All is Calm...

Our last day before the new decade!  I had four classes in finishing up the Osmosis Jones movie - hate to be a spoiler, but yes, Bill Murray lives!! We got all the books put away today, and I finished up all the books after the day was over and aides wouldn’t be able to put their books away. I also went and took all the books on display and laid them flat for the 16 days we’ll be gone. Had both lunches in and played my Pandora Celtic Christmas music which I love! Though I enjoyed the classes in, I would really have rather just had a quiet library to play my music, which is how it usually goes! Oh well! Had my student come in again today and we finished her book and she brought me a bag of goodies in thanks for helping her out, so sweet! Cookies and Chex mix, biscotti and she poured candles for me. That was so much more than what I think I did for her, and very much appreciated! Got my book order notice that it was approved and sent in. A lovely day and all is unplugged, shut down for the break, window shades closed, garbage all out. Time to head home and enjoy family and this wondrous Christmas Season. See you in January!

Almost Done

Had five classes in today checking out books. We were so busy! Had one lunch in. Helped my student work on her dad’s book again, we are nearly done! She’ll be able to take it home tomorrow! Did some laminating, found some more math books to inventory, and we’re now up to 99.36%. Yeah! Put away books. Helped students with picking out books, resetting student accounts. A good next to last day for me in the library. One more day to go!

More Trivia!

We had five Language Arts classes come in today and they had answer a trivia question to get to check out a book. It was cute to see how many kids could get them right and how many kids were totally clueless! But everyone got their books anyways, so all good fun! Though I had a class in for 5th period, they were gone just a bit into lunch, so I did have B lunch come down. They wanted the MakerSpace cart out, but it is getting cleaned up and ready to reopen in January. Nice to have so many students ask where it was! I put away a ton of books today. One of my aides is out the rest of the week, so I put hers away, and the aide section that was left right at the beginning of the school year, all the manga and all the non-fiction. I felt that was half my day putting away books! Had my student come in again to work on repairing a book for her dad. We taped up the corners today and about all we have left is a bit of gutter work. I had to try and find some black fabric to fill in some strips there, and finally found some! Yeah! Then started to read a new book. Gave cookies to our IC who is teaching a LA class while we wait for the new teacher to get here and they are a handful. So I gave her a ‘gingerbread’ man shaped cookie and left a little note “and if you feel you need to bite off someone’s head, try this one instead!” She got a big kick out of it! I was glad to see her, because I thought, ‘oh, oh, if she’s not here today and the sub sees that....’ Two more days to go!

Swept Up

Had our last day of MakerSpace today. Everyone was sad that we’d be closed the last three days, but I needed to clean up! After the lunches, I went and picked up big stuff off the floor and then borrowed a broom and swept the whole old computer lab that’s all on linoleum. Then I cleaned up the cart itself. My student that is working on her book came in again during A lunch and we glued the corners together, clamped them and will wait to see how they came out tomorrow! A pretty quiet day, found some more math inventory, more trivia for our students coming in. 

Math Done with Trivia!

Finished up the math inventory today with lots of help from my aides! We are at 99.13%! I’d like more, but I’m sure I’ll find some of the other items, like overhead calculators?? Who knew? Some were even still in their plastic bags, though they did have barcodes on them. I brought in my Holiday Trivia cards and if you came into the library you had to answer a question to get in! Everything from Santa to the Grinch! Songs, countries, they had fun. They had to try and answer up to three questions to get in the library and check out a book! A girl came to me and asked if I could help her with this book that is her dad’s. It is in rough, but not too bad shape. So we started with her gluing the spine together in all its pieces. Getting all the layers of cardboard together, then we set it to glue for the night. I think we’ll have it done by Friday through the steps we’ll need to do. I love helping her out. A great piece of my day! 💜 

Friday the 13th

Math inventory is now up to 80%. My funniest find was old overheard calculators that could be laid on the overhead projectors to show functions. Ha! Some were still in the plastic, but they did have barcodes. Health classes are in 4 periods watching Osmosis Jones about how your body fights infections. Pretty funny since it had Bill Murray as Frank, and all the little cells lived inside 'Frank'. But we only saw half of it, so I don't know if Frank survives. They will watch the 2nd half next Friday and we'll find out. Ordered more books. Had quiet read in the library day. Five more student contact days to go this 2019!

Faithleaders

Our day started with these committed folks seeing how they can help out the schools and our students. The library was closed but for only one period, so then Ms. S’s class came in for their Socratic debates. So my aides got a rest! I had two more boxes that I could pack with surplus books. Then I spent most of the day working on my next book order. So many lists....my eyes got buggy. Had both lunches in again with the MakerSpace cart. Had two girls take an apple and the nails from the string art and pound the nails into the apple. Really??? Thank goodness tomorrow is Quiet Read in the Library day! I got my list pretty nailed down to submit for ordering. I think it’s pretty good. Inventoried a section of math books before I left and we are nearing 80%. I’ll have my aides work on that tomorrow. I’d like to get it up there before we leave for break. Six student contact days to go!

Popular Place

We are having another meeting here in the library tomorrow, Faithleaders with our superintendent and both assistant superintendents with some of our local church leaders. So I made sure before we left today that all the shelves were beautiful, the big TV rack was out and plugged in, and I even washed down all the tables. Worked on math inventory today, getting all the teacher resources collected and logged in. Had both lunches in with the Makerspace. Or orchestra teacher asked if they could use the library tonight to put instruments in and I of course said yes. Had a conference call with scholastic about the last book fair and the one coming up in March. I'm just not making quite enough money to keep our big cases coming in. She sent some links to send out to see if I could get in just another $68, and I ran it by my principal, but haven't heard back. I hate to beg though. No events tonight, straight home to relax!

Library, Volleyball & Band Concert

I know I did a lot, but more of just checking in/out. Taking care of students and staff and other than finishing up the non-fiction inventory! 99.56% completed! I also scored the last volleyball game of the season and then chaperoned the band students during their concert. So a very busy day and I didn’t get home until 8:38pm! I was tired, but so good to see the last games (though the team I scored lost, badly) and to hear our students play so nicely at the concert. 

Book Give-Away Day

Friday I had to take care of some medical things. I had a test in mid-October, and still had no one to call and tell me when the next step would take place. Nearly two months I’ve been waiting, so today was the day I picked to take care of that. And I did and got things scheduled.  Got in the holiday books I ordered for the DLC class. Trolled through all the emails and got one that Ms. F needed a stand for an iPad for their concert, and I happen to have one from the MakerSpace cart. So she came and got it. Looked at some new books on the Google Team activity. I laminated footballs. Yes, paper ones for a class. Had both lunches in with the MakerSpace and sorted out the cart before since I hadn’t been in on Friday to do that. Sent off a book request. Printed up three refunds for students that have moved on to South, but needed refunds from Leslie. Did the Scholastic Financials. Stamped my Scholastic books to take to LMSS for the meeting this afternoon so they could be processed. We are getting another new employment tool so I needed to go into the old one and grab out my files that were in there, so I did that. Worked on circulation statistics along with the other LMA’s. Then off to the meeting. We got our freebie books (17 for each middle school) picked out and stamped and then had our meeting. 

Booked Up!

