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.