Pen Pal Meet

I have been writing to a 5th grader all year and today I took some personal leave for the afternoon so I could go to the meet and greet. He is such a good kid! I have really enjoyed hearing from him and it was so good to meet him! We talked for 45 minutes nearly non-stop! A good ending for a year of writing! Today I worked on my book order for over the summer and checked the title, age appropriateness and one I already had! Got in 31 boxes of math for the new 6th grade math program and helped get those all loaded into the workroom off a pallet. Meeting my pen pal was a great way to end the week! At least I don’t have to write anymore, until maybe next year. :)

New Stools!

Yeah! Got in part of my order from the Scholastic Book Fairs I did this year. I still have a green mushroom seat and three more wobble chairs to come in, but I was excited these arrived and I got them out for students to enjoy! The after school program students went right for the wobble chairs. Made me happy!  Finished up deleting books for the Social Studies people and had those delivered. Had both lunches in. Our PA sent a notice about doing digital book talks, so I looked at the sites and got some good information. Then I wondered, what about getting some book talks just off the internet and putting them together?? So, I poked around the net to see what was out there. Both lunches were in. A little quieter than yesterday thank goodness! Looking forward to heading to the radio station and doing smooth jazz with my hubby on The Breeze.

Shoving

Really upset me today in the halls that students are running up behind other students and shoving them really hard. I told them, no, and finally I got two girls and told them I’d just write them up if I saw them do it again. Really upset me that they thought it was all right to do that. Checked in more books today. Took my last stacks of books and withdrew them and started to take the history related books and put discard stickers on them to give to our social studies teachers. Read some today. Pulled some old yearbooks for a teacher to come and get for a teacher who is retiring and used to work here. I took them up to the office so she can just pick them up from there tomorrow. Put away books. Found a book that was on the shelf but listed as lost, so now out of all my fiction I only have 16 lost books. I’m pretty proud of that!

A Bit of Everything

Except checking out! That’s all over! But I finished putting away all the display books, the fiction side and the Auto/Biographies. We also organized two more sets of math books. I had the last STEAM day in the library and put it all out, then packed it all up until September/October. I had to go through the electronic box I had and put everything back in its place and pull the batteries out of the hook ups. I had to go through the Go pieces since I had broken them all up. Put away my books that had come in and checked in books. Checked in a box of books that came from another school. Moved all the rest of the discarded books into the one place I have for them and it was exciting to get them all in one place. Had my aides get more boxes and packed them all up today. I was busy all day and put nearly four miles on my fitbit. A great day.

Last Check Outs

Yes, glad to say it’s over. Only one more full week with students and two partial weeks. Put more books away today and did our last day of checking out. I even had two students come after school to check out since we are now done! They were so cute! Had a teacher bring me in some old Spanish books that were literally covered in dust, so I packed them up today. Had students come in from the Health class that had an alternate assignment to do. Had both lunches in. Pretty quiet for the most part and looking forward to the three day weekend. Love my family members who are veterans and served our country. Thank you kids. Love you all.

13 and a Half

Student contact days left! I think I may make it through! Put away more of the display books today. Got all the non-fiction done and put away. Pulled a few books here and there that were duplicates to ease the crowding a bit. Sent in my announcement for tomorrow and that it will be the last day to check out books. Very excited to see the end of the year plans rolling out. Was hoping the Chrome Carts were all done with testing, but no, a couple more days. Mr. M said we should be back to normal by Tuesday. Had another email from another school. The teacher paid the fine for the book she had borrowed, and it wasn’t off yet. She had sent the check and the office didn’t know who or what it was for, so I asked and they were excited to find out who/what and why, but our bookkeeper retired and we have a brand new one and she’s still learning. The teacher is getting emails every day on this book and is getting a bit miffed. Oh well, I brought up that yes, I can delete the fine, but where then will the money go? Into my ASB account to replace books or where? And if the book is returned, would it generate a refund? So we will wait for staff upstairs to figure that out. Got in all the Romeo & Juliet paired with West Side Story books back today and sent off the ones we had borrowed from other schools. Did some laminating. Cool scrapbooking papers with simile poems on them. Very nice! One more day to a three day weekend. Love Memorial Day weekend and try to remember my family who have served.

