Deck the Loft
It's so much fun decorating for Christmas here at the loft.
This year, we had a helping hand from Superman.
Deck the Loft
Thanksgiving
This Thanksgiving was a sweet one.
"Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory."
Theodore Suess Geisel
A Moment
I am sewing your Halloween costume.
Sitting in my chair,
under the light.
Needle
and thread
Needle
and thread
It brings me joy.
To do this thing
for you
for me
and for us
Why does it bring me joy?
Make me feel warm and cozy?
Cozy
Sewing your Halloween costume
after dinner
after a meal, lovingly prepared
after we gathered ourselves around the table
and ate
talked
shared
laughed
full and relaxed
we clear away the dishes
and settle down together
tv
or
tinkering
or sewing
your Halloween costume
Cooking with Love: Chicken Pot Pie
I believe that cooking is one of the true comforts of home; it's one of the best ways to show someone you love them. Cooking is also a fantastic way for me to be creative. That's why I relish crafting a good meal for friends and family, or putting out a spread for teachers at book fair time. Planning the menu is fun, and I love lingering around the table afterwards chatting or playing games. It's so satisfying when I see people go for seconds and there are no leftovers.
Pioneer Woman is one of my favorite sources for recipes. Grabbing key ingredients and ideas from two of my favorite West Greenville shops, Revival Butchery and Naked Pasta, is always a treat. I often don't know what I'm preparing for dinner until I walk into either place and find inspiration. What's more inspiring than pasta that's just been made or freshly ground beef? Mmmmm! So good!
The last time we got a craving for chicken pot pie, I decided to make one from scratch, something I've never done. I went with Ree's easy chicken pot pie, recipe, but made it double crusted with store bought pie crust from the refrigerator section for the bottom and a puff pastry top. I saved time by using a rotisserie chicken and frozen peas and carrots. Oven roasted asparagus completed the meal. It was delicious and comforting.
When I look back to my childhood, I remember how good it felt to come home, so hungry for dinner, smelling my mother's cooking as soon as I walked in the door. Spaghetti after softball practice, Chicken Cacciatore after band. I appreciate the memory of this now more than I did when I was a kid, and wish I had been more grateful.
I'm adding chicken pot pie to my list of go to comfort meals to prepare, alongside hamburger steak with mashed potatoes, shepherd's pie and good old fashioned chicken soup. It feels good to make it, share it, and eat it!
Ode to Shortie
We recently said goodbye to our Shortie. Writing this poem helped me work through some of my grief.
Abandoned
We already had two dogs. “He has to stay outside.”
My first response to this little stinky dachshund’s arrival.
Within days
He was inside: house, heart.
His personality had taken hold of me. I could turn him out no longer.
Black wiry fur
He looked like one of those pot bellied pigs people keep for pets.
His love for food: comical.
His eyes and wobbly walk
Expressions and personality
Quirky, winning
Always wanting to be near you.
eyes begging
For love in any form
Food
Touch
Toys
He loved toys
Especially the squeakers
Sniffing and snorting with excitement
Throw, chase, tug, growl, repeat
Those little nails clicking on the floor
He loved to dig outside in the yard
Nose fresh with brown dirt.
And bury himself
in blankets
Stealing dirty socks and shirts to feather his nest.
Five years.
Diabetes and divorce, Insulin and lawyers
A new normal, soon back to our old playful selves
Taking the shots well
Another year, out on our own
Ready partner in this new life
Steady
Holding
Hopeful
Another move
closer
New loves, New job, New town
Family
He was a bridge, a band aid. Ambassador healer
Slowing down, he grayed and limped.
How old is he?
We don’t know.
His adventures do not stop.
Convertible rides
Nose out the window
He is the portable star
Covered with kisses
It’s been a while since he chased a toy.
But his costume takes home first place anyway
Shaky
Seizures
He’s just old.
This is the sad part
Full of hot tears and burning regret
It is the end
Endings can be long or short
Which one is best?
Guilt and Pain a lesson to grow me.
Forgive me. Next time, I’ll do better.
Let me carry you in my heart.
We were not
Ready
To say goodbye.
Story time is Sacred
This post is is from 4 years ago. I never hit the publish button!
In this second year of story time I now understand: the purpose of the story time rug, the story time chair and having a special corner or area for story time. But the biggest revelation for me was just how important story time actually is. Don't get me wrong, I have always known that story time is a big deal and that reading aloud to children is hugely important, but the richness of it and the depth of what story time can be and do is much more than I originally gave it credit for. I underestimated it. Story time is an educational playground chock full of opportunities to teach vocabulary, literary elements and much more. It is also a time to personally connect with students. It creates a shared, community experience that can be referenced and built upon. I bet whole college courses could be done on story time, maybe they are.