Ha! I thought that was funny, but yes, Ms. M had all her classes lined up and the DLC class as well meant for a completely full day. Ms. M had her classes in to research a topic with our non-fiction. We ended up checking in/out quite a few books today to accommodate them. So they were in for five periods, then I had the library set for the DLC, but they never made it. Sometimes they are OK to come down, and sometimes not. Flexibility is the key in the library! Along with Ms. M, we had groups coming down from other classes and managed to fit everyone in. Had to get seven dictionaries to Ms. P. Counted out and sent all the rest of the book fair money to our bookkeeper. Finished up the Aide reviews for the binder. Our bell schedule is really hard for me to read, so I redid it today with the schedule that makes sense to me and in a bigger font!! I tabulated up the books I have in Spanish. One of the LMA’s had asked what we had, so I got those statistics together and posted them. When I did inventory yesterday I found several books that I thought would benefit from moving to the 920 or 921 shelves. Then I also looked at our snowflakes on the windows. The first art students did a great job putting them up with tape rolled underneath, the second set of students, not so much. The snowflakes were so pretty but with chunks of masking tape holding them on so pretty shapes with pretty obtrusive tape on them, yuck! So I went and rolled the tape and made them all look very pretty. Now we’re snowflaking! ❄️

Wrapping it Up

Finished up the Scholastic Book Fair today. Got it all packed up and done before I left today. Almost finished the non-fiction inventory, only the 921’s are left to do! I had a request for holiday themed books for our DLC class, so I went through the catalogue and requested about nine books for them to read during their library. Then I emailed the LMA’s from those schools to let them know what was going on. I found a book I needed to send back to another school under my piles I had from the Scholastic Book Fair, so that got sent out. Took some more book fair money up to our bookkeeper. I hate to have it in the library even though it’s pretty safely locked up. And I had a teacher request, but no idea what it was along with all the other regular things that happen in the library!

Snowflakes

The shelving cart was a mess, so I worked on getting that all in order to help my aides put everything away. Got them all in alphabetical order and put away the sections I’m responsible for. Had an aide for one of the science classes come in and ask for AA batteries. I had some and gave them to him. Worked on my student aide reviews. I had six to do and one of them didn’t make sense. So I looked it up on the internet and found a nearly word for word paragraph about refugees. Though I was pretty sure that the book the aide had meant did not have any Vietnamese refugees, his review and this article focused on that ethnic group. When he came in I asked him which book, and he said the one I thought it was, Refugee by Alan Gratz. I showed him the article I found and I talked about plagiarism and how in high school, they track that and how Google is working on a fix for students that lets them know right away when they are plagiarizing. He went right back out and wrote a review on a totally different book. I have to hand it to him, he is a great worker. Had more Scholastic sales today and totally bummed that a student bought an eraser set with a HEDGEHOG in it!!! It was the only one!! And so cute!! There was a llama in there too, but I might have thrown him out. Our art teacher asked if we’d like stars for our windows and I said, ‘Oh Yeah!’ So they came in today and put up stars on my display window. Worked on inventory today, finished off the 800’s and got through the 940’s (but not the 920’s or 921’s who are in a different section). Sent off two books requested by other schools. Had a couple of my aides I leant to a science teacher for a task she needed done. Then I went to work the volleyball game and in the middle of the second game, the fire alarms all go off! Outside we went and I had only my short sleeve t-shirt on! Cold it was out there. Expected to see a Tauntaun I was. We finally got back in and could only do three games total since buses were coming. Love my job. Though I need to see if anyone with a book fair has that hedgehog eraser.... 🦔

Fifteen Days

There is something about coming back after a long break. It was quiet. I had trouble getting my computer going this morning. No email, no Synergy, no Destiny on my computer anyways. I did get it up on the main desk computer early, but then it was hard to get my office computer up though! After it did, I had to troll through a ton of emails. Got a call from Junior Library Guild on my account. Still have the book fair. So had lunches in for browsing and selling. Worked on my new display. Almost done with it, but not quite. Got some books for the display. Packed up two boxes of surplus books. Sent off an iPad for a student who is at another school now. Withdrew some books that didn’t recover from water damage. I had a notice from when I put them in the freezer to check on them today. Just three books, one I think is saveable, the other two were not. I got the email from the Bootcamp about the wrap up from the classes. I kept a copy of the participation of the class. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Loved this mural in the library at McNary, had to take a picture! More Google training today.

• Forms
• Sheets
• Gmail
• Calendar
• Hangouts
• Meet
• Sites
• YouTube

When I went back to the library I checked in books and worked the book fair, put away books and closed things up for the long Thanksgiving Day weekend.

Googl-fried

Spent the day at my Google Educator training. We trained on lots of Google related apps. I got together my list! 

• Slides
• Photos
• Docs
• Classroom
• Drive
• Groups
• Chrome
• Keep

When I went back to the school I played around with them a little before I had to leave for the night. Glad that’s over with!

Friday Before Thanksgiving

Six classes came in and visited the book fair. It was a busy day. Taking care of students, either checking in or out books, or selling at the book fair. I took the centerpiece cranes and strung them up like the others.  I did some book repair. Tried to make a new craft for the MakerSpace, a string tree with beads for a card. I don’t like how it turned out. Not happy. I’ll try something else I think! I had to take a Chromebook home for my class on Monday. Only two days next week, then Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for!

Sign Sadness

Got in my car this morning at 33 degrees and thought how wonderful it was I didn’t have to put up Scholastic signs this morning. Then I saw my big sign hanging on the fence. Draped over it. I thought someone had cut the zip ties I had on it, and got some new ones from the custodian since I only had two left from yesterday putting it out. When I trekked out there, I saw that it had been pulled off the fence. Grommets and all. The top and bottom of the sign looked shredded where the grommets had been. The grommets were still zip tied to the fence. It was an old sign, but still would have worked for the rest of the year. There’s no way I could fix that, so I took it to the trash compactor and threw it in. Made me very sad 😞 .  But the fair went on! I had to take most of the morning to set it up since I didn’t get a chance last night and still had students coming in to buy stuff. I love that I set up the money box with change and have all my money I put into the change all back by the end of the first day. Just barely, but close enough! Had lunches in, ten students for five minute spots. Worked out a set of students coming in with the lunch crew. Got some email addresses from parent volunteers who would like to help with the fair, so I emailed them about the schedule when I would like them in if they could now, or possibly in the future. So that was a good end to the day.

Spirit of Unity

I worked hard today to get the library all set up for the reception today for the Spirit of Unity awards. We had five schools honored and one teacher and heard from Professor K (I will get his whole name from work!). It was inspiring. I had the library closed all day and they all came in after the ceremony and loved it. I was a bit sad at first because I thought they were coming in before, and no one showed up. Sad face. But after, Happy Face! Coffee and snacks were all out and ready for everyone! After I made the tissue paper nests for the cranes, the little signs and beads on a string, I was ready to start getting ready for the Scholastic Book Fair. I opened the boxes and put the books on a cart since I didn’t want the carts out during the reception. I used the empty boxes to build my display in my office for all the little stuff. Before I left I put out my signs, the two on metal stands, the new plastic eWallet one (couldn’t get the second one in the ground) and the big sign I put up on the chain link fence for cars driving by. Should be cold in the morning so I was happy to get them out!

Looking Spiffy

Today we worked on cleaning up the library and getting it ready for all the guests who will be coming tomorrow. I had the aides dusting all the shelves. I did a couple of sections. Put out books that I thought would be appropriate. Put away books. Washed tables. Had both lunches in. Did some repairs. I think things look good! Ready for tomorrow!

Jumbled

I think it is a jumbled day and as I look back at what I did? I’m not too sure!! A student wanted a book that I needed to glue and I forgot to do it Friday, so that was the first thing I did. The Scholastic Book Fair arrived today, and I actually didn’t need to go out and meet the truck, the custodian did and they brought down all the cases. I found room for them in the back rooms. With the Spirit of Unity awards, I wanted it out of the way, so it wouldn’t eclipse the awards. They are too important. Put out a new puzzle today, and two of the pieces needed a bit of help, so I colored oned and glued two back together. Most pieces of cardboard, are in layers, and it looked like one had gotten wet, so I peeled the layers apart, glued each layer and then set them under books to dry for the night. Sent out a book, wanted to do another one, but it really needed some glue for the spine back, so I glued that and will send it tomorrow. We had a special AVID day. I had my aides, and our other library person, and two aides from the office and we went through the long presentation to see where the students are at in regard to thinking about graduation and how their habits at school can lead to success in life. They had worksheets to do and a step path to color in to see if they were on their way or needed help. So we were on an assembly schedule today, and it was different to have short classes. Put away books. Talked to all my aides today that I wanted the library to be totally excellent and no one would notice anything out of place since the library will be the reception place for the award ceremony on Wednesday. I also reminded them that book reviews were due on Friday. Had both lunches in but no  MakerSpace stuff until after the book fair is over. Sent an email to the office to get the book fair on the Leslie website. So, I guess I did more than I thought! A crazy Monday!

