The daily life of a Middle School Library Media Assistant.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Countdown

Finally home after another 12 hour day. I am glad to be here! A full day of school and then more conference hours. We had more parents tonight and more students in. Did more book fair business. Ended up at about $2000. A bit less than normal, but things had been slow. Not sure why. Worked on deleting more books today, and all in all pretty quiet in the library. Actually got to do some repairs to sit after gluing while we're gone and had a very happy student that I fixed a book so he could check it out and take it home! Had our OBOB meeting just during A lunch and had our one B lunch student switch to A lunch so they'd all be together. They worked really well together, so that made me very happy! After school was over we had a quick meeting in the library to talk about our Turn-Around award for a student who has really made decisions and actions that show they are very different than what they were in 6th grade. I really like the student we ended up picking. He deserves it, but really, they all do! After the meeting I pulled out all my boxes and started to put the books in them that were on the tables. So easy with the sheets the aides did for me! I knew exactly which book went in which box! At about 7 I ran outside and brought in all my signs from the rain and stacked them to dry while we're gone.I left the boxes open on the table until conferences ended at 7:30, so people could still shop, then got all the books nicely stacked inside, closed the carts, heaved all the boxes up on the carts, pulled them to the front of the library. Printed up the total report, put away the scanner and machine. Filled out the envelope for the credit slips and it came out perfectly with what the report said. Closed that all up in its box then got out the rest of the money and checks and got them all put away for the week. I made a big deposit yesterday, so there really wasn't a lot of cash left. Glad to be on break! I'm tired! Of course I brought home books to read. ;D We're back on April 3rd. See you then!

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

12 Hours And a Spider!

And a half for my lunch. Worked from 7:30am - 8pm tonight for conferences. Didn't do too much with the Book Fair. Had two classes in for a book talk and started the book fair video and Ms. R was like 'Pssstt, we've already seen that...' Oopps! So I quick did a talk on the brand new non-fiction we just got in. Herded students today as they came in to finish projects - well, some of them came in and did projects, some were there I think just to hang out. But they will have to show their teachers their work. Spent a lot of today finishing up weeding the fiction A - G section for this year's cull set. I have three carts of books that are no longer supporting their shelf space! Got two carts done and destroyed in the records, and one still in my office I need to check and destroy tomorrow. The shelves really do look good, like they've had a great haircut. As I took hold of the books I had brought into my office yesterday to start working on them, egads!!! A huge spider came out from between the books!!! It was huge!!! I quick ran to our sink and grabbed a paper towel to catch him, finally got him before he jumped off my office counter, and he started to climb out of the paper towel I thought I had squished him in, I dropped it on the floor and stomped all over him!!! Creepy!!! I did not want him loose in my office or anywhere else in my library!! Proof positive that those books needed to be weeded out if they were growing spiders that big behind them!! Back for another 12 hours tomorrow, but hopefully not with spiders!

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Destroy the Weeds!

Today I finally took on my weeding hat and gloves and destroyed then deleted books that I had my aides pull back a week or so ago. I hate to do it, and I only pulled about 5 books from the fires, but my basic criteria was if it hadn't been checked out since 2011, it was time to go! I had my aides work on sharpie-ing out the barcodes and Leslie stamps and getting them ready to head up to the staff room to see if teachers want them for their own collections before I let the students at them, then the rest will go for projects or to that great pulp mill down in the industrial area. Did a bit better on the book fair today. Had three classes in to check in/out books. The library was a very busy place with teachers sending in students to complete work since they weren't doing anything in class. I pulled more books for weeding. Put check out stickers in all our beautiful new non-fiction books. I did yes, put away the rest of the math books I abandoned yesterday in the back room. Had to help a bunch of students with their internet accounts because all the 8th graders were selecting their classes for their 9th grade classes next year. Got in my last book fair restock (yeah!) and found one of our book fair books on the back shelf behind the book fair carts! And my aides even did shelving this morning and didn't see it! I think it had been missing for several days already! Gotta love my aides though! Their help has let me do a lot of things I normally wouldn't have any time for! Two long days coming up, we get Friday off, but have to make up the time by working 12 hours on Wednesday and Thursday with our conferences in the evening. They will be long days....

Monday, March 20, 2017

Books, books, textbooks!

Finished off getting all the new math textbooks ready for the shelf today and I nearly put them all away until I got distracted! Didn't have much business at the book fair today. Got almost all (except three) of my new non-fiction books all stripped so they are ready to go out into the world! Had three classes in today to pick up math books. Got in my book fair reorder, I was so close to out on so many things! Actually got in 2 boxes and probably about 50 books! Had a class in to check out books. Had a lot of groups in today as well. Sent off some books to another school. Glad all the math books are done and out of my office! 2 carts worth! Now to start putting the new non-fiction books out on the display rack! Hidden Figures the Young Adult Version has already been checked out! Our IC has already put tabs on one of our new ones for spring break and took a religion comparison book up to the social studies PLC this afternoon! Happy to see my books serving our community needs!

