Snow Day!!!

The view this morning from the front porch.

There is just nothing more renewing than a snowday!! Snowdays even beat professional days, if you ask me.  I was a complete slug this morning, getting up at 8:30, transitioning to the couch and a yummy breakfast, until almost 2 pm.  Then I went out and shoveled.

I left my flashdrive upstairs, which is equivalent to leaving it at school as far as I'm concerned, so working on the school's newsletter is obviously out of the question.  I celebrated today, as I do all snowdays, with cosmopolitans, my favorite go-to adult beverage. At this point, I am kinda hopeful that tomorrow will be a snowday, as well.

School has been going pretty well lately.  I'm still totally burned out on the 6-day specials rotation, but at least I've been doing fun stuff with the kids.  Fourth grade has been working on atlases and this rotation is playing some fun online map games (from National Geographic) that they are enjoying.  I am making the groups that did not make good progress on the atlas activities finish before getting to the computers.  I should've announced that at the start!!

Third grade is mired in their Famous American biographies.  I enjoy it, and it is pretty self-directed, but there are a few kids in each class who are just so dependent on someone pointing out every single answer to them that it just saps my energy.  At last I have I&E time at the end of the day to work with them in very small groups.  But it's so hard to get around to 25 kids during a 35 minutes period.  I can barely touch base with all of them, let alone follow up with them.

Second graders are working on their Ancient China research, and yesterday had a visit from the CRRL librarians for Chinese folktale storytelling.  The librarians did a great job, and the kids' reactions were just priceless.  My favorite librarian tells The Seven Chinese Sisters in such a funny way--the kids still talk about it a year later.

We've been enjoying the Anansi tales in first grade and kindergarten.  I kind of wish the Eric Kimmel versions had a little more, um, Africa, in them.  I wasn't in the loop when they were published, and I'd have to do some serious digging into the reviews back when the books came out, but why isn't Anansi a little more African? We have enjoyed the stories, but they certainly don't look like they're part of our Black History Month recognition.  (And I know it's March...it takes a while to get through the rotations!!)

Fifth grade has been my favorite class this rotation.  For the past several weeks, we've been learning effective online searching techniques.  I've long avoided teaching the kids about Google searching, but I finally came to the realization that they're all doing it outside of school, so I should at least help them do it a little more skillfully.  It's been a good unit.  We got to the point where we were evaluating websites' validity, and I tricked them for a minute with the Endangered Northwest Tree Octopus website. Well, maybe more than a minute.  Our plan was to analyze other websites the next rotation to try to determine their validity. But then I got them this past week. Instead of viewing websites, I told them that their teachers had requested we do a little review of explorers for our upcoming SOL tests.  So I hand them a 1/2 sheet of paper and directions for getting some facts about the explorers they'd studied this year.  Little did they know that I'd set them up with the spoof website All About Explorers! Ooh, I got them so good!!!! They totally fell for it, until a few groups started reading a little more in-depth and discovering the inaccuracies in the explorers' biographies.  Such fun!!! I had to make them promise not to tell the other classes of fifth graders, and it worked!! Are fifth graders that gullible, or do they just trust their teachers so much?! I had one student who was hurt that I would trick him like I did.  I tried to explain that the Internet tricked him!!  Next rotation, we're starting Media Literacy, which is a most fun unit to teach, too.  Happy times in fifth grade!

Award Winning Thoughts

I am so happy with the Caldecott Awards this year! The week before the awards were announced, I had read This is Not My Hat to the first grade classes, not because I was predicting anything, but because we'd read I Want My Hat Back as part of our state readers' choice list.  So I thought they'd like Jon Klassen's new book (which they did).  They were very excited to hear that it won the Caldecott, and we put the Award sticker on it right away. Notice it has the perfect cover for a medal.

Because of our subscription to Junior Library Guild, I had most of the award and honor winners already.  Great choices all around.  This fall, I got our copy of Extra Yarn signed by Mac Barnett. Double win for Jon Klassen with that one!! Where to put the silver medal, though? Maybe cover art designers can think of this in the future--just a little corner, that's all I need!

I took Creepy Carrots to the book festival, too, to be signed.  It's very fun, although I haven't read it to any classes yet.  My nephew sure enjoyed it!

I wouldn't be any kind of librarian if I didn't give a shout-out to One Cool Friend, written by Toni Buzzeo.  She's a librarian, so I triple-love this book.  Anything that David Small illustrates is tops in my book, but this was still a total surprise to me! Notice the area in the lower-left corner for the medal. 

When I took I Have a Dream: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. out of the box recently, I knew instantly it was Kadir Nelson.  His books are just classic.  There is no mistaking his style or his books' shape.  It is beautiful and of course a shoe-in for the award.  We got it just in time for MLK, Jr. Day, and the teachers ate it up.

Ellen's Broom was an enjoyable book, but not on my radar for the CSK illustrator award.  I am partial to the style to the illustrator, Daniel Minter.  Woodcuts? Scratchboard?  I'm not totally sure, but I know it appeals to me.  The story does not seem all that original to me; where have I read something like this before, I don't know, but I feel like I've heard it already.  At any rate, I'm glad for Daniel Minter.

This is the book that threw me over the edge, though: Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson.  I just cataloged it the weekend before it won the CSK Author Honor, but I hadn't read it.  So I brought it home on Monday night and read it Tuesday morning over breakfast.  Then I cried.  And cried.  And cried.  I cried some more on my way to work.  I cried when I told my assistant about it.  It is just so sad! It is the most perfect  book for discussion, though.  But I don't know if I'll be able to read it aloud to a class! I plan to show it to my principal this week because it is a great accompaniment for the 26 Acts of Kindness program that we're doing at my school.  It's amazing, really.

