Many thanks to the 16 community volunteers who came and read to our classrooms on Wednesday, National Read Across America day. Our students always enjoy a good read-aloud, and it means even more when it comes from someone who isn't one of their teachers! The best way to "grow" readers is to motivate them to read every day, and that's what our volunteers did. I will continue their work as I introduce new genres, authors and titles to all the students, hoping that I will manage to pique their interest and get them to try something new.
I also am gearing up for the spring book fair. With the help of more volunteers, the book fair will run during spring conferences on March 22 and 24. I am always looking for more volunteers, so if you are interested in helping out, please contact me at school, and I will gladly add you to the schedule. The addition of the cash machine to the book fair has made the money handling much easier!
The book fair will be the beginning of our spring reading promotion. I will use some of the profits from the fair to provide prizes for the students; the rest will be used for materials for the school, not just the library. Our last two fairs provided us with enough money to buy a classroom set of whiteboard response systems, a tool which has made those wonderful SmartBoards even more useful. Many, many thanks to all of the parents and students who help make these fairs so successful.
