Today has been an AWESOME day. (And it’s not just because we made it on the local TV station and the Lincoln Journal Star, honest. Although our moment of fame is pretty fun, I will admit).  The real reason it was so awesome is that we visited this fabulous school, Norwood Park Elementary, a small elementary school of about 165 students in Lincoln, Nebraska. How this visit came about shows the power of word-of-mouth connections and just being willing to ask. I have a few college friends from Lincoln and because Lincoln is a great driving distance between Denver and the Twin Cities (about 8 hours from Denver to Lincoln; about 7 hours from Lincoln to the Twin Cities), we scheduled a stop here. Although most of these college friends no longer live in Lincoln, I sent an email explaining what I was doing and asked if they knew any teachers or librarians who might be interested in a visit from the Literacy Lab. One of them forwarded it on to a former teacher, who then responded and suggested contacts for Title I schools in the area. I sent an email to some of those contacts and the wonderful principal at Norwood Park, Pam Hale, responded. We originally set-up visits for the K-2 classes, but in our email correspondence, I mentioned that we didn’t have anything else scheduled and would be love to visit the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades, provided that the teachers were interested. Well, she spoke to the teachers and they were. After a number of emails, I then talked with Pam on Tuesday to confirm the schedule. Yesterday, she emailed us to confirm that it would be okay if she contacted media. We arrived at my friend’s house in Lincoln last night at 8pm, arrived at the school at 8:30am this morning, and away we went.

Then we started our day, first by talking to kids in the morning walking club (those who want to walk around the front yard of the school with the principal each morning for about 15 minutes), and then visiting each grade for about 45 minutes and doing a version of our geography lesson  (adapting to the grade level of course). During lunch, we pulled the van up to the playground and got to tell students the story of the van and show off Bob the Bookbot, our robot we created out of a trash can, blinking lights, dollar-store items, and miscellaneous parts that “eats” books. We were so impressed by this school. The principal, Pam Hale, and the assistant principal, Rose Severson, were extremely warm and welcoming, as were all of the teachers. At every school we visit, we learn new things to take away and use with the next school. In this case, the school is really focused on building community within the school. Every morning, all the students get together to say the Pledge of Allegiance as well as their school values, which is a really lovely way to start the day. Students were excited and engaged, but also courteous and kind. We had so much fun, but more than that, left feeling energized about our mission of getting students excited about reading through these types of literacy programs.  I have said it before, and I will say it again: I LOVE this part of the job. Seeing students’ eyes light up when they get a book, ask a question, or participate in a discussion or activity is the best feeling in the world.

(This is a picture of us with third-graders and the Huskers flag. The Huskers is the big University of Nebraska football team, the thing to know about in Lincoln).