Immi's Gift

This was my favorite state award nominee book, so I saved it for last.  Our school just launched a 26 Acts of Kindness program, and it was so awesome to hear the kids make that connection to the book. So I read it 18 times. I didn't get tired of it, not once.  What I especially loved was how the kids responded when I read the last page.  Every single class of second graders gasped.  They totally got it.  Some of the first grade students got it--I heard a few gasps.  Not one kindergartner got it without a little explanation.  But that's okay--I assume it's a developmental thing.

I had a few different activities to go along with the book, but every class ended up doing the same thing, which was to draw and color one of the things that Immi got from the sea.  Then we put all the items (ahem...maybe not all of them) on my K-cup igloo.  I can't believe I forgot to take an "after" picture. 

I'll take one tomorrow and upload it to this post, but for now, here is the igloo before we decorated it.  I collected K-cups from my own home and from my assistant's.  We had almost half of the cups pictured below! (yikes) Then I had to ask the teachers for help.  Thank God for caffeine-addicted teachers! I had the rest of the igloo completed in two days! The igloo in all its K-cup glory:

Ok, so you can see all the kids' creations on the snow around the igloo.  I hot glued most of them to the igloo and even inside it.  That picture will appear below (after I take it tomorrow!).

It came out so cute--I just love it! The kids enjoy looking for their object on the igloo, and if they don't see it, I tell them it's on the inside!  (I couldn't fit them all on the igloo.)

Day 6: Soul-crushing

I am so tired of this schedule.  I just don't think I can bear it much longer.  Every night at dinner, I am asked how my day went.  And for five days in a row, I say, "Just like yesterday...Just like yesterday..."  It's true--my day is EXACTLY the same for six school days in a row.  This always spans a weekend, and depending on the number of days in a week, sometimes two weekends.  It is interminable. And so. so. depressing.

I'm in a bad place right now.  My principal always talks to us about all the good we're doing, and how we can say we're just one little bolt riveter on the ship (it's a big, long analogy), or we can say that we build boats that carry our soldiers as they fight for our freedom.  So I can say that I'm a lowly, elementary librarian teaching the same damn thing six days in a row or I can say that I help grow children.

So I really try to keep this in mind: it's not my lessons that matter so much.  It's what the kids learn about themselves and the world around them that matters.  Except today, when I was teaching a fifth grade class.  For quite literally the 18th time, I was teaching the same lesson with the book Mirror, Mirror, which is on our state awards list.  Last rotation, I read it to them, and this time, they were performing one of the poems with a partner.

In all the classes, I talked about what it would look like when they were performing and what it would look like when they were in the audience.  One of the things we discussed, without incident in 17 classes of third, fourth, and fifth graders, was appropriate clapping.  A little chuckle and trying out of inappropriate clapping. Then back on track doing it appropriately.

Except this one fifth grade class.  One of the boys insisted on clapping with his palms cupped together.  As I tried to explain to him that this kind of clapping would not be appropriate at a poetry reading, he just kept doing it.  Once he told me he forgot, once he just shrugged, and when I said that I'd have to write a referral, he said, "for what?! Clapping?" When I asked if it would matter more if he were to get a referral for it, he said, "Not from you."

A referral for clapping does sound ridiculous.  But it wouldn't have been for clapping--it would've been for defiance.  During checkout time, this boy and two friends (for reasons unrelated to the clapping)  and I had a little sitdown.  It was there that he said, "I HATE YOU! EVERYBODY HATES YOU! THEY HATE COMING HERE!"

Woah.  Nothing like hearing that to make you question what you do every day.  I know that this boy has a lot of issues, and a lot of anger.  Things happened in his young life that should not ever happen to a child. Even though I know all this, his words still bother me.

His teacher came in around that time and I told her what happened--not the whole thing about the clapping, just what the boy said to me.  She acknowledged that he does say things to adults that are hurtful. (true)  And she also reminded him that he often feels this way and says these things when adults hold him to high standards. (very true)

So what do I do?  Lower my standards? Not expect as much from the kids?  Or the kids who come with all kinds of baggage? I just don't know.  But today I feel like I just cannot keep doing this schedule, this monotonous-same-thing-every-day-schedule for another. single. minute.

VRC Lessons Learned

Apologies to my VaASL colleagues who sat through my presentations extolling the virtues of this year's books! I had to try to put a good spin on them.

As I was preparing to teach this year's VRC nominees, I had some weird feelings.  Some of the books would be too babyish (Blue Chameleon, Dinosaur vs. Bedtime); some of them would be too old (Underground, Goal); some would be too scary (I Need My Monster).  We are in a bad way this year in terms of teaching these books during library.

What I've discovered over the past several weeks is that some of these books might be fun readalouds, but they're definitely not great "teaching" books. 

Here's what I think so far, and this is not a criticism of the VRC program.  The program is not designed as a teaching vehicle for librarians.  I get that.  But this year's crop of books is just so overall lacking in teachable content that I will just not be spending a lot of time on the books.  I'll read a few to each grade level--enough for them to be able to vote--and that's it. Here's the information from the VRC website about the program's purpose:

• To encourage young readers to become better acquainted with contemporary books with outstanding literary appeal, to broaden students’ awareness of literature as a life-long pleasure, to encourage reading aloud in classrooms as a means of introducing reading for pleasure, and to honor favorite books and their authors.

I Want My Hat Back--fine for K-2.  Not a lot of content to teach.  We did a readers' theatre with 2nd grade and a "who stole my hat" game with K-1.

