**The+Big+Day**

Everyone had an amazing time at the Reading Celebration and Sleepover! It was such a busy day that this is going to be a very long post. media type="custom" key="9547928"

We started the day with a puppet show by our Regional library. We invited all the students in the school to join us. Everyone enjoyed the new version of the Three Billy Goats Gruff.

Next, the primary students rotated through three different stations. They got to listen to stories with Mother Goose on the Literacy Bus, act out the Enormous Carrot with our principal, Ms. Sweeney, and go on an Artifact Walk with our District Literacy Support Teacher, Mrs. Lok.

After the stations it was time for our Skype call with award-winning author, illustrator, TV cartoonist, musician, and storyteller Mike Artell. Mr. Artell talked with us all the way from Louisiana. We got to ask him some questions and then he showed us how to cartoon different emotions, make cool lettering and even draw a beaver! The students had so much fun and drew some great cartoons too. Watch for another post with more pictures of our call and a video we found of him reading Petite Rouge (The Cajun version of Little Red Riding Hood).

After recess we visited the Illustration Station, decorated t-shirts and pillowcases, and went shopping with our Book Bucks. There were so many great books to choose from!

At 11:30 some very special guests came to school to read with us! Everyone had a great time reading with moms, dads, grandma's, grandpa's, little sisters and brothers, and friends. It was so nice to see families reading together all over the school! media type="custom" key="9547940"

We started the afternoon with a special guest reader. Debbie, our school secretary, read us Naty's Parade. It is one of her grandson's favourite books and we really liked it too! Next we did some more book shopping and finished our t-shirts and pillowcases. Some students spent some quiet time reading their new books in the tents. Before it was time to go home and get packed for the evening and sleepover we had a fun spelling bee.

We came back to the school for supper. Ms. Sweeney bought us delicious pizzas and juice and Ms. Lansdowne, who also teaches in our class, joined us for the sleepover. We owe her a big thank you for staying the night with us!

After supper we had the Reading with Expression contest. Many of the students had been practicing their books for weeks at home and boy could you tell! We sure have fantastic readers in our class! This was Mrs. Watson's favourite part of the night.

The Treasure Hunt was next. We got into partners and raced through the school solving riddles. Some of the clues were pretty tricky. The final stop was ice cream sundaes in the computer lab. While we ate we decided on our movie for the night. Monsters vs. Aliens was the big winner.

After putting on our jammies we all watched the movie on the high jump mats in the classroom. The movie was hilarious and we enjoyed the snacks our parents sent in while we watched. When the movie was over we read in our tents before going to sleep. Mrs. Watson and Ms. Lansdowne slept on the big mats.

In the morning we had breakfast and packed up. After everything was ready to go home we handed out awards in the classroom. There were special prizes for the most minutes read in the 6 week challenge, the Reading with Expression contest, the spelling bee, and the treasure hunt.

A BIG thank you to all the parents who helped to move everything out of the classroom when they came to pick up their children. (We have to move into the computer room for a week while our carpet is replaced with great new lino.) The parents managed to move a very full classroom to the computer room across the hall in less than 15 minutes! You are all amazing and greatly appreciated!