Friday, March 17, 2017

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Put up a display of all things Irish today, including my Book of Kells poster and a couple of the books I got over there. Put away all the women's books. Ran the book fair. Started processing in the new math books. Had bunches of kids in the library all day working on projects, so had to spend time with them! Played my Celtic mix of music all day in the library for fun. Boxed up three boxes of the old math books for surplus. Had three students leaving town so got their paperwork all done for their library/textbook items. Got the library all put away for the weekend. Another great day in the library! Sure and begorra!

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Voluntary Meeting

Today I went and attended a partial 'voluntary' meeting since our district will not fund meetings anymore this year because of projected shortfalls for the next biennium. Part of the meeting was paid, but we did cut it short because there were only three of the schools there out of eleven. We got to meet the new Library Media Assistant for Houck since the old one retires in just five working days! She looks very happy to be heading out to pasture and we really joked with her a lot. New rules for buying books. Talked about inventory. Talked about our aides. And we only ran about 15 minutes over our normal time (instead of an hour!). Got in our new math books. Hardcovers to replace the beat up vol. 1 & 2 paperbacks. They are quite the chunky book. More book fair today and took money up to the bookkeeper. Had the AVID group scheduled to come in tomorrow, but their presenter cancelled, so I said, hey, we had this great meeting with Derek at World Book online, want me to get ahold of him? Our IC was really excited and they wanted him to try and get out tomorrow, but he is on vacation with his granddaughters! So, not tomorrow, but I hope they come up with a time for him to come. Our students, especially our AVID students need him! Had to get into my Munis account and ended up sending a life ring to technology, but got in to see what kind of pay I had. Now I have my login and password in a file! Had two classes in today to check in/out books and watch the Scholastic preview video. Off to listen to some Jazz tonight!

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Book Fair Open

Yes today we officially opened the book fair and did a good amount for the first day. I may already have to order in some books, which is fine. We had attendance surveys in the library for the first three periods of the day today, so that didn't effect me too much. I got the notice that the grant money I asked for to get some more diverse books was awarded! Along with many others, but glad to know I'm going to get more books! Had to put on my calendar reminders of all the meetings going on so I don't forget to put out the carts!! Did that today. Was very busy with book fair stuffs, and collecting money and sending yummy books home with students. Even had some parents in after school to buy things for their children. A good busy day!

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Almost Officially Open

Our Book Fair that is! We did a 'soft' opening today and raked in about $30, but we are all open tomorrow. Man, I just remembered I forgot to set up the computer cart for the Portland State class tonight. I have been so bad. And of course, the library is totally set up for the book fair and they will be in the midst of all that! But we did get all the books out for the fair today, so that is all set up and ready to go. Got up my fairy tale type of books cover images printed up for my Beauty and the Beast ALA poster. Love it! It was pretty quiet today, so we had plenty of time to work on getting that ready. Did some laminating today as well. Put out the Book Fair signs. In the rain. At least it was a soft rain and no wind!

Monday, March 13, 2017

Early Arrival

Our book fair arrived today and it's a bit early, well, maybe not! We are not on until Wednesday, but I may open tomorrow! Got all the boxes down from the top of the carts. Had to (of course!!) open up all the carts to see the books!! Had two classes in today to do book talks - and I found the Scholastic Book Fair trailer so I ran that instead! They are all so quiet when they watch the trailers! Had two math classes Kercheski style (my aides did that). We moved tables around for the book fair, though I may still change them a bit. Sent out three packs of books to other schools. Had my aides go through all the boxes and put in inventory sheets on what books were in which boxes for when I have to load them up and send them back. Last time there was a note on the carts saying to be sure you send the carts back with the stuff that was loaded on them! I was like, ah, oh. I set up the back a bit today with all the little trinkety stuff. Had a fire drill today and I had about 10 extra kids in the library. We used to have slips to write names, so I ended up pulling out a Emergency procedure sheet to write down names for Mr. M. When we got back in I was sure to put some notebook paper in the sheet protected items we have to carry out with us. A bit rainy, but not too bad. Looking forward to our last book fair for this school year! Took in my other quilts I have here for my quilt book display. One of the teachers loved my books and took one home then asked today if I wanted it back! I told her no, she could just check it out. She really likes it and and is thinking of buying it! Picked up change from the bank on the way home and some lock-ties for hanging the sign up outside on the fence. Time for book fair!

