Oh Happy Day!

I have always wanted to write a grant but frankly I was very utterly intimidated by the entire process. I really had no understanding of even how to start. It was always on my bucket list. And there it sat. Year after year. Until this year, when one of my wonderful parents helped me through the process. A huge catalyst for even writing this grant was my high level, 1st graders. Our campus used to be a 4th/5th grade campus and when the district made the switch back to K-5, our Guided Reading Library was extremely lean. Over the past years we have tried our best to add to our collection of book sets. What happens with high readers that are 6/7 years old is that the book selections on their reading level are generally not age appropriate. There in lies the quandary that I found myself in this year. After being completely in AWE of a new book I was reading called the "Book Whisperer" by Donalyn Miller, I decided to write a grant based on the interest level, age level and reading level of my high learners. After I surveyed all the above-level students in my grade level I was able to "whisper back in books".

I fretted and agonized and prayed over my grant and book list and with a press of a button at 3:47 on a cold Wednesday afternoon in February, sent it through cyber space to the powers that be. (It was due at 4:00, btw.) I work best under pressure! NOT! ;D I waited and waited until May 8th when the teachers who had submitted a grant would find out if they had been awarded. Low, and behold, I heard the drum line that Friday morning playing in our hallway (the high school drum line comes with lots of fanfare to be apart of the award ceremony) coming straight to my room.

It was a magical moment for me and my students. They were so excited that we won and when I read them all of the books that I had asked for, they were completely over the moon, as was I.