Sugar High

For months our school has been emphasizing healthy treats. Bring oranges, not cupcakes, for birthday treats. Don't bake cookies for the class, bring yogurt in a tube instead. A relentlessly healthy message appears in every parent newsletter. And have we effected a change in our children's nutritional attitudes? Read on for a highly unscientific conclusion.
The last several days before the holiday, little brightly colored bags began appearing on my desk. Sometimes children came in with a parent to bring their offerings, or younger siblings came dragging in an older one. Bags materialized on the desk when my back was turned. I was surprised at this unexpected gifting, and touched ( aww, they remembered the school librarian) Inside the bags I found:
Hershey's kisses, truffles, Belgian chocolates, Giardelli squares, homemade chocolate loaf, Mentos, ingredients for lemon cheesecake, chocolate bells and considerable other chocolate confections.
As I buzzed home for the winter break after sampling these tasty offerings, I concluded that (despite education) SUGAR is still essential for a real celebration.

Playtime

A basket of books on the Civil War caught the eye of a passing 4th grader. He looked at the top book, A Picture Book of Robert E. Lee, with its cover picture of Lee as a boy pretending to be a soldier. He looked at me with a air of discovery - "He pretended to be in a war when he was a kid" He put his hand on the shelf next to me and walked his fingers across it. "And when he grew up he was in a war."
I said, "So I guess you should be careful what you pretend to be."
He grinned and said as he walked away "Oh don't worry about me. I don't do any of that stuff. I just play video games in my basement all the time."

The Big Show

The second grades sit on the bleachers on the stage at the end of the lunchroom. They chatter, wiggle and squirm. I slip into the back of the audience. The kids are always sort of amazed to recognize me, no matter how often they see me. Various ones begin to wave in sort of hidden ways and one calls out "Hi, Mrs. Richey" - as if I had not noticed that they were there. The program begins - they sing "My house is a holiday house" and slip in and out of their seats to take their turns at the narration between songs - how they must have rehearsed! I marvel that the music teacher was able to get them to pay attention long enough to learn all this. Only one shy fellow can't get his words out and, promted by the teacher, mumbles them after her. An Asian girl plays her violin matter of factly. A tow-head in a brightly striped shirt plays "Jingle Bells" on the piano - the singers speed up since they all know the song, but his fingers only go so fast and so they finish before he does. Sylph-like, a slender dark haired girl in pink dances with a filmy pink scarf, carefully going through all the ballet positions she's learned. At the end I clap as loudly as any proud parent.

Babies

She floats into the library, dressed in delicate pinks and blues. She has wispy blonde hair and pale blue eyes. She says "do you have a book about babies? I want to find out about babies." I move towards the 500s and 600s, trying to delicately discover exactly what she has in mind. "Animals" she says. I pull out a baby animal book. "Well, actually," she confesses, "I want a book about a baby ballerina."

Serious thoughts

The fifth grades are reading historical fiction, so the Book Club members came to lunch with some serious books. We talked about hobos and the Great Depression, about Korea under Japanese occupation, about suicide bombers and homelessness. Sad scenes came out - "I really had tears in my eyes when Frances played the harmonica after her friend died". They talked about homeless people they'd seen. "My family went to New York City," said one. " And we saw about 30 homeless people." As they left, I talked with one who was holding The Little Fishes - "Oh, that's a sad book" I said.
"They were in a war" said the girl "and their parents didn't take care of them."
"I don't think the parents could," I said. "Things were bombed out".
"Sometimes I think about what would happen if there was a war here" she said "I just don't know what I'd do."

Walkers

In the morning I have crossing duty and stand proudly beside the cross walk with a stop sign in my hand. When a walker comes, I march out into the frenetic early morning traffic and boldly stop the cars. As the weather has gotten colder and wetter, fewer and fewer walkers appear. In the pouring, driving rain yesterday only one dedicated family appeared, Dad with his big umbrella, daughter in a yellow hooded raincoat, and son hidden under a smallish blue umbrella.
"Good morning" I said, with the rain splashing up my ankles and dripping down my neck. Dad smiled, daughter smiled - and the serious looking little guy narrowed his eyes at me and said defiantly "It's my mother's umbrella".
I nodded as if this was exactly the information I needed. "As long as it keeps you dry" I said. He nodded back and splashed his way on into school.

Dog stories

A small group of fifth graders gathers in the Reading Room at lunch to talk about books. "I read Shiloh" announces the hefty fellow lounging back against the bookshelves. This starts a discussion of dog stories - the quiet thoughtful guy had read Where the Red Fern Grows and most of them had read one or the other. They toss out bits of the plots. They remember that Shiloh was an award winner. "Why are they all so sad?" asks someone.
"Yeah," they all agree, "Why does the dog always die?"
"I could write a dog story" says the one who started it all. "There's a boy and he gets a dog and KABOOM the dog explodes and the end. I bet I'd win all those awards too."