Dinosaur vs. Bedtime--fine for K-1.  We read it and brainstormed ideas of what else Dinosaur could "verse." (The kids' word, not mine!) Then I had the kids draw their idea on a "Dinosaur vs. ____" activity sheet.  For the kindergartners, I also showed them the YouTube video of Bob Shea reading the book to his son.  It's a shortened version, which is a bummer, but at least they can see and hear the author.

The Fox in the Dark--so far, I've done it with 2nd graders.  We read it and then did a little play acting with paperbag puppets (the noise drove me crazy).  I wrote a couple of the lines each animal says on the back of the paperbag puppet and then prompted the kids to say the lines when it was time.  I also had a student hold the "a fox in the dark" sign and a "Rat-a-tat-tat" sign for audience participation.  It was just okay.  Nothing great, and I don't know what I'll do with K-1 who able to read yet.

City Dog, Country Frog--fine for K-2.  In kindergarten, we have a lot of discussion first about what it means to live in the city versus the country.  And I have to explain that THE country is different from A country.  Why do things have to be so complicated?! I did find a use, finally, for the big floor easel maps that I bought from Nystrom a million years ago.  There's a nice page comparing the farm to the town.  Since the kids can't read the words farm or town yet, I haven't even bothered to cover them with city and country.  No need.  But it works to illustrate the differences. In first and second grades, they've liked to talk more about the seasons and what exactly has happened to the frog.  Not one of the groups has gotten the "but you'll do" line at the end that ties to the same line at the beginning.  I have to point it out every time.  I couple of the kids have noticed the changes in the frog's appearance through the seasons.  I do have a readers' theatre for this book that I wrote up, and I'll be doing that with 2nd graders next week.

Blue Chameleon--so babyish.  Even too babyish for kindergarten.  I mean, it's fine, but what is there to teach?  I have read it to the kids, then we all read it together, and then we read some non-fiction books about chameleons, because they all have half-knowledge about chameleons.  I still, after reading this book 20 times, have no idea of any way to teach content with it.

I Need My Monster--I have stopped reading this.  I read it to two second grade classes, and the reaction was the same from both of them.  The kids just didn't love it.  A few kids in each class were truly afraid of the illustrations.  There are a lot of activities to go with this book, but they're mostly writing (lots of great adjectives) and I just don't think the K-2 crowd is ready for that yet.  I did do a short writing activity with the two classes I read the book to, and it was ok.  Just ok.  It was a "My monster has.... My monster can...." graphic organizer, and then the kids drew their monster.  I have a couple of thoughts about this book: I think that the kids just aren't used to this kind of book being read in a library setting.  Perhaps they'd be more comfortable if their parent was reading it to them.  Maybe I'm putting too much into it with the animal voices--too realistic? too scary?

Books I haven't read yet and why:
Goal--this book just seems kind of a downer.  We'll see how it goes with the boys--maybe they'll be really into it. 
Underground--I just think this book is for older students.  It's just too complicated to explain Underground Railroad to the kindergartners. 
Say Hello to Zorro--Cute.  I am looking forward to reading this one, but the timeline activity I have to do with it won't last that long, and it's a little young for the 2nd graders.
Immi's Gift--I'm trying to save this book to read during the winter months, but it seems like I'll have to do it early.  Maybe before Christmas won't be a bad thing.  The activities that I have for it are craft-based (!) for the K-1 crowd, so I'll need to gather a few more supplies before reading it.

I'm interested to hear the experiences of other librarians teaching these books!

The Awesome Bob Shea

I am just so excited to barely know Bob Shea.  What a fun author and wonderful person he is.  Of course, I've known about the Dinosaur vs. ________ books for a while now.  As an aside, I think I need to let the Merriam-Webster people know that "verse" as in "What else can the dinosaur verse?" should be added to their dictionary.  I cannot tell you how many students say that.  I've found myself saying it, too.  There's just no other good word for the present-tense-single of "versus." 
So this whole interesting story started when Dinosaur vs. Bedtime was picked as a 2012-2013 Virginia Readers' Choice (VRC) nominee this past spring.  I started studying up on it in order to present ideas for using it in the library at our state librarians' conference (which was a few weeks ago).  Then I discovered Dinosaur vs. the Library, which, as a librarian, is at the top of MY list.  I brought my copy to the National Book Festival in September and Bob Shea signed it. Score!

While I was getting my book signed, I mentioned one of my students, L, who came to the library looking specifically for Dinosaur vs. Bedtime.  I felt so bad, because she was so wanting to read that book.  It was at my house (where I was preparing for the VRC presentation). I also mentioned that L is battling leukemia, and misses a lot of school because of her treatments.  Truth is, I have seen her only a handful of times because she misses quite a bit of school. Anyway, Bob says to me, "Email me her name and your address, and I'll send her a signed copy."  Just like that. 
So it took me a few weeks to email him, and then Superstorm Sandy got in everybody's way, but last week, a package of books--not just one book, mind you--arrived for L at my school.  We were so excited.  Her teacher cried.  I cried.  I'm pretty sure my assistant cried.  Presenting L with the books was just such a joyous moment--thank you, Bob!

So this past rotation, we've been reading Dinosaur vs. Bedtime.  The kindergarten and first graders are loving it! My voice is taking a beating with all the roaring, but we are having so much fun.  After we read the book, the kids each come up with their own idea for Dinosaur vs. ___________.  They write and draw a picture.  So many cute ideas! Here are a couple of pictures of my favorites:

Dinosaur vs. Zombie Kids. (Zombie Kids win!!)

