#BestSchoolDay ~ Celebrate 2017 (twelve)

Each week Ruth Ayres extends an invitation to share the celebrations from our week.  

Best School Day - how many times have you said this?  Officially, I can say it was this week. On Wednesday, the Donor's Choose organization, along with 20,000 generous donors, supported 11,459 public school classrooms.  Through their #BestSchoolDay campaign, these donors gave over $2 million to projects created by teachers.  

Thanks to Donor's Choose, Aspect Ventures who matched donations, and a very special author, my classroom was one of them.

When I moved to middle school from 4th grade, I took many of my books with me. However, many of these books are geared toward middle grade students, not middle school, especially my nonfiction and poetry books.  

Earlier this year I created a nonfiction project, and it was funded by our local electric company.  Just a month ago, I created a poetry project.  

Middle school can be a tough transition into the teenage years. My 6th grade students try to balance school, home, friendships, parents, relationships, and extra-curricular activities, while keeping their emotions in check. 

One day my students are trying to outrun their childhood, and the next day they are thankful being a teenager is not within their grasp.

For my students, no day is typical, and each day is different. But literacy is the one thing that can help hold it all together.  My hope is that poetry will build empathy, allow for personal expression, and open their minds to different perspectives.

Today, I celebrate those who donors who are giving my students this chance.  

I celebrate those businesses who support literacy and freely give monetary resources to help teachers. I celebrate my author friend and other authors who support the hard work that teachers do each and every day. 

And as National Poetry Month begins, I celebrate poetry. 

These are just a few of the books which will be arriving in my classroom this month.