Continued WOAH!!!

So our first week of Open Library was not a fluke!!! Last week, we had 32 families (a gain of two), and this week, we had 36 families!! It is very exciting to see the same faces week to week and also new ones who've heard about the library program through neighbors and friends.

I've taken lots of photos, but this is probably the only one I can post (privacy concerns):

Oh, and I can post this one of our spread. I make hotdogs and then we have lots of snacks out for the families:

A reporter from our local newspaper came yesterday to interview families and me for an article to appear in next week's "Neighbors" section. I'll let you know if it sees print or not...

All in all, a successful, if not expensive, program to run. Imagine how much it would cost if I actually were getting paid to do it!!

Woah!

It was awesome!! Our first Summer Family Literacy event was AWESOME!!! Just awesome. It all started around 8 this morning, when the summer school classes started coming in for 15 minutes of checkout each. From 8 am to 12 noon, we had nine families come in. Then from 12-2, I ran over to Bloom to buy food for the afternoon/evening session, and then the rains came. Man oh man did it pour!! It thundered, it lightninged, it was raining cats and dogs. And the library was empty. But by 2:45, people started coming in. And they stayed!! Some of them for hours and hours. And they ate!! We went through 50 hotdogs and all kinds of snacks. Woah. We had 21 families from 2 until 7 pm, and at 7, I had to kick out about 10 people who were still hanging out. It was just fabulous. Just like I pictured--families looking at books together, sitting on the floor reading together, playing puzzles and games together. It was just wonderful. And the principal and assistant principal both came by during particularly busy times and were VERY impressed. Excellent! I could not be happier about today.

SUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMER!!!

It's here!! Finally!! A few things transpired the last week of school and on the teacher days. As I went to check out with my principal, we finally got to discuss my plans to have the library open for 6 weeks this summer. I had emailed her and the AP several months ago with my plans, but I didn't hear back from her (not unusual). I was being passive-aggressive about the whole thing, refusing to ask her about it again. Instead, I assumed that "silence was consent". There's a nice French way to say this statement, but I don't remember it. So as I was preparing to leave, we DID discuss it. And she told me that she wasn't sure about the hours I wanted to keep it open, but since she saw it in the monthly newsletter, the point was moot. Indeed it was. Since I'm in charge of the newsletter, I decided to put it in as if she'd okayed it already. The good news is that I will have the library open on Tuesdays starting July 10 this summer. We're going to have food and literacy activities and do fun games and allow Internet access, and I will do a little advertising and remind people to come. I think it will be great and I'm really looking forward to it. I'll let you know how it goes on July 10!!

4 Days with Kids / 2 Without

I truly don't know if I can make it. Since my post last week, I spent a few days at our local hospital with what I thought was a heart attack. Well, I certainly HOPED it wasn't a heart attack, but it was behaving like one. Turns out it was STRESS pure and simple. STRESS--ANXIETY--PANIC ATTACKS. These things have the same symptoms as heart troubles. After three days in the hospital and countless tests, I have been proclaimed well. Ha. At least I know my trouble isn't physical, and that in itself is a relief. Unfortunately, the stress remains, although a big chunk of it will be over in FOUR DAYS!! (I'm totally not counting the two teacher work days as being stressful.) I can make it. And it looks as if I'll be here another year. I can make it. Outlast. Outteach. We will band together and make it through. And if this sounds cryptic, it's because I would put my job in jeopardy telling you about the stressors at my school. 4. more. days.

10 more days...

I am sure every teacher in America is counting down the days this time of year. I almost truly just can't even get out of the car in the morning. I would sit in the car and bake in the summer sun rather than walk into that building and teach. This week is testing week and our state standards tests are just wreaking havoc with the daily schedule, not to mention the poor kids. The library is the repository for students when they finish their small group (read: special ed) testing, and at one point today, we had 35 kids in there. Thank goodness the AP came to help with crowd control. And the GALL of this one teacher who came in to tell me that she was leaving her kids with me until her class went to lunch because they were just too disruptive to bring back into her room, considering that the other classes were still testing. Oh. My. God. I am not a babysitter, and I REALLY resent when the teachers treat me like I am. Obviously, I am ready for this school year to be over. And I haven't even WRITTEN about my boss. Ugh.

