This is my 500th post. Quite a milestone!
Last fall I realized that, if I planned carefully and stuck to my plan, Reading to the Core’s 5th birthday, February 4th, and its 500th post could coincide. I liked the symmetry of this. The only problem was that Thanksgiving and Christmas lay between my realization and the big day.
It’s now March 11th, so I clearly didn’t reach my goal. Sometime during the week between Christmas and New Year, I had to admit that I’d never make it, and I became okay with that. Because even if the two milestones didn’t occur on the same day, both still marked a personal accomplishment. And aren’t the numbers we attach to these milestones somewhat arbitrary anyway?
Still, I was curious about the significance of 500, so I did a little research. From Numbermatics, I learned that “500 is an even composite number composed of two prime numbers multiplied together.” It is also a Harshad number. This, according to Wolfram MathWorld, is “a positive integer which is divisible by the sum of its digits.”
This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, so I dug a little deeper. At Riding the Beast, I learned that, among other symbolic meanings, 500 “symbolize[s] the infinity for Irish.” I couldn’t find any confirmation for this, and it seems unlikely, given that “the Celts believed that everything happens in threes.” But the idea appealed to me, since one branch of my family emigrated from Ireland sometime in the 1800s.
My searching also led me to this information about the Triskele, pre-Celtic design that “stands for unity of the three” and “symbolizes the eternal life, the flow of nature, and spiritual growth.” It is also “believed to represent a tale of forward motion to reach understanding.” This is a much better symbol for what Reading to the Core is all about.
In my first post, my goal for blogging was “to have a conversation with literacy professionals around the country about reading and writing instruction today.” After one year, I realized that my writing focused more on my “curiosity about the world around us and my passion to help all kids find their own true self, to find their own true core.”
There’s no way to know exactly what I’ll be writing about next year at this time, or even what I’ll be writing about next week. What is certain is that it will be, in the words of E.L. Doctorow, “an exploration [where] you start from nothing and learn as you go.”
And thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, Lisa and Lanny for creating this community and providing this space for teachers and others to share their stories every day in March and on Tuesdays throughout the year. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts.
Reading to the Core 
Congrats! Huge accomplishment! I hit 200 a week ago, but didn’t realize it til it was past it, so I didn’t celebrate. I’ll have to celebrate at 250 or 300. 🙂
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Congratulations! It’s wonderful that you reached this milestone. I love how you researched the number to find more significance. I also love that E.L. Doctorow quote. I wonder when you’ll hit 1,000?!
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Wow, congrats! That’s a lot of work. If you looked over all 500 pieces, would there be a book in there somewhere?
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We certainly learn as we go…and what a lovely journey blogging has been!
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Congratulations on time and effort well spent. Now I’ll have to find out how many I’ve written in 3 years, without missing a day! It’s interesting to read about how the focus of your blog evolved over time. Writing takes us down paths we don’t anticipate, all for the good.
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Congrats on your milestone of 500 posts. My 500 past by and I didn’t notice it until it was a few posts later.
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Congratulations! I think it is so cool that you did some research about number 500. The symbol you discovered is beautiful
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Congratulations on this amazing accomplish and all you have learned through the journey.
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What an excellent idea to take stock periodically at milestones. I started blogging in at the start of 2006. Adding blogs, I probably spread myself too thin. Lately I have fallen off blogging but not sure why — blogging block, burnout, distracted by social media — any or all of the preceding, some I hadn’t thought of. Your post gave me the idea of taking stock of my own blogging over a longer stretvh. The perspective that gave me was very helpful. Among other takeaways, I’m more encouraged.
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Congratulations! Five years is a long time. Funny, I just looked and our blog’s birthday was March 4, 2012–right behind you, I think. It really has connected all of us. I love your connections to 500.
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Congratulations on achieving post number 500! Milestones often energize us to continue, to soldier on, to persist. They certainly create cause for reflection. Love the background story regarding the number 500. Enjoy the celebration.
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Congratulations – that is incredible. I have no ideas how many posts we have written … you may have inspired me to figure it out.
Thanks
Clare
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500 posts is an incredible milestone! Congratulations. I hope it has been as rewarding to you as it has been to your readers!
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Congratulations! I am completely new to blogging, and have written my 12th post as of today. You’ve given me the idea to keep track of my progress…. I think it will be fun to celebrate when I reach 100! ~JudyK
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Thank you. Your posts always inspire me. I love the Celtic design, too! I’m mostly Welsh.
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Congratulations, Catherine. That’s a huge accomplishment. I love that you researched numbers.One of my math classes a few years ago researched numbers. Each chose a number and did just what you just did, found the significance and the history of it. It was a fun, and surprising project!
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Congratulations! And thank you for your reflections on your blogging journey and the numbers.
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