Where has the time gone?

I'm shocked to see my last post was back at the beginning of September, but truth be told, I have been a busy little librarian!

I've been buying books, lots and lots of books!  I started off with my wish list of books I'd compiled over the summer from reading reviews in Publisher's Weekly.  Then I started picking up stuff the kids had requested.  Note to other librarians: if you put a direction sign with "Gotham City" on it up in your library, the kids will hound your mercilessly until you get some Batman books.  I was able to get them in the 2.5-3.9 range as well as 4.0 and above (AR levels).

My latest project ('cause I don't have enough on my plate) has been to rework the dreaded green-dot section.  The first step was to sort the books and remove anything over a 2.5 AR level.  This section is where kindergartners and first graders get most of their books as well as second graders with low AR levels.  How terrible do I feel telling a child, "You can't take the one and only book I have about leopards because it's a level 7.2."  I also think there was so much in that section that the kids were mistreating the books without even realizing it.  The next step was to work in the Nonfiction section getting everything with AR available labeled - our school district has unlimited use of tests, so no worries about whether or not we own that test.  Now that we know what most of the books are AR-wise, we can start pulling lower level stuff to move over to the revamped "J Nonfiction" section.  I did get permission to order my new shelves and I'm so excited for when we get them installed!

I also decided that I needed to create a section for kids just starting to read, like high-reading kindergartners and first graders.  These books are not nonfiction so I created a new classification called "JrE".  JrE books are usually below 1.5 AR level or extremely simple (think Dick and Jane books).  They also have a green dot but will be located in their own shelf. 

On the lighter side, I had a lot of fun decorating for Halloween:

This is Charlotte.  The kids loved her and I was constantly telling them to leave her web alone.  I am thinking of making a more permanent display for her...so she can weave "Some Pig" into her web with no worries of little fingers touching it.

The animals got into the Halloween spirit!  Pooh is dressed as Tigger, Franklin is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, the Cat (from If You Give a Cat a Cupcake) is a red cardinal, the Pig (from If You Give a Pig a Pancake) is the Phantom of the Opera, the Mouse (from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie) is a cat and the Moose (from If You Give a Moose a Muffin) has on a sunburst mask.  I made them quickly using yarn, craft foam and permanent markers.

I went a little batty behind my desk.  For $5 I got a set of multi-sized vinyl wall cling bats from Target.  Then we cut bats from black construction paper, curled their wings and added them to the mix.

Now that Halloween is over I have to be a touch more serious...yeah, right!  The kids have been begging for the new Wimpy Kid book, Hard Luck.  I finally created a hold list and put this up since I only bought 5 copies to satisfy 500 kids!

And finally, I was bored with my Choose Your Own Adventure bulletin board so I decided to have some fun with a new one.  I totally lifted this idea from another librarian but I did mine a little different:

Here is the inspiration (above.)  I copied the phrase exactly when I did the board.

So, why is the phrase different now?  Well I work in a building with teachers, a.k.a. grammar police.  Apparently the word There's doesn't point to the word minion, it points to reasons, so the correct phrase is, There are a minion reasons to read.  I also made my board a little differently.  I went online and found coloring pages of minions I liked and an image of a stack of books.  Then I copied them onto transparency sheets.  Then we turned the entire school upside down looking for a transparency machine.  There was only 1 left in the entire school - thank you to our Art Teacher!  The design was done on a solid sheet of white in pencil and then retraced in black marker.  I originally thought I'd have time to color it in but never got it done.  I kind of like it this way.  Oh, and I'm extra proud of the titles of the books.  I searched my library catalog for titles with Apple and Banana in them, since what else would minions want to read about?

The kids love the board so much that I think I might have a minion themed Christmas tree this year.  I could have each child color a minion for my tree since they are all my "reading minions."

Finishing touches - school starts in t-minus 3 days!

So I'm finally feeling like I'm maybe ready to be a school librarian!  I have 3 days left until school starts.  In that time I need to create my class lists, finalize my schedule, do some cataloging and then shelf the books.  I really think I have done a good job with the library.

I finished up early last week with the weeding.  I wasn't able to clear quite enough room in Jr. Fiction to get all the books on their appointed shelves, but once check outs start, it should be okay.  My solution was to pull large series from the shelves (waist high) and put them on top with book ends.  This should increase the series' visibility and maybe up their circulation.  I didn't have to weed much in the E Books, just shelf reading and shifting.  I have seen signs that say "Easy Books" but they are more like the picture books that I would read to my kids, not necessarily easy.  Also, I don't want to discourage older kids from choosing from that section if they just want to read for the fun of it, so I'm thinking about making a sign in the future that says, "E for Excellent Books".

