Sunday Catch-up

Yesterday, our building was open from 10-2. I got there right at 10 and stayed until almost 2 pm (I had a meeting at 2, so I left a little early), and what a difference it has made!!! It feels SO GREAT to get a little caught up. Sigh...I wish I didn't have to work on the weekends AT school to get caught up, but that seems to be the reality this year. I repotted some plants that I had purchased the first week of school. They desperately needed new homes, but I never had the time to do it. I processed some books--wow, did that feel good--that had been sitting in a box for 3 weeks. I cleaned up the back room--organizing, throwing away, putting away. Oh, it all felt good. Today, I was doing leaf rubbings with 1st and 2nd grades after we read Old Bear by Kevin Henkes. One of the kiddos came over to me with her leaf rubbing and said, "it's like looking at the skeleton of the leaf!". And that's what keeps me in education.

Perfectly Crooked

Where did September go? I truly cannot believe we are already a week into August. Someone mentioned earlier today that we've started our fifth week of school, and that really surprised me. It seems like week three. My schedule is KILLING me this year. I teach 30 classes a week as part of the regular specialists' rotation. My assistant (I know how lucky I am to have one) and I are just bombarded all the time. We never have time to finish a project, let alone take care of the multitude of things from our to-do list. The books are not getting shelved in a timely manner, and she is behind on getting the Readers' Choice books ready for the students (the program started today, and she was literally covering books as we booktalked them). She does not work like this; I do not work like this! This schedule is KICKING OUR BUTTS! I hurt my back the day after the National Book Festival, where I broke my camera. First story first: I was in line to meet John Irving, and while waiting to get my book signed, I took out my camera to take a picture of him (and Judy Blume, who was signing in the booth next to him), and the volunteers started yelling at me that I was not allowed to photograph John Irving. I wasn't asking him to pose nor was I holding up the line, and I just don't think that's right. So I took his picture. Not five minutes later, my camera dropped out of my hands, straight down on its lens (which was out), and broke. Karma. Bit. Me. In. The. Ass. I am happy to have my picture of John Irving, even though I missed getting photos of every other author I got to meet that day. Let me say that John Irving is one sexy man. It was all I could do not to say those very words to him when he was signing my book. Woah. Anyway, second part of the story: I hurt my back the day after the book festival when I bent over to pick something up and then couldn't stand up straight. I have been in pretty bad pain for a week now, but I've scheduled a doctor's appointment for tomorrow morning, so hopefully my students won't be offering to help me out of my chair anymore. And hopefully I won't be crooked anymore. Which segues perfectly into the wonderful book I read last night, A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban. I had to read all of our state Readers' Choice books for booktalks today, and I saved Crooked for last, and I'm so glad I did. I curled up in my bed under the covers and read until it ended. I'd like to say I was finished with it, but I could've kept reading about Zoe for another 200 pages. I want to know this girl! Growing up, my cousin Wendy had an organ very similar to Zoe's, and I remember all the fun we had with its rhythm machine, wah-wah bar (like for Hawaiian music), and full pedal board. The organ is just so 70's to me; it was a big part of our growing up, playing that crazy organ. Happy memories.

First Day Down

Whew!! And what a first day it was! Things were blissfully calm in the library today, unlike the hallways, classrooms, and bus ramp. Our last bus didn't arrive until about 25 minutes after school was supposed to start, but the principal really did come in and give his message to the kids during morning announcements. He has unbounding energy. I think I feel more tired just being around him--how can that be? Library classes started today, which was new and different for us, but I really liked it. Why not just jump into the first day with both feet?!?! It was great, even kindergarten. I was a little worried that they'd cry when their teacher left, but they were fine and I was fine! No tears! No bathroom accidents! Dismissal was a bit crazy this afternoon, and I was mostly thankful to be sitting in my little room typing in the bus numbers ever so slowly. It took almost an hour for dismissal to finish: car riders went on forever, there was an accident at the entrance to the school, and some kids were temporarily misplaced. Well, I shouldn't say they were misplaced--they were just not listening to where they should go or what they should do! Thank goodness for laptops so I could continue to work while sitting there waiting for bus numbers to be announced. All in all, a productive first day. I came home and drank some wine and feel like I might be able to do it all over again tomorrow.

