My summer vacation

If I had to write a report on what I did this summer, it'd certainly include many days spent getting settled into my new library. Since the previous librarian (a close friend of mine) left it in such great shape, I have been able to spend time adding to her decorations and putting my own personal touches to it.  Here are some photos of the progress so far:

1. Leopard Library and Bluebonnet Award books

The red and blue book-shaped bookcases were already in the library, but the posters are new additions this summer.

2. Modified shelving unit for equipment

The "before" picture was taken as soon as I moved the equipment off of a large desk to this smaller shelving unit. I quickly realized that I would need to hide all of those cords! 

The shelving unit needed a little more room to hold papers for the Elmo, so hubby added a shelf that swivels out. I love that it can be tucked away when not in use!

3. Animal cages

Hooray! I get to use the same cages I made a year ago for my last library! This summer I added fun signs above the cages to encourage reading.

4. Section signs

I made signs (like the nonfiction one in the picture) for the different sections of the library. The awesome reading cabana and the "Hanging With a Good Book" display were done by the previous librarian.

5. Animals of the World poster

I hung a very cool "Animals of the World" poster (photo top right) near the library mural. I've already posted about the beautiful mural, but I wanted to show that there's a fabulous area for story time and teaching directly behind it! 

Although it's a lot of work to move, I have really enjoyed my time at the new library. This summer was not ALL work and no play, however; my family vacationed in Mexico and I fulfilled a childhood dream of mine when we visited Chichen Itza, one of the new wonders of the world!

School doesn't start until the end of August for my district, so I have a little more time to stay up late and sleep in.  How about your summer vacation--did you spend part of it working at school, too? Hopefully it was relaxing and productive, like mine!
~Swersty

A Wild Library Orientation!

The library finally opened to students last week with a "Wild about Reading" theme. My new library aide, Jumoke the pet gorilla, helped to make the lesson super fun for the kids!

Look closely at my right hand--it is totally a fake! My real right hand is shoved up inside the gorilla to operate the puppet. 

 I named her Jumoke because it is a real gorilla name and means "loved by everybody" in Nigerian. Although she didn't say a word, the kids were fascinated by her and wanted to know if she was real!  Jumoke and I led the kids around the library to check on the animals and make sure none of them had escaped from their cages.

For each cage there was at least one animal that had "escaped", which the students had to help find and return to the cage. Of course all of the escapees were discovered reading books not too far from their cages! This activity served to give the students a tour of the different sections of the library and a chance for me to go over rules and procedures. 

Wild animals have taken over the library! These 5 cages are placed in different sections of the library and will stay out all year long.

This has been a fun theme to decorate for because animal print is so popular and easy to find. I did have to make the cages (with a little help from hubby). We used 1x2 boards to make the frames, then primed and painted them. 

Once they were painted black, it was time to add the "bars". We cut pieces from a 1/4 inch soaker hose (50 feet per package) and stapled them to the cages. 

They were fairly easy to make and inexpensive, although I have no idea where I'll store them next year! Here's a close-up of a finished cage:

The kids fell in love with Jumoke and begged to touch her. She was a big help with behavior management--if a class was too noisy she would hide her head down into my side until they got quiet. 

Jumoke was such a hit with the students that she'll definitely be coming back to visit. So far we're off to a great start, and hopefully with Jumoke's help my students will be WILD about READING this school year!

~Swersty

Wild about Reading!

TA DA!  My bulletin board is finally done. Every year I embarrass showcase my teachers on the library's bulletin board. Students love to see their favorite teachers promote reading by flying, cooking, or, as is the case this year, squeezing into child-sized animal masks! (I have to add that my teachers are such good sports! There was hardly any grumbling at all about taking a picture while wearing a silly mask. I think they secretly liked it...)

Can you "spot" my pigeon-loving bloggy buddy Reagan Tunstall?

This year our whole school has adopted the popular "wild about learning" theme, and I already have some fun surprises up my sleeve for the students and their teachers! Classes will experience a wild library orientation lesson beginning the first week of September, where my goal is for kids to totally go BANANAS for BOOKS! Be sure to stay tuned--I have a feeling that some "wild" pictures from that orientation will be posted here soon!

~Swersty