100!!!!!

EEEEEK! I am soooo SO stinkin proud of Brooke.

Ok. So this may not mean much to anyone who does not have a kid in first grade or one that does not participate in AR (advanced reading) program. But. Brooke got 100 AR points!!!

So, if you are one of those above mentioned people, let me explain how remarkable this is. She reads a book. (an AR qualified book) She takes a comprehension type test on the book. She makes a 100, she gets points. Say..... a Clifford book? That's worth 1/2 a point. Half a point! That's it. Take Magic Treehouse or Junie B Jones books? One point. Those early chapter books are worth one point. Most 1st graders have a goal to meet each six weeks. The goals vary depending on their abilities. But a typical first grader might have a goal of anywhere from 8-16 points per six weeks.

Brooke always meets her goal. And then some. After the first six weeks, she found out that if you get to 100 points before the end of the year, you get a medal. Hmm... intriguing. (to her) Then, before the Christmas break, she found out that if you get to 100 points before the end of the year, her teacher will buy (with her own money mind you!) her a Wacky Pack from Sonic to eat during lunch while watching TV. Gasp! How exciting! (to her) So at that point, she became determined to get 100 points.

That would be really hard to do. Most first graders don't get 100 points. There might be one or two within the whole school that do every other year or something. And at Christmas, she "only" had 44 points. Not even half way there yet and they have to kind of stop it early to have time for the awards. So she doesn't have the full 2nd semester really.

Enter Alex. I won't mention his last name. But, he was a bound and determined little boy. He started reading Harry Potter, with the help of his mom (which is ok). He wanted that 100 pts. He was on Book 6 of Harry Potter I believe at Christmas. Yikes.

So now, Brooke was even MORE determined. She wanted to beat Alex. LOL

After Christmas she came in and took 6 tests or something...and got to 50 points. She was on her way. The entire month of January she had her head in a book at any free moment. Nancy Drew was her preferred series. She started reading more point-heavy books. Judy Blume's Fudge books, for instance...some of them worth 3 points, 4, or even 5. She read Charlotte's Web (my personal favorite book as a kid)...another 5 pt book. And before you knew it, she had secretly passed up Alex. He had 70-something and she was up to 80 before the end of the month.

She decided to keep it a secret from him. Then he started questioning all the time..how many points she was up to. She wouldn't tell him. LOL And then lo and behold...on Monday, February 13, she took 3 tests and got to 100.5 points.

I was beyond proud of her! And Alex wasn't even at school that day. Hmph! But he was when she was recognized on morning announcements for being the first 1st grader to reach 100 points! And he was when she got to eat her Wacky Pack on Thursday at lunch. She did it. And, again. I am so proud of her. She set her mind to it. And she did it. I couldn't think of anything super special to do for her. So I made her a cake. And on her piece of cake, I drew "100 pts" on it. (at least that was what it was supposed to be...it started to run on the 'pts' part)....

Now. I just so happened to notice that her word count is something like 544, 000 words. (it keeps track of this on the AR app) Crazy isn't it?!?! And there is also an 'award' for reading a million words. Since they are the Jaguars, they get a Tshirt, medal, etc that says "I spotted a million words". Think she can do it? I dunno. I'm not pushing her, but we'll see. She still loves reading! So thankful for that in her personality. :) And did I say how proud of her I am???