Tales from a Loud Librarian

I have taken a short break from posting in this blog, but that does not mean that I have been negligent in the library. October and November saw many classes in all grade levels visiting the library for research for a social studies paper. Our students must submit a paper to receive honors' credit for any social studies course. I also spent $375 of library funds on new materials for our library makerspace. I will probably do a separate post about those new items, but I am definitely going to write about the new green screen. It was up in the library less than 24 hours before students started using it. I will write a post just on that.  For now, I thought it would be fun to post a bunch of pictures so that you can see what my students have been up to.  We are a 1:1 school but when laptops break down, students use the library computers This student is focused on building a bridge with K'Nex. It is still in the works,  The Keva Planks were a real hit and...

Enjoying my favorite garden by the marsh in Kennebunk, ME I grew up in New Orleans, where I live now, and my parents have always lived here, too, Until after Hurricane Katrina flooded my father's house in 2005, and he and his wife moved up to Kennebunk, ME to live permanently. We have visited the area many times over the years, and last summer we toured around Vermont before landing in Kennebunk at the end of vacation. This year we decided to head north of Portland in Maine to visit Camden, Rockland, and Acadia National Park which we had never seen before heading to Kennebunk.  Sand Beach in Acadia National Park The coast of Maine is beautiful with its rocks, water, and quaint towns. New England has an ambiance that is so different from New Orleans. It helps that the temperatures during the day were in the 70's while it was blistering hot at home. Though New Orleans is home to wonderful food, we are quite fond of the lobster, clams, and scallops that are so plent...

I View image | gettyimages.com This is the story of how Hurricane Katrina ten years ago affected my professional life, as I remember it. I totally understand if you have no interest and want to skip this post. You have my permission to stop reading right now.  I need to actually start in 2003. In spring of that year, I made the decision to leave the elementary school where I had been librarian for twelve years. It was an extremely hard choice to make. I loved the students and parents at that school. I believe that I was made to sing, dance, use puppets, and voices to bring books to life for the younger set. I had developed a program where I taught information literacy and library skills in a very systematic way to the students. I loved what I was doing and was extremely proud of my program, One of my good friends worked in a school of 1500 students in grades 7th -12th. The other librarian, who was also a friend, was retiring. If I did not move at this time, I mig...

Two weeks ago,  I shared the story of how we transformed a wall in the library with decals . When I purchased the dots, I also purchased an Einstein quotation to put on the wall. I was hesitant to begin that project because though the letters were removable, you did not have the option to reapply them if you made an error in placement. When I finally opened the package, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the process was and how professional the finished product looked. Like the dots, I purchased the quote decals from Demco .  Step 1: Affixing the first part of the quote on the wall Step 2: Rubbing the letters off of the transfer paper and onto the wall (the transfer paper is sticky and you can move it until you are happy with placement) Step 3: First part done, two more to go Step 4: Second part done, one more to go Step 5: Almost done Job is all done!

I am not sure if the year old school and school library count as new anymore, but the teachers were not allowed to put any holes in the wall or hang any posters or art last school year. The school had a year warranty with the construction company, and the principal did not want to void that warranty by any damage caused by one of us. Actually, I did not mind the restriction because I was busy enough trying to organize the new library and figure out how I was going to make it work for my program.  The large empty wall that I see from the circulation desk The other day as I was looking at photos to use on the library website, I realized that the wall I see from the circulation desk was immense and void of anything. I knew that I needed to figure out how to dress it up. I was making a DEMCO order, and as I perused the online catalog, I found some wall decals that I thought would suit my purpose very well.  Packaging for the dots, each package holds 18 decals ...

The students first day of school was August 8th. Last year we had moved into the new building, and the library wasn't ready for prime time. I didn't open until August 22nd, three weeks after the start of school. This year, I had students in the library on the first day.  It was a soft opening, so the library wasn't over run with kids, but it was nice to have a functioning library on the first day of school.   There are some changes in our district this year, and some of our schools are changing grade configurations.  That means librarians who are entrenched in elementary school now must serve middle school students in their libraries.  That is an issue because the library's resources were developed for grades K-5. It costs money to upgrade the resources for the additional grade levels. The other issue is how will these librarians serve the older students.  I got an email today asking me to share lessons that I teach to my middle school students. That is ...

http://christmasstockimages.com/free/new_year/slides/happy_new_year_color.htm I have taken a short break to rejuvenate myself to be ready for 2014. I have several blog post ideas that I am ready to execute soon, but I thought that I would start the new year on this blog by outlining some goals that I have set for myself and hope to implement in the coming weeks when I return to school.  Students are constantly asking me what book comes next in a series. Sometimes I  know off the top of my head, but often I have to do a little research to tell them. I found this wonderful site called FictFact that I am now using to track series. It was designed as a tool for keeping track of books, series and the authors that write them. I have started f ollowing all the students favorite series here , so I can find books in series order in just a few clicks. If you are a librarian, this website is just what you have been looking for. On Twitter several months ago, I found myself ...

Some students have already been using the new library since school opened on August 9th, but it wasn't really ready to provide full services like checking out of books. On Thursday, August 22nd, we had the grand opening. Not all the books are on the shelves, and not everything is in its place as of yet, but enough is done for students to use the space and find resources. Please visit the library's new facebook page here  and like us.   A happy student checks out the first books of the  2013-14 year Students visiting in the morning try to put together a puzzle Many heads are better than one Members of senior project visit for a presentation on library resources New middle school students are excited to find good reads on the shelves 

I have been officially at work at the new school for a week and two days. The students have been at school a week. Though there are still lots of little things still needing to be done all over the building, the classrooms are very useable. The library not so much.  The other day they finished the circulation desk.  I didn't even know it was finished because there was no storage as you can see in the picture below. The blue box that you see is a special box that lights up.  There is one in the office, too. It doesn't serve a practical use. It is just there for looks.  After a day of panic, when I couldn't imagine how the new space is going to function as a library, I went to school today with a different attitude.  I decided it was time to start emptying the boxes and get the library organized and ready for use. I had students help stock the shelves and set up the computers.  I am going home this weekend dete...