Sewing

I feel like I'm working in a sweat shop today. All afternoon, I've been sewing curtains for the library. I am enjoying it, but sewing lots of straight lines gets boring fast! When I finish this last one, I'll treat myself with an Eric Carle wall hanging I've been wanting to put together for a while. I know it's more straight lines, but it'll be fun!! School starts tomorrow with the kiddos. I'm very excited, even though I can't listen to the President's speech live (see previous post). Time to get back to the sweat shop.

Very Disturbing News

I am very concerned. Our school board has decided that we will not watch the President's speech on Tuesday. This is the wording that was placed on the county's website:

Because of logistical issues related to the first day of school and other concerns regarding the short planning window available, members of the XXX XXX School Board have elected not to have XXX's schools participate in the live presentation on September 8th. They have instead expressed a preference to make the President's comments to students available via video at a later date. The plan and procedures associated with making this opportunity available for XXX's students will be announced next week. I just don't know what to do. My first ammendment hackles are up. I sent an email of concern to our public information officer, with no response yet. Can a school board really tell us that we are not allowed to watch something? I sure hope that this is not politically motivated. He is our President, and he is making the time to address students. I cannot think of another President who did this. He is making lessons available and the speech can be streamed, listened to on the radio, or on cable TV. I am just shaking my head in disbelief. Is the school board restricting students' first ammendment rights? or mine?

Two More Weeks

of vacation left. Actually, a little less than that. I do need to be at school in two Fridays to meet the new teachers at their orientation. I am not totally depressed about the end of summer, though, and that's definitely a change from years past. We have a new principal. He is quite young and energetic and that is contagious! I am almost, almost, excited to go back to school. He sent a book to each staff member a few weeks ago, but I haven't yet read it. It's short and motivational, I can tell, and I know it won't take me long to read. I am sure that will cement my excitement for a new year to begin. My plans for the rest of the summer: Aug 17-19: visit my parents Aug 20-21: piano lessons and pack for the weekend Aug 22-23 last weekend hurrah in DC Aug 24-27: lock myself in the craft room and make progress on 17 unfinished projects Aug 28: meet our new teachers Aug 29-30: squeeze in the last moments of summer at the pool Aug 31: back to work

All the News that's Fit to Print

I got an email from my principal today. He got a phone call from the local paper; they want to do a story on me. He's going to call them back and find out the details. I am more than a little afraid.

LOC rocks!

I've just returned from a fabulous 3-day Teacher Institute at the Library of Congress. The Institute brought together 20 teachers and librarians from all over the country, and we explored using primary resources. We learned ways to incorporate them in our lessons, which was great, but the best part was meeting staff members from the LOC and going into the different reading rooms. I got a readers' card so I can go back any time and go into the reading rooms.

We used the tunnels underneath the buildings to get from one to the other (I didn't even know that there were three buildings!) and went on a fabulous tour of the Jefferson Building. My favorite place, though, was the Adams Building, which is a beautiful art deco style building. Here's a picture of a lamp on the side of the building.

We met the head of the Science & Business library, and she is a 51-year employee dynamo! What a cool person! Her area of expertise is household technology, and she was so excited to show us a neat collection of irons and other household items from the past.

Thoughtful Thursday

So yesterday was Thoughtful Thursday and I was the first recipient of my principal's thoughtfulness. Soon after my uncle and his wife arrived yesterday from Florida, the phone rang and I saw that it was school calling. (ugh) I picked it up and it was my principal, who said he'd hoped to reaching my answering machine (!). I chuckled and said I'd hang up and he could call back, but then he went on to tell me why he was calling. Every Thursday, he calls a different staff member on the phone to thank them for something specific that they've done. Yesterday was his first call, and it was me! He thanked me for doing Summer Library and let me know that he was impressed with my efforts for the students at Conway and all that I do there. What a thoughtful thing to do! I loved it, and it made my day (my week, my summer, my school year)!

