The daily life of a Middle School Library Media Assistant.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Merry Christmas!

Busy day at work! Got all the PoT Unit 3's done! Huzzah! Just Unit 1 & 2 to go! Took down our beautiful book tree and my bulletin board. Helped a lot of kids with computer issues. Checked out, put money in accounts, turned off monitors for the two weeks, unplugged microwave and fridge (and thawed the 'freezer' part of the fridge). Processed in 70 House on Mango Street books that came from West (I think they used reindeer - I couldn't believe how fast they got here!). Life has been good in the library and I will actually miss it, but we'll be back on the 3rd! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

What to My Wondering Eyes...

Should appear, but a new shelf for the back room for my PoT books! I had scrounged around and found some old shelves that fit, but I was one short so Mrs. H went out and her hubby cut one to size that they bought - Yeah! As well as a thoughtful gift from her. She really is an amazing person! Almost done with the PoT Unit 3's and hope to get them done tomorrow! Monitored students. Had one student eating the other computer lab today, so I told her that there was no food allowed and she was welcome to eat at a desk and then come to the lab. She said all right and threw her plate away, but her milk was still there, all closed. When I came back about 10 minutes later, she had nearly drunk all the milk, still there at one of our brand new computers. I told her how disrepectful it was for her to just ignore me from before, that these were new and probably wouldn't be replaced. I don't know if she listened or not, but it really made me angry. On the other hand, we went bowling last night and the other team had a Sprague kid on it! What a great student! We chatted from time to time on the lanes and she mentioned her teachers, so I sent them an email today letting them know I had seen and met her and how delighted I was with this amazing girl. One of the teachers wrote me back and told me she really appreciated it and wouldn't it be nice if we shared more good stories about kids like that so I passed that on to our Site Council leader. Otherwise a normal day at the library - one more before break!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Ah....

Checked out a class set of The Periodic Table this morning. Worked on the Vision set up trying to see what we could get working. Collected some more books for Mrs. H's book list, both from the computer and from her BookList magazine. We also checked our Sherlock Holmes inventory since another movie is coming out and will probably pick up a few extra of the novels and maybe a set of the short stories. We have an annotated copy, but it's so big, I don't think anyone would ever check it out. Processed two teacher magazines and three for us. Helped a lot of students today. Spent some time in the back putting away books. I always have had students that were 'mine' so to speak and would do that, and now the books kind of pile up, so I put away a whole cart full today.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Meetings

Today I had two meetings. One this morning from the Classified Staff meeting and one this afternoon for the Site Council. A lot of good information out there, good to know. Processed in two teacher magazines and two for the library. Checked in a whole backpack and armful of books from a student who had been billed for all of them. Worked on the Vision program with the new computers in the labs. Vision kept saying that it would only accept 32 computers, but then I could still see everyone and do my thing on them. Interesting! Finished up the book tree and it came out fabulous! Helped kids on the computers, put money into print accounts. I was very busy after Mrs. M left for the day because Mrs. H was gone as well, so I got to take care of a bunch of students with requests that I usually don't get, which was very fun! Closed up the library at 2:30 so I could head off to the last meeting of the day. Met the president of the Booster Club and heard his tale of how they operate. Very interesting.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Book Tree

Processed in five magazines for the library this morning. Mr. B set up our new computers for the labs, so I got those all entered into the Vision program. Worked on the Book Tree. Took one of our small tables and using books from big to small, made a 'tree' out of them. I'm not entirely happy with it, but it'll work with an old tree star from my house, some ribbon and Mrs. M will also bring in some stuff tomorrow. I also picked out some books for over Christmas break to read, gave Mr. C a book I had at home for him to read (The Last Season). Made a little display for one of our display boxes with damaged books, including the water/clay soaked America Pathways to the Present. Made up an order for workbooks for Spanish and went down to talk to our office manager about that. Looked up some resources for Mrs. S so she knew she needed to look for a CD, not a book. Picked out a book for Mrs. H's book talks tomorrow and we added some new books to her order. Getting to end of the PoT Unit 3's (yeah! only Unit 1 & 2 to go!).

Friday, December 9, 2011

Ah, boys....

Back later....ok. Much later. Caught two boys today definitely in a place they should not have been on their computers. I took screen shots and showed it to their teacher, and the teacher took them to the office. They tried to offer some excuses, but the screen shot showed that no, they weren't working on their paper. Why don't they use all that energy for good???

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Cleverbot and Caterpillars

Two kids in the labs today were doing those instead of their work, so I shut them down and let them know they needed to concentrate on the work at hand. Processed in three magazines today. Worked on a new Vision background for winter reads. Did more on the Unit 3 PoT books. Checked in and out a lot of books today. We had a student bring in a book that was found in the sink in the art room. One of our America Pathways books was all swollen to twice its size, soaked clean through, had clay imbedded in the pages - it was a mess. Had another student come and say he needed to pay for some books he drove over. So, we got that all straightened out, what he needed to do, either get a replacement copy or pay for it to the bookkeeper. I'm not sure how many books were affected by his actions, but two were on his list that he needed to take responsibility for that were deemed unusable. A busy Thursday!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Sent!

Got the online books all on the website today with the help of a great webbie from our student tech pool. She did a great job and when we added stuff and moved things around, she cheerfully did each item and let me know when it was done ('and don't forget to refresh!'). She was fabulous! Processed in a magazine, helped out students. Got an email from Mr. M asking our principal if he could order some workbooks for his AP Spanish students, and got the approval, so I sent out an email to the company to see if we could get any kind of discount on an order. I'll check around a few other places tomorrow as well. Also had a student come in and show us an 1874 Family Bible - wow! Very nice! It needed some work, so I gave them the name of a restorer and book repair person here in town with a great reputation, Max Marbles in case they'd like to see it repaired. I'd be too scared to try with something that old! Off to work out, go bowling, frost Christmas cookies and start to hang ornaments on the tree tonight.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

On Line

Worked today with a fabulous student who put up our online textbook resources. She did an awesome job taking all my book images and links and putting them all together on their own library web page. We also had to take a mandatory STEPS training on the homeless issues here in our area. Processed in two magazines, checked in and out books, helped some students with computer issues.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Four at Once

That's how I felt today! Seems like I was juggling about four different items at times today! Helping kids with books, helping with computers, talking with teachers and working on those PoT books! Processed in one magazine for us, checked mail, got the library ready for the staff meeting this afternoon. Put away some of the textbooks that were piling up in the back. Made a new spine and barcode for an old book that was repaired by one of our subs who decided to come and volunteer her amazing repair skills on our pile of books that need a good fix! She came in today with a couple she took home and went through her glue piles and pulled out a bunch that were ready to go back on the shelves so I put those away. Lots going on!

Friday, December 2, 2011

Knighted

So the kids in Mr. G's class today were working on their 'knight' project and I introduced Mr. G to Jack Whyte's Camulod series and Kemper Crabbe's The Vigil CD. Worked on Unit 3 PoT books. Processed in one teacher magazine and five for us. Mrs. H was home with a sick son so I closed up the library this afternoon for the weekend.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Shelving

Yesterday our sub for Mrs. M brought a book he couldn't fit on a shelf and said it needed to go on the oversize shelves. Well, there wasn't any room there. So, Mr. B walked by the shelf I was trying to redo to fit the book in and noticed the second shelf from the top had lots of room, so I moved all the shelves up and had to replace two brackets holding the side wall of the shelf from bulging out as well, but it all looks good now. Also worked on our online page for the web page that will have all our online textbook access all in one spot. Worked on more PoT Unit 3's and checked in and out students.