Whoa.... life races by, doesn't it?!

March 2018 March was a beautiful, busy month filled with reading at my school! (So, this blog had to simmer on the back burner for a while!) What was going on? Well, I wanted to do something different for Read across America week, so I ran my first read-a-thon fundraiser... back-to-back with our spring book fair... which swwished right into spring break...during which we traveled to Texas to see Chip and Joanna's Magnolia Market. (LOVED IT!) Not one to squander spare moments, I battled a little strep throat, helped my son find his first house (at the ripe old age of 24) AND attended an out-of-state funeral. It was a month with lots of happy and sad all smooshed together. But...I'm thinking you probably only want to hear about the bookish stuff, huh? ;) For a few years now, I've wanted to try a "Read-a-thon.com" project. My goals were to boost our collection, buy a half-dozen BreakoutEDU kits, and outfit a mobile STEM cart for my teachers to check out. The website calculator said ny school could potentially earn $53,000!!! Yeah, right. (But hey... you never know until you try!) I got permission from my boss, and decided that I would be happy to double my book fair proceeds. Honestly, I had no idea what I was getting into, but my experience has turned out to be really good!(And I have to give HUGE KUDOS to my school's teachers for jumping in and supporting the cause!) I planned out my two-week timeline to be the week BEFORE Read across America and then the week of -- when the book fair would be delivered, and we'd be browsing and making wish lists!) Lots of opportunities for getting those reading minutes in! A fellow teacher (who happens to be the Teacher Tipster guy -- how lucky am I?!) got the ball rolling by planning out a fun two weeks for his firsties. He came up with daily reading activities that the kids could "track" on their dashbaords for reading minutes. He shared his ideas with his team, and with me, and he let me share them with the whole school. THAT got everyone excited! (Thank you, Mr. Smith!) Each grade level came up with fun ideas for indoor and outdoor reading jaunts -- stinky feet reading, flashlight reading, campsite reading, cool breeze reading, tell-a-joke day reading... the list went on and on... and the read-a-thon was a huge success! I'll have the final number in about a week to share with you! July 24, 2018 Goodness... this little blog was rocking along there for a bit, but I got sidetracked with school projects - a grant, a book fair, a read-a-thon... So sorry! (You probably know how that goes, right?) We'll catch up soon -- I promise! (I've missed you, for true!)