Sunday, January 02, 2011

Happy Birthday to Us!


Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!






A Year of Reading is FIVE YEARS OLD today! We thought we'd share a few sets of "fives" with you to celebrate this half-decade landmark!






TOP 5 (ish) POSTS FROM 2010!



5 TRIVIA QUESTIONS ABOUT A YEAR OF READING


Who did we interview for A Year of Reading's first author interview?
CLICK HERE for the answer

From which blogger did we get the idea for 100 Cool Teachers in Children's Literature?
CLICK HERE for the answer

When did we expand our social network from just blogging to blogging AND Twitter?
CLICK HERE for the answer

In which year did we have the most blog posts?
ANSWER:  In 2007, we had 423 blog posts! A record for us since we average in the high 300s.
Our highest month was January 2007 with 55 posts!

How many Poetry Friday posts are on A Year of Reading?
ANSWER: 186!


5 (ish) PEOPLE WHO INSPIRED OUR LEARNING IN 2010
(this is in addition to our local community of bloggers/friends/colleagues from whom we learn on a regular basis)

Franki
1-Donalyn Miller(@donalynbooks), Teri Lesesne (@ProfessorNana) and Paul Hankins (@PaulWHankins) inspired me to read more and to remember how much I love YA.  (Plus they have entertained me immensely with their humor, wit and brilliance:-)
2-Chris Lehmann's blogs and online talks have kept me grounded in my beliefs about students and learning. 
3-I was lucky enough to hear Adora Svitak and Zoe Sprankle at BLC 10. Take some time to watch their TED Talks when you can.  Very inspiring speakers.
4-Bud the Teacher continues to connect technology to solid learning theory and I continue to learn so much from his work.
5-Buffy Hamilton (@bufffyjhamilton) shares her brilliant thinking on blog and via Twitter. Her work has helped me to create a vision for our library. 

Mary Lee
1-Amy LV inspires me every day with her amazing year-long poem-a-day project!
2-Brenda Power inspires me with her fabulous weekly essays on Choice Literacy and her incredible generosity!
3-Audible.com inspires me to keep up with my adult reading!
4-Diigo and Delicious inspire me to keep track of my links!
5-Foodspotting inspires me to share the joy of good food!






5 BOOKS FROM 2010 THAT WILL LIVE WITH US FOR A WHILE

Franki
Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
Before I Fall by Lauren Olier

Mary Lee
The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Traveling Through the Dark by William Stafford






5 NEW BLOGS WE FOLLOW

One of the things we love most about blogging is that we find new blogs to learn from every day. We have discovered many new blogs this year. Here are just a few (5 :-) new blogs we began following in 2010.


17 comments:

  1. Congrats!!!!
    Kevin

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  2. Five years! Hard to believe. I have enjoyed every post. Congratulations.

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  3. It doesn't seem like 5 years have gone by - amazing! Happy birthday to two of the most talented ladies I know!!

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  4. Happy Birthday to you! Thanks for bringing me along on your and my own blogging journey.

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  5. Happy Blog Birthday, Franki and Mary Lee! Thank you for this fabulous blog and all you continue to bring to the kidlitosophere :).

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  6. 5 Years!! Doesn't seem possible! Even though I don't write on my own blog much anymore, I still enjoy reading your blog everyday! CONGRATULATIONS!

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  7. Congratulations on FIVE years! You have given us all so much during that time, thank you!

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  8. Wow, 5 years! Very impressive! Happy 5 year birthday :) You are a kindergartner of the blog world hehe.

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  9. Thanks Frankie for mentioning my blog without your encouragement I would have not started it. Thanks for an amazing five year!

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  10. Wow! Happy 5th Birthday! Thanks for following my blog and for all you both do to teach and inspire me (and others too numerous to count) every day!

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  11. Hi again, Still catching up on reading your blog posts from the past couple of weeks!

    Congratulations on your 5 years of passing on your reviews, teaching wisdom, pictures, poetry, etc.!!!

    Just watched an episode of Mr. Rogers with my daughter today that had his version of singing Happy Birthday--"Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Dear One, We Sing to You!" : )

    Thanks for adding my joy blog to your list to follow, too!

    Wishing you both Joy in 2011!

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  12. Congratulations! What a blogging milestone to reach!

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  13. Happy birthday to you both!
    I am inspired by all of your posts and also by your dedication and generosity to all of us. Today I came to help dish out ice cream and found your kind words. Thank you! Enjoy the party! A.

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  14. Happy Birthday! Thank you for inspiring me to start my own blog. Thank you for connecting me with so many other amazing bloggers. Thank you for sharing your learning with us! Thank you for inspiring all of us to be better teachers, learners, and thinkers!

    Congratulations!

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  15. Happy B-Day Friends!!! You guys are truly inspiring. Loved the post too!

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  16. Happy Blog Birthday...belatedly! I was away for several days in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and had no Internet access. I have to catch up on my blog reading now.

    Happy New Year!

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