LIZZY MCTIZZY AND THE BUSY DIZZY DAY

Yesterday I wore green pants with white polka dots, a grey and yellow striped shirt, a patterned scarf and orange chucks.  On top of that, my hair was extra wild. Thinking about it while dressed more conservatively, yesterday's mixed patterns would have been more appropriate today when we celebrated the book birthday of wild red haired Lizzy McTizzy who is in search of her lost blue shoe so she can have her pair and be off to a birthday party herself.

Four parties down and one more tomorrow.  Am I a little partied out?  Absolutely not.

I'm glad the first party was with Ms. Malone and her kindergarteners.  After reading Sarah Weeks's fun text, we danced the Hokey Pokey. They class suggested we sing "If You're Happy and You Know It" because there is a reference to feet in there as well. So we did. And that song followed me to all the other affairs.

As the hours moved ahead, the treats got sweeter.  Ms. Malone at 8:30 am had pastries.  At 9:40, Mrs. Golden's first graders enjoyed rice Krispy treats. Later on, frosted cookies were a hit with Mrs. Kosinski's and Mrs. Cook's classes.  Needless to say, I did not eat my yogurt until I got home.

I love Lizzy and all she stands for.  Her perseverance in searching for her shoe. She really did look everywhere including someplace by "the underwear"!  Hahahaha. Giggle giggle.  Five and six year olds love that line! Her idea that the party is more important than matching.  I totally get that.

Lee Wildish's illustrations are perfect.  I love Lizzy's big red CURLY hair (I can relate, short the red part).  I love the kid on the playground eating the chocolate bar. And kids love how Lee used his artistic liberty to show that Lizzy's shoe was not by the toilet.

Kids get this story. They enjoy the rhymes.  They love the illustrations and they get the message.  "Be yourself. Be unique. It's ok to be different." If kids like Lizzy McTizzy will be our role models, I know this world will get a lot more kinder, friendlier and colorful!

"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."

-Oscar Wilde

Have portable giant "photo card" will travel. Some class photos of our day:

Mrs. Kosinski even made her own backdrop for the party!

So B. It or Bust!

Two years ago I had a small fifth grade So B. It (by Sarah Weeks) book group in preparation for Sarah's visit to our school.  We were reading the end aloud together and Landon and I started crying. I clearly remember asking the kid sitting next to me to switch seats with Landon so we could have our emotional moment side by side.  The movie would be coming out eventually and Landon and I promised each other that we would see it together.  I had no idea that moment would be last night in New York City.

Castleton is a small town just outside of Albany. We have less than 900 students in our entire school district. But a small school does not equate anything when it comes to our fan love for Sarah Weeks.  So there we were six dedicated fans--along with Landon and I came Mrs. Kelliher, her son, Colin, Mrs. Warland and granddaughter and former student of mine, Emma-- piled into my van to drive the 150 miles to the premiere on 34th Street. We are SERIOUS fans:  audio book playing in the car, copies of the book in our bags AND a So B. It tied around Landon's neck and his brother's Honey (another Sarah novel) tie around Colin's.

I won't go into details how I thought the theatre was on the east side and we had to literally RUN across town to make it on time (we did), even with a couple of minutes to spare to leap with Sarah before the movie. Or how Mrs. Warland, speed walking through Times Square, nearly knocked a woman down and didn't make her too happy 😟 And then how we couldn't find the parking garage and if we had just listened to the kids we wouldn't have had a "Groundhog Day" moment at Grand Central Station. It was all good and added to our memorable evening.

Usually not a fan of movies made from books, but I loved this one.  I'm sure part of the reason, and we found out from the panel afterward, was that Sarah collaborated with screenwriter, Garry Williams on the script every step of the way and it was such a wonderful experience for all.  I believe it was Garry who said last night that he kept waiting to wake up from his dream and after a few weeks realized he actually was awake.

The Castleton kids with Sarah, her son, Nat, and star, Dash Mihok

The young actress, Talitha Bateman, gave a stunning performance in the film.  She was believable as Heidi and got us all weeping at the end.  Since Sarah got the most applause when introduced on the panel, my guess is most of the audience had read the book at least once and yet we were all sniffling.

It was wonderful to sit with Landon and whisper "I remember that from the book" or "That wasn't in the book."  Whatever was changed or deleted to make Sarah's six hour book become an hour and 40 minute film worked for all of us.

Landon's tie was a huge hit of the evening! Everyone needs one of those, right?

The Castleton crew at the NYC premiere!

I pulled into my garage at 3:00 am.  It was worth every minute and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Read the book, find the movie (fingers crossed it's closer to you than it was for us and if it's not, try and get it closer) and then hang tight because Sarah's sequel to the book is coming out next Fall! #SOOF

Our souvenir of the evening (besides our fond memories), a SOOF bracelet

PS--Here's the movie trailer:

Walk of STARS

Because our whole school, well at least 4th and 5th grade, is all abuzz about the hopeful release of the movie, So B. It (it is being premiered at the LA Film Festival in June!) we began our own Hollywood Walk of STARS at our gala last week.  Some of my Dewey Duty kids posed by the stars with books by our visiting authors and illustrators.  And we don't even have a star for every author/illustrator that has visited!  WHAT?! And what if we added our Skypes? Seriously, we would have a walk of stars all the way down the hallway! We NEED more STARS!

