What would you consider to be an ideal winter getaway? 

AL A CARTE (January 17, 2014)

Thinking About Reading – “Booking Through Thursday” always has fun questions about reading and books.  I liked the recent posts as they got me to reflecting on my reading over the last year.  A mini-getaway for the mind.

Have You Forgotten Picture Books? – Speaking of a nice little getaway, read this post about why sharing picture books with middle schoolers is always a good thing to do.

Here’s What I Learned from PISA – Check out this 5-minute video about the PISA.  It’s an international assessment to be aware of, and this post breaks down the data very clearly.

Resources on the 2014 State of the Union – This may be worth sharing with students–they can watch the state of the union online with enhanced graphics and social media participation.  Might be worth sharing with your social studies colleagues, if they don’t know about this already.

See the InsideStory on Vocabulary – I’m not suggesting you purchase this product at all, but I can see where one could make a free adaptation of the ideas here with a bit of clip art through a power point slide.  These are cool–and now I know what a “taw” is.

A Worthwhile Newsletter – Smekens Education has a nice monthly newsletter you can sign up to receive (if you don’t mind all of the sales pitches you’ll get through your email).  Or bookmark this link and you can occasionally go to it and see the newsletters, sales pitch-free.

E-books in Spanish – Check out this Newsela article about the fastest-growing sector of the e-book industry:  books in Spanish.  This article might be a nice 1- or 2-day lesson for students.

 A Final Getaway – This lovely little blog wanders, but the entries are nice, little inspirations.  Enjoy!!