The View from the Leslie Library Windows: March 2020

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

A Whole New World

I nearly missed my school Microsoft Team meeting since I went on a walk yesterday! But I did get back, managed to see my Assistant Principal and hear just a bit of it! I still have the Scholastic Book Fair parked in the library and am wondering what to do about that. So, I reached out to my principal and assistant principal and we'll see where we go from here. I called the Portland Warehouse to see if anyone is even picking anything up. If they aren't, or I don't hear, I won't go in. We can enter the building today from 8 - 10 and then from 2 - 4, so if I haven't heard anything, I will just assume it will sit there until we get back. I have a classified meeting at 10:30, I already listened to the Licensed meeting this morning and checked in with my PA for LMSS. And then the school team meeting at noon. We'll see where we go from here! Uploaded a picture for an encouragement slide show, had the meeting. We may be looking at no common school for the rest of the school year. All our admin have been super encouraging, and a real 'we can do this' attitude as we try to figure out how this is all going to work. I was going to go into the school and pack up the Scholastic Book Fair, but I haven't heard from anyone, and I won't go in if we can't work something out. I think the schools are all closed to any access after today.

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Schools Out Until April 30th

So, the order has been extended. I’m not sure what will happen with my job at this point. If I will be back and just working on library projects, or will have to wait until the students come back. We’ll see. We might have news tomorrow. Scholastic did contact my work email and let us know to just pack everything up and let them know so they can come and pick it up. There is library work, even without students, so we’ll see how that plays out.

Friday, March 13, 2020

Schools Closed

We got the notice today that we are off school until March 30th. The virus is hitting everywhere. I think it’s a good call by the district. We all need to work together and not give the virus extra reasons to spread. I even got a call from Scholastic Book Fair that they are going to leave my carts here until April 10th. That was so good of them. I worked on my stickers today. Took in books from other schools. Sent some books out. Checked out books. Sold Scholastic books. I had one teacher come in and do her BOGO. I told all the Language Arts teachers that they could buy up to $50 in books and I’d match up to that $50 in Scholastic Dollars. It was good to see her use that! Made me happy! I had to shut everything down when I left today. Closed windows, unplugged everything. I brought home a Salem Public Library book that was brought to the library. I have a couple of my own to return, so I’ll do that this weekend. I’m glad the district closed down. Be smart. Stay safe. I might be back the 30th. We’ll see.

Thursday, March 12, 2020

More CPR

So the classes from yesterday came back today and worked on the dummies that they can take home for some extra credit to teach others. I put out the Scholastic cases out today for the beginning and then during lunches as well. I made $40! I didn’t expect that. I spent some of the day working on removing extraneous stickers off books. They all look so much better! I put away all the non-fiction today pulled out the plasma TV for the classes. Pulled books for the DLC class again this week. Did some lamination. Pulled out the Scholastic carts and then put them back in the workroom for the Power Hour. We did hear today that we will not have face to face conference, so I may not work past Wednesday next week. Glad people are listening to public health officials. Like I told my cousin, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. Keep your hands and feet inside the car, be sure you have your restraining belt on and hang on. It’ll be rough, but we can get through this.

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

CPR Day

I love it when our firefighters come in and teach the 8th grade CPR! We had five classes come in today. The library was closed to all other uses, so that made the day nice! I had books come in for Ms. M and eight books come back from another school. I sent out three books. I had pulled in books with extra stickers on them and worked in between other things with taking them off. I love these days! Hung up the new Book Fair sign on the fence outside, hopefully it won’t get ripped off this time.

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Six Classes

Crazy busy day! I had six classes in today for books on argumentative essays and one of the classes needed people and historical events. The Scholastic Book Fair stuff came today! They came during lunches, and we ended up bringing in the cases in between both the lunches. I talked each class about 20 books and kind of explained why each book was important to each class. I loved doing it! With the classes in, we didn’t do lunches today. A very busy and satisfying day!

