We're getting ready for our kick off next week!

Hope everyone is excited about the kick-off for Alex's Virtual Lemonade Stand next week! We're thrilled that thirty-one schools will be joining us for the project this year! We have schools from Pennsylvania, Texas, Ohio, North Dakota, New York and Michigan participating!

New this year is the virtual scavenger hunt that will take place during the kick-off videoconference. Be sure to download the scavenger hunt worksheet from the project website
(the handout will be available on Monday, April 7th!) and distribute it to all the participating students. Then, have students pay careful attention to other school's introductions during the spirit rally and complete the scavenger hunt! Using the answers from the scavenger hunt, students will be able to create their own personalized "lemon" bingo boards to use during our closing videoconference event.

Speaking of the kick-off event, have you prepared your school's introduction yet? Remember, your school will have 30 seconds to introduce themselves as part of the kick-off videoconference. Here are the instructions for the 30 second intros:

• Your school will have 30 seconds to introduce yourself - - no more.
• Make sure to tell us your school's name, where you are located, why you are participating in this project and an interesting fact about your school or community - MAKE THE INTRODUCTIONS CREATIVE
• Interactive videoconference participants will have an opportunity to share this information as part of the videoconference
• EMAIL US a brief paragraph about your school and a photo to be included on the project blog! Please email this information to Heather Weisse at hweisse at magpi.net no later than Tuesday, April 8th!

Some other reminders:

POSTER CONTEST: Your school's poster contest entry is due on April 16th! See the guidelines on the project website: http://www.magpi.net/programs/alexslemonade-poster.html

POETRY CONTEST: Your school's poetry contest entry is due on Friday, April 11th! See the guidelines on the project website: http://www.magpi.net/programs/alexslemonade-poetry.html

And, last but not least, have you thought about your lemonade stand and what you'll do for your project?

Schools participating in this project will have 2 weeks to host an Alex's Lemonade Stand. Sites can have a one-day lemonade stand fundraiser or hold a stand every day for a week - - or some other combination. Need ideas? No idea where to start? Download the guide (from the project website!) for setting up events! The guide is in PDF format.

Remember to report your sales totals using the web-based form. The form will be live beginning on April 8th.

That's all for now! Check back on Friday for the kick-off videoconference outline!