RIF Reading Challenge= a pizza party for 3 very happy girls

Every year there is a RIF Reading Challenge at school in which the kids earn points for each book they read, the amount of time they spend reading or being read to, and they can earn bonus points for reading books related to topics they are studying in class. A couple of weeks ago, I had three very excited little girls run off the bus telling me they were each winners at their grade level.

Alyssa told me the play by play of how all the awards were announced over the intercom at school and they started with the youngest kids first. When Rebekah was announced as the 2nd place winner for K4, Alyssa's whole class cheered. Then Emma was announced as the 2nd place winner for the second grade and again, Alyssa's class cheered. She sat there through the rest of the announcements just wishing to hear her name called for the 5th grade, and it was ~ 1st place :-) So by the time they arrived home on the bus that afternoon they were so giddy with excitement that I could hardly hear and understand what they were saying.
 Last Thursday was the Pizza Party they received as a reward. They had cute little invites and entrance tickets that made the girls feel like real VIPs in the school cafeteria.

When I heard the party was Thursday, I was disappointed because I had an appointment that I knew was going to prevent me from being to school in time for lunch. As I rushed to get there, I was telling myself it's okay, you've seen them eat pizza before, if you don't make it, you don't make it...but truth be told, it felt like kind of a big deal. This is the one and only year that all three girls will be in the same school and I'm quickly running out of opportunities to visit all of them for special occasions under the same roof during the school day. Not only that, but with only two people being recognized at each grade level, it was a pretty slim chance that all three could earn a prize, and since they did, I wanted to be there to congratulate them in person.


 




















I arrived just in time to see Rebekah throw her garbage away, but she was so happy and didn't seem to mind that I was late. Since they eat in shifts I was able to be there for the entire time A and E enjoyed their pizza. The girls were also introduced to cake pops, which they loved so I know what we'll be making for dessert sometime soon! A fun and yummy reward, and even better than a reward (maybe not to them, but surely for me) is that I have always loved the girls' appreciation for good books. The challenge wasn't some chore we needed to keep up with, or an extra assignment to complete at the end of the day, it was just fun.