Pots

Pulled out a bunch of pots and vases from under the sink today and sent out an email to staff to come and take what they wanted. Did LLI today and had all three of my kids. Came back, got things ready to go in the library and did my three classes today in the morning. Then lunch duty a bit of time in the library to get ready for my one afternoon class. Up to Mrs. M's class and helped get ready for pumpkin math, then back down for my class. Read Zen Ghost today for the 3rd graders and they really liked it. I think it was so different they were kind of shocked. Did more Fraidy Cats for the littler kids. Back up the Mrs. M's class, helped with snack and then the kids watched the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown while they ate. Came back down and took down the two bulletin boards. Want to do one with our November authors and the other one being 'Thankful for Good Books" which I'll have the kids help me with the next two weeks. Tomorrow is a grading day, so no work for us. Back on Monday.

Create Your Own Utopia

Got to spend six beautiful hours in the library today. Got a lot of cleaning up done! Moved shelves, cleaned out drawers, checked in nearly 100 books. Had four classes in back to back to be read to and checked out. Nearly lost my voice ~~ not sure how that happened. Raising my voice to get the kids quiet? Reading a long time each day? Was a bit of a shock. Did my usual LLI and cafeteria duty, but the rest of the day was in wondrous library land! Had the tech office call that they were loading some training things on the computers in the library lab for a training on Friday, so I let them know our schedule (kids were out at 1:15 today, so they had all afternoon) then emailed the teachers who are using the computers tomorrow so they'd know that there would be some extra icons on the computers when they brought classes in and to just ignore them. Had some teachers come in, see the books I have out on display and they picked them up. Helped a student with a book choice today, so I hope he likes it. Cleaned out drawers, cleaned up a lot of stuff in the little back room. Dumped a ton of papers and things that have been laying around for who knows how long. Four trays all filled with the same things - so now they all have their own trays and I threw away a ton of old things. How many pencils do you need in a drawer? I think I put 30 in the cabinet that holds resources for the kids. Feeling like I got some real things done today to make the library work better for me. I told one lady, "we had an admin that would tell us 'create your own utopia' (thanks Mr. T!) so that's what I worked on today. Things are getting cleaned up, more efficient and will help me run the library more smoothly.

Getting my Feet

Now that I've gotten my eight hours, I feel more ready to take on this position. I got everything finished up shelved today from last week. Only had one class today right after lunch, so spent my LLI hour with my two kids, the hour in the cafeteria, some prep time and then the rest of the day I was in Mrs. M's class. I helped record some things in her grade book. Helped the kids do art work of pumpkins. Then the last part of the day they had a special speaker, a trauma nurse coming in to talk about trauma and how to prevent it. Like, wear your helmet, wear pads. So Mrs. M took me aside and said that I could go ahead and work in the library since the nurse would be there until the end of class that day. Huzzah! So more time in the library! Found a book that a girl had lost when I discovered a whole section of books I didn't know about. Got some stuff cleaned out. Asked Mr. M if I could get some file cabinets removed so he said they could go into storage. Displayed more books! Worked on the day to day duties since my schedule is to convoluted in case I ever need a sub. Mrs. M is certain I will turn to the elementary side and never want to leave. She really is a sweetheart.

Take Me Home, Country Roads...

Who knew someone had made some kids books from John Denver songs? News to me! But we have three of them! When I was sent to Bush, I was told I'd have eight hours, and when I got here, I was told the position was only 7. So, last week, HR told my principal that yes, I was to get eight hours, so I started that today. What a joy to spend more time in the library! I was just about dancing when I came in at 7:45 today and got to stay until 4:15. I got some shelving done! Displayed some awesome books for kids to get inspired by! Picked out some great books for the Read-A-Loud since the calendar we had was a bit off from what I could see! It is awesome! Sent out book requests for the teacher I aide for. She needs some Jeanette Winter books, so I sent out a call to get some in and so far, everyone has replied with a yes. Good news! Just had a meeting in LLI this morning, so that was to get set up for the week. Worked a bit in the classroom this morning getting a math game ready for this afternoon. Read with the kids a bit before my lunch. Had a group in after cafeteria duty and read them 'Fraidy Cats' and they loved it. Worked a bit with the classroom this afternoon after I contacted schools for Winter books. Then nearly a whole hour to be in the library after school got out. So nice!

