50 Books in 2014: An Update

I've been reading quite a bit, but haven't had much time to post! I'm currently taking 2 grad school classes in an 8 week session. I'm about to start a second 8 week session with 2 classes. So to say I've been busy is an understatement. Here are the highlights and I've got 2 special books I'm saving for their own post!

Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood I have some pretty independent, sensitive and strong-willed children. I appreciate all these things about my kids, but I also know that without proper boundaries and discipline, these things can lead to some rather out of control kids. Enter Love and Logic. I had read the general Love and Logic book last year, but then I found out they had this one that is specifically aimed toward birth through age 6. I completely agree with and embrace everything they talk about in this book. I found myself at a difficult point with Isis were I wanted to encourage her independence, but I also wanted to help her make good choices and recognize the consequences of bad choices. I love his this book talks about helping children learn that their decisions have consequences, but doing it naturally and with love. Everything they do is focused around a calm, controlled and very loving parent. It encourages lots of choices for kids so that they feel ownership of their behavior. It increases their confidence because they feel that they are making decisions and learning how to work through bad choices. I have started implementing these things with Isis and I can already tell a huge difference!!! She has started going into our dining room by her own choice to sit down and calm herself down so that she doesn't yell or scream at us. She's learned that otherwise, she will have to go spend some time in her room for yelling at mom or dad. This is tip of the iceberg as far as how this has changed things for us and I just cannot recommend enough that parents look into the Love and Logic series. They have books all the way up through teenagers and they have them for teachers and for couples. We are currently reading their book on entitlement, which is another conversation for another day. I'll probably add that to my 50 in 2014 later.

Pathways to the Common Core This is a book I had to read for my grad school class called Writing in the Content Areas. This book is written by several individuals who were close to the writers of the Common Core State Standards. As a teacher, I found the information in the book invaluable. I know that it's probably strange that I'm posting a book like this on my 50 in 2014, but I read the entire thing cover to cover. I loved it. It gave me a lot of insight into the purpose behind CCSS and the change it encourages as far as teaching and understanding for student benefit. I know there are a lot of debates about the implementation of the CCSS in the US and I encourage parents or those who are interested to also read this book. While I understand the argument against big government and standardizing curriculum, I do believe in what the CCSS emphasizes and the standards it holds our children to. After reading this book, I felt like I was more confident going into understanding how best to help my students rise to the levels required by the CCSS.

The One and Only Ivan I am about to start a Young Adult and Children's Literature class for my Masters program and I have given myself a headstart on reading some of the books for this class. I emailed the professor and got a copy of the syllabus for the class and it includes an Annotated Bibliography with several different types of books. The One and Only Ivan was the 2013 Newberry Medal Winner. The Medal is given each year to the American Library Association's choice for the most distinguished American children's book published that year. I loved this book! It's told from the perspective of Ivan, who is a silver-backed gorilla living in a big top mall. I loved that the story was told from his perspective. It was just a really fun take on all of it. At the same time, the book raises some great issues and questions about the treatment of animals in captivity. It would raise some great conversations with students if read in a classroom or with your children at home. I definitely recommend it! According to Amazon, it's recommended for ages 8-12, grades 3-7, but I believe it was enjoyable for anybody older than that as well! I wouldn't read it to younger children just because some of the treatment of the animals could be upsetting. There is an elephant who deals with some pretty sad stuff. I don't want to give anything away, but I loved it!!!