Let's Talk Pumpkins!

My library's 2nd Book Character Pumpkin Contest is now complete and it was AMAZING!  I love seeing the creativity of the families at my school and I am always glad that I made the decision to not be a judge.  You can see all of the entries here.

Last year I tweeted photos of a Diary of A Wimpy Kid pumpkin and Jeff Kinney sent us a message. I also got some wonderful emails from the author of the Stella Batts series,Courtney Sheinmel, who sent a special package of bookmarks and Stella Batts items to the designer of the pumpkin.  I thought that was cooler than cool.  So this year I made it a mission to tweet as many pictures as possible (if I could find and author or illustrator's Twitter address to match the pumpkin created) or to email the author or illustrator directly with a photo of the pumpkin.  

I was so pleased to be able to share tweets and emails with students from the authors and illustrators of the following books/series:

Lunch Lady series by Jarrett J. Krosoczka (tweet)
"If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" by Laura Numeroff (tweet)
Owly series by Andy Runyon (tweet)
"Ballerina Swan" by Allegra Kent (email from illustrator Emily Arnold McCully)
Melonhead series by Katy Kelly (2 emails from author - 1 for me and 1 for student)
"Where's My Mummy?" by Carolyn Crimi (email from author)

These interactions brought alot of joy to these students.  It helped them to feel like they made a connection to a REAL author and illustrator.  I printed the tweets and emails out and sent them home with the students so they could share them with their families.

Things I learned from doing this:
- Some authors and illustrators are difficult to locate on the web.  Their online presence seems well hidden.  That's a shame.
-Most authors and illustrators are gracious enough to reply in some fashion but, just in case they don't, I did not tell any students that I was reaching out.  I only told them when I had a response.

I'm sick and tired of pumpkins and ready to have my library space back to "normal" ...until next year. :-)

OH, and least I forget, a special shout out to the wonderful Mrs. Larrison who for the 2nd year in a row let me keep her staff entry in the contest.  Her creations are beautiful to behold and certainly make the library look fabulous.  Thanks Sherry!

Share the Love

2 days ago, I spoke with a parent, via phone, about our library pumpkin contest (more on that this weekend!).  Before she hung up, she said, "My husband and I just want you to know that you are the reason our son likes to read.  He always comes home excited about books you have talked about or read."  It made me feel AWESOME, AMAZING, SPECTACULAR!  And, on a day when I was a bit stressed out in libraryland, it was perfectly timed.  Had she not had a question about the pumpkin contest, I probably would have never heard such a lovely thing.  We all need those attaboys and attagirls once in a while.

Yesterday one of the resource teachers in the Office of Digital Learning (ODL) sent out an email about the Letters About Literature Contest.  I flagged it to look at later and determine how to get my students involved in some way.

Last night I finally had a minute to read the whole email.  Buried within the text was this bullet:
·         Christine Sarbanes Award Nomination information. The award is open to those whose students participate in LAL. Educators cannot self-nominate, but a principal or a colleague can do so: http://bit.ly/1M6Sp7u

I've been privileged this past year to attend more professional conferences than ever - both physically and virtually.  As I read about the presenters, I am always impressed by their list of credentials and awards.  They are amazing individuals.

Today I am heading off to one of my favorite places, Professional Development, with some of my favorite people, fellow librarians in BCPS, and I know that sitting next to me in one of those meetings is some one just as amazing and awesome.  I know that sitting in my faculty room back at school is someone just as amazing an awesome.  The only difference is that somebody somewhere took the time to nominate them for that award, accolade, acknowledgement. That's a big deal!

 It takes time and effort to think highly enough of someone's abilities to want to share their wonderfulness with others.  We are all busy and we all have very full plates.  We all have the same 24 hours in a day that we have to balance with family, work and self.  But what if we took just a few minutes and sent an email, dropped a note or nominated a colleague for an honor?  How incredible would they feel to be acknowledged - even if they don't win?  How incredible would YOU feel knowing you made someone's day?

Share the love!

MASL

Friday I was delighted to be able to attend my first MASL (Maryland Association of School Librarians) Conference where I was able to present about the un-deweying pilot that started this blog.

One of the things I loved best about this conference was that the Morning Keynote Speaker, Andy Plemmons, and the Afternoon keynote Speaker, Matthew Winner, were both practicing school library media specialists.  They were talking the talk and walking the walk.  Their presentations weren't full of , "When I was in the library..." but "In my library.." and I think that is so valuable.  It made them relatable and their ideas and insights and thoughts practical and applicable.  That is always significant to me because there is nothing worse than walking away from a presentation and thinking that i took nothing away because it wasn't realistic in a day to day teaching sense.

 My first session of the day was Reaching Diverse Readers Through Diverse Reading Programs with Jennifer Siderius from Frederick Co., MD.  She had some awesome ideas for ways to engage readers.  I was particularly impressed with how she worked with the classroom teachers to make sure that the mystery book bags were specific to the reading levels within a class.  WOW!

The next session was the one Kelly and I presented at and we had a pretty full room.  There were lots of questions and feedback.  I have to admit it was a bit daunting to see Andy Plemmons turn up to hear our session. 

After a delicious lunch (sidenote - be prepared to gain some pounds if you attend this conference as there is food EVERYWHERE), the next session I went to was Best Book Sites (so far).  I have a HUGE list of sites to visit this weekend.  I am learning to pace myself and put some things on the back burner for another time.  Do small things well and add on instead of doing many things poorly.
Matthew Winner was the presenter for this session and it is obvious that he has a passion for literature.  He read aloud from an advance copy of "Little Tree" by Loren Long.  I see this being a book coming to a professional development near you very soon.

And then Matthew ended the day, as the keynote, with a presentation entitled, "What Makes a Hero?" and challenged all of us to think about the legacy we are leaving.  I was ready (almost) to head back to school right that day and get started.

And so it continues...

Kelly and I have been hard at work gathering information and readying for our presentation at MASL.  One of the last minute to do's on my list was to get the most current circulation statistics for the beginning of the school year.  Was the increased circulation just a flash in the pan due to the novelty of it all or would this change in my library have the long lasting impact that I hoped for?

With fingers crossed, I ran the reports during my planning time this morning.  Take a look!

Total Circulations 8/1/14-10/15/14 - 2756
                                      Fiction       - 1015
                                      Nonfiction - 738

Total circulations 8/1/15- 10/15/15 - 3258
                                      Fiction       - 1345
                                      Nonfiction  - 915


That's a 24% increase in Nonfiction circulation, a 33% increase in Fiction circulation and an 18% increase overall!

WOO HOO!