Cranes

This morning I reminded Ms. H that she had asked if she could hang the crane art they had done. I let her know that the Spirit of Unity awards were next Wednesday and since they were having a reception in the library, it would be awesome if the cranes were here. She asked if she could bring her classes in and since we were open I said ‘Yes!!’ And she was in for the first four periods of the day hanging them with both the ladders we have. I helped a little, but did more math stuff, had four books that really needed to be edited so they’d be shelved in the 921’s rather than the crazy places they were, so I did that. Had Quiet Read day in for lunches since she had gotten done. We also had students come down for their ‘treasure’ from going through the ‘Escape Room’ in Ms. S’s classes today. So I had about three groups come down each period to get their bounty from the bag that Ms. S had left in the library this morning. Gave away a bunch of containers that the math stuff was no longer in. All in all, a perfect day in the library. Loved having the cranes go up (and they flutter around a bit when the HVAC circulates! So awesome!) and having students in almost all day. Great day!

A Little Bit of Everything

Today went by in kind of a blur. I had a request for old Prentice Hall Lit books from our principal who needed to teach a class today. Even though I’d withdrawn them, I still had 21 left, so she said that was great and I had an aide take them up to her for 2nd period. Cleaned up more of the math manipulatives and finally went on the Google spreadsheet for extra math stuff. I also sent out an email to the math teachers and our principal that I was putting those things out there. I decided that since we had 33 sets of the Shapes (those 206 piece packets) that I was done with those, so I took the rest and put them in the bins we had and put them away. There were about 12 of them, unsorted. I think if we ever get rid of the 33, I might consider putting more sets together! I got all of the stuff cleaned out. More math stuff tabulated and entered, even the Tangrams that we had. I had also found a ton of science stuff and took those to the science folks and they were so happy to have them! Put away a lot of my books today as well. Off to work the radio show!

More Manipulating

Got all the blocks done today but we have a ton of these plastic geometric shapes. Some have never been unwrapped. But many have. There are two of each of the seven different circles (orange). Four each of the A and B shapes (in blue, red, green and yellow) and two each of the C - V shapes in all those colors for a packet total of 206 pieces. Separating all the colors and the different shapes hit my old assembly line life memories, but what a chore! The opened sets were all in plastic tubs all mixed up, and to put a full set together was quite the task. I’ll go until I can’t anymore, then just have a mixed bin, but I don’t want someone to get a packet and have missing pieces. That’s just how I roll. Had four classes in today to do a project for their Language Arts classes and then they checked in/out books if they needed to. My principal walked in as I was taking my break, eating and on my phone! Of course she’d come in then! Ha! Didn’t have lunch students in today because of the classes in. 

Math Manipulatives

I just had to put in a picture of the art city scapes with the books. They are so amazing! Originally I suggested they put some on the windows, but that looked tacky, so I had one of my aides move them all down so now they line the shelf under the window all the way across. So perfect! I had my aide go out to the car with me and get all the wood pieces out of my car and we brought them in. I decided to ask for some sandpaper and hemp cord and hook earrings. We were asked to see what math manipulatives we still had and I had boxes and boxes of them. I pulled them off the top shelf in the copier room, plus the three boxes under the counter in there. Later I had my aides pull everything out of the closet in the old computer lab. Then we started to separate them and get all the different kinds in their groups. Some people do not know how to separate. Makes me sad. I started to take the cubes and find out how they originally went together. They had six colors, 17 of four of the colors and 16 of the two others to make 100 pieces. I had to take the tubs and pour them out and put together these packages of 100 each. I got about six bags all together. MakerSpace lunches today. I made some origami jewelry for a display. The students love the hemp cord. I had picked up this weekend.  Then it was time to score volleyball! Love my job!

Inventory Blues

We really hit the inventory today. We ended up at around 67% to be done. Loving that! I must admit my aides did a fabulous job on that. Did Quiet Reading day in the library during lunches. I had one of my aides help me get wood out of the Industrial Tech room since our principal said I could take them home and get them cut up for projects. I spent time working on my MakerSpace cart since it was a mess! Had our art teacher bring in some city scapes her students did and we put them under the windows with books in front, it looks so good! More than ready for a three day weekend! Huzzah!

Just Because Gift

Got my new books all ready today! Covered the paperbacks, put in tattle strips. I had a student that wanted the new Hikaru No Go books and I had a new DreamJumper book too, so it was great to see him get excited today and check those out! More MakerSpace stuff today and I put out the Stawbees and made a dog so show them how to use it and some of the students did that today. It’s going a lot smoother without the paints out! I’ve also started to put out the Raspberry Pi carts and some students are enjoying that. We had a fire drill today and since I didn’t have any students that period, I took a book out with me to read during the drill. It was nice! Put in a heat ticket for a Chromebook that had frozen up and a tech came out at the end of the day and got it running. Gave another Chromebook to a substitute teacher. Then had leadership students come in and get eight Chromebooks for their class to use. Definitely a Chromebook day. At the very end of the day, a girl comes in with the heart string art she made and asked for super glue. Mine was all dried up so we settled on a glue stick. She told me it was a present for her mom, no she wasn’t going to paint it, they liked rustic stuff. I asked if it was for Christmas or just because and she smiled and said ‘just because I love her.’ Awww, melted my heart clear away. That made all the MakerSpace worth it.

Wednesday, Nov. 6th

Totally forgot about this last night. Had students in for MakerSpace and there was A LOT of pounding hammers going on. Got in my new books and played with them a little bit. Decided on my water loving aides to have them work on the 2,800+ math books we need to inventory. Bwa,ha,ha. I talked to them about it, then put them to work! If I think of more I did, I might just put it in here! 

Fog Curled Like a Cat

Loved watching the fog outside the windows today, all nestled and curled around the trees outside. It was truly lovely. Spent most of the day working on the math inventory. Had students in for lunch and MakerSpace activities with 4 hammers! I put in an order for those ones I found yesterday, so I’ll be glad to get those hammers back to their homes. Almost at 50% for the math inventory and even found one more math title to get rid of! Best news? My Follett order is on its way to the school! Now that’s a delivery I’m anxiously awaiting! My aides were playing with water and cups. They had filled the cups, put a plastic ‘lid’ on them, turned them over and the lid would stay on by itself. Very nice. Very creative. They left the mugs on the counter, but didn’t clean up the water like I wanted them to. So I went in the next period and decided to clean up, there was water around them, ‘ah, kids!!’ Then I picked up a mug, that was upside down and filled with water. It went everywhere! I swept it with my sleeve into the sink, then pulled out a ton of paper towels and had to pull up two more mugs, yes, all filled with water. It did get under our microwave and on the floor. I did get most into the sink though. Glad the sink was right there. They obviously had too much time on their hands. I must think of something to keep them busy - insert evil emoji here. Had a teacher come in and get 30 books for her class at the end of the day. Scored the volleyball game after school. We lost, but hey, it was the first game of their term. I’ll be scoring on Tuesdays, four more to go! 