I now have a story time chair for the reader - that's usually me! And, I have moved the area where we do story time to the back of the library, away from the distracting flow of checkout, visitors and chatting teachers, closer to our beanbag reading area near the big windows. I remember first seeing the tiered area in our library with the bean bags and thinking that was the perfect place for story time. Now I know better. That area is too large and spread out for my version of story time.
I still don't have a story time rug, because I haven't found one that I like just yet. But, I do understand that the students need to sit on the floor to improve their ability to focus on the book and its' illustrations, and that being close to each other is important. The rug defines that area and makes it special. Children need to see the reader's facial expressions, and the reader needs to see the children's facial expressions. The setting is intimate and special. This is one of the reasons I have chosen not to use technology during story time. I believe it would create a barrier between the reader and the student and that face to face experiences in our world are becoming a luxury.
I have always believed in doing the voices and making sounds when reading a story. Now I also find that putting my own reactions into the read aloud is often effective. The look of shock, surprise or anger on my face when a character does something unexpected is entertaining and often helpful to children in confirming their own reactions to the story. It is also fun.
I certainly have much to learn about the art of an effective story time, but I have come a long way. At the very least, I now have a more comprehensive understanding and a deeper appreciation for the goodness and importance of reading picture books to classes of students.
Standing Up
I love reading picture books to learners of all ages. I've heard picture books and story time described as "cognitive playgrounds," and I love this perfect monicker.
I read "Let the Children March" to a class of fourth graders recently. The reading led to some excellent discussion. After we read, and talked, and read some more, we thought about the things that mattered to us. I asked the students what they would stand up for, what they would march for. They made signs for their causes, and we held them up as we marched around the library.
Books paired with activities like this turn the library into a cognitive playground. I love getting my students up and moving with activities like this, and I love learning about their dreams and passions.
Introducing: the Library Sisters!
What do you do when your little sister finally moves to the same state and lands a job as a school librarian? You share everything! One of the many things my sister and Jackie and I are sharing is a presentation! Here is a link to our presentation! We presented maker activities to go along with picture books and discussed our experiences with the students as we completed these activities.
High levels of student engagement and happiness during these activities are what makes them worthwhile to me. I love to see learners become in absorbed in the moment, singing as they work and interested in what other students are doing. Behavior problems almost vanish.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1nlcKbel7s4bApuluHezZ2Fbkwha4iZ3c9WJd1sUFFgk/edit?usp=sharing
A Manifesto of Sorts
"I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you."
from Whitman's "Song of Myself"
I am a big fan of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass and the "Song of Myself". A while back one of my library superhero friends Heather Moorefield-Lang asked me to write something telling about my day-to-day work as a school librarian. The piece below is what I sent her. Obviously it was inspired by Whitman. I think about adding to it sometimes. Every once and a while when I need a little boost I read this, and it helps me get back into an empowered, confident, optimistic, mindset.
I am a free reading choice warrior one minute and a book cleaner the next.
I am the tie-er of shoes and the wiper of snot.
I am a change maker. I am a rule bender.
I am a champion of students - more freedoms, more choices, more voice, more money.
I am the webmaster.
I am the school news program sponsor and producer.
I am the book talker.
Field trip planner
Book donator
Grant writer
Problem solver
I am an early adopter.
Research guru
Storytime goddess
Book repair queen
Collaborator
Book trailer junkie
Mess maker
Fine forgiver
Tech troubleshooter
Book fair diva
Bulletin board creator
Flying by the seat of my pants way too much
The first lady of Giveaways and prizes
I am the librarian who lets the kids play computer games because it is good for their brains.
I check out scissors duct tape and glue.
I am the YES of course you can (fill in the blank) bring your class in five minutes, check out three books over the limit, use whatever, borrow whatever,
I am the why not
I am the come on in
I see the way some of the students look at me when I read to them, or see them in the halls. In their eyes I see that I am magic and possibility to them. I see that I am a light in their lives.
Dances With Books
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
I moved last year. If there is one thing that will show you that it is time to declutter and get rid of a few things, it is packing them all up and hauling them to another place. In the unpacking part of the move, I was determined to get rid of several boxes of stuff and not have to move them again.
How does one end up with so much stuff? In my case, much of it was inherited. Dishes, glassware, boxes and boxes of pictures, books, clothes. Some of it belonged to my mother who passed away in 2010, and some of it belonged to my aunt who passed away in 2001.