Clomp, Clomp

Got to read the last time out of the old lady book today to the kindergarten classes. Did the LLI class today and S had broken her glasses the other day, and is waiting for a new pair. The office tried regular tape to hold them, so I took them and used some of our book strapping tape on them and broke off a piece of a paperclip to try and hold the ear piece together with the frame. Don't know if it worked or not, but it was better than the tape in the office! Had a wonderful volunteer that sorted out the non-fiction I took in for the week and nearly got it all put away today! That was splendid. They had Farm to Market at my school today and as I was in the library getting ready for classes, one of my old bosses came in from food services and gave me a big hug. She was really surprised and looked really glad to see me. I am learning how to control the kids, but it is hard. I'm not a very militaristic person, but I see the advantages of controlling these huge class sizes. Worked the lunch and garbage today, though I did leave a couple of minutes early at the end because of my kindergarten class coming in. When I told the lady in charge today that I would have to leave a bit early she was "What?? Who's going to do your station??" The kids were all late today because of the Farm to Market set up. I did stay until almost the last minute, but when I did get down to the library, there were already a couple of kids waiting. Kept back a couple of boys who had pushed books on the shelves as they left the computer lab. I made them pull all the books back out, fronting them. They were not happy and pleaded for me to let them get to PE! I am fitting in. I am learning. I enjoy reading to the kids, my big lovely windows, and when the windows are open, the lights are on, and I'm checking out books, I really am content.

Book Slappers

Had a couple of boys today at one of the tables just slapping their books down and slapping down the covers. I made them come over to my desk and sit behind the desk! Threatened them with not getting books today - no book slapping!!! Had my wonderful DLC kids in today and they are amazing. I think some of them even tried to do the motions of the book I read them. Did LLI reading today and had the kids write sentences from their book into their journals. Had them do silent reading to start, then introduced the new book. I liked one of them wanted to write from the book "Astronaut means a sailor among the stars." Nice! Checked in lots of books, managed to get all the laminated barcodes cut out, though some I wasn't able to trim up nicely, but at least they were separated! When I get time in the library with kids, I open all the windows and turn on all the lights. When the library is being lived in, it comes alive. I love all the books I get to put out to catch the kids' eyes and see them checking them out. The buzz of them talking - even though by standards at the school they are too noisey, I still love the buzz. One group today was all sitting in a line from the door waiting for their teacher to pick them up. Everyone had a book open and was looking at it and sharing it with the kids around them. That was so exciting! I even told them how happy it made me. Can I whine, just a little? I feel a bit picked on. Is it because I'm the library media assistant? I'm the only one with lunch at 11:20, which doesn't bother me because I sit in the library and read which is what I'd do at Sprague if I wasn't talking with Mrs. H. I'm the only one who has to work both lunches and the only one that has to monitor the kids dumping their milk and food. What is up with that? Because I'm new I'm the bottom of the tank? Or just because I'm the library lady and it's not that much different? I watch the clock the whole entire hour I'm there, and am so ready to bolt the minute the clock hits 12:50. Sometimes I get out a few minutes early when I have a class coming in immediately, but I still think it's unfair. Thank you. Done whining.