ISBN’s

I finished up the last of the teacher resources I had pulled Friday and got those titles all taken care of. I got an email from our textbook guru asking me to get all the ISBN’s from all the titles that I had deleted that had no more copies anywhere in the district. So I spent some time getting all those together on a spreadsheet for her to easily pull those numbers. Worked some more on my puzzle piece and didn’t like how it was turning out. I have a different idea, that will be easier to do. I have 14 students working on string art projects and only one hammer! They are using pliers and other things to pound in nails! I asked for hammers today and then a teacher said to check out a site, and I could get some small 8 oz. ball peen hammers for only $2.99! What a great deal! I was glad to not have to clean painting today. I put all that in the back. I also had the 3D pen and glue guns in my office and when a student took it, I explained exactly how I needed them put away at the end of the lunch. I bought a new puzzle from Salem Public Library, and I had five boys (!) all putting together a puppy puzzle during A lunch was so cute! Most students today, were in the MakerSpace area. They were having such a good time! 

Puzzling Piece

This morning I worked on making a new puzzle piece to replace the one that went missing. It made me angry that it was a brand new puzzle and boys were throwing pieces down each other’s backs, and around. So, I took a copy of a pic of the puzzle, and cropped it then got it to the right size, printed it out. Then because I had to enlarge the original picture, the colors had faded a bit, so I got out the colored pencils and etched in colors closer to the missing piece. I thought it turned out rather well! I glued three pieces of old folders together to hopefully get about the right thickness and let everything set for over the weekend. Maybe I can be a lost puzzle piece guru! After that I hit the math books. So many old things laying around and I went in clearing off the top shelves of the math area and deleting old books and resources. I started to compile a list for our textbook person to clear off the titles that no longer had copies. I ended the day with deleting all the Oregon Focus math books we had. I emailed all the math teachers and asked them to come and grab what they wanted if they wanted any. I was putting books everywhere, deleting books everywhere, or as I told our textbook guru, I was getting down and dirty, literally. Garten came and picked up my pallet, so I’m glad the first 31 boxes of this year are gone. I have two more boxes started and getting ready for the next set. Glad they could get it while the weather held! I’m tired, but I think I have most of the old math stuff done and out of there. On to the books we do have for the inventory side!

All Hallow's Eve

It wasn’t too bad for being the day of Hallow’d Even! We’ll see how tomorrow goes! My aide did a fabulous job putting up the tissue paper for my display and got it all done today. I think she did a great job! Sent into our textbook guru that I didn’t think my math inventory was right, ALL the subjects were coming up, not just math, so she checked and yes, I was right. It hadn’t been set up right. So she ditched that one and started me a new one. Luckily I hadn’t done too much on it. Good thing I asked now rather than at the end of the year. That would have been frightening! Withdrew some old LA books and told our guru that all of the entries for that were now all ‘no copies’ anywhere in the district so she could delete them, which she did! Garten will come tomorrow for our surplus books I have out there. Sent in my JLG order, then found out I needed a quote! I thought we were all set to put it in! So I emailed them quickly to get that done. Had both lunches in and the MakerSpace was crazy busy. I really must get a handle on the painting. We had glue being poured out of bottles without lids on. Paint on the cart. Someone had taken their plastic paint pallet and just put it paint and all into the cart rather than the sink in the back! Oh my. That has to stop. I emailed our other LMA at another school to ask how she did it and she said that yes, sometimes it was too much! All my magnets are gone and I never saw them being used for anything. I have a note where the balloons were that they need to ask for them. I’m learning as well! Off to home to be there for the trick or treaters!

Inventory Weeding

Today I went ahead and weeded out the rest of the 800’s. I pulled three shelves of a cart off. There were so many. I felt so sorry for some of them. I had great angst as I pulled books. I wonder if the other LMA’s have these same feelings? I was wondering about the math inventory so I took the Butterfly books and inventoried them. Then I ran a report and they did all check in. Regular other stuff, putting away books, found some books that were missed on their section during inventory and got them checked in, reset passwords. Had the MakerSpace lunches in today. I had to tell one of my aides to take off their hood three times in that period, so I finally called them in and told them I felt disrespected, and I needed a note from their counselor if they wanted to continue. It really made me angry. It shouldn’t, and I know they are going through stuff, but aren’t we all? Got home and took a walk in the glorious spread of fall that graced this day.

Halloween Dance

I helped out tonight! It was quiet where I was! Pretty much! There were two students running the ‘Guess the amount’ in suckers and candy corn. But first! I got out all the boxes for Garten to pick up today. Our substitute custodian got the gate open and I had that all done by lunch time! I had my aides helping me. That was a huge accomplishment for the day! My hand truck that comes down to a cart, lost a wheel! So I put it back together, and did the cotter pins a bit more tapped in. I started to pull the 800 books. Some were from the 90’s, rarely checked out. I’m getting ready to do that inventory, so it needs to be done, it’s in our weeding schedule for this year. Then I noticed that I think the math books we did last week, did not get done. I’m not quite sure how that happened. So I started to poke around with that. Had both lunches in and the MakerSpace open today. Then I came back to be the staff member with the ‘Guess’ students. I also got to direct Caesar, the No Drama Llama to the back of the school for his hugs and photo ops. that was cool. He had been to three places already today! Loved to see all the students having a great time, and loved seeing one of our teachers’ son in the cutest little snail costume! Loved him!

Just a Monday

Got in some inventory today. I did the 700’s and had my aides work on math today. I withdrew some books that I had pulled the other day. Just lots of other little stuff all day. Had to reset a student password right away! Did some check in/outs today. Had three of my aides gone today. Did the AVID slides with my students today. Had both lunches in and MakerSpace things being done! I can’t really remember anything else! Maybe later I’ll be back!

Birthday Girl

Can’t help bragging that my youngest granddaughter is eight years old today! Here are a few more MakerSpace projects I’ve done this week. An LED candle, some origami leaves and a modge pod of ginkgo leaves. I watched a Common Sense video on Digital Citizenship. It took me nearly all day with having to do things here and there, but I did do it! I sent most my aides to help another teacher all day. We had our reteaching on the during passing fire drill today. It went a lot smoother than the other day! Had Quiet Reading day in the library today and it didn’t do too bad, though I did tell two groups that sitting and holding a book and still talking was not quiet reading! Put paper in the copier machine, twice. There was more, but I did leave early to meet my hubby for a doctor appointment. I did bring a sandwich and needed some lettuce, so I went out to the garden and picked some lettuce leaves. Turned out pretty good! See you Monday!

Cleaning House

Today I had to make some decisions about boys in the library during lunch. I sent four boys outside to play rather than play on the furniture in the library. And a group of nine that I have had to constantly ask to settle down, be quieter, chill I finally said they were out and could not come back. I’ve been dealing with their behavior all last year and had already banned them once this year. I was really sad that a student came in yesterday when the group was here and asked if I had noise cancelling headphones, no I said. He picked up all his stuff and left. That made me sad. And I was sad the group of students pushed me into that decision. Had the MakerSpace cart out today and a lot of students asked to do string art, so they picked out boards and a template, then got a thumbtack to prick holes through the paper and then use the nails to make the design. I quickly ordered more nails! I worked on some origami leaves and have those hanging on the cart now. Worked on my display and had my second period aide work on the tissue paper backdrop for it. I actually made some great heads for it! I’ll post a picture when it’s done. I brought out all the new group books and got them all displayed. Half out on the display, the other half are in the back. Chromecarts went in and out. I moved the one full cart to the right of the aide desk, and put the bigger one on the left. So glad it is out of my office! So glad the one cart fit in the space between the desk and the door! Worked on a Modge Pod project. Started a new book. Had email conversations about QR codes and how that might work. Students are not allowed to use their phones at school, so we were thinking about how to do QR codes using iPads maybe, or their Chromebooks? Sometimes the space between a great thought and how to put it into practice takes a bit of finagling. Thank Goodness it’s Thursday!

