Today. The First Blank Page.

Happy New Year, friends!  "Today is the first blank page of a 365 page book.  Write well."  I don't know to whom to attribute that quote, but I like it.  New Year's Day serves not only as a new year, but a mid-point for our school year.  This is an excellent time to reflect on the prior semester and a time to anticipate the new semester.  Obviously, by now you know that a big highlight of last semester, for me, has been the revelation of the details of our reading challenge.  The kids have embraced the challenge and are hard at work reading.  I have no doubt that they will reach the one million mark by the Spring deadline (which means a fierce sumo wrestling match between Mrs. Suffield and me), and I am confident that they are well on their way to reaching the three million minutes (which means, in addition to sumo wrestling, we will drink an "Everything McDonald's Shake").  But the kids are not quite there yet.  What can we adults do to encourage them along the way?  How do we model--serve as examples--of a love for reading?  What books, newspapers, and blogs are you reading?  This new year, I want to highlight the things that the adults in their world read.  This is not only a good example, but the kids get a kick out of knowing what we books we like to read.