Sorting through these belongings and deciding what to do with them was necessary, but not easy. Discarding, donating and selling my aunt and mother's things sometimes felt like throwing away memories of these people I loved, memories that thin and blur with time.
I made several trips to the Habitat for Humanity store and the Brown Roof Thrift store. I also posted items on an app called Offer Up. Dishes and glassware and clothes were easy to get rid of, but other items were not so easy to part with. In some cases, the experience of the items finding new owners was joyful and rewarding. Selling my aunt's gleaming silver coronet was a fantastic experience that I will never forget.
The coronet was one of the items that I held on to for a while before deciding to sell it. It was beautiful. My aunt played it in the Fitch High School marching band in Groton, CT. After high school, my aunt became a barber and then went on to become a highly regarded animal control officer. The coronet spent years in the attic of my mother's ancestral home in Mystic. I listed the coronet on Offer Up which allows you to deal locally with people who are nearby and hand deliver your sale item. It was fun to meet people and hear about their plans for whatever it is they are buying from you.
Eventually, I got a notification on the app that someone wanted to buy the coronet. We set up a meeting at a nearby grocery store. The buyer was purchasing the instrument for his son, a school band director who collects instruments and their stories. He wanted to know about the original owner of the coronet. It made me happy to tell him about my aunt, but he also wanted to know if the instrument worked, and I had no idea if it did. After texting him information and sending links regarding my aunt, he sent me a video of his son Kevin playing the coronet. (see below) It worked! The sweet music that flowed out of the instrument, last played by my aunt, sent tears streaming down my face. And it just so happened that my mother adored the song he played, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". I know that both my aunt and my mother would have been overjoyed to hear the rich music pouring out of the old coronet.
I have enjoyed telling this story to family and friends. My other auntie -Pam, encouraged me to write about it after I accidentally told her the story twice. That video is such a gift, a greeting from heaven. Even better, Kevin played the coronet for his middle school students and they loved it. How did he know that is one of our favorite songs? I think some angels told him.
How does one end up with so much stuff? In my case, much of it was inherited. Dishes, glassware, boxes and boxes of pictures, books, clothes. Some of it belonged to my mother who passed away in 2010, and some of it belonged to my aunt who passed away in 2001.
Sorting through these belongings and deciding what to do with them was necessary, but not easy. Discarding, donating and selling my aunt and mother's things sometimes felt like throwing away memories of these people I loved, memories that thin and blur with time.
I made several trips to the Habitat for Humanity store and the Brown Roof Thrift store. I also posted items on an app called Offer Up. Dishes and glassware and clothes were easy to get rid of, but other items were not so easy to part with. In some cases, the experience of the items finding new owners was joyful and rewarding. Selling my aunt's gleaming silver coronet was a fantastic experience that I will never forget.The coronet was one of the items that I held on to for a while before deciding to sell it. It was beautiful. My aunt played it in the Fitch High School marching band in Groton, CT. After high school, my aunt became a barber and then went on to become a highly regarded animal control officer. The coronet spent years in the attic of my mother's ancestral home in Mystic. I listed the coronet on Offer Up which allows you to deal locally with people who are nearby and hand deliver your sale item. It was fun to meet people and hear about their plans for whatever it is they are buying from you.
Eventually, I got a notification on the app that someone wanted to buy the coronet. We set up a meeting at a nearby grocery store. The buyer was purchasing the instrument for his son, a school band director who collects instruments and their stories. He wanted to know about the original owner of the coronet. It made me happy to tell him about my aunt, but he also wanted to know if the instrument worked, and I had no idea if it did. After texting him information and sending links regarding my aunt, he sent me a video of his son Kevin playing the coronet. (see below) It worked! The sweet music that flowed out of the instrument, last played by my aunt, sent tears streaming down my face. And it just so happened that my mother adored the song he played, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". I know that both my aunt and my mother would have been overjoyed to hear the rich music pouring out of the old coronet.
I have enjoyed telling this story to family and friends. My other auntie -Pam, encouraged me to write about it after I accidentally told her the story twice. That video is such a gift, a greeting from heaven. Even better, Kevin played the coronet for his middle school students and they loved it. How did he know that is one of our favorite songs? I think some angels told him.
Feeling the Love
This past week at work was pretty good. I have begun reviewing the previous week's picture book with the children. I am amazed at how much they remember. Reviewing is an excellent vehicle for practice with literary elements, analysis and discussion. I wish I had thought to do this sooner.
