Carve Out Time to Read!

The lack of time is our biggest challenge for most anything these days... including reading for enjoyment and knowledge. We're all given the same amount of time each day-- 24 hours, but it's up to each of us to determine how we can best use that time. How often do we flitter away valuable time due to lack of planning (What in the world am I supposed to be doing?), lack of organization (Now where did I put my planner?), lack of a clear vision or mission (Where am I going and what do I want to accomplish?), and the lack of discipline to get the job done (Where do I start?).

We make time for what's important to us, so one of my October displays addresses making time for reading in the midst of our busy schedules. I bought a pumpkin and carved a quick face on it with plans to find a battery operated light for it.

Ways for students to carve out time to read include: standing in line,after you finished your assignment in class, in between band or athletic events, waiting for the bus, while you're on the bus,  right when you get up, in the car, waiting for a ride, waiting for an appointment, and right before you go to bed.

Include books with pumpkins or about Halloween, red, yellow, and orange leaves, and a scarecrow watching over the display. I'm sorry to say that the carved pumpkin didn't last but a few days-- after the weekend it was black and fuzzy with mold coming out the openings and already sinking into a puddle on the table. Next time I'll just paint a face on the pumpkin so it will last longer.

I pulled more pumpkin and Halloween books to take its place.
RIP, punkin face.



Caught You Reading



Nothing original here. Just happy to work in a school district where so many of the students love to read. I've enjoyed walking around catching students reading after their school work is done. I'm making mini-posters and putting them all around school with the title Caught You Reading! and Teen Read Week October 17-23 as captions. The students love to have their photo taken, but if you put them up on a Web site, make sure the parents have given permission for their child to have their picture online.



Fall into Books

        I bought a beautiful throw a while back that had a wonderful saying, One hundred years from now... it won't matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove, but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child. -Forest E. Witcraft.
        And the woman and child are curled up in a big chair reading a book. Be still my heart. 

        The picture and colors look muted and old fashioned, so I went with that look, pulling in a quilted bear in wicker chair, a star-shaped crocheted table cover (both the bear and the crocheted piece were acquired from someone's trash down the road from my house), a decorative wrought iron mirror and candle holder, and baskets. I took apart a former tree made of twisted brown paper and wove the strands in and out of the loft bed top for no particular reason other than to soften the metal look. I used some leftover scavenged hardwood flooring planks and stood them up along the back like a wooden fence and held them in place with a folded cardboard packing strip. Hope I can find more of those planks-- I love that effect. 



       I pulled books that looked historical or old fashioned. If you look closely at the mirror, I faced two books backwards so you could see the faces on the covers in the reflection. Also caught a student's leg as they passed by outside.

My goal is to not repeat any displays for three years so students will see a different display every month. But I definitely hang onto everything and recycle and re-use them in different ways.

Happy Fall Reading!