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.

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.

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.

Becoming more knowledgeable....

I want to be a good librarian, I do, but where do you start? What makes a librarian good? (Right now I really don't want to know the answer to this, it's just hypothetical.) Is it the lessons that cover library skills? Or maybe it's the lessons that cover library skills and tie to each grade level curriculum. Perhaps it is the amount, variety, cleanliness, neatness of the books within a librarian's collection. Or is it simply the smile on the librarian's face when students come in the door. An invitation to explore the books within the collection? I'm going to work really hard on this last one, and let the rest fall into place.

When is it ok to go back to the classroom?

So I have started my new job. The library is up and running. Students come in they have a lesson and they can check out books... and I still feel lost. There are so many things that I don't know how to do. I finally figured out (I think) how to add new books into the system, but I have a huge pile of books that need to be repaired or possibly taken out of the system. Where's the guide to all of this? So my question is, when can I move back into my classroom? Where students are mine, curriculum is mine and the space I teach in is mine. I never fully realized the scope of what needs to be accomplished in the library setting, the necessity of having to learn each grade level's curriculum in addition to the library curriculum, and the "school wide" feeling of what needs to be taken care of. Is it always so overwhelming to try something new?

Where do I sit?

I feel like such a middle schooler, but really, where do I sit? My second grade team used to save each other seats for important group events like faculty meeting and lunch. I seemed to have lost my "place". Also, especially at faculty meeting, I don't really fit in. Much of the discussion covers specific grade level information. Will I always feel like I'm on the peripheral edge of my school community?