Book Challenge

A few years ago I learned of the "Empty Shelf" book challenge. It's when you clear off a shelf on your bookcase on January 1st and everytime you read a book that year, you add it to the shelf. At the end of the year, you can see the amazing collections of book you read that year. I first did it in 2015 (the blog post is here). Of course, instead of a bookshelf, I used a word document. The shelf wouldn't be an accurate representation since I use many ebooks on my Kindle and I take full advantage of the amazing library that Merchantville is associated with.  So every year, I keep  a record of the books I read in a word document and at the end of the year reflect on what I read, which my favorites were, if I challenged myself, etc. I tell my students about it because I think it's always interesting to reflect on what you have done. I still have some folders and documents from my middle school years and I always find it interesting when I stumble upon them and see what books I read that year. Sometimes I recall fondly reading a book that has become a favorite of mine, while others I couldn't even tell you the basic premise. It's still interesting to see.

So with that said, I wrap up 2017 having read 51 books. Not my personal best, but I did finally conquer some long books that have been collecting dust in my to-read pile, and I read some books that will stay with me for a while. I look forward to reading more in 2018 and as always, exploring new authors and genres.

And since I'm a math teacher -- I should probably throw some math into the mix:

Facts:
- 51 books in 365 days means I averaged about 7.2 days per book.
- Sometimes I reread books that I just love, and I do count those for my total. 8 of the 51 were rereads of books that I can't get enough of. That means approximately 16% of the books I read this year were not new to me.
- Since my 7th graders just learned percent change, the percent change between this year and my personal high in 2015 is found through the formula: |51-111| / 111  x 100. That gives me a percent change of 54% decrease. That's kind of shocking (see how the math behind it made me aware of this!). As a person who always reflections on why things happen, I'm inclined to consider the differences between 2017 and 2015 and notice legitimate reasons for the decline. But, reading is reading and I will still feel proud for having read at a pace of approximately 1 book a week. Any adults reading this know that 111 books in one year is crazy! Even if I slowed down, my love of reading hasn't and I'll keep encouraging all my students to keep reading and finding books they love.

Who's with me for the 2018 challenge!?! :)

December Update

With December about halfway through, I wanted to share two fun things from Room 204. One math, one not.

Every year after we learn coordinate planes, my 6th graders create a town of their choosing on a coordinate graph. I love this project because I get to see what my students are interested in and their personalities come out. Here's this year's bunch.

In my book club, we made book ornaments. Simple project..... very messy, but simple. Here's mine book ornaments using lines from a discard Giver book, one of my all time favorites.