Feeling Safe

Today was first semester CPR day and the Firefighters/Paramedics were in the library for four periods today teaching our 8th readers CPR and AED protocols. I love it when they are here and I feel so safe! So that made me very happy! The library was closed all day. Even though they were here first, second and third, they took a break because the last class was seventh period. And what do you know? Between fourth and fifth, as some students went to class, and others to lunch, right at passing, someone pulled the fire alarm (yes, it was on video). So we had to empty the school and wait for the firemen to show up - if only ours had stayed! That was so funny! We ended up standing outside for around 20 minutes while all the students had to find their first period teachers as they were all over the building and we had to account for each student. We finally got released back inside and they had to reset the lunches because we were outside so long, A lunch didn’t happen. It didn’t effect me at all, but I got a bit cold standing outside for that long! I did inventory on the 500 and 600’s. And found a few of the missing books. I think I had only about nine books that I couldn’t find after I ran the report. I pulled down the old display my aide did so I could work on a new one for the group Lit books. We got our OK for Junior Library Guild with the deal our boss had brokered. I had to get two more Chromebooks to Ms. M. Finished Piecing Me Together, fabulous book and the Salem Reads book this year. Absolutely lovely! And I made a MakerSpace LED candle. I tried! It does work, but it’s not pretty!

Inventory

Spent the first hour of my day checking for three books turned in but never came off the account. I went through every one of the math book he had, every workbook of the kind he had and checked about 12 shelves for the library book that was supposedly turned in. I couldn’t find any of them. I felt really bad. And I usually feel that way when I can’t help a student. I also organized the math and workbooks just to make sure. I worked on more inventory today since it was pretty quiet, started the 500’s. I stopped and started because of students that were getting extra help from several different staff. At least I got some done! I was hoping to get them all done, but oh well. Did some heavy laminating today. We had new maps of the school put together by our lovely Ms. P. There were a lot! Then some for Ms. K and Ms. S. Had the kids in for MakerSpace today. Put away all the date books that weren’t chosen. So sad. There were quite a few, about 50 or so. That gave me an excuse to check the shelves as well. Checked to see if there was a pallet outside to put my surplus boxes on for pick up. A great day. 

Aide Book Reviews

A crazy day in the library! We had nine classes in! Four periods had two classes in simultaneously! That was a lot of students! They were Speed Dating Books and it was a lot of fun for them I think! They checked in and out books at the end of their dates! There were, I heard, 20 instances of true love. Awww, that’s so sweet! I did all eight of my aides’ book reviews today. Got them all printed up and put in the student binder they can use to see what books are out there. I boxed up five boxes of surplus books and then went in and cleaned out the closet in the non-fiction area from old math supplements and added four more boxes. I got down and looked deep into all the shelving and found a small stack of math books from 1978!! Oh my! They were so old!  Then I went back behind the student store and got three more boxes of those supplements and some other old Algebra books. That was a lot of lifting today. No lunches because of classes. Right before I left I got a quick email from a teacher that some of her Chromebooks weren’t charging right, so I grabbed keys to pop open the back and found that one of the two plugs for the charging pods wasn’t in all the way, so I pushed it in and made sure that the other one was all the way in as well. Hopefully tomorrow they will all be totally charged! Then off for Book Club at the Yard!

Pink Out

So, my pumpkin here is definitely not pink! But I wanted to make a quick string art piece to show students and see if any were interested in making one. I need to maybe do more string work, but really pleased with how it turned out today! We had Ms. M’s classes in today working on book spine poetry. She brought them down and had a worksheet. If they got that done, they could go around the library and take real books and make poetry using real books! It was really awesome. I also finished xovering the last of the Lit books, so they are all ready to go! I took three more Chromebooks to one of the math teachers. They decided that one of the math programs wasn’t working and canned it, so those students were filtered out to other classes. Pulled books for the ‘Speed Dating with Books’ classes coming in on Monday. They needed about 60 books, so I pulled about 10 - 15 more in case students wanted to check some out. Had ten quiet reading students in for A lunch, but then we had some math students pulled out of class and I decided since they were a bit on the undisciplined side to not add the B lunch students in there. We had stuff in the library from the Book Poem classes, so I didn’t feel too bad about leaving the library closed. We are now part of Microsoft Teams and our ‘techie’ LMA from Crossler set up a ‘team’ for us middle school people and we were on there today. I was feeling a bit ‘oh, wow, another app to make life easier’. So we’ll see how that goes. I ended the day with getting an email from our art teacher about books for teachers once Salem Public Library shuts down for its retrofit. I asked our boss if he knew about the program and he was like ‘NO!’ So hopefully we’ll have info on that Monday. I’m kind of sad that the teachers heard about it from a source other than the library. Ready for the weekend.

Week End of MakerSpace

I was so proud of our students today working with their MakerSpace items. One took the skewers and webbed the hot glue gun back and forth to make a spider web! It was so cool! One gal took the 3D pen and made a cubed rectanglish shape! Very nice! I told them today that tomorrow we will just have quiet reading in the library, so no MakerSpace. Very cool. I came in late because I had a stress test this morning, but I still came in around 10:30ish. I got a Chromebook to a teacher and to another teacher who needed one more for his class. Got my nails for string art, so I’ll work on that tomorrow. Was a great day and I even got some reading in. Pink out day tomorrow!

Another Ditto, Well Close....

I did more tagging of books with the ‘This is a textbook’ labels, covering paperbacks. Did the MakerSpace for both lunches. Took me a long while to clean up after A lunch. Class came in during 7th period and I talked about these lit books and they checked out all the ‘When’ books. I was excited that the students fell for it like I did. All seven got checked out and I had kids asking for more! That was a great book talk. Scored the last 8th Grade volleyball game. A great day.

Ditto

Yep. Just kind of ditto yesterday. Really. Except the volleyball game. There wasn’t one today.

God’s Eye and Painting

I was really pleased that I got a ton of interest in my MakerSpace cart today during lunches. I had about eight students A lunch all painting (they did a pretty good job about cleaning up!) and B lunch had students working on making God’s Eye with yarn and pop sickle sticks. So, it was pretty cool. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. I pulled out the cart I had of the new group read books. I needed to put a label on all of them about that they are ‘textbooks’ so need to be checked out that way and the date due for textbooks needs to be changed for them. Then I still need to cover the paperbacks so they’ll last a bit longer. My aide made a Hispanic display, and I want to replace it with these books like one of the LMA’s did, just sat about half of each title on a shelf and checked them out. I got interested in one of them and had to start reading. Had to help students get onto their Chromebooks and StudentVue sites. I put away three big stacks of graphic novels as well. I also had a student added to my aide list and I immediately called to say no way. I had written them up last year for what they had called me and I did not even want to try. Not worth my pay grade. I really wish their counselor would call me before they just stick someone in my aide slots. I sent them up to the office and they changed that class. So, at least they understood the situation and made that adjustment. Scored volleyball after work today and there’s only one more game for our magnificent 7th grade girls. I love to be involved and see these girls just make great plays! Home for Salmon Chowda Mac. Yum!

Thursday the 10th

We had our LMSS Middle School Library Media Assistant pathway today. Back later.

End of Six Weeks

I worked on getting the art/drawing books ready to go to the art room. Marking out the Leslie stamps, adding the Discard labels and stamp with the date. Our art teacher said she’d take them all, so they are hers! I took the cart up after school today. Fire drill times two! We had our monthly fire drill today and as soon as we got in, the alarm went off again! So off we all tromped out again. I heard that a volleyball hit a station and got set off! I chivied my aides today to get their book reviews in and I got six of them to get them in. One sent in a review, and it didn’t sound quite right to me? So I plugged in a phrase and it was 100% Cliff Notes! I let them know that plagiarism is not ok. She needed to redo it and a notice that in high school they check everything! They resubmitted another one. Had both lunches in. And another set of volleyball games to score after school.

