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.

Inspiration

I love my fellow librarians (well, almost all of them). This afternoon, I was still trying to come up with a lesson for kindergarten (which was due to arrive at 3 pm sharp) and just not having much luck. I looked through their curriculum map to see what had been going on recently and what was coming up, and nothing struck my fancy.

I thought I should do something on natural resources with them, especially reusing materials, since that's one of their curriculum standards and I hadn't touched on that at all. I IM'd my good friend at a middle school (she used to be an elementary librarian) and just like THAT, she had a book idea for me. Of course, then she had to teach a class and didn't give me anything else but a title, but that was enough! I put together a pretty darn good lesson plan, I think.

This is one of the things I miss about not being on a grade level. Being the only one in my building who does what I do gets a little lonely sometimes. Thanks for the idea, Jenny!

It's so peaceful here!! (not)

OMG My head is still pounding. What a day. We had our reading parties today--pizza parties for about 60 kids. I pre-ordered the pizza from our local Domino's yesterday, and tried and tried to call all morning (from 10:45 on) to double-check the order and give the school's credit card number. No one picked up, and about 25 minutes before we needed the pizzas, my assistant suggested I drive to the store and find out what was going on. Why she didn't think of this sooner, I don't know. (kidding--she is so awesome!) As I am race-car-driving to Domino's, I continued calling. I finally got through and the man told me he'd just arrived and that our order would be late. How late? I asked. 15 minutes, he said. You can get 20 pizzas to me in 30 minutes? I asked. Yes ma'am, he said. Call me crazy, but I didn't believe him. I drove into Little Caesar's and asked them for whatever they had "Hot and Ready". I got enough for one class and held my breath that Domino's would come through. We finally got the pizza, 45 minutes late. Domino's didn't charge us, which I totally appreciated, and I suppose it was a Herculean effort to even get them in that amount of time, but now I know not to count on Domino's again. When I got back from my outing to the pizza place, the library was roaring. Not roaring with the sound of children--roaring from something on the roof that was very, VERY loud. It went on for hours. We had to shout to each other across the library all afternoon. I had such a headache! It turns out that it was the AC motor, and it finally went kaput around 2:45. I just can't tell you how loud it was, except that when it finally quit, the silence was killing me! Of course, the maintenance man walked through the library literally 3 minutes after it died, so he didn't get to hear all the roaring and had to take our word for it. Tomorrow is Space Day, so there will be more excitement and craziness at school. I am already exhausted just thinking about it.

AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!

Oh, it was one of those days. Mondays are always so busy for me--I think that I come up with crazy ideas over the weekend, and my brain is just running on overdrive when I get to work. I had to make myself sit at my desk and answer some emails before starting on any of the new projects.

At the elementary school, you know that we are run by the clock. We have six classes a day for forty-five minutes each. It's a pretty tight schedule, and it takes all of us (teachers and specialists) being considerate to get through the day smoothly.

One of our grade levels has been consistently late dropping off and picking up their students. They are usually 5-10 minutes late arriving at special, and then 3-8 minutes late picking up. As specialists, we have tried all different kinds of strategies to get this grade level on track. We have asked politely, we have asked administrators for help, we have emailed numerous times, but nothing seems to work.

Today, the teacher I had was five minutes late arriving, and six minutes late picking up. This ran into the time of the next class. I was walking around the library, readying things for the next class (a mere four minutes past when the first class should've been picked up) and happened to see the principal in the hallway. I went into the hallway guns a'blazing and made her come into the library to see what was happening. She noted it and said she'd attend a grade level meeting to address it. The late teacher finally came in and apologized, but I just couldn't listen to her. I told her that the time for words was past; I needed actions. I didn't want excuses or apologies or anything from her except that she arrive on time to pick up her class. I was STEAMING mad. I'm almost over it, but not quite (as you can tell). To be so consistently inconsiderate is infuriating to me.

Followups

Three things: I paid for my dog-eaten library book today. $26.00 ouch. And now I have a souvenir to show my students.

Meanwhile, I am loving my lessons this session. The days just fly by, and every period is different enough that I don't get sick of hearing myself talk. Mostly because I am not talking very much! (And that's the way it should be, I know!)

This weekend, we have our state school librarians' organization's quarterly board meeting. It's like a 6 1/2 day work week. Fun, but I always feel like I need an extra weekend to catch up.