HIRED!!!

A new assistant was finally hired today! She has been subbing in the library for three weeks now, and it's finally official!! The person who was first hired to take the new mom's place got another job and turned us down, which worked out perfectly for us to hire the one who's been subbing.
She is great, and I hope that she'll be around for some time. I started feeling like Murphy Brown, having a new secretary in every episode.

Leadership Team

OK, what kind of leadership does this sound like to you? The Friday afternoon before Spring Break, a decision is made for the SIP team to meet. Subs are arranged for us, and we meet in an office from 12:15-4. We got out of that meeting around 4:35... Anyway, our SIP team has now become the Leadership Team, and we will meet twice a month and hear what's going on at each grade level, create the calendar of activities, and hopefully solve some communication issues. Here's an interesting one: the school holds a Science Fair/Technology/Math/Bookfair/Ice Cream Social Night. Science boards are set up in classrooms and in the activity room, the computer lab is open, math games are set up to play in each classroom, and the bookfair is going on in the library. Evidently, it was never said that TEACHERS SHOULD PLAN TO ATTEND, so some didn't. Excuse me? A school-wide event with activities in classrooms and teachers didn't feel the need to be present? Yikes. Bad communication or bad attitudes? Bad attitudes because of bad communication? I honestly don't know. The next two months will be interesting indeed.

Stressed Out!

My stress is just about over--but boy, what a week!! I was working on our schools' newsletter and had it ready to go except for one person's contributions. The newsletter could not go to print without this person's articles, so I waited and waited and waited. Finally, today, 6 days after the due date, the articles were turned in.

The woman who has to copy the hundreds of newsletters and I were on a pretty tight deadline, and she is now on an even tighter deadline. When I left school today, she was still there copying. Ugh.

She and I are both committed to improving the communication at our school, and so we are putting in the extra time to get this project done on time. I only wish everyone shared our vision.

100 times better

Today was such a good day in the library! It was almost NORMAL. The substitute assistant got so much done today--more than she even thought she would. And I got to teach. And prepare lessons for next week. Life was good today.

Damn Good to See You, Miss R!

So a kindergartner said this to me today. I laughed out LOUD! I guffawed! It was truly the best part of the day! And now for the worst... The sub for my assistant walked in today at 8:35 with a cup of tea in a Mason jar (lid screwed on), a novel, and a Bible. Yes, a Bible. I literally stopped in my tracks, looked her up and down, and said, "Oh, we're NOT having that kind of day today." That got us off on the right foot, indeed. We were so busy: I had six classes plus tutoring today, the busiest day of the rotation, and this person had two speeds: slow and SLOWER. Oh, my. I have no words to describe how bad it was. There is a book truck with 3 full shelves of books awaiting us tomorrow. I wonder how many there will be at the end of tomorrow?!?! (which is the same schedule as today). There was alcohol at dinner tonight. Plenty of alcohol.

Still here...still in the library

It has been forever since I last posted! I had all kinds of problems with the Blogger/Google migration and I am STILL having trouble accessing any of it with IE7. I think I can get to it all through Netscape, though. Maybe it's time to fire up Mozilla again...

I've added a photo of me and one of our teachers on Read Across America Day, March 2nd. Lots of teachers and many students got into the Dr. Seuss mode with a costume. In case you're wondering, the reading specialist was Thing 1.

I've been adopted!!!

Not me personally--my library! This is such an exciting day! Our county participates in a program called adoptaclassroom.com, and I registered back in the early fall. Today, a couple who lives nearby adopted my cause for $500.00!! What a wonderful gift. I can't wait to start shopping--I am building a book exchange program with the money. Our kids are SO lucky!!