Six Classes

We had classes in all day today. So busy! I had two classes in where I was the only one there. One with only one aide. It was a great day to check out books! Scholastic called about the fall Book Fair and we talked for at least half an hour (can I admit I was multitasking?) I know it’s her job to be upbeat and gung ho, but I’m just not there! I had both lunches in as well! Laminated my poster and two new aide passes for the year. I did a few resetting passwords today and got the students connected up. I loved today, the students checking in and out and even during lunch we had a lot of check outs even then! Put away books and got the student books ready to be put away tomorrow! Got 30ish books ready for Ms. S, she wanted ‘how to’, instruction books so I got those ready and took them up to her. Then I went out and helped with the track meet. There were only three races, so it went pretty quick, only to come out and find my car wouldn’t start! Luckily Ms. W was parked right next to me and she had jumper cables! So I got home! One more student contact day!

Poster Day!

Today was a great day and I got my poster done! But yes, I had to do a couple more posters because I forgot the green screen option! I also went in the side door this morning, because I remembered we no longer have an industrial arts program and there’s probably wood up there I could use for string art projects and there was! I went in for a quick chat with our principal and she said go ahead and take what I wanted, so I did! There’s a lot more that would need to be cut, but I got two small boxes full after school got out today. I got a call from JLG and though I knew there was something in the works, but this lady talked with me and set me up with a quote, so I emailed our PA, Mr. G and he called me back to say that yes, they were working on a deal and I had been the third to raise questions about what was really going on so he had called them to say, whoa! We are not ready yet. So hopefully he’ll have it all straightened out by our meeting Thursday. Helped students get their passwords set. Put away books. Got two AEM devices out for our AEM person today. Had both lunches in and even put out the MakerSpace cart for students to look at. A great day and two days left until the end of the first six weeks. 

Friday Part Day

I needed to be with my hubby this afternoon, so I had a sub come in. I worked a lot on a poster for the MakerSpace, and I kept getting one done, then was like, drats! I need to add another piece! I’m pretty happy with it, but I’ll check it out on Monday. I got things ready for my sub for the rest of the day, and put away some books, reminded my aides that book reviews were due by Wednesday. See ya Monday!

3D Pen

I started the day with the usual, getting the computers up, unlocking everything and opening all the doors. Taking a moment to see the sun rise above the bank of clouds over the mountains. When my two online kids came in and my aide, I started to do the inventory on the 400’s. That did not really take very long, it was only one shelf! I’m wondering when I’ll start the 500’s - now there’s a quite the haul through that section - sciences, animals. It’ll be quite the slog. I took a picture of these old math paper supplemental booklets (ha! Had to look up something like brochure, but not a book! Thank you synonyms!). Sent the pic out to our math department and one of them - thank you Mr. S! - sent it to our head of curriculum and she said to go ahead and surplus them. So with the eight or so boxes of them I have enough to get a pallet together for Garten - they need at least 20 boxes and I already had 18 packed up. I then created a Math group in Outlook contacts since I didn’t have one yet and obviously that would be nice to have. Showed my one aide how to order the math books they inventoried and he did one set, but had hurt his hand the other day and it was all swollen so I had him stop and I did all the rest of them later in the day. Had both lunches in and they did well. Had to put out a new puzzle, the 50 states done in license plates. We’ll see how long that takes! Then I turned my attention to the Maker cart we got in. I think I have everything out now, organized somewhat, pulled more crafty books for ideas for students, ordered in some books, one on 3D pens, one on jewelry making, origami jewelry since we have origami paper and that would go so nice with the jewelry stuff. I had never used a 3D pen before and so one of our aides is pretty creative, so we got it out and she played with it. Very cool! So, a very creative afternoon playing with the cart, I think I will put it out next week and see what the response from the kids is. Am I ready for it?? Ah, maybe!

Scoring Cranes

Worked on inventory today. I did all the 300’s today with the Chromebook on a cart. I also had my aides work on the math inventory. I showed them how to do it, then set them loose! I think they did a great job. I did some book talks with Ms. R’s 7th period class. I had about eight different books I went through pretty quickly, and only had one checked out, the one by George Takei! A great book! Had both lunches in today and they finished the tropical bird puzzle. We got a call for staff to come up and judge the art class crane figures. I had fun doing it! Then I went on to score volleyball. Then I went to MOD pizza to help donate 20% of my dinner to the Leslie Garden! A lovely day.

Laminating

I read a lot of the day and put books away. I worked with my aide on her alphabetizing again today. I took all her books and we went over each book and where it belongs. Had a band student in again since he is getting transferred out. I did a lot of laminating this afternoon. Cartoons and education posters and Lunch Detention signage. I had both lunches in and worked on a Rubik’s Cube to show them yes, it can be done! I got all one book done - it was a novel in verse. And half way through another since I have a book talk tomorrow. Helped a student reset her password after school. No volleyball tonight, so it’s gorgeous out and time for a lovely afternoon walk!

Getting Ready for a Book Talk

I got two Chromebooks up to the office for aides to use. Ms. M asked me to do that. I had to get another computer to another teacher too. I put all the books I withdrew into the back room. Someone has been coming in and putting a whole box of paper out by the copier and then taking the box!! I put a sign out today saying I need the boxes for all my surplus books! I think I’ve lost three boxes, but now I have my note! I spent some time reading for my book talk on Wednesday. I read White Rose by Kip Wilson. Wow. Great novel in verse based on the White Rose society in Germany during World War II. So very well done. I put away books, straightened up shelves, and at the end of the day scored volleyball. It was Parrish. The coach substitutes constantly, in, out, in, out. Ugh. Really got to me tonight. 

Synergy Happiness!

I had a phone call from a nice Ms. E and she got me all set up! Then I still wasn’t because she didn’t put a time in for me to start taking attendance, but fixed that in a trice and I’m so happy that I have my attendance back! Huzzah! I packed up the rest of the boxes I had ready. Ms. W asked if I had an AEM device for a student so I had to go and look for that. I also got out a notice to the Language Arts people to remind them their students could also check out eBooks and how to do that. I started the non-fiction inventory and got done the 0’s, 100’s and 200’s. I also weeded the 700’s. So many books untouched. I took out a whole cart load, four shelves full of books I pulled. Some still from the old South/Leslie library. A very busy day and I’m a bit sore from all the lifting. Glad it is the weekend, even though The Dowager Countess of Grantham does not know what a weekend is!

Synergy Frustrations

I headed straight up to Ms. M’s room today to get the brackets on her Chromebooks. She asked if I had one more Chromebook and I did, so after I got the brackets on, I got one from the cart downstairs and brought it up and got it all hooked up. I decided it was time to start packing up the rest of the deleted books from last year so I got through about seven boxes all labeled and taped shut. My principal called and said that I had permissions to do attendance in Synergy, and for the life of me, I tried so many different ways to get into it to take attendance I was going a bit crazy. They said I was good to go and closed my request and I still couldn’t get in!!! I finally took a screen shot so they could see what came up when I went in. I was extremely frustrated. I wasn’t going to make a good dinner, not really but decided I needed some home made Butternut Squash soup for dinner. So I did! I got all the rest of the Chromebook models all entered and put brackets on Mr. P’s cart and Ms. K’s. So, I think I’m done with the brackets. A good end to a very frustrating afternoon. Downton Abbey season one, watching King Felix pitch his last game - I had always wanted to sit in the King’s Court and now I won’t ever be able to. But by golly, I will get into attendance!!

Library Sign Ups

I came in and fired up the laminator since I forgot yesterday! I did four different teachers and set them out for the aides to deliver. Today I worked on the calendar for the library use. I had made a few sheets up for the old binder, but I needed to get the calendar online so everyone can see it and put themselves in without trekking down to the library. I started with trying to make a Google calendar, and our computer teacher said, oh, heavens, how about Google Sheets? So I turned to that, and spent quite a bit of time putting the calendar together for the rest of the year. I added in the teachers who had already signed up. Then I had to send the link to the Sheets so all the teachers have access. I got five Chromebooks ready for room 210. I went around to some of the rooms to get the model numbers of the computers. Then off to score volleyball again! 

Carts all Done!