Summer Library, part 2

Summer Library was fun today!! It wasn't as busy as even our slowest day last year, but I didn't do as much PR for it, so I half expected it. But it was pretty steady all day, usually two or three families in there at a time, so it was exceptionally manageable. A good start, really. Austin brought all his tools, even though we had nothing to fix, but I oohed and ahhed over them, the reciprocating saw, the trim saw, the pile driver or something, and several other of Craftsman's best. Austin was a big help as usual, and our regulars were happy to see us again. I met with our new principal today for about an hour (!) and we got to talk about a lot of library stuff and school stuff. I told him I was starved for leadership, which is totally true, and I think I'm ready to be behind him 100%. I hope I don't live to regret those words... A good start to summer, indeed.

Summer Library

starts tomorrow! I am excited, mostly. It's the third year for Summer Library, and now people are expecting me to do it. And they're expecting my fabulous hotdogs, so I went to the warehouse club today and bought the food supplies. The PTA is funding summer library (thanks, guys!) and so I spent almost $200 of their money buying drinks, paper products, snacks, hot dogs, and other goodies for the families. I haven't done as much publicizing this year, but I hope we'll have a good turnout anyway. For the past two years, I sent postcards to every family in the school the week before we started, but I decided not to spend the money on postage this year. That added up to a couple hundred dollars, believe it or not! My fabulous former student, Austin, will be back to help me this year again. It will be his third year, too, and I haven't seen him since last summer. I am sure he has grown; he'll be an eighth grader this coming fall. He sent me the funniest email the other day; here's an excerpt. I won't bother to correct his punctuation (who needs periods?!?!) or spelling. It's just priceless the way it is:

• looking forward to this or next Tuesday what ever comes first... lol. im going to be staying at my grandma's (nana's) house Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. they are leaving to go to buffalo on the 10th of July for my grandpa's mom's birthday (80th B-day) so my mom will be dropping me off at her house the week they are gone and I will be riding my bike to [school] as I am told? :) so when I come the first time I will bring the Craftsman tool set I bought so if we need to put something together we can do It fast... the set cost me $250 but I got a drill, saws all (reciprocating saw), 5 1/2 in trim saw, light, and a impact driver (I love that thing 900 lbs driving force) but a little loud but it drive long screws in fast and easy unlike a reg drill... and it is a 19.2 volt die hard battery set (2) but its real nice... and then dell sent me $200 of replacement parts for my laptop. a new screen cover and a new keyboard (old one's "enter" key broke off) but it's all good now.... I had to take the whole screen apart to replace the screen cover... nothing broke and now its like the day it came out the box... (on the outside) lol..... hold on I have to take the battery off the charger. ok so me and my best friend Ricky have been making money cutting ppls lawns for 20-40$ depending on the size. we just got a free riding lawn mower from a person that we do lawns for. they messed that thing up so bad.... the deck was bent and was hitting the back tire... the blades U don't even want to know. she hit something hard that caused the deck to get bent back and tared the deck apart so now when the blade spins it would hit the deck. we still need a belt for it. the front stearing was all messed up and him and his dad have been working on fixing it... the operation station (where the stearing wheel is) was all cracked so we had to but a piece of metal on it and we put 60 rivets in it so its strong now... the engine works and sounds good. could use a little carb cleaner but ya it still runs good. he has put about $120 in it and still needs to get a belt so he may end up putting $150 in to it... but that is all it should need (knock on wood). we'll see. my grandma is still unemployed and her unemployment check has run out so the only income is from my grandpa... I was over at her house I think last weekend or the one before that and U had to be there my nana and papa were getting competitive playing bowling on the Wii... that was funny... my papa almost hit the TV off the stand... but ya well I cant wait to come and help U out and take your whole day telling you what has happened in the last 200 days (give or take) but ya well talk to you Tuesday... and happy 4th of July!!!