Our first sewing class was CRAZY! I had 7 little girls who had never sewn on a machine before. Oh my. Most of them got their first project started at least, although I thought they'd finish them! One of the sewers tripped over her machine cord twice, and the second time, it went crashing to the ground. The poor thing was near tears, but I downplayed the whole incident and sent her over to my machine. Last night, I brought that machine home to work on it, and woah, was it a mess! The wheel would not even turn, the bobbin winder was smashed to smithereens, the light bulb broke, and the ceramic (!) wheel and metal (!) housing were cracked. It took a couple hours of work to get the machine going again, but it seems to be sewing perfectly. It certainly looks like crap and will never thread a bobbin again, but at least it still sews. It's an OLD Kenmore machine that's obviously a workhorse!

Inspired

I was working on my curriculum map for the rest of the year this past week, trying to get things aligned with what's happening in the classrooms. There are only 8 weeks of school left! EIGHT WEEKS!!!!!!!! A couple of the lessons I'm working on last for several weeks, so there's hardly any time left at all this year. That happens every year: I feel like there's SO much time and it's only October and then before I know it, it's the end of April and everyone's going on field trips and I have only a few classes left. Whew! I borrowed a lesson from a friend of mine in our district and tailored it a bit to my taste. Third graders will be working with the thesaurus to re-write nursery rhymes. Rhymes be damned--we're learning a new resource! Kindergarteners were so busy working on our state readers' choice list that I didn't even have time to do community helpers with them (they study them in March), so I made up a Smartboard activity today matching helpers with the tools and special clothes they wear. Interactive! Come on, administrator--observe me now! I guess my inspiration is coming from that light at the end of the tunnel. Every year, I feel like it all comes together a little better. It's only my ninth year in the library--there's always room for improvement!

My Dog Ate It

Cosmo ate my library book. My library book from the public library. Uh oh. I feel like such a bad library patron. I am going to try to get Cosmo to reenact the crime so I can videotape it for my students. I think they would like to see it, and I'm pretty sure Cosmo will oblige. Hopefully, it will show the kids that mistakes even happen to their librarians. I want them to know that we are responsible for what happens to library books when they're checked out to us. It is a good lesson to learn.

The book, in case you're wondering... The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (which has been a delightful read so far.)

Sewing in the Library

I am not sure what I've gotten myself into. The PTA asked for interested adults to offer enrichment classes after school to the students, and I thought I'd offer a sewing class. A sewing class!! For kids!! Yikes. The reality of sewing with children is slowly dawning on me, and I am AFRAID!

I just hope I can thread all those machines. I'm a little worried about that. What should we make? I am thinking a pillow, a totebag, maybe a book jacket or something? It's only four sessions long, so how much time will we really have?

Hopefully, I'll go through my stash of fabric and let the kids use up stuff that's not my style anymore. Or maybe I can go to the fabric stores and beg for some cheap material that the kids can use.

It could be fun.

Woah.

I am completely blown away. An author commented on my blog. A real author. Author of the book I just got in the mail. Someone read my blog besides me. Last night, when I saw the comment, I was higher than the stars. Tonight, thinking about it, I am still there!

I'll have to really start thinking about my book reviews now. Maybe it's time to get serious. Oh, that sounds like work now. At the moment, I am completely hooked on Zach's Lie by Roland Smith. Roland spoke to some nearby middle-schoolers, and I got to sneak over and listen to one of his presentations. He is a friend of Jerry Pallotta, and I got to tell him, "I'm one of Jerry's cousins!" (Jerry told me to say that.) I am not, of course, but I could be! Roland was so perfect for the middle-schoolers: fast-talking, sarcastic, funny. I can see why they loved him.

Anyway, I will booktalk Zach's Lie to our fifth graders this week and next. I think they'll enjoy the suspenseful plot. No more time to blog--time to read!

Blah...

Ugh...I am sick. Sick as a dog, although my dog is never sick. It's just a cold, but woah--it has hit me like a ton of bricks today. I even called in sick this morning. The woman I called was like, "You never call in sick!" I know...I know. I slept all day, me and my dog curled up on the bed snoring together.