Backwards

How to continue to make alphabetical order interesting? We've lined up by their names starting with "A" and we've lined up in reverse starting with "Z". Ah, what if I wrote their names backwards and we line up by their backward names in alphabetical order?
They are distracted during the story, looking at the strange words on the board. I can see in each class the moment when one of them figures out that those strange assemblages of letters are their names. The whispering and pointing spreads across the group. They are unusually attentive and patient lining up, being delighted as I twist my tongue pronouncing their names backwards: Enirahtac, Nosam, Ylil.
Just as I am congratulating myself on their docility, they carry my brilliant idea to the next level - spin around and stream out of the Reading Room giggling and walking backwards.

Just a book

She comes in regularly, this round faced girl with her short black hair and sweet dark eyes. She smiles engagingly and asks the same question every time "Just a book to read?". I'm figuring out what sort of a book. Something contemporary. Something with a girl. Something sad - child abuse or kidnapping or crazy parents.

I look at her untroubled face, placidly demanding another story of a terrible childhood.

I suggest - have you read this one - that one - the one where the girl takes care of her autistic brother? the one where the mother abuses the girl? the one where the girl goes off to find her mother's past? "I read it" she says over and over again, "I read that one".

Another view

Here's how the school librarian appears to the students.

Focus

Here is a child who wiggles and squirms in reading time. He's always turning here or there, distracted by any one else's slightest motion.
Here he comes into the library and sees, on the slanted book display right inside the door that coveted book, The Racecar Alphabet. I'd had it out in the Reading Room as an example for a lesson on alphabetical order. Despite the boys' pleading requests to read it, I'd stuck to my lesson and only pointed to the cover as I talked about ABC books. Now he has it!
He spreads it out on the floor right there and stretches out on his belly to carefully open it up. For surely ten minutes he lays still, concentrating on his prize.
A gaggle of fourth graders comes in to finish answering questions on their work sheets. Each one steps over the body prone on the floor across the doorway. He never looks up.
I think, ah, the power of literature.

School Pictures

Who knew? School pictures include the librarian!

Kicking

The morning kindergarteners pour into the Reading Room. 16 of them sit down more or less quietly and listen as I begin talking. The 17th lies flat on the floor on his back, staring at the ceiling, his arms spread out. OK, I think, as long as he's quiet. Then he discovers that his feet reach the back of a girl in front of him. He pushes, a little. She doesn't respond. Then he kicks. She protests. Then we talk about sitting up and not kicking. He lies still. I go back to the book I'm sharing. He twists a little and discovers that he can reach the boy next to him. He pushes, a little. The boy pushes back. He kicks. I move him back to the corner, usually a prize position for someone in most classes - they like to hide back there between the shelves and the dehumidifier. He sits for almost a minute. Then he lies down. He discovers that the dehumidifier rolls. He pushes, a little. It moves, a little. Then he kicks. The dehumidifier flies to the end of its cord.
This seems to satisfy whatever urge has driven him and he quietly writhes on the floor in the corner until our reading time is over.

Alphabetical Order

Why do they always want to be first in line? What IS the big deal? Still, after months of instruction in making a line, why do they shove and push and edge each other out to be first? What's with the "He cut!" and "She got in front of me!" complaints?
Today, after sharing ABC books and discovering that you could actually predict what letter would be on the next page of an alphabet book; after guessing our way through "A is for....?" and "Tomorrow's Alphabet"; after finding a favorite letter in "Animalia"; after finding the alphabet in "Old Black Fly" - today I lined them up alphabetically. And they were fine, accepting that alphabetical order is a force like gravity about which one cannot fuss. Only, in a whisper as she left, Stellie said "my real name is Estelle". I had to acknowledge that indeed, she would not be at the end of the line if I had used her real name, and she trotted off happy to have established her place in the grand scheme of alphabetical order.

A Day Off

The fifth grades are going to do historical fiction as their next genre of reading. Would I do booktalks? Of course! Have I prepared booktalks? No. I've spent an inordinate amount of time working on organizing historical fiction by the year in which the story takes place - it became one of those compulsive projects: once begun, it had to be completed, sensible or not, and so hours and hours have gone into creating this year-by-year list. Today, with no school and with the booktalks to be given tomorrow, I spent finally reading some of the books I hadn't already read. The gray and misty day was perfect for curling up in the big green club chair with a stack of books. I've gulped down book after book, and made not one single note, marked not one passage to read aloud. I would never let a student teacher get away with winging it like this.

First Day for Teachers

This morning was actually the first full day for teachers. It began with a mass gathering of faculty from all the schools in the system. A band of music faculty played some decent jazz – and then a sequence of “our school songs” for staff of each school to cheer. I suspect this was more meaningful for the secondary folks (are there elementary level school songs????)– I did hear the tune to the old Girl Scout song “She wears a G for generosity” and the fight song we sang at Vinson High School in the 60’s.

The program was short and to the point. The president of the School Board welcomed us and talked about enthusiasm. The new interim superintendent spoke about trust and healing – he was intelligent, sincere, and articulate. Standing ovations. Everyone was obviously just SO glad positive change was happening.