This one cracked me up.  Dinosaur vs. the Principal.  Check out
the phonetic spelling of principal.  And look at his crossed arms!

 

My total favorite--can you tell what it says?
Dinosaur vs. Barack Obama, of course!
You can probably tell by the President's face who won that battle...

Roar!  Thanks, Bob Shea, for a great week in the library!

VAASL!

What a great time I had at the VaASL conference!! A whole lotta work, fun time with old friends, and a little drama.  What more could we ask for?!?!

Lotta work: This year, as in years past, I presented two workshops on extension ideas to use with the VRC books.  Our state awards readers' choice award nominees list comes out each spring, and librarians like to use these books with our K-2 kids, so I put together some ideas for using the books in the library.  I was thinking back to when this all started, and I remember being appalled that my reading specialist just went from room to room reading all the books in a row and had the kids vote.  I wanted to make the reading more meaningful, so I gently insisted that I'd have to take over the VRC program.  That was in 2001, I think.  I don't think she was too disappointed not to be reading the books like that.

Then, one year, I was mentoring a lovely new librarian and we came up with ways to use the VRC books in our libraries.  I shared those ideas with the librarians in my county, and then everything started to snowball.  The reading specialist at my school created a summer class for teachers and librarians who were interested in using the VRC books, and we came up with lots of ideas there.  Another librarian friend and I decided to present at the state conference and share the ideas we'd found and created for the books.  And now it is just expected. 

It takes hours and hours to troll the Internet for each book on the list, looking for ideas and finding out what's out there.  Then I create lessons based on my own ideas (and improve the things I found online). 

Drama: I somehow got sick immediately after eating breakfast about 1 1/2 hours before my presentation.  What the heck?!?!? Who vomits?!?!?!  Not nerves.  Not a bug.  Who knows.

Fun times: The Thursday night entertainment was the best ever for VaASL!! Scooter Hayes, AKA Melvil Dewey entertained us with bunches of his songs from his CDs.  I've been watching his Dewey Rap video with the kids for years now, and he is a rock star to us. 



My new favorite word is Plagiarizzle.  If you plagiarizzle, you get in troub-izzle.  A great song by Scooter.  I totally think that kids will respond differently to any lesson on plagiarism if we just call it plagiarizzle!

Same, same, same

Is it wrong that I am this week reading the same book to the kindergartners that I have done at least 9 years in a row?  It's Book, Book, Book by Deborah Bruss.  I love it.  We read it, make the animal sounds, and then act it out in a kindergartenesque Readers' Theatre. 

I love how they react to the story.  It's the first time for them, even though it's the 100th+ time for me.  Today as we were checking out books, there was this little guy walking around saying, "I already READ IT, READ IT, READ IT," just like the frog on the book.  Love it!

Book Trailer

My very first book trailer! I'm so excited.  It's very rudimentary, and it took me all day, but I have to say that I like it!! And I hope it gets the kids interested in the book.  It's one of our Readers' Choice nominees, and I have to note, it was sadly the very last of the books left on the shelf.  Lots of copies of it.  But no more, I hope!! It just needed a little marketing (obviously my booktalk wasn't enough).

The book is Ellie Ever, written by Nancy Ruth Patterson.  It's about a girl who loses her dad and her home in a hurricane, and she and her mother start their lives over in Virginia.  Ellie's mom is learning to become a farrier, and Ellie has some adjustment issues at her new school.  It's a good story--I enjoyed the connection to our state and pictured Ellie living on that beautiful road I travel to get to Charlottesville.  Maybe she went to St. Anne's-Belfield or Covenant?  Her school has a different name in the book, but it could've been one of those.

In other library news, I have weeded all the way to the 700's and am just so pleased with the results.  After the weeding and re-labeling of (some crazy--thank you very much, FLR) call numbers, we're labeling each shelf with the call number range and the main topics on it.  I have to have a large chunk of time to weed, so I've been doing it on the weekends, which isn't bad, unless, you know, I'd like to actually have a weekend...

So I didn't go in this week, but I'm looking at November 6, Election Day, as my next big weeding day.  It's a work day for us, but since our school is a voting site, they don't really want us there.  It sounds like a perfect day to get lost in the Arts & Recreation section!

Weeding, weeding, weeding...

and organizing, organizing, organizing.  My assistant is going to be so proud of me! I have weeded and re-cataloged all the way up to the 600's so far!! We started this project this past school year, but it's so hard to do it during the school year.  Summer's a great time to do it--most of the books are checked in (except for the Summer Library program circulations). We have a few books here and there that are miscataloged--Follett Library Resources, I'm talking about you!  We have some books where the Dewey numbers are too specific for us.  Today, I put all of the whale, dolphin, and whatever else is in that category to 599.5; some of those books had a .53 ending, but .5 is specific enough.

One of my library friends in a neighboring county went back to work today (UGH!!!), and I let her know that I went to work in solidarity with her today.  It was great!! I love working on my own schedule.  I've had a bunch of teenagers in shelving the Summer Library books, and boy, are they a mess!! The kids or the books?!?! BOTH!!! Apparently, the kids don't like reading decimal points!

