Colby Sharp

Michigan

Freelance Writer at Freelance

⭐️driven by gratitude⭐️Husband 👫 Dad 👦👧👧👦👦 Teacher 👔 Reader 📚 Runner 🏃 Writer ✏️ Nerd 🤓 VOTE! #NerdyBookClub | views expressed are mine

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Articles

My last book order of the school year

5 days ago | colbysharp.substack.com | Colby Sharp

I usually try to make my last book order of the school year right before spring break. That gives us eight or nine full weeks with the books before the end of the year. Unfortunately, I fell a little behind this year, so my last book order of the year just arrived (with five weeks left in the school year). The last couple of years, our principal has given us $200 for classroom supplies. This is in addition to the $250 every K-5 teacher has each year for their classroom library.
That one time Kate DiCamillo came to my school

1 week ago | colbysharp.substack.com | Colby Sharp

Kate DiCamillo spent Tuesday at the elementary school where I teach. The elementary school where I fell in love with reading as a kid. The elementary school where my five children learned to read. I’ve been trying to process the visit and figure out what I want to say about our time with Kate. It isn’t easy to put it into words. The one word that I keep coming back to is “intimate”. Everything about the day felt: right, important, safe.
sharpread | Colby Sharp

2 weeks ago | colbysharp.substack.com | Colby Sharp

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Kate DiCamillo is visting my school this week

2 weeks ago | colbysharp.substack.com | Colby Sharp

I run our elementary school’s after school run club with my friend (the physical education teacher at my school). After last Thursday’s run club, I was sitting with a fourth grader waiting for his ride. His ride was running behind so we had some time to chat. I asked him if he was looking foward to Kate DiCamillo’s visit to our school. He smiled a nodded. When I asked him which one of Kate’s books was his favorite, he took some time to think about his answer.
running out of time to read to them

3 weeks ago | colbysharp.substack.com | Colby Sharp

Today was the first day that I thought about my time with my fifth graders coming to an end. I thought we had about ten weeks left in the school year. I was wrong. With only seven weeks to go, I feel sad that I won’t get to read them all the stories I want to read them. I’ve read them more than 140 stories so far this year, but that doesn’t seem like enough.
when the lights went out at school

1 month ago | colbysharp.substack.com | Colby Sharp

We had some pretty bad storms last weekend that left a lot of our school families without power. On Wednesday, when we were in the library late morning, the power to our school went out. sharpread | Colby Sharp is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. The kids were very excited. When we got back to class we made some adjustments to our day.
Spending a week with Alaska readers

1 month ago | colbysharp.substack.com | Colby Sharp

My wife and I spent our spring break in Alaska. I had the privilege of spending some time working with students, teachers, and families. Giving fourteen presentations in four days felt life-changing. The thing that I noticed over and over again was how much pride everyone had in being Alaskan. It feels like a place that is VERY easy to to fall in love with. My wife and I have been to a lot of amazing places together, and it is often hard to leave and come home.
The Books My Students are Reading During Spring Break

1 month ago | colbysharp.substack.com | Colby Sharp

It felt like spring break was very far a way for a very long time. Somehow we made it to break! I’m spending the next week with my wife in Alaska doing school visits and working with teachers. I COULD NOT BE MORE EXCITED! sharpread | Colby Sharp is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Like we do before every break, we spent some time making reading plans. The kids have gotten so much better at this.
Arree Chung Talks about his Debut Graphic Novel: Don’t Cause Trouble

1 month ago | theyarn.slj.com | Colby Sharp

COLBY: I had a whole lot of fun talking to Arree Chung about his new (and first ) graphic novel, Don’t Cause Trouble.
running out of read aloud

2 months ago | colbysharp.substack.com | Colby Sharp

Last week, I finished reading aloud The Wild Robot series to my first and fourth grade sons. These young readers are the last two of our five kiddos. We had our first child my first year as a teacher, so I’ve been reading aloud to my own kids as long as I’ve been reading aloud to my students (18 years). I know our bedtime read alouds will not continue forever. I also that I won’t be the one to stop them. Just like it is in the classroom, the home read aloud is magical.