Back at our school, I found a teacher leaving me a note about a book she was taking – will have to remember to leave post-its on the desk for this. I discovered that the library elf had left me a yearbook – hooray! I’ll go home and study it and see if I can learn everyone’s names.

The day flew by – the faculty meeting at 1:00 was relaxed, congenial and informative. The new food policy (no more bake sales! No more homemade birthday cupcakes!) drew the most comments. The secretary is going to take care of sending in requests for technical help with computers, so I won’t be doing that. I made some notes – have to have all volunteers fill out a form for a criminal background check, need to talk to inclusion teachers, check on fire drill route from library. I had a moment to talk and invited everyone to set up an indoctrination session in the library next week and to send their student teachers up to be entered in the circulation system. Afterwards I got all the student teachers, the first grade teachers, two K teachers and 1 third.

Several people checked out books and an equal number showed up with books they’d uncovered from last year.

I worked my way through one shelf of the new book cart so that I could display shiny new books for the open house tomorrow. Stopped to skim through those I didn’t know and before I knew it, it was 3:30 and time to leave.

The bulletin board

Ah, at last, here is the picture of the bulletin board. The sign says " See YOU in the Library!"

Friday already

This past summer I watched a robin building a nest outside the window of my house. She carried in one stick at a time and turned and turned getting it into just the right position. She carried tiny beakfuls of mud and carefully set them in place, settling herself down and moulding the bowl with her belly. I sort of feel as if that's what I'm doing now. One little thing, another little thing, and sooner or later I'll be comfortably nested in the library.

Today I went in to take down the display that I'd had second thoughts about. As I went out into the hall, a girl came around the corner, probably a teacher's child coming in with her mom. She went straight to the case, found herself in the mirror and called excitedly to her mom to come see the cool case. O.K., I thought, the display can stay. Here's a picture of it.

I went on to getting sign up sheets ready for equipment, thinking that this might be a high priority for teachers getting set up for their first day - I'll bet someone shows a video in some class! I found the binder - with the video carts down the stairs and in the corner whose name I've forgotten. I found the templates for sign up sheets. Humm, there were more templates than there were old sign up sheets. I poked around looking for an "Elmo" and a multimedia cart. Met a 3rd grade teacher who was in the room where Elmo had been last noted - she thought it had gone to 6th grade classroom and while I was there she gave me a stack of books to add to the Novel Approach sets.

I went back to the library deciding to put all the template sign up sheets in the binder - with dividers telling what each is for - so printed, photocopied and hole punched the signup sheets and went looking for dividers. Easy request? No. 6th grade teacher who happened to be in the office tried to help me. Secretary tried to help me. Principal came in and tried to help me. Finally found some write on ones that will do, but process took half an hour. I put the refurbished binder back where I found it, redid the camera sheets, and then had a sign up for reserving the Reference Room sheet and no idea where to put it. Decided to put it in the back of the "Questions for Ginny" notebooks, since I'll be checking that daily.

Ok, the sign up sheets are ready! This only took an hour and a half. I expect to get faster as I go along. Next, I needed to advance the grades of all the kids in the computer before the new students are downloaded...only I wasn't sure if the new student list had already been downloaded. So I went looking for a yearbook. The Secretary had one but we spent sometime searching for an extra copy I could keep - couldn't find - so I was careful to return hers after I checked the class standings in the computer. The actual process is amazingly quick - purged all the old 6th graders and advanced everyone a grade with the push of a button. It was just a little scary. Then, feeling full of confidence, I decided to run status reports that would tell teachers just what was currently on their records. This was not quick. I resorted to the enormous manual - not much help. I tried the "click on things and see what happens" method. Got a set of reports but try as I might I could NOT get it to only report on teachers. Figured out I could print one at a time and so not run all 51 pages. Hit the wrong button and ran 51 pages anyway.

Time to do something with books. I indulged myself in a half hour of setting things out, finding out where the Dr. Seuss books hid, locating a moose book to put up beside the stuffed moose, and in general enjoying looking at books. I am SO looking forward to sharing books with kids.

Getting Started

This morning I went into school with some idea of what I would do. All this past week I've been going in for awhile each day, just trying to find out where things are and to become used to the space. Yesterday I found the laminator and the die-cut machine in the teacher's lounge. I put up a bulletin board but I woke up last night thinking, "it's wrong. I have to change it". I thought that would be the first thing I did this morning. However, when I walked in I was distracted by an error message on a printer - felt absurdly pleased with myself for fixing that. Then, in order to see if the printer worked, logged on to the circulation system, and as long as I was there, checked the overdue list, and before I got up the custodians came in with two new DVD players and while I was dealing with that, the ESL teacher came in with a computer that wouldn't log on. At the photocopier, I met one of the first grade teachers and we did talk about books. This was reassuring as I feel I am doing everything BUT books right now, just trying to learn this new job.