Summer Reading Club

I feel so ashamed that I have been neglecting my blog lately. Sorry Blogger, I hope you will forgive me. I have been busy but that certainly isn't an excuse. I have always believed that if you care about something enough you will find a way to work that "thing" into your schedule. On a completely side note to my original blog entry, I want to share two items that I have made time for this summer. First, I have been training for a marathon. I am a couple weeks into my program and everything has been going awesome. The second item is my #bookaday challenge. I have currently finished 16 books this summer! 16!! This is more books than I read all of last summer and it isn't even July yet. If everything goes according to plan I will finish about 80 books by the end of the summer. WOW!!

Alright, enough about priorities, and proud moments... I had my first summer reading club today and it was exciting. At the end of the year I offered students in my classroom a chance to enter my summer reading club. This club would meet once a month throughout the summer to talk about books. I had 18 students in my classroom who expressed interest in my club, and ten who were available for the dates that I mentioned in my newsletter. Today five students showed up for the first meeting. Initially, I was slightly disheartened with the small turnout. But then, I changed my perspective and realized that my club is allowing five children the chance to interact with peers about books. Without this outlet, these five readers may have lost interest in reading over the summer. This gives me motivation to continue the club throughout this summer and future years. My hope is that this summer will be a launching pad for the future. I know that every child who showed up today had a great time and enjoyed sharing their reading experiences with their peers. I believe these students will generate a buzz when they see their peers who weren't able to attend. Maybe, our next meeting we will have a few more children. But if only five kids show up, or four, or three, or two, or even one, I won't be upset. I will at least know that I am having a positive impact on someone!