03-16-13

I had such a great time as the guest author for the Rockingham County Reading Association’s 6th Annual Catch the Reading Bug Community Reading Conference and Festival! By all accounts, the festival was a huge success. Hundreds of families attended the event, and as a visitor I was excited to see such a great turnout of readers. During the day, guests were treated to a Scholastic Book Fair, illustrator Chad Cameron, musical guests Big Bang Boom, and an auditorium full of arts and crafts. The arts and crafts were amazing to behold, and really illustrate the imaginative minds of teachers. There was a craft station representing every elementary school in Rockingham County … and the kids were able to make fun, literary items like Olivia ears, Where the Wild Things Are puppets, Diary of a Worm diaries, and The Grouchy Ladybug ladybugs. We had fun letting the kids (and parents) exercise and hoop with Peggy Noodle. Smart Start Rockingham County Partnership for Children, Inc. volunteers were also on hand to talk about Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Special thanks to the Rockingham County Reading Association executive board and its amazing volunteer committee of teachers, administrators and community volunteers; and to the collected Rockingham County elementary PE teachers who lent hula hoops for the day. I am so impressed with Rockingham County! This reader’s festival could be a blueprint to the other 99 counties in North Carolina.

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