Seriously, who wouldn't want help like that?!

Back to reality...

The fabulous trip to Italy, Monte Carlo, Greece, and Turkey is over. I am in those post-vacation doldrums, trying to get back on east coast time and doing laundry and getting the house back to the way we live in it (we had dog-sitters here for 2+ weeks).

I'm also OD-ing on Internet--having been without it since June 18, I had a million and a half emails to weed through, and lots of blogs and other things to catch up on.

There were so many highlights to the trip. Rome is my absolute favorite city now, and I would move there tomorrow if I could.

Here's a little library-related part of the trip: a visit to Ephesus and the Library of Celsus. It was build around 110 AD and housed thousands of scrolls and books. I bought a resin statue of the library to have on my desk, along with some columns to show the kids when we study Ancient Rome and Greece.

Arrivederci!

I am heading to a Mediterranean cruise of Italy, Greece, Monte Carlo, and Turkey tomorrow. I am skipping out on my last teacher work day to travel to Rome for the start of our vacation. I have been a bad librarian, though, doing virtually no preparation for this trip. I have been so busy closing out the school year that I haven't had time to even think about the trip! Ciao! Blogging will resume after July 3.

Hello? Hello? Anyone home?

That's how I felt today. I made phone calls for the better part of the afternoon, trying to get in touch with parents about their children's overdue books. I think I talked to four parents in person, and they each had no idea that their child still had books checked out. I left a bunch of messages, but the worst thing was the sheer amount of phone numbers that are disconnected or changed.

I am interested to see how many books come back tomorrow. I hope it is more than several, but those are high hopes, I know. Some parents just don't care. Their kids don't care, and I know where they got it from.

Some kids are just so glib when I ask them about their books, and it makes me want to scream. Just bring the damn book back, kid!!

We have no recourse at the elementary level in getting books back. At the middle school level, kids can't go to school dances, or field trips, or all kinds of good things. Here, I got nothin'. I have even asked teachers to send me their kids during recess so they can write a letter home, and I think I've had about 7 different kids this week. That's it.

Please, please, God, let some more books come back tomorrow.

Lightning Strikes Twice

In our usual mid-Atlantic way, we've been hit by a few intense thunderstorms lately. On Tuesday night, our school was hit by lightning. It knocked out the phone lines, our media retrieval system, the fire alarm, and several of the air conditioners. When I got to school, the fire alarm was going off, and I found out that it had gone off 47 times that night. Yikes. We didn't even realize that the media system was affected until we tried to play a video around 10:00. The technician spent most of the day Friday trying to fix it, but pretty much all he got done was the diagnosing of the problem. Hopefully, they'll be out again next week to fix it. We only have 7 days of school left, so I am not terribly concerned. Wednesday evening, our house was hit by lightning! I was giving a piano lesson in the front room, and a thunderstorm was just getting revved up outside, but it was hardly worth worrying about. When the lightning hit, it was the brightest light, the loudest sound, and a pretty strong vibration. As far as we can tell, it hit a vent on the roof and jumped to the roof itself then through the electrical systems in the house. The electrician came out Wednesday night just to check everything (1/2 the electrical was shot) and then again on Friday to repair the rest. Today, a roofer repaired the outside damage; then the AC guy came to fix the transformer that got fried. The insurance adjuster was here most of the morning. We're still waiting on the phone and internet and alarm system, but our awesome neighbors gave us their WEP key so we could use their wireless. We are making progress!

