Where did September go?

Ok, so I haven’t been updating monthly like I promised myself, but it’s because of a good reason! Planning a wedding and getting married takes up a lot of your free time! However, we’re done with that and now life resumes to normalcy…or as normal as it gets with us ;)

So the first 6 weeks of school are almost over- I’ve met my new admin team, met new faculty members, and have welcomed in new students. I remember being really nervous prior to this school year starting with a new administration team not knowing how everyone felt about libraries. Administration usually feels one of two ways about the library- they either believe it’s a vital component to the success of a campus or they find it a waste of time and funds. I’m so excited and very lucky to say that my admin has a passion for literacy and understands the value of the library.

So here’s what’s happened so far this year:

New schedule

I was advised by multiple people that my fixed schedule from last year was a not best practice for a school library. I was advised to switch to a flexible schedule, meaning teachers come and go as they need. I knew right away that this would not work for my campus so instead I opted to do flexible for 4^th-6^th grades. I have to admit heading up this project was kind of a disaster. Figuring out times that would work best for my PreK- 3^rd grade teachers while trying to remain “flexible” and open for my 4^th-6^th grade teachers was and still is a challenge.  It was a pain and initially I don’t think my 4^th-6^th grade teachers were thrilled with me NOT doing lessons every other week (go me!). So I've cheated a bit and still have 4^th-6^th grade blocked out for weekly check-out times, however, they need to schedule lessons with me when they need.  So far I haven’t seen the huge change I thought I was going to but I have been able to do some book talks and visit with classrooms and I have done a STEM lesson with my 2^nd grade classes. I think as the year settles down I’ll be able to do some more outreach and get out among the school beyond my 4 walls!

STEM/Makerspace lessons:

Like I mentioned above, I got to do a STEM lesson with our 2^nd graders in our Makerspace.  Last year our Makerspace was only for 4^th-6^th graders and used as a reward for good behavior. This year I’m trying to open it up to everyone and persuade teachers to use it for lessons.  Last week, while 2^nd grade was in their folktales and fables unit, I had them do a STEM activity with The Three Little Pigs. Basically groups of 4 students had to brainstorm a plan and build a house for the pigs made out of toothpicks and marshmallows. The house had to stay intact while the big bad wolf blew on it (my hair dryer). I’ll be honest, the activity didn’t go as smoothly as I had envisioned when I did it with my first class. However, I tweaked it and the next lessons went much smoother and the students had a lot of fun! I can’t wait to do more lessons!

Bluebonnet Book Club:

One of my goals this year was to start an after-school book club so students would have an opportunity to read more Bluebonnet books. I limited myself to fifteen 4^th-6^th graders thinking I’d be lucky if I could get 5 to sign up. What kid would want to stay after-school and read with the librarian? Well apparently a lot do! I filled up those 15 spots the very next morning. Luckily, I was able to call-in backup and some wonderful teachers on my campus volunteered to help me out.  As I type this, I’m up to 59 students who have committed to staying after-school to read and discuss book. I can’t get over it- I’m so excited and anxious for this club to get started!

Tech Thursdays:

I’ve partnered up with our new instructional technologist and we’re doing technology professional developments once a month. Last time we hosted a Google Forms and Google Classrooms session, this month we’ll be focusing on our online research resources.

Now that I’m looking at it, that’s a heck of a lot of goals accomplished within the first six weeks while planning a wedding!