Receiving our Checks

We went to this wonderful place in HISD and visited with others who had won Fund for Teachers grants. The people there were so nice! We took group pictures and they had Starbucks coffee waiting for us. (Give me a Starbucks Coffee and I'm a fan!) Mr. Stephens and I enjoyed speaking with others going on a trip. Fellow librarians in Aldine, Mr. and Mrs. Allen, we discovered are going to Germany and two other Aldine teacher friends are going to Japan to learn about origami and how to incorporate it into their teaching. We signed a lot of papers, took some fun photos and danced out the door. (And if you know Mr. Stephens, there was some singing involved as well.) We were really impressed with how well we were treated.

We Actually Won!

We took our time; we worked hard! Mr. Stephens and I, Mrs. Haynes, wrote a grant sponsored by Fund for Teachers. We agreed to contact one another and find out together if we won our $10,000 grant to study British authors to bring back to our AWESOME Hambrick Middle School Students! Studying about Charles Dickens is something we do with Hambrick students anyway during Christmas and we decided we want to bring the Rockstar experience into the library and classrooms! We also want to learn about British culture and have that translate into some innovative activities as well... High tea with GQ and SHADES perhaps? (smile)-- Mr. Stephens assures me the ghost of Charles Dickens will appear! I planned to create an interactive library museum throughout the year focusing on Great Britain, Life of Charles Dickens, Life of Conan Doyle, and Life of Shakespeare.

Mr. Stephens was at his home and I was with my family visiting in Mississippi when Mr. Stephens called. He told me that the letter arrived and began reading.... When he read the first sentence, we both knew that we had won and both began screaming our heads off and I don't know about him, but I was jumping up and down! My family was VERY excited for me. I still can't believe we won.

We are clicking our heals as we leave for London from June 16-25, 2009 and I, Mrs. Haynes, will be blogging and sharing our experiences.

I hope all Hambrick Stakeholders (students, faculty, parents) are ready for next year as we know we'll have your support. We will need actors and artists and host and hostesses for our Library Museum Exhibit Opening Nights. If you're willing to help out or lend a kind word, please feel free to leave a comment! Thank you for your support and THANK YOU Fund for Teachers; we couldn't be more enthusiastic and excited!