Sunday in Rome

What an interesting, fun-filled day! I could say that about every day in Rome. But let me start with this: as much as I love this city, love its people and buildings, I am homesick. Two weeks is a long time to be away from home alone, and while I am excited for the things we're going to be doing this week, I am also anxiously awaiting Saturday when I'll be back home. Last night, I'd made a plan with one of my classmates to go to mass with her at Santa Susanna, an English-speaking parish in Rome. She wanted to attend mass in English (why?!?! I wondered), and I wanted to visit the library attached to the parish, so it worked out. We got bus directions from the front desk people (who are so awesomely fabulous at this hotel. We love them all) and picked up the bus to the piazza where the church is, in a part of town we hadn't been to yet. The mass was full of Marty Haugen, Where Charity and Love Prevail, etc....all the American standards. I could've been anywhere in America. It was weird. I would much rather have attended mass with the Pope again, or even had gone to a local Italian parish, but whatever. The library was why I was really at Santa Susanna. The volunteers there run an English-speaking (or should I say English-reading?) library. It has about 6 thousand books, mostly for adults, but a smaller section for children. The library is a subscription library, so you have to pay to belong, and you can only borrow so many books at a time. There is no computer system for the books, so the only way to find what you need is to browse the shelves, or ask one of the volunteers, who are pretty knowledgble about the collection. My mind's wheels are turning, and I am wondering if I can send some of our discarded books from my school to them, for the children. I'll have to email and ask.

  After mass and the library visit, we were supposed to meet Carol at the Musei Cappitolini for the Lux in Arcana exhibit. But we instead got on several wrong buses and saw parts of Rome we'd never seen before. It was comical the first time, but by the time we got on the third bus, thinking it would take us to Fori Imperiali and it didn't, things were a little more frustrating. We ended up finally, after over two hours on buses, getting off at the Colleseum, which we had driven by at least three times. Rome is a lovely city. We saw a lot of it today. When we got off the bus, Jennifer decided she'd had enough and walked back to the hotel, but I was determined to see the exhibit, especially since the priest who was our tour guide at the Vatican Archives was involved in its creation. The exhibit was amazing. It cost 12 euro to get in, and I pretty much went straight to the Lux exhibit instead of walking around the Capitolini collections. Lux was AMAZING!! Father Choppin told us that the exhibit was a little like a "Greatest Hits" collection, but quite frankly, that's OKAY WITH ME! It was very accessible to the average Roman and tourist both. There were items from many continents, cultures, and languages on display, and plenty of time periods represented. It was really impressive. The whole layout was really cool. Because the items are so fragile, they were in cases, and the lighting was low, but there was a lot to read about each doument (signage in both Italian and English), so you got the context of each one. Here's the website of the exhibit. Near the end of the exhibit, there is a large panel with all the names of the people involved, and our priest's name was there, Father Choppin. I was so excited to see it and touch it, I called the guard over to show her his name and explain that I met him this week. I don't think she exactly got what I meant, but I put my hand out and pretended to shake it, and then she understood. Then I made her watch the movie with me so she could see him and know who he was. Yeah, maybe I scared her a little. It's so rare when you have a personal connection like this to an exhibit, especially one from the Vatican Archives!! So this was something I leared this week about the word secret--as in Vatican Secret Archives. Secret does not mean SECRET, like no one should find out. Secret means private, as in the Pope's private documents. I think I read somewhere that it's also where we get the word secretary from. I'll have to check on that origin. So there, Dan Brown!! They made fun of him a little bit at the Archives and at the Vatican Library. Eh. An exciting read, however inaccurate. After I finished the exhibit, I got a bite to eat from one of the vendors on the street. Even street food is good here. Then I came back to the hotel to relax and cool off a bit before meeting the group for dinner. Today was Carol's 50th birthday, so we all went to dinner to celebrate. Before dinner, we met in the lobby. Paul's wife, Amelia, was playing the piano softly, and everyone was catching up after being apart for the weekend. On of the front desk clerks came through and shut the lights off--I didn't get what was going on, but then they brought out a birthday suprise for Carol--a lemon with a rose in it and a firework! And a bottle of Prosecco and glasses for all of us.

It was so touching and wonderful. We really love it here. Of course, we went to our favorite place, Li Rioni, and had a table for 10 waiting for us. They comped Carol's dinner, and we enjoyed being together again after our weekend of freedom. Afterward, we got a gelato near the supermarket and came home. I was back in the hotel way before 10 tonight--that's a first! I do have some schoolwork to do tonight--plenty of writing about the things I did today, but I might turn in early and actually feel rested tomorrow! A full day at the Lay Center tomorrow, including a tour of the grounds, which have a beautiful view of Palatine Hill. Having been there the other day, I can't wait to see it again from the other side.

Saturday--Republic Day!!

I tried my skills at photo-bombing.

Today has been a pretty cool day. It is our first free day in Rome since we arrived, and while the schedule does not appear to be grueling, this day is a welcome respite. I still woke up early because my friend Carol and I wanted to go to the parade for Republic Day, celebrating the unification of Italy. The parade began just three blocks from our hotel at the coliseum, and we lined up along the barricades like so many others. Except we were first!

The Snow Patrol
 

We had a great viewing spot and got to watch the many different branches of police coordinate security for whatever was coming up. Turns out it was the president of Italy, who actually drove by us twice--once getting into parade formation (yes, we were that early!) and then again at the start of the parade. When the parade began, it was lots of police followed by the President, then many military vehicles with dignitaries in them, followed by so many marching units that I lost count. Many of them marched to a drum beat, some played instruments, and some sang/chanted. One group, who had paused before us letting the parade continue, suddenly started playing instruments, singing, and RUNNING! I can't wait to upload the video I got of that!