Battleship

"You sunk my battleship!" Do you remember that phrase? I have a battleship game that sits on a shelf where I teach my classes. Once in a while, some kids will ask to play it if they can't check out. Once in a while, I say yes. Today, a student asked me about the game. She said, "What's that Battleship there for?" And I replied, "We play it once in a while." And she looked at me, in all seriousness, and said, "I bet you beat Mrs. C (my assistant) all the time." Oh, my word--I laughed SO hard! It's so cute what they think we must do when we're not teaching them. If only I had time to play a game during the day. Moments like this keep me in the job. That and snow days.

I Heart My Principal

I had my first-ever parent conference with her yesterday. When I left the classroom, I pretty much left parent/teacher conferences behind. In all my years as librarian, it was the first time a parent wanted the principal present for our discussion. I had been dreading it all week. Background: Before Christmas, a second grader returned books that were caked in banana (from an unfortunate meeting in his backpack). He didn't even bring them to me, but instead just put them in the bookdrop. Fortunately, my eagle-eyed assistant noticed the books and brought them to me. I kept them in my office and talked to the student about the damage, giving him a copy of his account so he could take it to his parents. A week or so after Christmas, I gave the books back to the student, explaining that they were still checked out to him and that I couldn't take them off his record because I couldn't put them back on the shelves in that condition. A few days later, the account summary was returned to the classroom teacher with a note from the boy's mother stating that there was nothing wrong with the books and that she wouldn't be paying for them. She included her phone number, so I called her to explain the school's position. Our discussion, which was quite tense and at times, heated, would have to continue in the presence of my principal, at the mother's request. The meeting was yesterday after school. My principal was SO SO SO awesome. I purposely didn't tell her very much about the situation, only the very basics. She hadn't even seen the books before the conference. She was behind me 100 %. It was so awesome. She looked through the books incredulously as the parent was telling her that there was nothing wrong with the books. She point blank asked the parent, "You don't see that there is damage to this book?" The principal got nowhere with the parent, either, and explained to her that while we could not legally make her pay for the books, paying for them was the right thing to do. The parent refused, and the principal said, "I am concerned about the message that this is is sending to your son." It was so great--it was exactly what I was thinking but knew I couldn't say. The principal was so strong. She didn't back down. She let the parent know that we (the school) didn't agree with her decision, and that it was the wrong decision. I cried when it was over--it was just the stress of the situation. I always cry when I am stressed. My principal thought I was crying for the child--which I guess I was, partly. I was more crying because this parent was SO STUPID. People should have to take some kind of test to be a parent. Ugh. My principal decided that we will allow the student to check out just one book at a time. If he returns it in good condition, then he can borrow another one. Since we have an open library, he can come in everyday if he wants a new book, so we aren't punishing him for his parents' stupidity. We did the best thing for the child. That's what matters. Even if his parents didn't.

Old Technology

Who would've thought that a TV is old technology? This concept was brought up at our librarians' meeting yesterday. Our county is opening some new schools next year, and we are hoping to install mounted data projectors in the classrooms instead of televisions. This is an interesting step forward, although it is not without its concerns. I am wondering if there are other schools (especially elementary) out there that use this technology. In other news, yesterday marked the official end of our book shipments. Every book we ordered is now officially in the library. Some still need to be cataloged and processed, but at least we have them. Most of the equipment is in, and we are waiting on one supply order. It is a GREAT feeling to know we are almost caught up. A funny thing happened yesterday: I was trying to get a class lined up to go, and they were being fairly uncooperative. This little girl was standing in front of me practically on my toes. I looked down at her and said, "What?!?!" rather impatiently, and she smiled and said, "I love your outfit today." She was just so cute. Oh my goodness. And it was a new outfit that my sister bought for me. Oh, another funny thing happened today. A fourth grader noticed that I had a Battleship game on the shelf. He asked what it was for, and I told him that sometimes kids play it when they've finished checking out books. He said, "Oh, I thought you played it on your break or something." I laughed OUT LOUD at that one. That was the funniest thing I heard all day. That's what keeps me here. Those kids keep me laughing.

