Happy to Have Addy Series Now

The kids have been reading Addy, the American Girl, for weeks now.  I wrote a grant in 2011 in order to have a class set of the books for the children.  It is a historical fiction series of six books that takes place in the 1860's when the atrocities of slavery were allowed in our country.  The books are compelling and memorable as heck.  I have read this series to the classes ever since I can remember.  Now they each can share a set of the books and see them up close.

It was so nice to have a parent of the girl in magenta, say that she was so pleased that I was educating her child about the the atrocities of slavery in our county.  I know I walk a fine line when reading these books, but feel the children have a right to know about how terrible America used to be before we were united as one.

Every time I read this book to classes, I well up with tears, sometimes break out in tears, get goosebumps, and feel every emotion known to mankind.  This is the sign of a great writer!  The author leaves us hanging at the end of every chapter and you can hear the kids begging to hear what will happen next.

What I love about this series is that the children become vested and genuinely care about the well being of the characters.   You can just feel their sense of hope and faith that things will work out at the end of the story.  The children learn about how Addy and her family escape their plantation and run to Philadelphia to start a life in freedom.

Old and Slow Dinosaur Computers

We use AR Accelerated Reader in our classroom.  Problem was, that for years we had really slow and broken down computers.  I wrote a grant and was awarded five brand new Lenovo computers to support the program.

Now that we have the new computers, the kids have read so many more books in a very short period of time. They LOVE taking tests on the computer if you can believe that!  Look at our speedy new lab of computers. Achievement has really skyrocketed ever since.

New Indians in Our Cupboards

I have the sweetest kids this year!  I love that they all take care of one another.  I love that they take care of their teacher all of the time too.  I feel so very blessed to come to work with these wonderful kids every day.
How many can say that they still love their same job after 30 years?  I suspect very few can.   

We had been reading the Indian in the Cupboard.  The old set of books were falling apart.  I decided to write grant to get a new class set of the books the kids love so much.  Low and behold, through the kindness of friends and strangers, enough money was raised to replace those well loved books.  Here are some of the happy readers.  Aren't they adorable?  They totally deserve to have decent books that are intact.

It is especially fun to read this aloud to the kids using different voices for each of the characters.  Boone, the cry baby of a cowardly cowboy is a favorite to read in voice.  Tommy, the British medical orderly is another.  Little Bear, the Indian, is another entertaining one to read in voice.  I read the kids a chapter a day.