After the parade, we walked along that main road from the coliseum to the Victor Emmanuel memorial. Carol went to the bank, and I went into a church. It's the funniest thing in these churches--hardly does one light a candle anymore. Today, I put in a small coin and then flipped a switch to turn on the candle. It just kind of loses something when you don't light the actual candle. In one church, the candle lit up automatically when I put a coin in! So, this afternoon, I brought back a panini for lunch--so fresh and delicious. Then I talked with Karen as she was getting ready for FA graduation (YAY!), and then took a little nap. I'm going to try to stream the ceremony at 4 for a little bit before going to the farmacia with a friend. Right now, I'm sitting in the patio bar area, enjoying a prosecco and a little sunshine shaded by vines above me and listening to the kitchen staff as they prepare tonight's dinner. Tomorrow, I am going to try to visit a library that is open from 10am-12:30pm. It's in a church that has mass at 10:30, so I might do that first, depending on what time I get there. The mass is in English, although I don't know why anyone would choose that over a beautiful Italian and Latin mass! But anyway, the library caters to english speakers, and is a subscription based lending library of materials in English. I might write my paper on this, if it works out. Ciao!

Vatican!

Wow. Today was amazing and completely exhausting, as everyday has been this week. We went to the Vatican, first for a tour of the museums and Sistine Chapel with our Rome CUA contact David. He was fabulous and gave us so much to digest about the artwork. After lunch, we met our guide at the Vatican Archives. Father Choppin is an archivist there. He took us on the most amazing tour. We saw miles and miles of documents. The reading rooms are beautiful, and then he took up us this crazy 6 story spiral staircase to a tower. O.M.G. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. It has a sundial of sorts on the floor, and a little hole in the wall, and the sunlight lines up at certain angles with the design on the floor. And the frescos, they were all amazing. No pictures, of course, then he showed us a document from 1205. Just pulled it off the shelf and thumbed through it like it was nothing special. Woah. 1205!!!! 800 years old!!

Fr. Choppin at the Archives

 

Then we went to an adjoining building to see the Vatican Library. Also amazing, also great reading rooms, also ancient books. We saw a manuscript in Greek of the bible. I don't even know how old that was. Hand-copied. And on the 4th floor, this room totally abandoned, for the moment, that was covered, COVERED! In frescos. All library pictures. Amazing.

A Reading Room at the Vatican Library

 

Miles and miles of shelves

AND we saw the door that connects this area to the Pope's palace. I did get a picture of that. To think what's on the other side of that door. Just amazing.

the door to the Pope's apartment

Then I window shopped on the way back. Took the metro back to the hotel like a pro. Met friends for dinner at our place, Li Rioni, the pizza place down the street, where they greeted us like old friends. I had pizza napoleta, which is pizza with anchovies! Yummy!! 1/2 liter of wine there is 4€, which is about $5.20. Can't beat that!

First day of class

So today was a pretty neat day. We had class all day at the Lay Center, which is run by the Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas, which is run by a religious order of the Passionists. Catholic University rents a space there so we were able to use it. In the morning, Maria, our professor ran the class, which met from 10-12:30. Then we had lunch prepared by the staff. Salad, greens, Bowtie pasta with vegetables, and chicken served buffet style. And red and white wine at the table, for sure.

  In the afternoon, our speaker was Tobias Daniels, a German scholar working at a museum or library here. It's a German institute in Italy. He's fluent in German, Italian, and English. Basically, he told us how difficult it is to do research in Italy. Libraries and archives don't like to share their resources here. They are worried that what might be illuminated would reflect poorly on things now. It's an interesting perspective. After class we took a walk to a church called San Clemente. It is a church built on top of a church built on top of a church/pagan site. It was so cool. I don't know how far down we were, but it was FAR!! And things were so primitive down there. There were beautiful frescos that have been uncovered and preserved. I couldn't take pictures down there, but I picked up a couple of postcard pictures of the things I saw. After that we went to a park that overlooked the coliseum. It was pretty, and lots of people walking dogs. I walked around a bit, and then waited for some friends who walked a different way. Then we went for dinner at the same place as last night, li rioni, and the guys recognized us. We got a great table and yummy pizza. I had Napoleta pizza, which is pizza with anchovies, and vino rosso, of course. Then we came back to the hotel. And I came up to the room to write and reflect. Now my roommate has come home and were talking about our evenings. And our lives. I like her. Tomorrow: forum, Palatine Hill, coliseum!

Weekend in Rome, pt. 2

So I already can't remember where I left off writing about this weekend. I think that I did not mention our very good fortune to get tickets for mass this morning with the Pope. David, the coordinator of the CUA program here in Rome, got the tickets for us. There was no cost for the tickets, but you had to have one to get in. We left this morning at 7:30, took the metro to the Vatican, and were seated just before 9 for the 9:30 AM mass. They said the rosary just after 9, so I got one of mine out. Then, when mass started, WOAH!! First, all the lights turned on, second we heard applause and cheering, and then, we saw the procession. We were seated to the side of the altar, and we had a great view of the Pope whenever he was at the altar. When he was sitting, though, like during the homily, we could not see him; he was between two huge marble pillars that blocked our view. The mass was completely and totally amazing and awe-inspiring. The music was fabulous--beautiful chanting and also great instrumental pieces, and the organ--HOLY COW!! The box that held some of the pipes was as big as my house, for sure. The mass lasted 2 hours, but it really didn't feel that long. The Pope rode some sort of scooter in, but i couldn't see the bottom of it. A million priests came out for communion, and there was no rhyme or reason to getting communion. Very disorderly and unlike the way Americans do it!

the line to get in

 

After mass, we went as a class to a local restaurant for lunch. Delicious pasta. Delicious everything. I started with a ball of buffalo mozzarella atop greens and tomatoes. Served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Totally great. I ate the whole ball of cheese. And all the vegetables. So delicious.