Monday, March 9, 2020

Hit on All Sides

It has been a rough couple of weeks. I wasn’t even sure if I’d ever write in here again. My nephew had the connective tissue on his back go out, heard the crack; my cousin passed, from a brain tumor; good friends are going back to testify against the man that murdered their daughter for the umpteenth time and my daughter just slapped my son with a custody suit and restraining order. When it rains it pours and my heart is so sad right now. Got all the surplus books out and went to the LMA meeting on Friday morning. Today was very busy. Helped a teacher with getting in her old reading group books in and getting her the new ones. Had lots of groups from classes in today checking out books. Got my Thermo-clean bottle refilled so I can clean off the door handles every day. Got in two of the Tolkien art books in for our art teacher. She has a student who might be inspired by them. Worked on removing the AR tags on books since we don’t use that anymore. Got out the Scholastic mini folders out to the teachers today and started working on the posters for the hallways. Picked out the books for my book talks today for tomorrow. Had to work on some Argumentative Essay books for five classes and peeps/bio/historical events for another class. Had to go to the bank on my way home to pick up change for the Scholastic Book Fair! It could show up tomorrow!

What I'm Reading

The Butchering Art by Lindsey Fitzharris was a great non-fiction read! Love a good non-fiction! Joseph Lister worked hard, studied hard, never gave up on his ideas that something outside was causing untold numbers of people to die after surgery. His quest to find the answer was long overdue and he was the one to craft it and make it a medical standard. Brilliant!
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Boy by Emmanuel Acho was so good. I liked it even better than Stamped. His honest and open look at what is was like for him growing up really brings the issues into focus. Highly recommended!
Verify by Joelle Charbonneau - what if everything went digital which gave the government and people in power a way to change history, past and current. What happened to some words, like the word 'verify' that is no longer in the digital dictionary. Meri has lost her mom and her dad drowns sorrow in liquor. Meri is entranced by her mom's last art pieces and is given a slip of paper (the horror! what about the trees? recycling?) and on it is the word 'verify'. Atlas gives her a dictionary, a paper one and an old history textbook. Meri jumps on the train with him so they can change the world.
Kalahari by Jessica Khoury - what a ride! I even took this home one night to finish! Sarah lives with her dad doing research deep in the Kalahari. A group of students are sent to see if they can qualify for a grant and when her dad goes missing when he heads off after poachers, she is left to take care of them. Her dad doesn't return and the poachers are after them. They come across a white lion stalking them, but wait? It isn't white it's something else. They come across a lab and realize there is a virus, that has been let loose on the Kalahari that could destroy the whole world. So exciting!! Great ending as well!
The Year of the Buttered Cat by Susan Haas with Lexi Haas - Okay. I have to admit that I got this book because of the title. Buttered cats, what an intriguing thought! But the real intrigue is the persistence, the optimism of Lexi. Because of jaundice, she was disabled and this story is about her decision to take a chance on ground breaking surgery to try and get some mobility, speech and live her gifts. She has five she had to find. Read it for Lexi (and maybe to find out about that buttered cat).
Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram. There are spaces only you can fill, and Darius learns this as his family travels to Iran to see his grandfather who is dying. Along the way he deals with his depression, makes a friend, has innumerable Star Trek references and also learns that it's okay, to not be okay. I must admit, I had to look up some of the places he got to visit. What a rich heritage. I thought Zoroastrians were long gone, but no, they are still practicing today in Iran. Great book, totally okay.
The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin - perfect book lover tale of a woman captivated by a man and a bookstore and how she made more impact on her fellow book lovers and the man who got her to read than any bomb that fell during the Blitz. Very lovely!
The Girl From the Channel Islands by Jenny Lecoat - Lovely WW2 story by Jenny who actually grew up on one of the Channel Islands. Hedy fled Austria only to find her island haven invaded by the Germans. And though she is wary, she falls in love with a German officer. The twists and turns of German occupation test them both as each find a way to help the allied forces win.
Ancestor Approved edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith. I loved these short stories that all center around a modern day Native American Powwow. My fave was Rez Dog and they were all a great window into culture that I have rarely seen. I watched some videos on Fancy Dancing because of this and I would love to attend one, but feel a bit like a looky loo if I did. Fun, eye opening and full of information. Loved it!
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams Loved this fictionalized tale of the daughter of one of the lexicographers of the first ever Oxford Dictionary. As Esme goes from hiding under the sorting table, to one day being a lexicographer herself, we see her story unfold along with the people attached to the dictionary. It was really wonderful as we glimpsed her life and how the words she found and rescued formed the backbone of this novel. Really well done. It will stay on my shelves.