Friday, May 15, 2015

Celebrating Book Orders!

Discover. Play. Build.

I've been inspired by a few recent friends' posts to get involved with Ruth Ayers' Celebrate Link Up, #celebratelu. This week I would like to spend a little time celebrating ... Book Orders!

Our school participates in Scholastic Book Orders, which are run and organized by the parents (thank you, thank you!). My third graders get very excited about book orders, and the day the order forms are placed in mail boxes there is always a flurry of excitement and spontaneous book conversations. It's a joy to watch, especially when kids come running up to me to point out a book we shared in class or another book by an author we've studied.

This week, a parent dropped off my book order books right at the beginning of our writing period. We are currently working on memoirs, so several students took this as inspiration to write some of their own thoughts about book orders and about the agony of waiting for books. I am delighted to share some of their infectious joy with you too! (I also sent these scans to our parent volunteers.)


At the end of April book orders were due and I was waiting and waiting and waiting x100 & still waiting and I got so tired of waiting until they finally came Monday, May 11 2015 (that is today), and I am very happy.

This student (below) has been exploring the use of haiku for memoirs for a few days now, so it was natural that he would try and express his thoughts about the book orders in haiku. The Spanish was a bit of a surprise bonus!


The final entry I'd like to share was from a student who had eagerly snatched up one of the books that I had ordered for the class library: Flora and Ulysses: the illuminated adventures by the incomparable Kate DiCamillo.

I love how totally of her own accord she decided to do some previewing of the book and then share her thoughts in her writing notebook. I look forward to checking back in with her as she gets further along in the book!


For the curious, the rest of my Book Order haul included Shelter Pet Squad: Jelly Bean by Cynthia Lord, The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, and two new books in the I Survived series by Lauren Tarshis. None of them made it into the classroom library, as all of them were claimed by students.

How often do we stop and marvel at the wonder that is new books?

Diane has the Poetry Friday round up over at Random Noodling.

16 comments:

  1. So much excitement! Love it!

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    1. Thanks so much, Tabatha! I love how they could share their thoughts so succinctly.

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  2. I first encountered Pearl Buck's The Good Earth through the Scholastic book clubs! (Way, way, back when.)

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    1. Thanks, Diane. I remember getting some of my favorite books from book orders too.

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  3. The book order time is always exciting, Katie. Glad you shared some of your students' words!

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    1. Thanks, Linda! It was fun to see how they interpreted it.

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  4. Welcome to Saturdays :)
    I love the power of books and what it does for young readers. Glad they love getting those red and white boxes as much as I do!

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    1. Thanks, Michele! Enjoying a reason to celebrate. :) The kids had been begging me about the books for at least a week, so it was a delight to finally witness their arrival.

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  5. I loved reading your students' work! I hope your student enjoys Flora, it's one of my favorite and I bought 2 copies of it at our last book fair. I hope you link up here often!

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    1. Thanks for the encouragement, Kendra! She is definitely enjoying Flora and is nearly finished. It's not my favorite of Kate DiCamillo's, since she has so many amazing books, but I'm glad to see students connecting with it.

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  6. The arrival of the book box is a celebration at any age. Even my 6th graders anxiously await the arrival of the book box. What a fun topic to write about too!

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    1. Thanks, Leigh Anne! It was much more fun to respond in a positive tone and see what the kids wrote, rather than being annoyed that the parent interrupted my class and hijacked my writing period!

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  7. What fun to read your post and see that the "book mobile" is still an exciting day for a child. Hopefully, they will grow into adults who cannot wait to jump into their new book.

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    1. Absolutely, Bernadette! Lifelong readers are always the goal. Thanks.

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  8. I loved that first note - you could tell that this kid was filled with book anticipation!

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    1. Thanks, Tara! That was from the student who had bother me daily about book orders for at least a week or two before that day!

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