The Writing/Reading Celebration Day

Teaching and living with joy are two HUGE goals of mine this school year.  I tend to get much too serious and caught up in the rules. It's a wonder I'm a teacher, huh?  Last Friday I challenged myself to have both reading and writing workshop unit celebrations in the same day.  What a joyful day it was.

I planned for our first Reader's Theaters.  This was a total success.  The kids not only worked together to practice, but also reveled in the way their classmates integrated gestures into the acts.  I couldn't tell you how many times the kids came up to me and said, "This is the BEST DAY EVER!"

Since I was throwing things together at the last minute, I stopped at the Mobil gas station and was delighted to find chocolate milk and peanut butter crackers.  You would have thought these children had never been given a snack before.  They were so gracious and well-mannered.  I taught them how to give a proper toast to our learning using the reading and writing anchor charts we still had on the wall.  We even looked up the meaning of "hear, hear!"

It was truly a special day for all of us.  The next time I plan a unit celebration, I won't hesitate to go the extra mile and include snacks.  It was worth the extra $10.