Testing

It continues. How long has it been? A week, two? A month? Ten years?!?! It feels like forever, but it is almost over. Today, I took my library show on the road. That was fun. not. I had to move a fishtank with my actual frog life cycle creatures on the cart down the hall to second grade. All the critters made it: the tadpoles, the froglet, two goldfish, and a frog. Later this afternoon, the frog was deceased. I hope it wasn't the trauma of the move. Or the realization that he couldn't jump out to freedom. Poor thing. He was very cool, too, sitting on the rock staring at the big world his little siblings couldn't see yet. Alas, a big thunderstorm is brewing here and I am signing off for tonight. Tomorrow, I'm going on a field trip to the White House. I'll be reporting back, be assured.

I'm a Shusher

I really try to buck the librarian stereotypes we all know and hate. No bun. Not a cat lover. Rarely a cardigan. No glasses hanging from a chain. But today I was a shusher of the worst kind. Our state testing is happening all around the library (but thankfully not IN the library), and I was just so nervous about my kids disrupting the students testing. All day long I was shushing kids.

This Friday is the last day for student checkout, so I think that after Friday, I'll just go to the classrooms to teach. It would certainly be less stressful for me to not have to keep 25 little ones quiet all day long.

The Friendliest Flower

Today we had our last elementary librarians' meeting of the year. It was fine...inventory, state testing, etc. No big deal. Our supervisor is retiring effective July 1, and we weren't sure if her position would be posted, but we found out today that it will be, so that is good. She told me to dust off my resume, but quite frankly, I'm not really interested. I do not want to be in charge of people. I do not want to continually fight an uphill battle to get people to understand that we are teachers, too. I do not want to have to play the political games that I am sure go on at the district level. No thanks. I'll stay in my school in my happy little library. The last lesson plan sharing meeting was tonight, too, and it was just so much fun. We had a blast, as usual. Laughing and getting off-track and being a little unprofessional. Such fun. Another librarian told us that she watched You've Got Mail over the weekend, and I shared with everyone that it was that movie that made me want to become a librarian. When Meg Ryan's character is in the Foxx bookstore helping a customer because the clerk had no idea what she was asking for, I just knew I wanted to be like that--so knowledgeable about children's literature. That was a watershed movie for me. A watershed scene. I could watch it all over again. Don't you just love daisies?

Why I Love Children

A kindergarten student made this book for me today. It is modeled after The Library Lion. I think it's even better. Check out my bling at the end.

The student even included a title page...written and illustrated by Jessica. Just too cute.

Gravy

A got an email today from a fellow elementary librarian who said he was burned out. I am feeling kind of bummed out now because he is obviously not loving what he's doing at his school. His exact words are, hold on--I'll copy and paste them from his email--"I'm getting tired of trying to convince teachers that I am capable of doing something meaningful with their kids." Hmmm...I have been thinking about this comment all evening. On one hand, I understand what he means. The year we opened our school, I was doing an explorers unit with third grade, and one of the teachers said, upon looking at the research packets her students completed, "Wow! These are the same explorers we study!". No lie. That comment made me realize that teachers don't automatically know what librarians do. I thought I'd explained my job to them, thought that my asking for curriculum maps indicated that I'd be teaching along with them, thought that they'd know my time with their classes was meaningful. Apparently, I overestimated something--what, though?--myself, teachers? I am not quite sure. On the other hand, there are some teachers who treat me as an integral part of their curriculum. They ask to collaborate on lessons or ask me to focus on certain things with their students. They understand what I do; they know that library class is a meaningful part of their students' day. Recently, one teacher who had spent many, many hours on alternative (to standardized testing) assessments made it a point to tell me that my lessons had been used in many areas of the students' portfolios to show understanding of different topics. These were lessons that I'd done on my own, lessons I created to correlate with the grade level's curriculum, without any input from teachers. As a librarian on a (mostly) fixed schedule, I don't have time to collaborate with the teachers (since I am teaching their classes during their planning time). I have to come up with my own meaningful lessons and just do them to my satisfaction. If the teachers like them and realize I can help lighten their load a little, that's gravy.