Friday, March 10, 2017

Half Day

Today for LMA's was a Professional Developement half day. Since the other part of the day was grading, and we really don't grade, that made it nice on a bright sunny warmer day! Went into Leslie and picked up my Chromebook to take, did a few little things like making sure all the computers were off for the weekend, redid a couple of call numbers on books, then headed up to the northeast part of town. Had a very interesting discussion for part of the meeting on how should a vision for library media work when we really no longer have Librarians (except at the High School level). Then a fabulous presentation by World Book Encyclopedia Online! He was fabulous! There are so many great ways to use their site and I really need to get him into Leslie for our teachers. Then we were off for the rest of the day! Lucky for me, my hubby is off too.

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Granddaughter's Quilt Day


I was super excited to get my granddaughter's quilt back from the teacher who does long arm quilting and so I took it into work today on display with some quilting books for the students to see. I loved having it in there and showing it off to people all day! We had two classes in to check in/out books. Had the girls finish pulling our 'Least Checked Out' books. Got in my first Junior Library Guild selections! So excited! I went on their website and tried to log in and finally realized that I was using a password from another site. (Insert rolling eyed smiley here...) Got all books put away today! Tomorrow is a half day for me with 3 hours of PD (professional developement) so it will be a quick into school. Make sure things are turned off for the weekend. Pick up a Chromebook for my PD then off I go to PD then I'll be done! 

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Going South

Or going to South High School next year! Today the library hosted all the 8th graders for a presentation by the South HS counselors, so we were pretty quiet today in the library. We did have a few kids come in, but for the most part it was dark (2 sets of our 3 lights off for the PowerPoint presentation) and it was just dark out today. I made extra stuffs for our Scholastic posters and got those all hung today. They only represented one book each, so I put in the dates and the other two lines I made book cover images and short blurbs about some of the books I had gotten in the preview package, then glued those all onto the posters. I think they turned out pretty cool! The Book Fair is just creeping up on me! It comes on Monday! Did three 'Kercheski' method math classes this afternoon. Another awesome day in the library!

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Weeding

Had another snow day yesterday, so here we are at Tuesday already! I had my aides start to weed out the old books. I printed up a Least Circulated Items sheet, and gave that to the students telling them to pull any book that hadn't been checked out since 2011. They seemed to enjoy it and I'll still go through the carts once they're done and go through all of the books myself. Finished up checking out math books the 'Kercheski' method. My second period aides got it started, so I ended up checking up on them and then finishing their classes and doing the last class myself. I cleared off a cart that had all the VHS tapes on it and put them in boxes to start surplusing. Gave two book talks today as well! That was fun! Got my final budget notice, and I had $30.33 left in it for the year, so I quick did an order through our Central Stores for $30.25. Got my budget down to just 8 cents left! That is awesome! 

Friday, March 3, 2017

Workbooks Done


I got all my Dr. Seuss books off the big tables and put them up on the table by the door. Good to see the great group I have! Had my two health teachers come in and take the HRM resources so they could look at them. Finished up the pile of Realidades 2 workbooks I've had on my desk I think from forever! They were the last bit of workbooks from the beginning of the year and I was ready to finish covering them and then barcodes went on and the ends numbered. That was a great relief to get those all done!! I had three piles of them and that really cleaned off my desk! Took my watercolor of the Camino in to hang in my office today. Love the way it looks. Makes me feel very peaceful. Other than getting the last of that big project done, at the end of the day I had about 20 students in the library when we had a Lockdown #1 called. That means we just keep the students in class (or in my case, the library), cover the windows and just kind of keep school going. I had to go around and check off from my list who was in and who wasn't, then email the names of all the students in to the office in case anyone was looking for them. We were all kept in the school until about half an hour after school was over. So I had enough time to shut down computers, close the blinds on the outside windows, lock all the doors and leave! See ya Monday!

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Remembering Dr. Seuss



 Today of course was the birthday of the amazing Dr. Seuss! I had my tables all full of our Dr. Seuss books and during the passing times, I wore the hat and read from Cat in the Hat, and Oh, the Places You'll Go and finally The Sneetches. I got some happy smiles, and once I had a whole group of kids stop and sit around me in the hallway (though I think it was just to not go to class...!). A great day! We had three classes in to check in/out books today. And our DLC class came in second period to be in the library! I so missed having them come in like they did last year every week. I covered the new Scholastic Book Fair preview books today and enjoyed the day immensely! Sent off for some books. Sent some books. It was a happy, sappy, Seussian kind of day!

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

More VHS

Did more titles and got a list of about half of them sent out. I had several teachers come down and look at the titles we had. One sent a list of the ones she wanted me to keep! I told her that I would as long as we made a deal that I could toss them if she hadn't used them for five years! Ha! Sent out a notice to remind the staff that tomorrow is Read Across America day. I'll be putting out all our Dr. Seuss books in the morning all out on the tables. I love to do that and encourage students to read him all day! Made an announcement for tomorrow as well. Had to do a book talk for a class today. Otherwise it was pretty quiet. Just me and my old VHS tapes!