It's been a few weeks since school started, and I think I might be getting into the swing of things.
In the first full week of school I had it pointed out to me that I need to work on classroom techniques - i.e. getting the kids to listen to me when I tell them to be quiet, line up correctly, etc. It upset me at the time (it was my Principal who came to talk to me, so yeah) but now I see that it's true. I'm a librarian, not a teacher. So I've been working with the kids on their library manners. The majority of the classes know how to behave, but I've got a few issues to deal with.
The biggest problem I have is my 6 tables in the library. Each table has 4 chairs, and ideally only 4 children will sit at each table. They shouldn't be clustered together, which we all know leads to whispering, which leads to talking, which leads to me shushing them. The other issue I have is that when I let kids check out books, there is always one kid who needs 30 seconds to find his books and then one who needs almost the whole class period and my help to find her books. So how do I help 24 kids find books while there is a line forming at my desk waiting for checkout. And mind you, the line isn't quiet and the kids in it aren't patient.
My friend Raynette suggested that I label each table. After the kids find their books they go sit down BEFORE they go to my desk. Once everyone has a book I can then call them up by table to check out. This is a very good system. So I figured, why not solve to problems at once? I used the school die-cut machine - best resource ever - and cut 5 circles of each color. The tables now have a central dot with a cute saying (that I totally stole from Risking Failure!)
Red any good books lately?
Orange you glad you read good books?
Yellow books are just ducky!
It's not easy being green...
Don't be blue. Check out a good book!
Books are grape!
I then added the other four dots of each color in front of the four seats for that table. So now, each child should have a dot directly in front of them when they sit at the tables in the library. There is no reason for any of them to sit between any of those dots since there are extra spots to sit scattered all over the library. It was a quick project I threw together on Friday before our Homecoming pep rally. I can't wait to try it out with the kids on Monday morning!
In other news, I've decided to try a different approach with the solar system model. I still want to do one but I don't have the time to invest into making them out of yarn. It's a bummer but there are only so many hours in a day. I am now thinking I'll find paper lanterns online and buy varying sizes. I can get basic colors for each planet and then add pain effects to make them look more planetary.
I'm also still working on amassing the objects I need for my I Spy Dewey display. The kids and I even found a small wasps' nest over the summer for it. We sealed it into a plastic bag and then froze it (just in case!). I need to start putting the objects in so I can see what I need to find to complete the different sections. Once I get it all together then I'll take it to school and ask our maintenance man to help me find a way to display them.
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