This week we read Mother Bruce with the preK-third graders. The children easily predicted what was going to happen throughout the book and were able to give evidence to support their predictions. For example, the title, "Mother" Bruce is a good indicator that the Bruce the Bear will turn into the goslings caretaker, and the cover picture of the goslings walking all over the bear can be used to support the prediction that the baby geese will not stop following Bruce. My partner Cheryl found some good extension activities, and the students wrote about or drew what they would have done if they were Bruce or drew the things that Bruce liked, versus the things that Bruce did not like.
My birthday was Monday. One of the best birthday gifts I received was getting a group hug by an entire first grade class. It started with one student giving me a birthday hug, and then grew until I was being hugged by several layers of students. Such warm and sincere joy and love emanated from these little nuggets. I could feel the love. It was the best hug I have ever received!
I enjoy checking out the bulletin boards as I walk the halls in my school. I spotted this one on Thursday and it made my day. The hearts covering the bulletin board gave shout outs to recess and teachers, technology and the library!
This week we read Mother Bruce with the preK-third graders. The children easily predicted what was going to happen throughout the book and were able to give evidence to support their predictions. For example, the title, "Mother" Bruce is a good indicator that the Bruce the Bear will turn into the goslings caretaker, and the cover picture of the goslings walking all over the bear can be used to support the prediction that the baby geese will not stop following Bruce. My partner Cheryl found some good extension activities, and the students wrote about or drew what they would have done if they were Bruce or drew the things that Bruce liked, versus the things that Bruce did not like.
My birthday was Monday. One of the best birthday gifts I received was getting a group hug by an entire first grade class. It started with one student giving me a birthday hug, and then grew until I was being hugged by several layers of students. Such warm and sincere joy and love emanated from these little nuggets. I could feel the love. It was the best hug I have ever received!
I enjoy checking out the bulletin boards as I walk the halls in my school. I spotted this one on Thursday and it made my day. The hearts covering the bulletin board gave shout outs to recess and teachers, technology and the library! |
| "This school is awesome because of the helpful librarians." |
As exhausting as working in an elementary school can be, there is lots of love flowing through our school. That is what keeps me coming back. It recharges my teacher batteries.
"It's enough to make kings and vagabonds believe the very best."
"Infuse your life with action. Don't wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen... yourself, right now, right down here on Earth." Bradley Whitford
A Super Fantastic Friday
Today was a fantastic day in the library. It was super fantastic, and here's why:
- It was a four day week. I have so much more energy on four day weeks.
- We began our latest makerspace activity - LED Valentine's Day card making, and the children were excited about it and made some cute cards.
- Two boxes of new books arrived! :-)
- The classes we had were well behaved.
- We had book check out and making going on at the same time. I think that kind of activity blend makes me happy. It feeds my creative side.
- Students made hearts with their favorite book titles written on them for our bulletin board.
Here are some photos from our library today.
Ryan and Craig a Good Choice for Story Time Pinch Hitters
This is my second year doing story time - reading picture books to students in preschool through grade three during their library visit. I love it, and I think the majority of the children do as well.
I used to ditch story time on days when I felt unwell, but then my friend Molly shared Story Time with Ryan and Craig with me. I now use their YouTube channel to pinch hit for me when I can't manage to read aloud - which is rare. The kids enjoy these guys. Have you ever searched the YouTube story time for read aloud videos? SNORE! Finally, I have found something comparable to the animated reading I provide to my students.
Watching Ryan and Craig do story time, I have been inspired to include some their techniques, such as including my own exaggerated response to the action in the story or talking to the characters about something they have just done.
I have to say that I would like Ryan and Craig to know:
1. I am very thankful for your work. You two are awesome!
2. MY library story time is not quiet and sleepy as referenced in the intro video.
3. Can you guys read The Legend of Rock, Paper Scissors? I think you would do a fantastic job with it.
Here is one of my favorite Ryan and Craig videos.
I used to ditch story time on days when I felt unwell, but then my friend Molly shared Story Time with Ryan and Craig with me. I now use their YouTube channel to pinch hit for me when I can't manage to read aloud - which is rare. The kids enjoy these guys. Have you ever searched the YouTube story time for read aloud videos? SNORE! Finally, I have found something comparable to the animated reading I provide to my students.
Watching Ryan and Craig do story time, I have been inspired to include some their techniques, such as including my own exaggerated response to the action in the story or talking to the characters about something they have just done.
