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.

Okra!

Yesterday, I brought left-over Jambalaya for lunch.  I was a little worried about the shrimp smell permeating the library, but that's not what the first student in the door after lunch smelled.

As he walked in, he asked, "Do I smell okra?!?!!?" Why, yes, Madison, you do!

Love these kids.

Harry and Horsie pics

As promised, here are some photos from the kids' work on Friday. 
This first one is from the beginning of the book, in Harry's bedroom.  I love the toys inside the bubbles.  I'm not sure which toy this is, but it's perfectly recognizable as a toy, I think!

The next one is from the middle of the book, in outer space.  It's a cat on the Milky Way, of course!

And this last one is at the end of the book, where Harry finds Horsie hanging from the crescent moon.  The kids loved learning that phrase, "crescent moon."

Hooray for the kids! They did such a cute job on this!

Harry and Horsie

Last fall, I presented at a librarians' conference about ideas for teaching our state readers' choice books in the library.  It was wildly successful with well over 100 attendees. 

I made the decision at the start of the school year not to teach the books until later in the year, which meant that all the lesson ideas I presented were just theoretical.  I hoped they would work. 

This past week, I've been doing Harry and Horsie with the students, and the first extension activity, with students plotting a number of points between home and Saturn in a line with their friends, was fine.  The kids really thought, though, that China was further away than the moon.  I guess in their little world it is--we can at least SEE the moon!

The second time I read it, I decided to have the kids raise their hands when they heard a "space" word.  This worked well, and we matched pictures to these terms (I had pre-chosen pictures for the words).

The third time I read it, though, I just wasn't feeling like either of those activities was very literary or meaningful.  So, literally as I was reading the book, I realized that the text is perfect for teaching beginning, middle, and end! The class and I took a little field trip to the work room and got some dark blue bulletin board paper (their idea), and we gathered in groups and illustrated the paper with details from the beginning (in Harry's room--lots of bubbles with toys in them); the middle (outer space--lots of planets, stars, cars racing around on Saturn's rings); and the end (a combination of the crescent moon and Harry's house--you should see Horsie hanging from the moon!).

PERFECT!!!  I will take some pictures when I get back to school on Monday with closeups of the cutest parts.

Sorry to all those VEMA people who didn't get my best ideas for this VRC book.  Sometimes, you have to be in the middle of it to get the really good ideas!

ESL Cuteness

Today I taught a kindergarten class that has about six or seven ESL students.  One is Chinese, and the rest are Hispanic.  A few of the students had mini-candy bars, and I had them put them up on the desk so they wouldn't get all melty in their pockets.

I was asking the students where they got the candy bars, and a couple of them told me, "from Mrs. Cut."  OK.  I knew we had a new ESL teacher, but I couldn't remember her name.  So I repeated, "Mrs. Cut" and they all nodded and started making scissor motions with their fingers at me.

When the class was over, I asked the classroom teacher if they'd been with the new ESL teacher.  She said, "Yes, you mean Mrs. Sharp?"

Cut--Sharp--close enough!

Goodbye Simms.

I just read in yesterday's New York Times that Simms Taback has died.  He died on Christmas day, and I hadn't even heard about it.  How did I miss this?  And why didn't I read about it in any of the children's literature blogs I follow?
I love reading Joseph Had a Little Overcoat to the kindergartners as we study recycling/reusing--it's so perfect for that, and it leads to great discussions of all the details the kids notice as we read. I developed a great activity for the kids to sequence what happened to the overcoat as it became all sorts of different articles of clothing through the book. 

Simms had a very interesting life, which you can read about here.

NNNNNNNNNBBBBBBBBBBBBCCCCCCCCCCCTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!

Can you tell that I am just a little bit excited about achieving National Board Certification?!?!?! After planning to release the results last Friday, the NBC people had a little bit of trouble with their servers, so we didn't find out until this morning.  I checked it as soon as I woke up, and, thank God, I passed. 
Then I waited and waited for my study partner Vicki to share her news.  She passed, too!! So now I am completely happy.  Happy for me, and happy for her.  And I'm happy that this process is (at least for the next 9 years) over. 

And now everything else on my plate suddenly seems do-able.  Glad to have this not hanging over my head anymore.