 For my next course, I had pasta with sausage and red sauce. Also delicious. Then I had some sort of Nutella mousse thing, yummy. And we all finished with limoncello. Even me, hater of lemony things. Tried it. Liked it.

Then we came back to the hotel, and my roommate Megan and I went up to the terrace to do some writing. Mostly, we talked and didn't write. Then, she went off to meet some people, and I came back to our room for a nap. That was great. Carol and I went for dinner at a pizza place nearby--fabulous. White wine tonight. I wasn't terribly hungry, but the company and the great food did it. I got a pizza with anchovies--so good and salty. And here it is 11:34 at night, and our class starts tomorrow morning at a very nice hour of 10:00, so I can sleep in a little. We will be walking to our class site, which is a few blocks from here. Europeans walk EVERYWHERE. I like it, but I am not used to it! I am not able to upload pictures from my ipad to blogger, so I'll have to wait until I get home to do it from my PC. Beauty abounds in Rome.

First Weekend in Rome

Rome is as fabulous as I remembered, and I'm having a wonderful time. The trip got off to a slightly crazy start because the first leg of my flight was delayed by an hour, which meant I would've missed my connection to Rome. So after spending a long time on the phone with US Air, I was able to get a seat on a flight out of Dulles, which also had four members of my class on it. So we met up in the waiting area at Dulles and got to know each other a bit. The flight itself was fine; I was in economy plus class, which had plenty of arm room and leg room, but I still didn't sleep very much. When we arrived in Rome, the five of us took two taxis to the hotel. I sat up front with our driver, who was so kind and gave me lots of good information and advice on how to enjoy Rome NOT as a tourist. We checked into our hotel--so quaint. It is a couple of blocks from the Coliseum, and we have a nice view of it from the rooftop terrace. 

 

  Then, two of the older students and I went on a walking tour of the area for about six hours. We walked around the Coliseum and the Forum, we looked at a building nicknamed the Wedding Cake, and then we found several churches that we could go into and visit. The churches here are simply amazing. We went into Rome's cathedral, St. John the Baptist, which is just humongous!! It has cloisters and a little museum, and they all have gift shops. We had a nice lunch near the Colisem, where I had a caprese salad on bread. Delicious.

When we were winding down our walk, we got a gelato. I got mango--so yummy. We came back to the hotel, showered, and got a nice dinner at a nearby restaurant recommended by our hotel. Some things that are interesting here include our hotel: we have twin beds in our room, which is totally fine. It has marble floors, a teeny bathroom, and no screens on the windows, but there don't appear to be problems with bugs or birds. We have to leave the one key there is to the room at the front desk when we leave and then ask for it when we return.

 Rome is loud. LOUD! People drive like maniacs in little tiny cars. This morning, we went to mass at the Vatican. The pope said mass at 9:30, but we left here at 7;30. We walked to the Metro stop at the Coliseum and then took the metro to Termini, where we switched to the other line and rode it to the Vatican stop. Then we walked a good distance, close to a mile, I think, to St. Peter's. We got in line with our tickets and waited there for a while. It kept moving, but it was a long line! When we got up to the front of the outside section, a man waved us all through, and then we followed another guy through the metal detectors and then around the side of the church, up a small staircase, and into the church from the side. We sat to the right side of the altar, about 100 feet away from it. A little after 9, they said the rosary. It is very beautiful in Latin. More later. Heading out for a little bite to eat tonight.

Upcoming events...

So in nine days and 18 hours (and a few minutes), I am leaving the States for two weeks to study abroad. In Rome.  As in Italy.  YES!! ME!!!  I know that it's hard to believe.  Of course, this trip class has absolutely nothing to do with being a school librarian, but it has PLENTY to do with me, my interests, and my soul. I can't even put into words how very cool it will be to study at all these facinating historical places.
When we went on our Mediterranean cruise a few years ago, we spent a couple days in Rome before the trip.  It was beautiful, awesome, and if I missed the boat, I could've stayed in Rome forever.  So when this trip class came up through the school where I got my master's, at first I thought, "how cool would that be?!?!!?" And then I thought about it some more and said, "Yes! That would be VERY cool!"
Here's the itinerary for all the fabulosity hard work we'll be experiencing in Rome:
Schedule: Visions of Italy, Summer 2012

Saturday, May 26: Arrival:
Sunday, May 27: Acclimate/Group Lunch
Monday, May 28
Course Goals and Overview, Cultural Heritage institutions in the U.S., in Italy/Rome
10:00 a.m. Meet at Lay Centre
Course Goals, Assignments
Public Programs, Outreach, Exhibits in the U.S./Washington, D.C.
12:30 -1:30 p.m. lunch
1:45 p.m. Talk: Cultural Heritage Institutions in Italy/Rome: Presenter, Tobias Daniels, Ph.D. Biblioteca Hertziana - Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Rome
7:30 p.m. Group Dinner

Tuesday, May 29
Palatine Hill/Forum/Colosseum
10:00 a.m. Meet Palatine Hill/Forum Tour: Inge Weustink, specialist, Roman archeology
10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Tour Palatine Hill/Forum/Colosseum
12:30 - 2:00 p.m. Lunch
2:00 - 4:30 p.m. Tour Coliseum

