Happy Literacy Week! 

 Hope you are finding time to sneak in some extra reading this week! I am LOVING our school wide Drop Everything and Read Time this week!

My students spend time independently reading every day at school and during that time I am working with small groups or conferencing with them….but this week I get TO READ!

I’m in heaven! Today I brought in a BHG Storage magazine I have been dying to dig into! Tons of ideas I can’t wait to try to get more organized this year……

What Should I Read Next?

As a teacher I get this question all the time…. As an adult I ask it too. My reading time is precious so I want to spend it with something phenomenal!

I get recommendations from weary looking friends all the time as they tell me they stayed up until
3 a.m. to finish a “real page turner”!

 I scribble down the title on whatever I can get my hands on, napkin, business card, gum wrapper, shove it into my purse knowing it will never be seen again.

Later I’ll wrack my brain trying to remember….to no avail. Or even worse, buy a book and realize I’ve already read it! I HATE WHEN THAT HAPPENS!

Luckily I’ve found something to help me organize my reading life…. No matter where I am it is with me….and that is a wonderful thing!

It’s like Facebook for Book Lovers!

Goodreads is a free website for book lovers. Imagine a large library that you can wander through and peek into everyone’s bookshelves, their reviews, and their ratings. You can also post your own reviews and catalog what you have read, what you are currently reading, and what you plan to read in the future. Goodreads doesn’t stop there – you can join a discussion group, start a book club, contact an author, and even post your own writing!

Best of ALL it’s FREE…and that makes me do the Happy Dance!

How Does it Work?

You start with three default shelves (read, currently-reading, and to-read), but you can also create your own bookshelves. Shelf names range from classics and coffee-table-books to childrens-lit and sci-fi — you can create any category that suits your personal taste.  I created a professional reading shelf, where all the books I read on education/teaching are housed.  All my “fun” reading is on my read shelf.

Add Books You’ve Already Read.

To add books to your shelves, search by author name or book title. If the book is on Amazon, you’ll find it (and they carry almost everything) — if not, then you have the option to add it manually as a new title. When you find the book you want, you can either click on one of the five stars to rate the book immediately, or click on “add to my books” to choose a shelf, write a review, and record the date your read the book.

Goodreads wants to help you find new and interesting books by letting you see what your friends are reading. Whenever you view a book, they always show you your friends’ reviews first.

Find Friends

You can find your friends through Facebook or e-mail or you can just follow someone’s book reviews.

Perfect Solution for those”lost book” Recommendations!

Remember those recommendations I would scribble down on whatever I could get my hands on, napkin, business card, gum wrapper, shoved it into my purse knowing it would never be seen again.
NO MORE!!!

Goodreads has mobile apps! Since my phone is ALWAYS with me I can jot down a title and put it on my “to read” shelf!
So Organized!

(Plus….No more buying a book I already read because now I have a list of what I have read!)

Ready to Start?

From your computer, click the picture below.

From your smartphone, click below

iPhone

Droid

Now I’m going to try to sneak a little reading time in…

In the middle of Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich. 

Leave me a comment and let me know what you are reading!

Thanks for reading,
Sharon
xoxo