Professional Days

How much do I love my principal? She allowed me 1 1/2 professional days to deal with all the boxes piling up in the back room. A whole day and a half where I didn't have to teach--I could just make progress and get things put where they belong. Oh, it felt so good!! I created such a mountain of trash on Thursday. At least 9 trash bags full of styrofoam and probably 30 boxes all flattened out waiting to be recycled. I should've taken a picture, it was so impressive! We are still waiting for a few deliveries, but mostly everything has arrived and is barcoded and into the system. Over the holiday break, the overheads and CD/tape players and listening centers arrived. What a relief! Teachers were very excited about those overheads. Now if we could just get electricity to our computers...

Thank God for Snow Days!

Today was our third snow day this winter--a new record, I think, for our county. It is unusual that such winter weather would occur this early. I am not complaining! On the first snow day and again today, I was able to go into work for most of the day and really get through some of the things that have been backing up. Teaching six classes a day leaves little time to address the administrative parts of running the library, so these "extra" days have really helped me stay on top of things. Today, I made it most of the way through a cartful of books that needed to be changed from the vendor's classification. I mean Junie B. Jones in the E section? I don't think so. It felt good to work my way through that today. We've been circulating books since we arrived at the school, and now our video/DVD collection has completely arrived. Unfortunately, the media retrieval system isn't up yet, and so teachers are unable to show videos on their TVs. Some brave ones have hooked up players on their own in their rooms, but they're getting anxious for the rest of our AV equipment (including overheads and CD players) to come in. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival, too. So the kids have been really hard on the books in our new library. I have had lots of talks with them about loving our books, but they're just not used to treating the books as well as they need to. I'm not sure what else to do, but we've already had two books get mushed banana all over them, one book get lost, two books have water damage, and one that was eaten by a dog. And we've only been checking out books for two weeks!! YIKES! Lots of people have come by complimenting the library. It makes me feel good that they like the look of it and the positive feelings they have. I've worked hard to create that atmosphere, and I'm glad people appreciate it. 2 1/2 more days until Christmas break. Oh, happy day!

Check out my new digs!!!

Everything is ready for the kiddos! The books are on the shelves and ready to check out. Classes will start coming tomorrow. They came in today to see Ronald McDonald, and the kids were wide-eyed upon seeing the library. It was very cute!! Here are pictures of the greatest library in Virginia:

WE'RE IN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This has been a heart-pounding week! On Friday morning, our book rep waited at the building to instantly find out the results of the inspectors' visits. The fire marshall approved the last thing with the sprinkler system, and then the building inspector did his duty, and WE GOT OCCUPANCY!! It's a good thing, too, because the books and the movers were on their way already. We got the OP at 10:30 and the books arrived at 11:15. Cutting it a little close, eh? There were 23 pallets of books that contained 424 boxes of books. Another box showed up later that day all on its own. We started shelving the books later Friday afternoon and continued on Saturday. We took today off because everything was moving along swimmingly. We will finish tomorrow. The library looks AWESOME. The books are just fantastic--clean, stiff, beautiful. We have found a couple of "oops" glitches in the order: my fault, I'm sure. We got 21 copies of two different books and 11 copies of a third. I am sure that I was clicking a little too fast and didn't catch the error. Oh, well. We'll send the copies along to other libraries in the county. These books won't go to waste, that's for sure! I am actually excited to go to work tomorrow.

Not so close...

Bad news. We can't get into the school tomorrow. We can't get in on Thursday. And Friday is looking iffy. I'm a little sad about it, but there's really nothing we can do until the county gets the occupancy permit. So far, no permit. So far, the fire marshall is being a stickler (which he should be!) and the school is not ready. I have become good at waiting. I can wait a few more days.