Effort earns a reward

At the beginning of May, my class had read just over 11 million words during this school year. How do we know? We don't. They've actually read many more. But as they complete books, they have the opportunity to take a computerized comprehension test. The software tracks how many words were in the book, and keeps track of each child's word total.

We set a goal: if they read another 3 million words in the month of May, we would have a party to celebrate. Yesterday they reached their goal: 14,200,000 words. So today we piled into mini-buses and drove to a home with a pool, a slip-and-slide, a basketball hoop, and child-sized pony jumps. For an hour and a half, they splashed and slid and dribbled and jumped.

So today I wore crocs and these enameled silver earrings.

"What earrings are you wearing today? Oh, I see! They look like a splash in a pool!"

"Do you really have enough earrings to wear a different pair every day?"

"I hope so! I've worn 153 pairs to far this year. Only 212 to go!"

"What are those earrings for? Is it like water? Look! Those earrings look like water! Since we're going swimming!"

It's rewarding when my choice has popular appeal.