Auntie Librarian

What? It has been over a year since I have posted here!? Wow. The new year has lit yet another fire under me and here I am again, grateful as always. Since it has been a while I am going to list the highlights from this school year so far.  I am finally feeling at home in an elementary setting.

In addition to the highlights below, story time has been much better, and I feel more confident about how to select the best books for story time and get the most out of the books I share with the students. Making curriculum connections is now easier since I am more familiar with our elementary standards.  One of my favorite books has been The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors. I  also enjoyed reading chapters and passages from Wonder to classes.

We had an intern! It was amazing having Molly with us for a semester. We really miss her. Having Molly join us forced me to be more thoughtful of my practices. I have made a few changes because of this experience.

Our Super Reader program has more participation this year and we've added online review forms and Schoology badges!

Students created land bridge models, LED cards and gingerbread houses in the makerspace!

Students enjoyed this fiction/non-fiction book sorting activity. This was a good springboard for locating informational text features in the non-fiction books.

Hour of code week was so much fun! We broke out the ozobots, our new osmos and utilized our activpanel in addition to using the hour of code website activities.

The movie release of Wonder was the perfect opportunity to revisit this book, read aloud passages and chapters to classes, and have a Choose Kind day at our school.

Moving from Middle to Elementary - "It's a different world, from where you come from!" (Do you remember that show?)

In August, I began working in a school that serves students in pre kindergarten through grade eight. Before this, I spent 22 years working with middle school students in a variety of capacities, including school librarian.

I knew this job would teach me many new things.  I have already learned so much. One of the reasons I took this leap was that I liked the idea of working with students for a longer period of time. How cool is it to know a student from their pre-school or kindergarten days all the way up to middle school? I love that possibility.

It is only October and already I am in love with quite a few of these little nuggets.

Over the next several months I plan to post on some of the new experiences I am having. One of the first topics will be story time.

I am exhausted. Still. It has been two weeks since our 40th Annual South Carolina Association of School Librarians conference, and I am still not back to 100% Jen. My ear infection is almost cleared up and the house is back in order. Our book fair is over and the library budget is almost spent. Phew! Hubby and I had big plans to celebrate all the hard work that went into planning this event with a spa day at the Grove Park Inn. Since I got sick almost immediately after conference was over, and our dog was having seizures, we had to cancel our spa day. I really want to celebrate, but it looks like that will have to wait.

 Planning this conference has been, as Samantha McManus says, "Like being strapped to the front of a speeding train." It had literally taken over my life: work, eat, sleep, exercise, conference planning. And now that it's over I am a crumpled mess by the side of the tracks. It reminds me of one of my favorite Dixie Chicks songs, "Am I the Only One"(Who's Ever Felt This Way). The lyrics "It rung me out and strung me out and it hung years on my face... and now my sense of humor needs a break" hit home for me. It is comforting to know that I am NOT the only one who's ever felt this way. Isn't that right, Diana Carr? And when I see a tweet like this:


 I have to write the conference review, but the conference is just a blur! One of my favorite moments is stuffing the blue plastic portfolios while listening to Wagon Wheel and the sound track that Dawn James made for us.  Project Connect was pure awesomeness and I loved it. I wanted to stand up and cheer a few times! Seeing the authors arrive, meeting them and seeing them show up in the exhibit hall for autographing was awesome. I also enjoyed Sharon Flake and Sara Pennypacker's talks at the Author Celebration Luncheon. Other than those moments, the rest was pretty much a stress casserole for me.

I have to make a list of the lessons I have learned and pass them on to the next President Elect. I have to write thank you notes. So many thank you notes. . .

Author of Reality Is Broken, Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, Jane McGonigal, gave an excellent presentation at ALA's opening session. Here are some interesting tidbits from her talk:

Here we are in Vegas for the Annual Library Conference. Conference action starts later, so today's agenda is a motor coach trip to the Canyon. I have been to Vegas, Hoover Dam and the Canyon several times before, but it never gets old. It is certainly a change of scenery from Belize. 

It's the end of the school year. That magical time after standardized testing when weeks and days are filled with field trips, permission slips, yearbook day, field day,  rewards & celebrations, banquets, dances, awards ceremonies, graduations and more. For a school librarian here is what the and more means: inventory, lost library books, more overdue notices and the  "I never checked out that book." or the "I turned that book in." claims,  summer reading promotion, summer reading book and material distribution, and last minute student projects & reports as well as last minute collaborative efforts. There is also the end of the year report to your principal and the state survey.  Ooops!  I left out the frayed nerves, the strained relationships that also come with the end of the school year. And I completely forgot the "Who are they going to cut for next year?" anxiety.

"Stressed Out" by Jonathan Edward Lee https://www.flickr.com/photos/bakaotaku/5318737895/in/photostream/

This can lead to a giant stress induced meltdown. Here is what I do to try to "Keep Calm and Carry On."

• Focus on the future. We had a motivational speaking group called the Strength Team come to our school recently. Something they said has been helpful to me. "Successful people focus on what they are going to, not what they are going through."  I have been thinking about my vacation plans and what I am going to do with my summer. That really helps. This is not going to last and it is almost over. My mother loved Robert Schuller. She watched him on TV, read his books and sent in donations. For one of those donations they sent her a glass ornament that said, "Tough Times Don't Last, but Tough People Do." This quote helps me. 
• Breathe. I try to remember to take slow, deep breaths when I am feeling stressed. 
• Embrace the crazy. Sometimes when things get too busy, I try to think of what the opposite would look and feel like. It helps me remember why I chose to become a teacher. What would my job be like if there were no ________? (Fill in the blank with anything - students, field trips, summer reading). Most likely, it would look like something I do not want or would not enjoy for longer than a day. Part of the reason I signed up for this job is because of the super-busy, challenging nature of it, and it is also super-rewarding and satisfying to me, and because I love office supplies and technology.
• Exercise. Make it non-negotiable. Even fifteen minutes of exercise will help.  Yoga really helps me. I also love a nice walk. 
• Listen to music. It is amazing what music can do for my state of mind. 
• Realize you are not alone. It is crazy time for everyone! 
• Take Stock -  I need to put some goodies in my end of year report, so now is the time to look at the year and celebrate the highlights.