Sunday, March 8, 2009

The week is over...

So, the book fair, even just three days was very successful. Unknowingly, I had two PTA moms and their daughters (Thanks!) show up to help me set up and it took much less time. I was able to make some changes from the fall set up that I really liked a lot better. We celebrated our school's literacy night on Monday and I have never seen so many people in the library.
Also, the UELMA conference was fantastic. A lot of great ideas were given and a lot of free stuff! I really love getting free stuff. One session I went to was an author from Idaho who has written several books, many of them which correlate with the math core. I can't wait to use them with my(yes, my, at least for 40 minutes a week) kindergarten and first graders. Another session was all about different ways to use the web, and I was thrilled to see several sites that I was familiar with because of my library courses. Another fun one offered different ways to share stories with props/puppets. I was really impressed with the simplicity of the ideas suggested. I have already got a lesson plan ready, using props, for my kindergarten students. I'm excited because I always thought of myself as someone with an inability for using that kind of thing, I felt a little silly. Now I can't wait.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

UELMA

I am very excited to attend my first UELMA conference. I have heard that there are a lot of ideas that are presented. I have found that I don't struggle so much with what to teach as how to teach the topics and really what sequence everything should follow. I'm hoping that the conference will give me some guidance.

Book Fair

So my second book fair is coming up next week and I have to admit, I feel....excited. It is a lot of work to get the whole thing set up and this time I will be all alone without the assistance of my wonderful sister, nevertheless, I feel hopeful that things will go well. The first go around I was completely baffled by all of the details that went along with the book fair set up. This time I feel a little more confident and the kids' enthusiasm is very catchy.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Comfortable Yet?

Finally, last week, I walked into the library and it didn't feel quite so alien to me. I have a list, a small list, of librarian tasks that I know how to do. That in itself feels very good. I have learned most of the student's names, and that feels really good. I still have many things to learn, every day something new occurs or I look at my multiple lists of "things to do" and I have a moment of panic, but I also have some accomplishments under my belt. I survived re-barcoding the library, I had a successful book fair and I feel like students enjoy coming into the library. As with any teacher it's so much easier to see what more you can be doing. A day at a time.