Showing posts with label nerdcamp2015. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nerdcamp2015. Show all posts

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Puppy Pirates by Erin Soderberg



At Nerd Camp, we were able to go into a room filled with books and choose 2 books--what a fun time!  You can imagine the scene with teachers browsing to choose the two perfect books.  Decisions! Decisions!


I had no trouble deciding. I grabbed Erin Soderberg's new series Puppy Pirates (that was released the day of Nerdcamp) and I grabbed Crenshaw. (I had read and loved Crenshaw and wanted a copy for my Newbery Club students.)  The new Puppy Pirates book was the first thing I read when I got home form Nerdcamp.



I am a HUGE Erin Soderbergh fan so I have been anticipating this series since our last Skype visit with her. She showed us the covers and talked a bit about the series.   My 3rd graders LOVE The Quirks series and having another series for 3rd graders by this author is very exciting!


Stowaway is the first book in the new Puppy Pirates series. And how adorable is the cover!?  There were two books in the series released last week--Stowaway and X Marks the Spot. I read Stowaway and am anxiously awaiting the other.  The book is about a soft little puppy named Wally who meets a ship full of pirates and wants to join them. He has always longed for a home and for adventure.  In this first book, Wally has to prove himself to the pirates-to show that he is brave enough to be a Puppy Pirate. The book is perfect for 2nd and 3rd graders. The humor is exactly what they love--one character always says the wrong thing, there is lots of pirate language and there is a bit of word play throughout.  The combination of cute sweet puppies and pirates is a brilliant one and one I know my 8 year olds will love!  The length is perfect for readers newish to chapter books and the plot is easy to follow without being too simple or boring. The language is fun and engaging.  I can't wait to share this new series with my students in the fall!



I was able to volunteer at Nerd Camp Junior and hear Erin Soderberg talk to a group of kids during this even She was incredible and so fun! I learned that the 4th book in The Quirks series is due out in the fall! Woooohoooo!  I think Erin Soderberg is an author who understands perfectly this age group that she is writing for so the more she writes, the better!



Monday, July 06, 2015

Live Blogging from #Nerdcampmi Monday and Tuesday

JWe know we didn't do such a great job of live blogging from All Write, as we had planned. But Franki will be at #NerdcampMi and she'll be adding live updates to the blog as the throughout the event. This is one of our favorite events of the year so we'd also recommend following it on Twitter if you are not attending.  (We will update on the top of the post each time we update so read from the bottom up!)

A session about writing for The Nerdy Book Club blog by Donalyn Miller and Cindy Minnich.

We love that we can connect with people all over the country at Nerdcamp!  But we also love having time to learn within Dublin colleagues.



Session on Nonfiction Mentor Texts led by Jen Vincent!


I went to a great session led by John Scovill on Reading Engagement in the Upper Grades.  You can access the resources from this session here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_dS9WjknquqGINy8VY40Ss5uoVKBRiNGxy0vmvm9yLs/edit_

Look what I got!--DAY 2

Dublin's very own, Jessica Ardela was the first female to finish the Nerd Run 5K!! wooohoooo!

Team Saunter ready for Nerd Run!

Really, there is nothing better than hearing John Schu (@mrschureads) talk about books!! 

So happy to have s chance to hear Brad Wilson (@dreambition)) talk about digital writing!

Amazing kickoff to Nerd Camp today!  Brilliant talks by Ruth Ayres, Pernille Ripp,  Sue Haney, Lisa Graff and Donalyn Miller.


After dinner, Jillian (@heisereads) invited us to see all the new picture books she got at ALA last week.   Katie (@katiedicesare) and I went down. And we made new friends over books--, Aliza (@alizateach) and Kim (@fins025) Such a fun way to end the day!


Within minutes of arriving, we ran into one of our fave authors  (and fave #teamsaunter teammates) Jess Keating (Jess_Keating).  She happened to have her two upcoming books in her bag--wow!  We are excited about both of them. The third in her Middle Grade Novel series and a new nonfiction book, Pink if for Blobfish)

Marisa (@MarisaReads) pulled out her new Selfie Stick--purchased jut for the occasion!


About 30 of us started off the fun with dinner at Klavon's.  Our annual #nerdcampmi tradition now!