I finished up labeling the last cart today! Cart #29! I’m glad that’s all done! I looked for an outlet in the back back room, and noticed the phone back there was not working. So I pulled out an old desk, some old pull down maps and pulled out the clip and put it back in and the phone powered up! Yeah! I had my aides get some science books ready and take them to a class. No testing today, but wait! Ms. P came back 7th period, so we had eight students testing. I had one aide that went into another class, one left sick earlier in the day, so I missed them both. I gave my one aide the Pokémon test and they did fantastic! I told them that maybe they needed to think of book titles as Pokémon! I might do a more complicated one for tomorrow! After work I totally forgot to laminate, so I had to put a post it note on my computer to do that first thing tomorrow morning! Instead I went to classrooms and looked at the computers to get which ones they were and to see if any needed the charger port bracket. I did the Title One cart today and put the brackets on all of those. So I’ll check some more tomorrow. I was asked to do an inventory of some items, so I went through and did that. Most were already gone. I asked for permission to see if we could get someone from the American Go Foundation to do some trainings with students “Go for it!” Mrs. M said! Ha! I also asked for a vacation day for October 11th, there are no students and no options for me and I know other LMA’s take the days off, so for the first time ever I asked and got permission to take it. That was nice and I really appreciate it.

Alphabetize

Welcome Monday! We checked out four classes of math books today. Mr. A brought in the classes and they come around the table then up to the main desk, and right back out the door. Two of the classes did the small Shapes and Designs books, and two classes did the massive Core Connections Algebra (worth $98!). I finished up the Excel sheet of which cart is with what teacher and room, and Mrs. M asked I put that on Google Sheets, so I did that. I still want to add some data, but now everyone has access to who has which cart and how many Chromebooks are in that cart. Ms. P had students in testing all day, so we kept it pretty quiet. No lunch students in today, just to be sure the library had a testing environment if students were available. They were in all day, here and there. I had worked with my aide on Friday who was having trouble shelving, and today I stood beside him while they did the Order in the Library game. They could not do it. I was flummoxed that someone didn’t know how to alphabetize! I went to our IC and she said that yes, some of the students coming up, really do not know how to alphabetize. Since my aide likes Pokémon, I made a list of them, A-Z and we’ll see how they do with that list! Off to score volleyball!

Three Weeks

Did not even realize we are halfway through the first grading period! I got out the last two Chrome Carts to teachers and worked on getting the Chromebooks without a home into the last empty cart. I was glad to get them all out of my office and the library workroom! I also pulled eight chargers for some of the old Chromebooks out of Room 200 and will hook those up on Monday. I felt really bad because our choir teacher wanted a cart for her room today, and our IC was doing testing, and I kept swapping her out Chromebooks for her testing. It made me very frustrated and she was so kind and gracious as I would steal away some Chromebooks and give her others. The only good thing was that I didn't have to have any lunches in because she was testing, so I got a bit of a break in the day. I had one student come to be with password problems that was one of our challenged students and I spent some time with him getting him his correct ID number, resetting his password, then helping him with a new password. I was very gentle and kind with him, and loved that I got him all set, wrote down everything for him and told him to keep it handy in his planner. That was the best part of my day. I love it when I get to really help a student! I was really confused by the offerings for Microsoft Educator status. We are supposed to try and do these trainings but there are so many facets and most of them involve teaching and I'm not a teacher, so I need some clarification on what we are supposed to do. It was all mind boggling, so I think I must have missed something somewhere. I messed about with the Digital Citizenship stuff and still, feeling very confused and wondering how I am going to get out of that what I should, and if it is for teachers who have classes. So I went to Konditeroi's and got some Tuxedo cake for the evening. I have no confusion about that at all!

Three Carts

I got three Chrome Carts out to teachers today and felt really good about that! I think I only have two carts still to go and then everyone will have the resources they need in every classroom! That’s something to celebrate! 👏 Put away a bunch of non-fiction today. A lot of it was our very well loved graphic novels! One of my aides is working on a Hispanic Month display. She pulled some books and is working hard on it. I’m proud of her! Did some laminating. Helped aides from teachers make copies and showed them how to use our die-cut machine (it’s really old!). But I’m feeling great about all the Chromebooks and Chromecarts that got labeled today and out to teachers. I feel really accomplished! And that was making paper labels and taping them in, still no cartridge for the DYMO label maker, but old school works and the teachers have their resources! That’s all that matters in the end!

Mandatory Training

I had a quiet morning so I decided it was a great day to work on my mandatory training. This is something we do every September. It takes a few hours and I had to leave it a few times, but I finished it all and got the quizzes all perfectly passed. Got three classroom sets of books out to teachers with the help of my aides. Two for science, one for math. Found some math books that a teacher needed and he took them today. And our curriculum PA didn’t need the extra Read 180 books we have. I got another cart out to a teacher, and almost got another one ready. Had a class in to do a book talk, but so sad, no one picked any of the books I talked about. I feel like I let the students down. I got both lunches ready for students, and then got all involved in picking out my books for the book talk and one of the lunch crew had to come down and get the passes! I was on top of it for B lunch! We had to close the girls bathroom by the library because of vandalism. I had noticed a student in there twice in the morning. I even asked her if she was all right. I could see her shoes, that’s how I knew she was the same student. She said she had thrown up, and I asked her to go to the office and get taken care of! So she wouldn’t spread anything and get some help. I was sad that there was vandalism, and that that student may have been involved. I had to go up and identify the student for security. Makes me so sad. I’m hoping that the student gets the help they need, whoever it was. I ended the day with scoring another volleyball game! I love to watch the girls, either side! A great series of hits and saves makes me cheer no matter what school! But still nice we won all five games tonight! Home to spaghetti!

Label Laminating

We started the day with Ms. K’s first two classes coming in to work. I worked on getting labels on the cart of Chromebooks. Then the labels ran out and the office didn’t have any more. Sad face. I was all set on getting that cart out today and getting another partial cart out. Dang. I moved the old book drop box and a Leslie Lion picture back in the student store. I worked on my whole cart of non-fiction books I needed to put away and also looked at the mis-shelved books from all the students going through them. I still need to work on that! There were a lot of them! I also put away all the textbooks in the back. Put the extra Chromebooks in one of the empty carts. Ms. K came in to say she was keeping the rest of her classes in her room, and could I just check out the books to her? So I did that and ended up having both lunches in rather than just one since her class wasn’t coming in. Ended the day finding some Read 180 books I’m not sure if anyone knew about. We got an email from our curriculum person looking for some and I asked our teacher if that was ours? Did we need them? And sent her the email from curriculum. Then I turned on the laminator and I knew, my heart dropped, that I’d have to put on new rolls, and yes, I did. But it actually went really smooth! One of the best ones ever! I was happy so I could go home! 

Training Aides

It’s a Monday, and today I gave my aides their shelving assignments. They got to pick what they wanted and I find that works the best. First period was a bit crazy because I needed to finish the Chrome cart for Ms. N. I picked up the label maker so I could number all the Chromebooks and the slots where they go and so I could also give an extra Chromebook to Ms. M to get her cart up to the number of her largest classroom. So I was happy to get that all done before first period actually started. Thank goodness for AVID strong day so I had an extra 15 minutes to get that cart ready! Had to the AVID slides for my 4 boys in here, then to get my aide to pick his area. I had them get books off the shelving cart for their area. Showed them how I want the shelves and displays done. I had lovely plants in the window corner over the weekend and they were finally taken back to the choir room. It was cute to see these four girls each carrying a plant out. I got another cart ready this afternoon for Mr. E. Just 13 Chromebooks, but in their own cart so I had to rig up the chargers and of course, label them all.  Got some books together for the plot workshop Ms. K is doing tomorrow. Packed up some Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key books for Kennedy Elementary. I pulled in all the new Chromecarts into the back rooms this afternoon since I have classes coming in tomorrow. After work I scored the first volleyball games of the season! I love watching our girls play! And they won four out of five today and I saw some amazing plays on both sides. I’m tired! Time to relax before bed!