I finished my bulletin board last Friday.  I was inspired by this idea from Rachel Moani:

She didn't give a lot of details of how to make it, but I think I got it to work okay. I used a water heater box and used roll paper to cover the pieces.  After I attached the book pages to the end pieces I glued down 1 sheet of white paper.  Then I cut a second piece and only glued it at the spine.  Then I was able to add my letters (love the die-cut machine at the school!) and art.  As you can see, the book wouldn't actually go on my board.  It's too big and heavy.  My solution was to use book display stands to prop it up on the bookshelf directly below the bulletin board.  Then I put up the pictures I colored of different types of adventure.  To finish it off, I used the label making machine to create the story choices like the ones found in the Choose Your Own Adventure books.  The finishing touch was to display some of our Choose Your Own Adventure books beside the board - how many kids have never even tried this type of book?  I'm hoping to have a few try them and like them since I enjoyed them so much as a young reader.

I finally found Yoda!  I had turned the house upside down on multiple occasions looking for him, but for some reason never looked in one particular frame.  I thought there was no way he could be in it since it was bought specifically for a map of the cave system in Keystone, South Dakota.  My husband convinced me to look and I found him!!!  I went out today and bought him a new frame and he looks awesome!  You'd never guess he's 30 years old.  I would love to eventually find a copy of the ALA poster of the Muppets released around the same time.

This one is not cheap.  I found some on eBay.com but I think I'll have to wait for them to become a little cheaper.  I am hoping to purchase these two posters from the ALA Store with some of the money I make with this year's book fair:

And speaking of the Muppets (yeah, I know I'm a total nerd) I got super lucky yesterday.  I decided to log in to Disney Movie Rewards and check for new rewards.  I almost never have any luck.  I always find something I want and don't have enough points, so I save up my points and then the item I wanted is out of stock....grrrr.  But yesterday I logged in and found a 15" Kermit plush!

He's not the super high quality one I wanted, but he was free.  If you don't do the Disney Movie Rewards program you are missing out!  You don't even have to pay shipping.

With school starting so soon I had to go through the kids clothes and figure out what I needed to buy.  I found my daughter's Mo Willem's Pigeon t-shirt.  She doesn't wear it anymore and I could have put it into the box of t-shirts that will eventually become a t-shirt quilt, but then I decided to get some more use out of it.  I didn't want to sew it into a pillow and I didn't want to have to buy a frame.  So I came up with this:

I had the canvas on hand - I think I found it for a dollar at the thrift store and never found a use for it.  Then I just pinned it into place with straight pins.  I do wish it had been a smidge smaller canvas - in order to center the pigeon, I had to leave some of the neck line on the t-shirt visible.  But the stuffed pigeon who lives at my school can perch up there and it will look great.

I have a new board on Pinterest too!  It's a Library Wishlist.  I mostly have artwork I'd like to work in at the library, but you never know what I'll pin to it in the future!

Bulletin Boards

As we get closer and closer to school starting, I'm finishing up little details but having to really think about some big ones.  Like the bulletin board.  Duh duh duhhh!  What I'd love to do would be something like this fun mash up of all my favorite storybook cats:

You'll notice it includes The Cat in the Hat, Bad Kitty, Library Lion, the Cheshire Cat, Splat the Cat, Pete the Cat, Yoko (Rosemary Wells), Tiger (Read to Tiger by S.J. Fore), Huckle and My Cat, the Silliest Cat in the World.

But, how to get this onto a bulletin board?  I don't really know.  I guess the basic plan would be to use the overhead projector, trace it all out and then go back in with crayons or markers.  Yeah.  That might work next summer when I'll have a lot more time, but this summer I just don't see it happening.  I still have cataloging, weeding and shifting to do plus creating my class schedule and my lesson plans.  If I'm being realistic, I'm going to have to put this one on the shelf for now.

Our school has a theme each year and the teachers decorate their area (either above their doors or above their class lockers) with that theme.  This year our theme is Adventure.  The reading teacher already has "Reading is an adventure!" above her doorway...so what to do?  I have a Pinterest board for bulletin board ideas, and I think I like the giant 3D book idea.

• Reading Makes Life an Adventure!
• Adventures in Reading
• My Adventure Book (from Up! from Disney Pixar)
• Choose Your Own Adventure! - with giant 3D book?

I think I like the Choose Your Own Adventure! phrase with the giant book.  I could put the different genres in the pages of the books or just print pictures of different types of adventure coloring pages - have my girls color them - and then put them in the book.  That design needs a large box and one of my best friend's husbands is a plumber.  I am sure he'll be able to get me a water heater box!  A little brainstorming always makes me feel better about big, scary projects!