Accelerated Reading Store - Nov. 23, 2009

"WOW!" That's what they all said when they walked into my room, which had been converted into the Accelerated Reading Store. After a weekend of pricing and arranging, the store was finally ready. We had school supplies, hair shampoo-conditioner, toothpaste/toothbrushes, toys, stuffed animals, candy, coffee, jewelry, jump ropes, t-shirts, iTunes gift certificates and much more. Teachers, administrators, and students - all were amazed at the sight of the store!





The teachers of the K-4 grades brought their students in so they could simply walk through and look at everything. You could hear the students "planning" their purchases. The store wouldn't open until the end of the day. Everyone would have to wait.




The Accelerated Reading program assigns points to books. Students read the books and take a quiz on the books. They receive a certain number of points for their scores. We total their points and award them their tickets. The staff helped me "price" the prizes. For one hundred fifty tickets, you could purchase a car or shampoo/conditioner. For fifty tickets, you could buy toothpaste/toothbrush or jewelry. For twenty tickets, you could buy pens, pencils, notepads, or pencil sharpeners. We had all quite a selection for everyone - no matter how many or how few tickets one had.



The AR Store opened late in the afternoon. We started with the youngest. When I went to get the first group, Curtis told me - "I want the car." I counted his tickets - exactly 150. He could buy one. A few other students would have liked to purchase the car, but only Curtis had earned enough tickets. We lined up and walked to my room. When everyone was in, I explained the rules. Then the "shopping" began. In a flash, Curtis had a new car and I had 150 tickets in my hand. We helped everyone shop - making suggestions, counting tickets. After 20 minutes of shopping, our first customers were done, and our next group arrived. Everyone was so excited.




I brought the students in class by class and gave each group about 20 minutes to shop. At the end of the day, I opened it up to everyone. At that point a few brothers and sisters pooled their tickets to shop. Several students "bought" presents for other siblings. It was wonderful to watch them decide on what was important and what they really wanted.


The success of the store was due to a group of retired teachers who bought the prizes and mailed them to me here in Alaska. Most were colleagues of mine from Richwoods High School in Peoria, IL. Others were my family, who always support me in my endeavors - no matter where I am. Thank you so much for your generosity. Because of you, the Accelerated Reading Store was an overwhelming success.