In other news, I got to meet the author of Origami Yoda and Darth Paper today, the fabulous Tom Angleberger.  He was so wonderful and kind, and I **may** have talked him into coming to my school in March 2012.  He is speaking at a conference on a Saturday morning in March, and I asked him about coming to us on Friday.  So I'll email him and see what we can work out!

Here he is with some less than quiet and patient children who were in front of me as we waited to get our books signed.

"Why my mom is late..."

On Thursday after car riders' duty, I was walking four students to the office because their parents hadn't picked them up after school.  The students were all first or second graders, and one little girl said, "I guess my mommy overslept again." (It turns out that she works nights.) The other little girl said, "Is she nocturnal?"

Just so cute!

A Porcupine Book...or not

I was talking with my sister tonight.  Her son is a kindergartner, and being a teacher, she is enjoying school from the perspective of a new parent, and not just as a teacher.  And by enjoying, I totally mean "barely coping with the anxiety of."
So she was telling me about the books her son was reading in school, and of course, I asked about library.  He told her that the librarian read a book about a porcupine.  Hmmm...I was thinking and thinking about which book this could possibly be.  And then I asked, "Could it have been a hedgehog?" Maybe, she thought.  And then I said, "What Happened to Marion's Book?--I bet it was that one!" and my sister asked if it had something to do with a washing machine.  Yes, YES! I excitedly answered. 

I have to say, she was quite impressed.  She said I could make an app for that.  People could send me the vaguest idea of a book they'd read, and I could figure it out for them.  True enough, I could probably do that, for children's books, at least.

In a related story, a student came into the library needing "Ralphius Mouse" for his teacher.  Just as I would've interpreted it, my assistant figured he wanted a copy of Ralph S. Mouse.  So she gave the student a copy of the book to take to his teacher.  Two minutes later the student came back, this time with a note.  The teacher wanted a wireless mouse.  HA!! It could've gone either way, for sure.

Just one more reason to love these kids!!

Ah, summer.

Today is my first day of summer vacation.  I do still have work to do at school, and I do owe them one more day, but the tech people came by yesterday and wiped out our current computers in preparation for us getting new ones next week.  So, while I do have non-computer things to do, I am in no rush to do them.  What a great first day of vacation!!I slept in a little, got fitted for my new contacts, enjoyed a Panera breakfast, and event went to the mall. I was looking for curtains for the occasional room, but there are none to be had in my entire town.  I went to four different stores, and finally ended up ordering them from JC Penney. That was a little frustrating.
The school year ended with a bang: I got strep throat and missed the last 3 1/2 days of school.  Ugh--it was ugly.  I can't believe that I was so sick. So everything was delayed--overdue notices, inventory, everything.  We inventoried the Everybody section and non-fiction, but that was all we got to.  Our numbers were really good on both of those sections, so I am not worried about the others.  There were only 3 books missing from the E section--out of over 5,000 books.  And we are in the middle of a pretty big weeding project, so that needs to get done, too.  I am getting a little overwhelmed thinking about it all. 

The Most Fabulous Henry Cole

We had such a great day with Henry Cole, children's book author and illustrator.  He was simply amazing, entertaining three HUGE student audiences throughout the day.  He kept the 2-5 graders for over an hour, and they never took their eyes off him.  I WISH I could hold their attention like that.  Wow.  And although Henry has his presentation down pat, each time I heard it, it was as if he was telling his stories for the first time.  Students and teachers were all impressed. 
We sold lots of his books to everyone at the school, and Henry signed like a trooper for hours and hours. 
Henry and I got to talk about books, and authors, and illustrators, and industry gossip, which was just so much fun.  He told me about how much he loves Mouse Was Mad, which I had written about several months ago.  I learned that the cover was originally not supposed to be the color it is, but when an original got copied, the green color changed a bit and everyone loved the new color.  I was so glad to hear that Henry loves that book, because I love it too. (And I love Linda Urban.  For many reasons.)
Henry loved the things that I've been doing while reading his book to the kids, and that made me feel good.  The kids were so into it.  So into his book, and now so into him!!  What I love so much about his book, A Nest for Celeste, is how it made me more interested in history.  I had to find out about the passenger pigeons.  And then I had to find out more about John James Audubon.  That's one of my favorite things about being a librarian--that constant quest for information. 

What a great day!