Wednesday, May 30
Libraries in Rome/Piazza Navona Churches
10:30 – Biblioteca di storia moderna e contemporanea, meet with Rosanna De Longis/Angelica Zucconi, staff
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00-3:00 Biblioteca Nationale Centrale, visit and talk with staff
3:00 p.m.: Biblioteca Hertziana visit/Tour Piazza Navona Churches with Tobias Daniels,  Ph.D. Biblioteca Hertziana - Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Rome
Thursday, May 31
Vatican Museums/Library/Archives
10:30 a.m.-1:30 Tour Sistine Chapel/Vatican Museums with David Dawson Vasquez, Ph.D. Director, CUA Rome Campus
1:30-2:30 p.m. Lunch
3:00 p.m. Vatican Archives/Father Marcel Chappin, Vatican Archives
5:00 p.m. Vatican Library/Sister Jacinta Coscia, Vatican Library

Friday, June 1
Museum Exhibition/Scuderi del Quirinale/Your Choice
10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Tour and Talk with Chiara Eminenti, Ph.D., Registrar, Scuderi del Quirinale
12:30-1:30 p.m. Lunch
Afternoon:  No scheduled events, though you should visit a cultural institution of your choice and include analysis in your journal.
Suggestions (also applicable to June 7/unscheduled time):
Pantheon
Trevi Fountain
Piazza di Spagna/Spanish Steps
Campo de Fiori
Largo di Torre Argentina
Capitolini Musei—Lux in Arcana Exhibit
Villa Borghese
Saturday, June 2/Sunday, June 3
No scheduled events
Monday, June 4
Digital Libraries in Italy/Cultural Heritage Institutions in Florence
9:45 a.m. Digital Libraries in Italy: Laura Ciancio, Librarian and Coordinator, Internet Culturale, Italy
12:30 - 1:30 p.m.:Lunch
1:45 - 3:30 p.m.: Cultural Heritage Institutions in Florence: Presenter, Tobias Daniels, Ph.D. Bibliotheca Hertziana - Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Rome

Tuesday, June 5: Florence
Travel/Archives in Florence
8:00 a.m. -  9:00 a.m. Train to Florence
12:00 p.m. (est.) Arrive in Florence, check in Brunelleschi Hotel
1:30 - 2:30 p.m. Lunch
3:30-6:30 p.m.  “Archives in Florence” Santa Maria Novella Church, Florence
8:00 p.m. Group Dinner
Wednesday, June 6: Florence
Archives and Libraries in Florence
9:00-12:00 Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Tour and Talk
12:30-2:00 Lunch
3:30-6:30: “The Medici Granducal Archive: Organization and Structure” Santa Maria Novella Church, Florence
Evening: Palazzo Vecchio
Thursday, June 7
Travel/Your Choice
8:00-12:00 Return to Rome, check in, Hotel Capo D’Africa
12:30-1:30 Lunch
Afternoon: No scheduled events, though you should visit a cultural institution of your choice and include analysis in your journal:
Suggestions:
Pantheon
Trevi Fountain
Piazza di Spagna/Spanish Steps
Campo de Fiori
Largo di Torre Argentina
Capitolini Musei—Lux in Arcana Exhibit
Villa Borghese
Friday, June 8:
Contemporary Art Exhibition/Wrap up
10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Galleria nationale d’arte moderna e contemporanea
Lay Centre 1:30-4:00, lunch and  Wrap up/Discussion/Final Assignments
Saturday, June 9: Depart
Final Assignments Due: (Awaiting date final grades are due)

So, you can see that the schedule is simply amazing grueling and exhausting.  I will keep this blog updated, and you can always get the uncensored version of things on my FB profile.
Arrivederci!

Farewell, Murray.

Sweet Maurice Sendak died today.  I have always liked his work, although it was never written for the adult me.  Maurice was only concerned about the children.  But how I loved this grumpy old man! Just recently, I watched him on Stephen Colbert, and oh, my, he was SO FUNNY!! He was the epitome of a curmudgeon. 

He will be missed, but his work will live forever.

BOB

No, not Bob... BOB!! As in the Battle of the Books!  We just got started on Friday after two days of booktalks for third, fourth, and fifth grades.  The kids are already excited about the program, checking out so many of the books on Friday afternoon that we had a constant line at the checkout desk.  It was a sight to behold!

Our principal sat in on two of the booktalks, which made me slightly uncomfortable.  I don't know why--I was prepared and obviously in control of the room, but it was still weird to have another adult there listening.  God knows, the teachers never stay to support the program, with the booktalks held during their planning period.

We added several new books this year, rotating out some of the more tired titles at each grade level.  The kids seemed to really love My Life as a Book by Janet Tashjian. I love this little gem!

How Many Ways Can One Hate a Book?!?!

So today I read The Big Elephant in the Room to kindergarten and first grade as part of our state's Readers' Choice nominees list.  I did not love this book when I first read it, but I try to leave my own opinions out of it when reading to the children.  There have been several books I have not loved that the students absolutely ADORE, so I was hoping I was wrong about this book.

Nope.  I set up the book before reading it to the kids--they knew all about idioms and knew what was meant by the phrase "the big elephant in the room."  Then I read the story.  Not one laugh.  Anywhere.  From any kid.  When I finished, one girl started to clap, but I stopped her--it was a half-hearted clap, like "I usually do this after a story, so I'm doing it now."

And I looked at my assistant and said, "epic failure."  I've never said that about a book before.  I completely bagged the activity I had planned for the book and instead went on to read another book on the list to them.

Ugh.  I am not happy.  I do NOT want to read this book to other classes. It's a bad story of a bad friendship between two donkeys. Yeah.  I'm done with this one. If the kids ask me why I didn't read it to them, I'll encourage them to check it out on their own and let me know what they think.  I know what I think, and it's not good. Lane Smith, Joan Kindig, and the VRC Committee, this is a big miss.