning for my classroom planning in general. Essential Questions to help me on the ELA curriculum committee. How to Talk So Kids Can Learn and Strategies That Work, both of which I can’t believe I haven’t ever read…

Fiction… I still have the Traveling Pants series (2 more!) to finish, a few books off of my classroom shelf, and Anne Lamott’s Operating Instructions which has been on my Someday list for months.

Then, there are the books I’ve already read, but I need to dive into this summer for planning. My Social Studies textbook and The Story of the World will help me get up to speed for Ancient Civilizations this year.  Reading in the Wild, Falling in Love with Close Reading, The Joy of Planning, Join the Club, Genre Connections and Comprehension Connections round out my Reading planning for the summer. Next year I will have two sections of Reading, and I feel the need for a lot of planning! I’m looking forward to digging in. I better stock up on post its…

All of this reading. . . I’m thinking my house won’t be getting any cleaner this summer. That’s a consequence I guess I’m willing to live with.

As an added bonus, I have this wonderful card given to me by a student last week, that makes the perfect bookmark.

Happy Reading!