Can hamsters swim? Adventures in reading #lunchwiththeprincipal

We'll talk about the hamsters in a minute. Why am I talking about hamsters? Well, it's just one of the fun things that came up during my first ever Celebrate Reading lunches with the principal! This awesome idea came from my principal friend Rachael Peck who told me that she holds lunch with the principal days-- and the kids are chosen by their teachers for any reason around reading. Maybe they just love to read, or maybe they have shown growth. I loved this idea and decided to try it. I created a simple google form with just a few questions and picked a day. Here is the form and a snapshot of a few of the responses:

On the day of the lunch, the kids came to my office for their lunch time and brought their own lunch. We chatted about books, their favorite authors, what they are reading now, and had the best conversation! The kindergarten group wanted to know how books are made. We googled it and found this cool video and watched it while we ate. 

From 11:00-1:00 the different grade levels came and went in groups of three or four. I got some amazing book recommendations from them, and you can find that below. I even ordered one on Amazon during the 4th grade lunch. Thanks, Emily for the recommendation! Here are some pictures from the lunches.

peanut butter and marshmallow creme

So what about the hamster? Well... during the 3rd grade lunch the conversation turned to class pets and the previous year's Hamzilla, the class pet in one of our 2nd grade classrooms. One of the kids asked if hamsters can swim, and we googled that too! It turns out that like all mammals, they can, but they shouldn't. One of the kids suggested clicking on images after we searched the question, and we found the silly picture at the top! So funny!

What I learned from the lunches with the kids is that from TK through 5th grade, our students love to read! I asked the third graders what the best thing about third grade is. Their reply?

"We love the homework! Thirty minutes of READING!"

Over the last four years, as a school, we have really try to build a school culture around a love of reading-- and I can definitely say the kids LOVE to read. What a great day! Thanks, Rachael for the idea! I'm definitely doing this again.

Here are some of the current reads from these kids :) Such a diverse list!