STAT School Library Summer Institute

School ended Thursday - WOO HOO!  But I spent Friday morning crushing data(which is awesome and I will share with you later this week) for a presentation on Monday at a district wide Professional Development Day for library media specialists.  No, you did not read that incorrectly.  School ended Thursday and I had professional development day on Monday - my first real day of summer vacation!   WHAT??!!!???  And it was on the OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD!!! And it was ALL DAY LONG!!! (Can you see me throwing my virtual temper tantrum?)

 

Think positive thoughts...think positive thoughts...think positive thoughts...

 

So when the alarm went off an hour earlier than usual this morning and the dog decided that he suddenly LOVED the backyard more than his comfy bed and yummy peanut butter filled Kong (Hello-that has NEVER happened before!) and traffic was moving at a SPEEDY 8mph on the beltway, I was pretty sure this was not going to go down as the best professional development day in history.

 

But then I walked in the door of the school and I saw my friends and hugged their necks and heard the birds sing and saw flowers bloom and the clouds part as rays of sun shone down upon us one and all. (Okay, so maybe I exaggerated that just a teeny tiny bit but it felt like that to me.)

 

We started out with a wonderful Q & A panel with library media specialists from the Lighthouse Schools in our district.  These folks deserve a huge round of praise for their trailblazing efforts.  They have forged a path for the rest of us to follow and were so open about sharing their successes and failures. 

 

Then off to my two morning sessions.  I learned about the newly redesigned BCPS One interface.  Then I moved on to learning about student centered flexible learning environments.  The facilitators structured the session as if we were students participating in a student centered, active, choice driven environment.  What a great application!

 

Lunch was wonderful with my former cohort buddies!  How fun to reminisce with them about our cohort days, catch up with each other and share the latest news.

 

After lunch,  I headed off to my 3rd session to learn some new assessment techniques.  LOVED IT!  Then it was time for Kelly and I to present our Un-Deweying session again.  I was pretty sure by this point in time that we would have, at most, 5 people.  But we had an entire room of attendees. 

Color me surprised!  I thought by now the bloom was off the rose and that my 15 minutes of library fame had burned brightly and faded off quietly into the night sky. But no!

 

 

Earlier in the day, a librarian stopped me in the hallway.  Literally stopped me in the hallway by grabbing me and saying, "I did it!"  She went on to tell me that she enlisted in a team of volunteers and had completely un-deweyed her entire library and SHE LOVED IT.  Her kids loved it!  Everybody loved it!  She was so enthusiastic and excited.  I felt great but considered it a fluke at the time.  I knew I had gotten some emails but I wasn't sure they were more than cursory interest or "thinking abouts" or "maybe I might" types of emails.  I mentioned her in my session and several attendees knew exactly who I was speaking of and her enthusiasm and started mentioning others who were talking about the un-deweying that was taking place in their libraries.  What a way to end the day on such an awesome high! 

 

Kelly and I spoke briefly about submitting to present at MASL this Fall.  Hmmmm.....

 

 





Closing Another Chapter

Yesterday was the last day of school for elementary school students.  In addition to saying goodbye and encouraging students to read, I also had to pack up the library so it can play host to the summer school office during the month of July and get a lovely cleaning by some of the finest custodians in BCPS.

The space looks so different with all the "stuff" packed away.  Take a peek:

 

 

I took this opportunity to purge some things instead of just packing them away. 

 

As students came in the last two days to have yearbooks signed, I got lots of questions like, "Where did all the stuff go?" and "Do you have to pack up all the books too?" and my personal favorite, "Do you take all these books home with you during the summer?"  A lot of students also wanted to make sure that I hadn't gotten rid of their favorite items and that they were coming back to live in the library next year.

 

Two of the outgoing 5th graders came in to say goodbye and they asked if I had to rearrange the library back to "the old way".  I said no and told them that, in fact, many librarians were working hard this summer to change their libraries to look similar to ours.  Their response was so enthusiastic.  I just delighted in the conversation as they went on and on about how much they like the "new" library (genreficiation) and how much easier it was to find things and how nice it looked. 

 

So my library may look bare right now but my heart is still full.

^&#% Autocorrect - Librarian Style (A moment of laughter from me to you!)

(Disclaimer:  I am a horrible texter.  I text quickly and with autocorrect OFF because I have been burned too many times with autocorrect failures gone bad. My friends and family are used to it.  I blame it on pudgy fingers.)

Yesterday was SNEAKS Day in BCPS and, coincidentally, my library books were due and I actually remembered to return them on time!  So when I left school, wearing this year's SNEAKS t-shirt, I texted my husband and son to let them know that I was running a few errands after getting my haircut (which was already scheduled) .  This is what I thought I was texting:

Stopping at the library. Love you both!

These are the replies I got:

From my husband:  Glad to see you finally picked up a summer job! Way to contribute to the family!

From my son:  Turn off your autocorrect mom!

Why?  Glad you asked.  Because this is the text I actually sent:

Stripping at the livery

Evidently, when I forgot to charge my phone and it completely died the other day, it reset the autocorrect. 

You may now shake your head, laugh and then return to your regularly scheduled day.

SNEAKS Summer Reading Program

Summer is SNEAKing up on us and yesterday was the launch of our summer reading initiative.  IN our district, we work closely with the Baltimore County Public Library to help stop that "summer slump" our students might fall into during those lazy hazy days of summer.

Although our weather has been chilly, struggling to reach the 70's for most of this week, and rainy, that could not dampen the spirits of my students because they love SNEAKS.  There is just something about a large dressed up cat that makes them smile.  The public librarians come and talk about the special summer program offerings, share the prizes that can be earned through reading and SNEAKS makes a special appearance. 

This year's theme: "Every Hero Has A Story" is one of my favorites so far.



So we ended our day with our SNEAKS kickoff assembly and I will spend the next week using library time to sign up my students and talk up the program and also show them how to access ebooks on our Destiny system.  I think that is a great way to spend the last FULL week of school, don't you?

And just check out this super cool reading display made by Erin McElwee, LMS at Charlesmont Elementary School, for her summer reading kickoff!  I just absolutely LOVE it!  Thanks for letting me share it Erin because I just know it is going to inspire some other librarians!