I have to say that I would like Ryan and Craig to know:
1. I am very thankful for your work. You two are awesome!
2. MY library story time is not quiet and sleepy as referenced in the intro video.
3. Can you guys read The Legend of Rock, Paper Scissors? I think you would do a fantastic job with it.
Here is one of my favorite Ryan and Craig videos.
Growth Mindset and the Zero Gravity Yoga Class
I recently joined a yoga studio with the goals of increasing my strength and flexibility, finding a community of like minded people, and stress relief. This is the first step on my journey back to fitness. Enthusiastic and optimistic, I signed up for a variety of yoga classes: restorative yoga, yin yoga and hatha yoga. I posted to Facebook about my new found yoga studio, and texted my friends.
“It even has one of those classes where you hang from the fabric like Pink!” I texted my friend Lori. Though at the time I had no intentions of ever joining one of those classes.
However, after perusing the studio's course listings I changed my mind. The description of the antigravity restorative yoga class for all levels sounded appealing even to someone who hasn’t been exercising regularly for the past year. Words like: no prerequisites, gentle, healing, levitating meditations, and floating sivasana lured me in. The real clincher was the phrase, “It offers accessibility to students with physical limitations” Perfect! Just a click and I was signed up for the class.
Up until the moment I walked into the studio, I was excited about doing this new thing, taking risks and being brave. I was plucky and proud.
I checked into the studio, stowed my jacket and shoes and began to wonder exactly what I was doing taking this class. Nervous, I tried to chat up some of my fellow students, many of whom seemed to already know one another. They sat in the fabric hammocks that were suspended from the ceiling as they chatted. I stood off to the side, noticing that I was older and heavier than most of these people. Confidence shrinking now, I asked one of the students how long she had been doing the zero gravity classes. “Oh, three or four months” she said with a serious and unfriendly face. “You don’t belong here!” said the voice in my head. A few other people trickled into the class and everyone took a fabric hammock as the teacher took her place at the front of the room.
All of the hammocks closest to the door were taken. No easy escape for me. It took me three or four tries just to get myself hoisted into the hammock like everyone else. The teacher came to each student to check the height of their hammock. It turns out mine was too high for me. Relief flooded my mind. She lowered the hammock and I hoisted myself up. Now I was swinging around just like the others! Hooray!
Our first instructions were to lift our right leg up and over to straddle the hammock like a saddle or a giant wedgie. I lifted my leg as high up as I could, and I put it back down and looked around to see that everyone else had managed to straddle their hammock. I shifted myself in the hammock and tried again. Eventually, I resorted to trying to grab my right foot as I lifted my leg. It took me three times to catch my foot. After considerable struggle, I was in the correct position. This was going to be interesting. We didn’t stay in that position as long as it took me to get into it.
Visions of Lucille Ball trying to keep up at the chocolate factory flashed in my head as I did the best I could to follow along. Everyone seemed to fit in their hammocks with ease while mine felt like spanx. Despite my clumsy pulling and tugging of the hammock and having to make several attempts for each pose, I was able to do some form of about three of the seven poses. Eventually, the teacher came around and lowered the hammocks to about a foot off the ground. I stepped into the hammock, terrified that my weight would pull the thing all the way to the floor leaving no room to swing. It didn’t touch the ground! Alright! Now I would be able to do all of the poses, I said to myself, nearly tripping, as my foot got stuck in the hammock.
One of the poses involved sitting in the hammock and leaning back, letting your shoulders rest on the floor. I got into this pose successfully. Hanging on to the hammock with both hands like a swing, we hoisted ourselves up for the next pose. Use your feet to push yourself four steps back were the next instructions. When I was doing that, I lost traction and began to swing forward in my hammock. I tried to stop myself with my Flintstones feet brakes as I clawed at the fabric of my hammock trying to pull myself more upright, but my body kept swinging as my feet slipped and slid below me like a wet dog scrambling to get out of a bathtub. There I was swinging out of control, trying desperately to stop myself as my still classmates gracefully curved and turned and bent in their beautiful poses. I can still hear the sound of my feet sliding around on the floor as my hammock slowly came to a stop.
Thankfully, I was able to get myself into the position for floating sivasana, our last pose. Lying flat, in the hammock, like a cocoon. The teacher came around and offered to swing us in the darkened room. It was lovely. Tears of joy, relief and humiliation rolled down my cheeks as I drifted back and forth imagining myself one day being able to gracefully go through all the poses. But for now, I did it. I tried this new thing, and I think I just might try it again. After class, I texted my friend Lori. "Guess what I just did?!" Pink would be so proud.
“I’m learning to be brave in my beautiful mistakes.” PINK
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