It has been a big year for Fitz Between the Shelves. With a new focus and a bit of a makeover, there have been lots of changes around here. And with those changes have come some extra traffic to my little corner of the internet, with more than 11,000 views this year. This may not seem like a lot, but it’s more than quadruple the numbers from 2016, and I’m proud of that growth! I hope that you’ve enjoyed the ride this year, and that you’ll hang around to see what 2019 has in store. Whatever’s coming my way, I’m excited to share it with you.

Looking to get caught up on the Fitz happenings? Here are the top 10 posts from Fitz Between the Shelves in 2018.

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10. 4th and 5th Grade Book Club: Paper Wishes, by Lois Sepahban

An oldie but a goodie from February 2017, featuring our first ever student-organized and -facilitated middle school book club.

 

9. Cardboard MakerSpace Book Club

Another 2017 post, featuring details about one of my favorite middle school book clubs ever. I’m still floored by what these students put together, and it looks like you were, too!

 

8. Coming Soon: 5th Grade Book Club – The Wild Robot, by Peter Brown

This book club announcement from late 2017 shared the details of our Wild Robot book club, which took the 5th grade by storm and eventually lead to tons of robotics themed activities – a Wild Robot FABLab, a robotic Twelve Days of Tech-Mas, and a Wild Robot K-8 event that brought hundreds of students and their families to a themed Makerspace before school. It’s safe to say that the Wild Robot was a big inspiration for us!

 

7. Student Book Review: Annelise’s Review of Esperanza Rising, by Pam Munoz Ryan

Published way back in March 2015, Annelise’s review of this beloved book brings in hundreds of views every year.

 

6. #STABSummerReading 2018

#STABSummerReading was bigger than ever in 2018, and this announcement kicked it all off. Parents and students told me that they loved the out-of-the-box summer reading suggestions and lists.

 

5. 5th Grade Says… the Best Books of the Year, in Exactly 15 Words

This activity, inspired by Pernille Ripp, was such a fun challenge to close the 2017-2018 school year. I look forward to trying it again with my middle schoolers this year, and sharing their results.

 

4. Happy Anniversary, Harry Potter

My love letter to HP was typed on a whim with a cup of tea over the course of about ten minutes, making it one of my quickest (and least thought out!) posts ever. How funny that it’s one of your favorites. It just goes to show how powerful of a bond a shared story can be!

 

3. Insta Review: All the Broken Pieces, by Anne E. Burg

The only Insta Review to make it into the top 10, my review of this quiet little novel in verse was published in late 2017 and has become one of my most popular book reviews ever.

 

2. 5th and 6th Grade Book Club: Booked, by Kwame Alexander

This book club holds a special place in my heart, and I’m happy to see it still reaching teachers and readers more than two years after the fact. This Booked post features my first book club at St. Anne’s-Belfield School and my first middle school book club after years of working with grades pre-k-4. It eventually went on to become my first piece published on Nerdy Book Club. I still get emails and comments about it to this day!

 

1. Google Home in the School Library: FAQ

Fitz’s most popular post of all time, this list of frequent questions I received when I added a Google Home to our library has been viewed thousands of times from all over the world. Since the post went live in January 2017, countless educators have reached out to me to ask questions and share anecdotes and experiences bringing Google Home into their educational spaces. It has been so much fun connecting with so many librarians and teachers over this tool, and I love knowing that our experience has helped other educators to take a risk and try something new. Who knew that a Parent Association grant would lead to so much fun?

Happy New Year, friends!