Like a Beautiful Lake

I love my Wednesdays. I get five hours in the library! When Mr. M asked me how was I doing today, I said, 'it's like I'm hiking and come upon this beautiful lake and dive in and play with the otters, and watch the eagles soar over head and just soak it in..." Ah, sublime. Did my LLI group this morning and then had four classes come in for reading and checking out books. My first group actually broke one of the shelves, the fastener that held the shelf up got too pinched and fell out. I was not happy :(  We had a talk about how I really did not have time for this, and that the library was not a place to run! Quiet voices! Harmonica! Did I mention I brought in my old harmonica and use that as a cue to be still and be quiet? It might work! Also had to stop a class three times to be quiet today. One class came in so late with only five minutes left we just talked about library rules. And since they were late, I was able to restretch the fastener and get those books back on the shelf. Loved my little kids, we had a great book to read "The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Scared of Anything" and we got to stomp our feet, wiggle our bodies, wave our arms, clap our hands and nod our heads and say 'BOO!' at the end. They really enjoyed it! Ah, ha! Though one boy got a bloody nose because he said someone had hit him while they were checking out books. I sent him to the office and Ms. T and Mr. M showed up and helped corral my little wild things. This afternoon since the kids leave at 1:15, I got to look for books kids said they turned in (yeah!), got all of last week's books shelved. Found more fabulous books to put on display, cut out some bookmarks I laminated yesterday, answered emails, even got my break in!

Gummy Vampires

One of the students in Mrs. Mc's class explained his drawing to me. We were making a little packet of birthday wishes for one of the girls. I asked him if that was something she liked and he said no, it was what he liked though! Made up Word Work big manila envelopes for the kids this morning in Mrs. Mc's class and she asked me to go down and laminate, so I asked if I could also run through the five classes I had barcode cards for as well, and she said sure. So I ran through the envelopes and then the cards. Math seems to be the rule for the afternoon and I had a group except for the last round. Where did they all go? So I helped out the other stations. Maybe they just don't like me. Or what I was doing. Did the LLI work today again and did cafeteria duty. I got half an hour this morning in the library and got some of the non-fiction shelved and displayed some of the books that caught my eye. Found a book that a kid had said he turned in. There's a lot of that going around. Checked in about six classes of books, maybe? Well, there were six piles on my desk when I'd get back to the library. I've begun to sort when I check them in - Everybody books, then fiction, then non-fiction. At least I can get them that far. Managed to cut out a couple rows of barcode cards before I left today. Put away about half of the non-fiction. So much I want to do. At least tomorrow I get to have four classes come in and then all afternoon to shelve and do some things. So, turn on and log in computers when I get there tomorrow. Then off to LLI then some prep before my first class comes in. Looking forward to it!

Clear as Mud

So today I finished up a whole week of kids since I didn't start until Tuesday last week. Had a meeting with the LLI people about what kids we would be working with this week, what the program was, how fast we were moving, who the kids were and what to look for. "It was clear as mud, but it covered the ground, and the confusion made my head go round..." as Henry Bellafonte once sang. So we just plow on and try to wrap my head around a new group and what they are learning. I guess they mix up groups all the time. Got all the non-fiction sorted today and got some put away, but I kept seeing all these fabulous books to display on the shelves. So I will do more shelving tomorrow. I think I have library time, though no classes tomorrow. I do LLI and then work in the classroom for the rest of the time. Had a really nice 1st and 2nd grade blend class in today and they did really well. Still a little noisey, but not bad. Cafeteria duty - I'm the only one that has to work both lunches. Got to do math with Mrs. Mc's class today. I love it that I know the answers! Hung up some math posters for her. Did a check off sheet on who had brought in their emergency plan sheets (in case they need to go home early - walk? bus? get picked up?) Mr. S my teacher librarian supervisor came by today and helped a counselor with some tech stuff for a video she wanted kids to watch on bullying. We did some more talking and he gave me some stuff that he had on ordering. I gave him my schedule so he'd know when he could come in, especially to help with classroom management.

Leaving Work

I absolutely hate leaving things undone, but today I had to leave all the fiction and non-fiction books on a cart without putting them away. I managed to get the Everybody readers all put away today and part of the non-fiction sorted, but it was time to go and I had to leave. Worked the LLI again today, then down to get ready for three more classes. Ms. A's kindergarten gets the award for the best behaved class of the week. They were truly a joy to read to, check out to and I wish all the classes were like that! Lunch duty, one more class coming in. Only got about 15 minutes of my lunch today because I was talking with the principal about how I have no classroom management skills, none. So she is going to find someone to help me out. I'm getting the schedule down a bit, and I got to play a math game during my IA time. People are still incredibly lovely, I just hope I can get to place of fitting in before they abandon me!