Mrs. Koby's Book Club

08/18/2020

Normally around this time of year, I share my classroom amazon wish list, in hopes of adding a few more books and resources to my classroom. But this year learning needs to look different. I hope to be able to purchase new and innovative lessons and digital tools to meet the unique needs of my students, wherever we learn together.
Any amount can be used towards excellent learning experiences for my future students and I appreciate your support of me and all teachers as we move forward together.

This year I am uncertain how many students I will be welcoming and how I will get to greet them. This will be my 7th year in 5th grade but I feel like a first year teacher. With so many unknowns, I want to do everything I can to ensure my students begin the year ready to learn and grow, and I know t...

08/14/2020

I just finished LOOK BOTH WAYS by this morning and got very emotional. It tells the stories of 10 different trips home after school and gives beautiful vignettes of everyday kid life. It was a perfect reminder that we don't know what happens after school and, now more than ever, we should be mindful of the unique backgrounds and home lives of each and every child.

It also made me wistful for simpler times- this time last year I was setting up my room and greeting students. I don't know what's coming in the next few weeks but stories like these just hit a little differently. @ Roeland Park, Kansas

07/04/2020

“A citizen is not what you are- a citizen is what you do.”⠀
⠀
I love this book. It’s both an explanation and call to action for kids about what their role is as a citizen. It’s an act of engagement, to do something bigger than an individual. WHAT CAN A CITIZEN DO is a great place to discuss how we can be community minded and focus on actions. ⠀
⠀
⠀
⠀
⠀
⠀

05/31/2020

Black lives matter.
Black stories matter.

As I read, learn, and listen, I will continue to amplify black voices and black stories. All lives cannot matter until black lives matter. As a white teacher, I benefit from systems of oppression and I will work to fight that in my classroom. The future of the world learns in my classroom and it is my job to help build a better, more antiracist future.

White teachers and parents- what books are you sharing in your homes and classrooms to celebrate black lives?

@ Country Club Plaza

05/30/2020

Through June 19, Dottir Press is offering a free downloadable pdf of Anastasia Higginbotham’s Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness.

Read this book with your families. Build anti-racist kids.

Dottir Press takes a feminist approach to publishing and artistic production, working to fill the absences in both our history and present culture through storytelling in all forms and for all ages.

05/20/2020

In a time where many of us are missing hugs (me included), I very much enjoyed NOBODY HUGS A CACTUS by . With gorgeous, saturated, southwestern illustrations, it tells the tale of Hank the cactus who lives alone, just the way he likes it.... until he realizes that he feels more sad than prickly and a hug might not be so bad. This book is expressive, relatable, and leaves you with warm fuzzies.⠀
⠀
⠀
⠀
⠀
@ Paradise Garden Club

05/02/2020

Please welcome Ollie to the Kobylinski family!

Ollie isn’t much of a reader himself, but he sure likes to snuggle while we read!

04/24/2020

I tore through A VERY LARGE EXPANSE OF SEA by Tahereh Mafi. It was powerful and beautiful and gave a strong powerful snapshot of an important moment in recent history.⠀
⠀
If you’re not familiar with the premise, Shirin is a 16-year-old scarf wearing Muslim. This would around be a powerful window book for many but add to it that this book takes place in 2002, one year after 9/11. Starting at a new school is hard and is only compounded for Shirin when post 9/11 Islamophobia was at frenzy. She faces daily rude stares, degrading comments—even physical violence—as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day. Things change when she meets Ocean James, the first person who’s tired to get to know her for her.⠀
⠀
I kept telling my husband while I read it (and then while he read it after me) that this was a story that needed to be told. Go pick it up and see why.⠀
⠀
⠀
⠀ @ Midtown - Westport, Kansas City, Missouri