Revolution Launched.

October 8, 2012, is a day I will remember forever.
But let me back up a little bit.
So I started the Underground Library  as part of the Revolution last year. I wrote grants for books and did cool stuff with books and technology with my students,like book posters and book trailers. I wrote a grant so that I could attend the American Library Association conference and get books for the Underground Library signed by authors.
Several students from last year became Generals in the Revolution this year.
When I last posted, I was working on the Underground Library and the AP Generals and I were discussing launch day. I knew several things were going to happen with our entire Freshman class.
1.  A Pep Rally for books
2. A read-around
3. Book trailer watching
4. Author visit with Andrew Smith and A.S. King.
5. Kids would check out books from the Underground Library
Yes, I know. #4 is so far beyond awesome that it is hard to wrap your head around it. I don't have enough words to thank them properly, but I think of them each day and my heart smiles and is glad.
My fellow Education in the Digital Age teacher, Conni Carr,
whose abilities to organize and plan are formidable, jumped in this year to help plan the launch day and add her voice to the Revolution.
We planned.
The Generals came up with the idea for a carnival, with all the games being Angel Potato-themed. Conni organized this with the kids and parent volunteers and made the best cupcakes ever. She made schedules so that the kids knew exactly where they were supposed to be at all times. She recruited her mother to help run the carnival.

And she had a kid make a stencil out of one of our Revolution logos so that we could make t-shirts. She is really good with craft-y stuff.
I will write more about the day later. Andrew Smith and A.S.King both blogged about it here and here.
Our local paper, The Ventura County Star, did an article.
You are going to want to know what my kids did at the Pep Rally, and how the Underground Library was pillaged, and how the kids reacted to the whole thing.

But for now let me just say that this Revolution is such a dream come true for me, that it is here, and happening, and we are growing it, and that it could not have happened or be happening without the energy and efforts of so many amazing people.

We all know that Angel Potatoes deserve it. Best of the heavens and the earth, their mission is to save the world(no pressure).
Better humans, a better world, one book at a time.
Revolution.