I got a new book in the mail today from Amazon. It is so very cute, and I am already thinking of ways I can use it with the kiddos. It's called Mouse Was Mad by Linda Urban and Henry Cole. I love Henry's illustrations--there is just so much fun in them. I just noticed now that it is not scheduled for publication until May 4, 2009. How did they release it already? I am confused; I don't know how that happens. Oh well, I am thrilled to have it. Look how the words in the title get bigger. So cute.

Movin' on Up!

Today, I did something very exciting. I got to speak to a college class of prospective elementary teachers about the library. About how they should hopefully use the library and librarian in their future schools. My number one focus was that librarians are instructional partners. I described how we can partner with them for student success. I talked to them about how our lessons correlate with what they are teaching in the classroom, and how we can collaborate to create meaningful lessons for students. We spent a little bit of time talking about censorship and book challenges. That was interesting, mostly because I recently read an article from SLJ on self-censorship that has really stuck with me. I feel very guilty about certain choices I've made, especially And Tango Makes Three. My good friend Henry Cole illustrated it, and I love the book, and I own a copy, but I have chosen not to put it in the library because I am worried about parents' reactions. And I know it is wrong. I was very excited about getting to talk to a college class. Here was a funny thing on the campus tonight: there is a biannual speaker series, and it was tonight. The guest speaker was Sam Donaldson. And me! Just not to the same audience.

Let Down

I am feeling so let down today. It is a sad feeling that I've not shaken yet, even though it happened at 9 this morning.

One of my duties is to run the morning announcements. We have a cast of fifth graders, a fifth grade camera man, and a kindergartner to say the pledge. I type up the script and we practice it and go live, all in the span of 30 minutes.

Our new-ish PE teacher (2nd year teacher) wanted to help with the broadcast, and the principal wouldn't let him run it but would allow him to assist me. Sigh. Help like this I do not need. He rarely comes on time (the studio door is always locked and I've instructed the students not to even LOOK at him if he tries to come in after we've started) and even when he promises to work with the students before the broadcast he finds other things to do. Today, he came in as the pledge leader was leaving. Whatever. There was nothing I could do at that point to keep him out. The kicker though, was that his cell phone rang--twice--during the broadcast. I am rolling my eyes still! Then he started whispering to the cameraman, who knows what he was saying, except that he was the closest thing to the microphones and guess what got picked up?!?!

When the broadcast ended, I just walked out of the studio and went in my office and closed the doors. He knew I was mad at him. He even emailed an apology. I am choosing not to accept it right now. He makes my job harder, and THAT I do not need!

I had some pretty blunt words for him after school when he tried to come in again and apologize, and I do believe I shocked him. He needed to hear it, and even if I feel slightly bad about being so direct (calling him a screw-up and a colleage I could not count on), he deserved it. Maybe it'll sink in (I'm certainly not the only one frustrated with him) this time.

Sigh. What do you do when a colleague lets you down?

Two Awesome Things

Two awesome things happened in my library today. First, a student made a comment today that completely blew me away. I was reading Henry's Freedom Box aloud to a fourth grade class (it's one of our state's Readers' Choice books), and on the second page a student interrupted my reading (interrupted!) and said, "Miss R., that was a simile." I stopped reading and set the book down. I asked him to repeat what he'd said. His friends wanted to know what he said, and I made him say it again louder. I was just beside myself with joy. I didn't even know what to say to the student except, "Yes, Robert, it IS a simile." I felt flushed. I had to fan myself. It was a beautiful moment, one of those moments teachers dream about. It has renewed my faith in teaching and in students. OK, now for the fun stuff. Our author visit with Jerry Pallotta was completely fun and exciting for the kids. I had a great afternoon with him (and of course, that's the most important part), even though he is a Red Sox fan. He was great with the kids and they learned some stuff and didn't even know it. My fabulous library intern took pictures of the event with his fancy wedding-gig camera, and here are some of them: This is Jerry Pallotta with his lion skull on a student's head. The kids loved this and Jerry also did it with a (much smaller) monkey skull. That was pretty silly, too. I love this picture. The activity room was completely darkened, and he was up on the stage in front of the ceiling mounted projector and screen. Take a close look at this picture. We see the lion's skull in Jerry's hands, we see the shadow it casts near the bottom of the picture, and we see the large illustration of the skull on the screen. Very cool.