So now I am thinking everyone needs to come back to CES and sign them!  I don't have a problem with that--do you?

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Our first SIGNED star!

#MOST51016

It's like the day after a wedding you have been planning for years. Or that race you have been training months for. Or even that trip across the Atlantic you saved up for years to go on. That's how I felt all day Wednesday and Thursday.  Not so much let down but withdrawal.  What am I going to do now No more daily Sarah facts of the day?  And then there's the pure exhaustion and exhilaration from such a wonderful day featuring a wonderful person.  It almost feels like an out of body experience.

We had been planning this for 11 months, just after I met Sarah for the first time at a conference last May. I have been a fan for years. Yeppers, I do love Oggie Cooder. So a month later we had a date--the book birthday for Save Me a Seat. We ❤️ to celebrate book birthdays at Castleton Elementary School. 

The day was pretty perfect. Sarah showed up at 8 and was able to give her own Sarah fact of the day. She did three assemblies and they were all wonderful. The exciting part of each was that we were able to collaborate with the public library and classroom teachers so that everyone got a signed copy of Cheese (K-3) or Save Me a Seat (4-5). The books came in a fun red backpack that the library purchased. We are calling it our kickoff to summer reading. We hope kids will take pictures and post them or send them to us and we can see what they have read all summer. 

The 2/3 Assembly.  They didn't know yet that they were going to get a copy of this book!

All the K/1 loved this game Sarah played with them!

First graders with their bags and books

And every 4/5 student got a backpack and the book birthday BOOK!

For lunch Sarah ate with the Dewey Duty kids. We ate mac and cheese, rice, pizza apple crisp, ice cream and peanut M&Ms at "Albert Einstein Elementary School." It was super fun! 

Everyone was searching for a double blue!

He put two together hoping it could then be a double!

Then it was time to do all the last minute putting togethers of MOST (Museum of Sarah's Treasures) at school, run back home for quick shower, change into my gown and head back over to our Gala. Words cannot describe how amazing the evening was. We welcomed and squeezed over 150 guests in our common area. Students from The War That Saved My Life book group performed their reader's theatre. We showed our video of "Honey Was Good." Sarah signed her "star" and cut the ribbon to the gallery (library) using a pair of ginormous scissors.

Sarah at our entrance to the museum.

The line to get in and how fancy everyone was! We did say "black tie (sort of)"
Also, the kids behind the sign in (in white and black) are 4th graders
who "worked" the event checking people in,
taking pictures and serving food.

4th grade workers handing out the programs and ballots

Sarah's passion is Reader's Theatre and she just finished The War that Saved My Life so we performed it for her!

Mrs. Kelliher is the creative mind behind this video!

Signing the star.  The stars on the ground are other authors that have visited our school.

Getting ready for the ribbon cutting!

Look at all those people!

The exhibits were amazing.  A replica of Sarah's alma mater, Hampshire College along with her commencement program and Frogbook (yearbook) photo from 1973 and Ben and Jerry's (one of them went there, too). There were so many great exhibits. Jellybeans. A giant nose. Chai latte. "You are my Sunshine." Dum-Dums. Nail polish. Liberty, NY with pictures of me from my childhood visiting my grandparents. Bees. Honey. Crocodiles. Mrs. Pryde's class timeline.  A beach with real sand. A thrift store.  A bandshell. Mrs. Yager's class "Charving Tree." And so much more! 

The song, "You are my Sunshine" is featured in Honey

This exhibit was all about sneezing, honoring the book, Baa-Choo!

Sarah's favorite drink is a chai latte.  These girls had samples for everyone!

The beach exhibit!  It was my crazy idea to bring in sand but look at how much fun they are having!
The custodian didn't love me...

My collaboration with Mrs. Pryde's class--Our timeline!

A three table exhibit on bees!

We had a red carpet photo area, food and everyone was dressed to the nines! It was such a great night.

I had some amazing moms be "co-chairs" for the decorating and refreshments.  This is one of them!

It was just great to see our youngest learners celebrate with us, too!

With Mrs. Pryde! She made the awesome frame!

The Leap! 

Mr. Reischer on the stick with our hashtag in the background #MOST51016
#missedyou Mr. Reischer

The end of the evening with Mrs. Warland. Couldn't have done it all without her!

I owe so much of the success of the event to my collaborating fifth grade teacher, Mr. Reischer, who sadly could not be there. He and I work so well together and this was truly amazing because of everything we did together. He was on my mind constantly. I kept saying all day it was like my best man couldn't come to my wedding.  Then I would wonder, "Am I marrying Sarah?"  So many people chipped in to help out--too many to even name!  I am so lucky to have such a wonderful school and parent community.  Look up this phrase in the dictionary, "Teamwork makes the dream work" and it will say, "See Castleton Elementary School."

So, please, I haven't done the Gala nearly enough justice, come and meet me for some chai latte and let me tell you ALL about it, every single detail...