Displays Away

Started to put away the display books today. I put away my books and also the display books. I had aides that left to help other areas. Put away science books. Had both lunches in. We emailed about the Everybody books in our schools. My lost/overdue books went from 41 pages to 44 pages. Oh no! Another day down! Getting close! 

Free Reading for Summer

I worked on this all morning. Checked the links and had to do a few things. The link to different options were good except for one, so I had to register our school, then get the correct link to access it. The biggest problem I had was with the Barnes and Noble site. Yes, they have a summer read program, and we don’t have a store here in Salem, but there are several in Portland and Bend, so it is possible. But you need to fill out a summer reading journal, and I could not find out where to download the journal from. I finally called the main number and she didn’t know either, and put me on hold to have me talk to regional, but I finally had to hang up because it was time to get the STEAM stuff out. I lost the headphones today for the SNAP Circuits set I have. I think I know who did it, but getting him to admit may not happen. Sad face. So yes, I put up STEAM stuff today before lunches and after to put it all back. Did some laminating. I ended up just taking the Barnes and Noble stuff off. Then sent it out to the Language Arts people and also to put in our Newsletter and on our Leslie Middle School website. A great day. Need to pick up a book from Salem Public Library and then just home and to grill some Rosemary Chicken. Got the rosemary from the garden right outside the library windows. No one’s done anything about it this year. But the rosemary shrub had all new shoots and lovely fresh supple pieces and a soul happy smell.

South Area Jazz Night

I was so excited that we decided to go to the South Area Jazz Night tonight. My Leslie Lions did an amazing job! We had about an hour and a half of great jazz music from three different schools and it was fun. School was all right. We had one math class come in, and scheduled for two more, but they didn’t make it. I was excited that my 53 pages of lost/overdue books is now down to 41! That’s a huge drop! I did some reading, checking in and out. A pretty easy day and a great evening! Our Leslie Lions were some very cool cats this evening. ;D

Noise, Noise, Noise

Oh my! Mr. A’s classes were all in today taking a break from testing with the card game he invented to work math. Six full periods of an entire class interacting, talking, and it was very, very noisy. I came home to quiet for awhile! Packed up twelve boxes of books and feeling like, hey, we’re getting down there, maybe! Had to find out about a fine that was paid from another school and got that taken care of. Got in more lost books today. Lent out my three computers today to Ms. S for her class. And the regular things as well. Students checking in/out. Sent books off to other schools. Really glad that check outs end next Friday! 

Thursday Drag

Oh my, thought this was just a dragging day. All five days this week! And next week! Getting close though! Got in more ‘lost’ books today brought in by students. I had a Chrome Cart in that I decided to relabel the Chromebooks since only 3 had tags on them. I got all the tags ready and got through about seven of them before I realized that I had them labeled for Chromecart #1, instead of where they really were, Chromecart #10! At least it wasn’t too hard to change them and then continue. Did some reading today. Had various students in all day for various things. Only six more days of check outs and we’re done. Heard my announcement today, so that was good and hopefully getting to students to get their books back in. I was pleased to see the new Buffy the Vampire Slayer graphic novel finally come back. Boxed up more discarded books. Emailed a lot for student and other reasons. Had to help my aide who yanked at a zipper pull for my other aide and pulled it right off! They were both pretty freaked out. She was trying to work on it, so I showed her how to pull the teeth together and then wiggle the pull back on making sure the cloth around the zipper got fed in the right way. Then an aide pulled out a crochet book that has some cool half gloves that I might have to try and do with my yarn I got from Scotland. Might be worth a try!

3.23232%

Got the lost/overdue book report done today. I found 16 out of 495. So, something at least! We’ve also had a few of those that were turned in by students. Helped students today. Packed up more boxes. A good day and now off to Pika Watch class at the Oregon Zoo! 

Lost STEAM

Worked on finding more lost books today and we also had STEAM in the library today. I got to put out the snap circuits along with our other items and the students really liked that. Found more lost books and noticed a few lost books that got checked in today. Thank you automatic overdue/lost emails! Pretty normal day. Had to put the copy paper in my back room rather than where they left it in the copy room! It would disappear if I left it in there! Helped students copy. Checked out some books. I had 53 pages of books, and down to just about 10 left. I noticed that one of our titles was actually titled the author! So in the system, you couldn’t ask for that book! Hopefully they will get that changed. Got more boxes to pack. But want to go through all that lost list before I pack up more boxes. 

