READaGATOR: The Final Tally

Friends, Fans, Parents, Teachers, and Colleagues! READaGATOR has run its course, and we’ve finally finalized our final results.

Grades K through 5 collectively read 87,837 minutes. That is almost 1500 hours! 60 days! 2 months! All straight reading, crammed into 2.5 weeks. This represents a huge effort on the part of our young readers. Chapeau to all who participated!

And, here’s how each class contributed to that goal:

Kindergarten: 9,737 minutes.

First Grade: 8,613 minutes.

Second Grade: 13,469 minutes.

Third Grade: 10,987 minutes.

Fourth Grade: 20,112 minutes.

Fifth Grade: 18,802 minutes

While I want to (and will!) express absolute astonishment over the sheer amount of minutes K-5 dedicated towards reading (and especially Fourth Grade, who led with 20k!), we need to keep in mind that this was over 70,000 minutes short of our 160,000 minute goal. This means no Gator Suit for Ms. Ball, and no party-in-a-box for our leading readers, Fourth Grade. We’ll keep reaching for that goal, and next year, I sure hope we summit that minute-mountain.

MAJOR UPDATE!

THE PARTY-IN-A-BOX WILL BE ZIPLINED TO THE 4TH GRADE! At Wednesday’s Lower School Chapel, I made a very similar announcement. As we applauded, Mr. Sullivan burst onto the scene and demanded that I rewarded 4th Grade for their efforts. So, there we have it, straight from the Head of Schools himself. The Party-in-a-Box is back! Congratulations 4th Grade!

And, Mr. Sullivan also demanded that Ms. Ball wear CHOMP’S head for one full school day!

READaGATOR: THE FINAL MORNING

With 7 hours remaining, Grades 2, 4, and 5 are neck and neck. 5th grade will be charging back from their field trip, books a’blazin’. 4th grade is slowly rolling their numbers in. 2nd grade, always vigilant and steady, is all eyes on the page. Might K, 1, and 3 pull off the READaGATOR Surprise! The cutoff? 3pm today.

On a side note: this friendly librarian grossly overestimated with 160,000 minutes for this expanse of reading, as we’re just cresting 45,000. Of course, we’ll make adjustments for next year.

Library patrons, what should we do this time around? Do vote below:

READaGATOR Update

A tie… for now!

 

READaGATOR Wednesday Update

What, you might ask, is the collective noun for a group of ‘gators?

A CONGREGATION.

A do we ever have a congregation forming outside the library doors.

WHAT. A. SURGE. folks. 5th and 4th have leapt into contention. Soon, we’ll have Thursday. And then Friday. We have field trips. Lots of bus time to read. Lots of dreaming of gator suits and zip lines.

Check back here soon for another update of… READaGATOR.

P.S. New to READaGATOR? Check out our launch post.

P.P.S. The reading doesn’t stop once the READaGATOR chomps. Next week is the library’s Annual Book Fair! Check out the announcement here.

Announcing: The Annual Book Fair!

Teachers, Parents, Students!

During the week of April 14 through April 18, we invite you to the Library Learning Commons for our Annual Book Fair. The book fair begins on Monday afternoon and runs from 7:30 to 8:00am each morning thereafter and from 3:00 to 4:30 on each afternoon of that week. We will also extend the book fair hours to 5:30pm on Wednesday, April 16 in celebration of Annie Writer’s Tea.

This year, we are excited to welcome back Seattle-based independent bookstore Secret Garden Books. They’ll stock the book fair with classic, eclectic and contemporary selections for any reading level and interest in our community. We particularly appreciate Secret Garden’s commitment to books that resist media tie-ins and commercial messages.

Students are welcome to shop during their morning recess with a teacher’s permission or before and after school with a supervising adult. You can pay for your purchases with cash, a credit card, or a check payable to Secret Garden Bookshop. Unfortunately, we cannot charge purchases to your Annie Wright Schools bookstore account at this time.

Our Secret Garden book fair provides a wonderful opportunity to excite readers young and old with wonderful selections. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Joe Romano or Carla Clark regarding the book fair.

Happy Reading. And we’ll see you at the fair!

ReadaGator: Daily Update

With 4 more days of ReadaGator remaining, here is the latest update on the heated Battle for the Box (ziplined from atop the school, of course).

You’ll see 2nd Grade with a strong lead, but if you compare this with the last update, you’ll also see 5th Grade absolutely accelerating. Might they pass 2nd in reading goals? Will they run out of calendar days to make this happen? Will another grade rise up like a Reading Phoenix?

It’s going to be a great end to READaGATOR!

(New to ReadaGator? Check out our launch post to learn more).

ReadaGator: Quick Update

We’re charging along with ReadaGator these days, with 2nd Grade banking 4,000 minutes already and the entire school well over the 10,000 minutes mark. How far might we continue to charge? How many stories/poems/magazines might we continue to explore?

More updates soon!