Captain Awesome vs. Nacho Cheese Man

Kirby, Stan. Captain Awesome vs. Nacho Cheese Man Vol. 2. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2012.  11 vols. Print.

C      Captain Awesome is now reigning supreme in my classroom. My students LOVE him. They ask about him everyday. If I am not reading one of these books to them they are asking if they can flip through them on their own (even with limited pictures!!!). We have now completed the first and second volume and I am on the hunt for the third. Believe you me, my kids will not let me sleep until I tell them I've ordered it and it is on its way!

          I started reading these to my kids as an experiment of sorts. I always try to spend a little time on chapter books in Kindergarten. I think it improves reading comprehension and listening stamina and is therefore important (there's a lot of research to back me...I love when I can say that). However, I usually don't bust out these big boys til closer to the end of the year. I liked the first Captain Awesome so much myself that I thought I'd just give it a try. It took better than I ever expected! What's really amazing about the whole situation is that my low kids are the ones following the story line and begging for these books to be read more so than anyone else in the class. This makes me one happy teacher! I don't care what it costs. I will own every Captain Awesome book by the end of this year.

           Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about the book! Haha! The first one is still my favorite, but this one is good and humorous too. Captain Awesome and Nacho Cheese Man have to fight the evil Mr. Drools to try to keep him from ruining all their things, especially Captain Awesome's ever-so-beloved Super Dude Comic No. 429! (After all, Super Dude was their inspiration for becoming superheros in the first place). Everything goes awry when Captain Awesome suspects Nacho Cheese Man of stealing his Super Dude Comic No. 429. To make matters worse, Nacho Cheese Man gives Captain Awesome's bus seat to Meredith Mooney, or Little Miss Stinky Pinky, as they so lovingly refer to her as. Both boys become pretty convinced that their little world is crashing in on them and that they will never be friends again.

Greed or Gratitude?

Van Dusen, Chris. If I Built a House. New York: The Penguin Group. 2012.

My students and I got into a great discussion a couple days ago. We were trying to decipher between want and need (this is extremely difficult for the 5 year old mind). I have this adorable book to thank for our little chat.

The little boy in this book creates blue prints for a house he would like to build and live in. His creation is the ritz! It is like futuristic, updated Jetsons. I have to admit there were several things in the book that I thought I'd love to have in my house, like a kitchen that is basically a vending machine...punch in your order and out comes steaming, hot, fresh food! 

With every page we turned my students were all gasping, "I NEEEEEEEEEEEEEED THAT!" or "I HAAAAAAAAVE TO HAAAAAAAAAAAVE THAT!" 

So, when we finished reading we talked about things we need versus things we want. We also talked about all the blessings we have in this country that many other people go without. I explained to them that even as an adult I have to make sure I strike the correct balance between needing and wanting (e.g. do I neeeeeeeeeeed coffee or do I waaaaaaaaaaaaant coffee...definitely guilty for getting this confused on almost a daily basis). 

If you're looking for a fun read with amazing pictures and you'd like to serve up a little side of thankfulness you should definitely give this book a go! You won't be disappointed!

America's Education System Needs to Get Out of a Rut!

Coles, Gerald. Reading Lessons. New York: Hill and Wang. 1998.

This is one of those books that you spend several hours trying to digest. It is also one of those books that you agree with a lot and disagree with a lot. It is also one of those books that you find rather interesting during one reading session and mind-numbingly boring during the next.

If you are an educator, whether in the classroom or at home, this book wouldn't be a bad read for you. The over-arching theme is centered around trying to figure out why the field of education treats things the same way it has for decades when it is very apparent that there are a lot of things that aren't working. Every educator should spend time dwelling on this exact issue. If they don't, they really should choose a different career. 

There is a TED Talk given by Dr. Geoffrey Canada entitled: Our Failing Schools. Enough is Enough. I think Dr. Canada and Mr. Coles would get along splendidly. If you don't read this book you should at least invest 18 minutes of your time to listen to Dr. Canada...good food for thought.