Finding the Lost

I ran off 53 pages of lost and overdue books today and spent most of the day going through the entries and seeing if I can find any. So far, I’ve found 4 books, so that’s four people that won’t get a bill and that makes me very happy. Got through about half the sheets today. I ran up four miles on my fitbit before the afternoon. Helped out students here and there. But mostly a finding the lost day. I did send out an email about the Chrome Carts today and one changed, and a new one showed up. 

Full Day

With being gone on Monday and Tuesday, the half day on Wednesday and having to leave half day on Thursday for my meeting, today was the only day I had to work a full student contact day! I kind of like that! I feel so refreshed! Worked more math books today, talked with our office manager about ordering from Scholastic. Talked with students today, put my books away. Sent my Social Studies PowerPoint to the other LMA’s. They appreciated it.

Last Meeting

A pretty quiet day, worked with my aides to order the math books. A few students checking in and out. I had in A lunch, then took my lunch and a sub didn’t show up. So I went to the office thinking I’d catch her on the way out, but no. So went into the office and talked with our office manager, then back down to the cafeteria to talk with our IC. She has the office next to mine, so she knows what’s going on. Off to the meeting. Took over two boxes of discarded picture books to give to the elementary schools, and some books for other middle schools if they choose. The meeting went great. We talked about the end of the year due dates. Had the AEM folks show up and talk about checking in the iPads from students. Talked about the weeding schedule and I was happy to see that I only have two more to go! The last set I will hopefully be retired! Talked about Pathways for next year. There was more, but all my notes are at school! 

Red Wednesday

Hi, I’m back! This is actually Thursday morning, because I was soooo tired yesterday. When I thought about posting, I got distracted! Monday and Tuesday I was off because my husband had knee surgery and I was with him. He did well, so I went back to work Wednesday for the teacher walk out day. May 8th was a day for teachers to come together and say how much our students matter. Smaller class sizes, the need for counselors were the two top priority items. I liked that they had in there to get Librarians back. We have less than one certified Librarian for every district in the state. That’s sad. School was on an ‘Emergency Closure’ because so many teachers had asked for the afternoon off and we didn’t have enough subs in the district to accommodate that, so they had at our school, all students left at 12:10. I spent the morning trolling through the last two days of emails and since classes were only 28 minutes long, by the time I took my attendance, was visible in the halls during passing, trying to find summer reading programs for our students to put in the newsletter, it was time for them to be gone! For the afternoon, I started working on organizing the math textbooks that were used for the year. Put out my grid markers and started going through all the sets, which ones needed to be sorted, and which ones we didn’t use during the year. Got two sets done with a little help from some substitutes and I’ll have my aides start working on the rest today. 

Fork Friday

Back later.

Slide Show

Today I worked on a PowerPoint for our Social Studies group. I heard that they were getting new curriculum, so I thought it would be nice for them to see what we have for online resources. I worked on that most of the day. Asked for a link to the curriculum map and one of the teachers sent it to me. Then I passed an early version to my PA and had him look it over. He made a few suggestions, and I tweaked some stuff, and then put in the rest of the resources. Cleaned up a few things. Had our computer teacher tell me to put it on Google Slides to share, so I took my PowerPoint slides and imported them into the Google slides. It turned out pretty good except for a font that I liked didn’t translate since they didn’t have that particular font on their slide program. Drats. Learned how to take a screen shot and just capture the part I wanted to put on a slide for the different programs so the teachers could see what the opening pages looked like. That was about it for the main thing I did today. A great afternoon awaits!

Putting Away The Undatable

I spent most of the morning putting away all the books we pulled for speed dating. There was over a cart and a half that I didn’t want to foist on my aides, and it also gave me an opportunity to check out the shelves. Then I got out all the equipment for STEAM day and had a great time with that. Then put it away. Had to laminate some posters for the office and a couple of things for another teacher. Sent off some books to other schools. A good all over day. I’m tired, back a bit stiff but happy with all I got done.