Cart 💖

The Chrome Carts arrived today!!! Six fully stocked Chrome Carts and 4 empty carts!! Super exciting!! First though, I had the library filled all day with classes coming in to check out books! Non-fiction, and after they came I found out that they were really looking for narrative non-fiction. I had put out a ton of display books for non-fiction because I wanted the students to see all the areas the non-fiction covered and the options they had other than narratives! It was very, very busy!! Just before lunches, the truck came with all the Chrome carts! We had four techs come in and help along with my aide to get them all in before lunches came in. I got one ready for Ms. N, but I need to get a label gun for them before I take them over to her. She only needs 23, so I pulled the others and the chargers, put them in one of the empty carts for another teacher. So I had LOTS going on. I’m doing this Sunday afternoon! Took me that long to recover! Had the Peer Helpers in for their first meeting, and 7th period was set aside for students to finish testing, but it was pretty quiet. With four classes in checking out and being sure they were getting the books they needed for their assignment, we even dipped into the fiction a bit so students at the end still had a good selection, but that means we have a LOT of books to put away this week. But, I will get my aides set tomorrow for their areas and get them started to work on shelving! And - since I got empty carts my AEM cart is now back in place and my smuggling day worked out. Can I say “Thank you Lord for saving me???” Now when Ms. W comes in on Monday I’ll have a cart just for her, like she had before I smuggled it ;) 

Meeting Check

We had six classes in today checking out books. We had two of the classes doing memoirs and autobiographies. It was a lot of fun. Then we had four classes come in just to check out fiction books. I had a student tell me he had turned in a book that was still on his record. I got ready to email the school and decided to walk over and check my shelf, and there it was. So, I sent it back to McKay and put a note on his account that it’s been taken care of. I’m just rolling my eyes here, that either my aides never noticed or I never noticed. Had both lunches in today, and let my noisy, group know that maybe they could try again in October. That made B lunch just lovely and quiet. It was nice. I had a meeting this afternoon that went from 4 to 5:30. I got my iPad for my green screen set up, so that was really nice! 

Never Forget

I almost did not bring in my display material today. I really wondered if it mattered to our students who weren’t even born yet. But at the last moment, I did. So glad I made that choice again to honor those who lost their lives. I knew it was right when I drove in and saw the flag at half mast. I will do it again next year for the last time for me. I really want to visit the site one of these days and pay homage. I finished up the Chrome Cart for Ms. S today and took it to her at the end of the day, huzzah! I also did a lot of work on the AEM devices and sent in the list to our coordinator and now she wants to visit, on Monday, and I’ve given her cart away! Prayers that I get one in!!! Had our lockdown drill today and it went well. My only comment was that the library doors didn’t lock shut and they said they knew about that. So hopefully that will get resolved. A very busy day, but lots of good things done! Ms. N has her 11 minimum Chromebooks for tomorrow. I have one extra Chromebook for Ms. M, but I need chargers for two more. Hummmm... might have to do some pirating - I think that’s like smuggling, but cooler costumes. Have classes in tomorrow! I already had to tell a gentleman to leave the library at B lunch today. Already?? Oh my. 

Smuggling

That’s right. I smuggled a Chrome Cart today. I needed to get a cart to Ms. S and I had a cart that really belongs to another entity, but I’m sure it will work out and when we get our empty cart, I will get them back in a new home! But it’s more exciting to get a teacher a cart for her room. I had all the Chromebooks, but I still needed more chargers! I checked one cart that I thought had 12 chargers, and it didn’t! Then I found another cart that had the ten I still needed! So I managed to get all the chargers (30) of them into the cart and hooked up. I still need to get the Chromebooks relabeled and in there, but that should be pretty easy. I had set up to go to classrooms during the teacher prep. I still have more to go, but most are cleaned out. I have four that I need tech to bring me the keys to. Had both lunches come in today and I think they liked it. Did a bit of laminating at the end. Had an aide change, got another new aide. Helped students get online from a room with a sub. I was so tired by the end of the day, but so very happy with what I got done!

Carts

A great Monday! I did find out from Mr. Farias that students do have access to the workbooks online and so he just sent down students that really wanted a paper copy and we had plenty workbooks for those that did want one! A great collaboration! I let our principal know about the issue when I came in and she was excited to hear we had got it all taken care of. We also had 8th graders come in to check out books today. So we were pretty busy. I worked on my substitute plans I need to do. I had to put in a heat ticket to get keys for some of the computer carts I need to get chargers out of. I went around the building today, tracking down the carts. Seeing who needed access by key, Allen wrench or using the combo lock. I did get back to one cart (yeah! It used a key that I actually have!) and pulled 7 chargers out of it. I’ll work on the others tomorrow since I won’t have classes in. I’ll even have students in for lunches tomorrow. Scary!! Tried to access the student reset password tab today, but couldn’t find it. I’ll have to find it tomorrow. Some students just can’t remember their password from last year and it looks like they won’t be able to. Finished reading Rebound from Kwame Alexander and finished my preview of the George Takei graphic novel about his internment in the Japanese camps after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, They Called Us Enemy. Really well done, I was incredibly impressed. 

Just a Few of my Favorite Things

Come on, sing it with me:

Girls with a novel
and boys with some comics,
Aides over keyboards and checking and marking,
spaces on shelves where the books used to be,
These are a few of my favorite things!

Had seven classes in today doing our library orientation and checking out books! So exciting to see books getting checked out! We had three periods where I had two classes in at a time and I loved the energy, the stacks of books heading out, I know we had over 200 check outs today. I sent off a couple of  books to other schools today, also got Spanish workbooks out to see what would be available for classes. Some are really not in very good shape.  I really hate giving out bad books. They are not meant to be used year after year. Did some laminating at the end of the day and packed up! A very busy day! Love it!!!

Better

Still feeling a bit iffy today, but at least I wasn’t in the bathroom! Had my aides work on their “Order in the Library”. I found a link that worked and had my aides work on that today. I got the rest of the Chromecarts out. And thought we had keys to the backs to get out the chargers, but no! We don’t. Just to open the fronts. Dang. I’ll put in a ticket tomorrow. Then at the end of the day I realized one of our Language Arts teachers didn’t get a cart. Oh no! And here I thought I had everyone covered. Rats. Now I will have to do some back tracking. Dang. Leftover mess ups from yesterday afternoon’s gastro troubles I’ll put it down to. I attended a quick training on the new Classroom Relay program. We got to use the new plasma screen TV! I was excited to see it in use! They got it all set up on Friday and it worked great. Right now, even though I have aides, I’m not a teacher so I can’t get into Synergy to do attendance. I have to email our attendance person every period so she can do it. Seems like too many steps to me, but I realize the security of having only licensed teachers be in there and not just any employee. I think I’m done with the MakerSpace cart, except for the papers. I’ll hopefully get them done tomorrow. Excited to have my first classes in tomorrow! Class orientation and checking out books!! So excited! We even have two classes coming in at a time, so it should be really busy and it’ll give my aides good training. I’ll show them a book, then let them at it while I watch to make sure everything is going well. Oh, and my 5th period aide who was scheduled during my lunch? She’s going to be the new Attendance Office aide! I was so happy for her! 

Wednesday the 4th - Aide Orientation

I spent most of today working with my new aides and getting them oriented to the library. One of them is back from last year, so that was nice to have someone already trained! I have 11 aides so far, one of them is during my lunch, so she will have to be moved, which will be sad, she seems really nice. We went over my expectations, toured the library and textbooks. The second part of the day, I was pretty much running to the bathroom every so often. Maybe what I had for breakfast was coming through? I barely managed to get through the last two periods and left a bit early. I told our office manager I could sit on the toilet at work or at home - she was “argh! I don’t need to hear the details!” But I really wanted to be there for my aides’ first day in the library. Not the way to spend the first full day with students!