A lot has happened at Darby Elementary School since my last school post! To say I'm staying busy is a serious understatement! I can happily say that being in an elementary school does have its perks- kids love to read, or at least look at the cool pictures if they are in our lower grades, and this makes my job SO much easier! (I'm comparing it to my time in the middle/high library, where I had to entice kids to just check out books!)
About a month into school, I started opening the library during lunches for our 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. After the first few weeks of school, our lunch schedule changed and allowed 20 minutes of eating time, followed with 20 minutes of SEL (social-emotional learning) time in the cafeteria. Dr. Racek, my principal, agreed to let me have open library time for our upper grades during that last 20 minutes of their lunchtime! It has turned out great: the kids are reading more than ever and they enjoy the freedom to walk to the library and check out books almost every day during lunches! Just check out what my library looks like from 11:45-12:45 every day:
I also received some news coverage in the library earlier this month! AFN, our military broadcasting group, came out and interviewed me during our book-tasting event! Early in September, our third grade teachers reached out about doing a book tasting and I jumped at the opportunity! Little did they know what they were signing up for, but the "library cafe" was so successful that our 2nd, 4th and 5th grade teams wanted a chance to "taste" some new genres with their classes too! So Mr. Selby, one of our 3rd-grade teachers, reached out to AFN and invited them out to see what a "book tasting" was all about!
What I didn't realize was that they would show up with a full camera crew! By the end of the event, they had interviewed me and several teachers. A few weeks later, some of my 5th grade students came running into the library telling me about how "we are all famous" because they saw this commercial air in the food court at main base!
After the commercial aired, Bryan told me he saw the commercial on the ship during deployment and Catherine, a dentist friend stationed in Okinawa, texted me saying she saw it on her base too! The teachers may not have known what they were getting into, but I can honestly say neither did I!
On October 4, USO sponsored a Pacific-wide virtual author visit with Brad Meltzer, author of the Ordinary People Change the World children's book series that later inspired the PBS kids tv show, Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum! My library director emailed and asked if I would be one of the two live audiences for this event, so I hosted over 40 students in the library for the virtual author visit! Several of our students were able to ask Brad Meltzer questions about his books, the writing process and some questions about his inspirations!
Overall this was another successful library event that promoted even more reading at Darby Elementary! Even Brad Meltzer agreed when he posted on his social media about the event!
Then it was time for spirit week! Our PTO organized two weeks' worth of spirit days. Yep you read that right. Our PTO used the excuse of Week One as a "spirit week," and the next week was Red Ribbon Week....As you can imagine the students were excited (and sometimes over the top) so I can't tell you how much learning occurred during that 2-week span, but at least they have great memories!
Of course, the librarian had to participate, so see if you can guess what our spirit days were below:
Before the start of this school year, I had never hosted a virtual author visit, but I can now officially say I have had TWO virtual author visits within the first three months of school! E. E. Dowd, a former US educator, published her first children's novel earlier this summer. Mrs. McKean, one of our 4th grade teachers, used to work with Ms. Dowd and was even mentioned in the author's acknowledgments!
Mrs. McKean has been reading Shipshape with her class, and once they finished part one, they got to virtually meet Ms. Dowd in the library on a Google Meet! During the Google Meet, our 4th graders were able to ask Ms. Dowd all kinds of questions about the writing process, her story, and get amazing insight into publishing a book for first-time authors!
We also make sure to take time to celebrate each other! I have grown really close with several of our teachers, so we are always looking for an excuse to celebrate! Rosie's birthday happened to fall on a school day, so you know we had to get her a cake!
As we end this first quarter of the school year, I can happily say I love what I do! ...even if I am counting down the days until Thanksgiving Break! And I am beyond thankful for a husband who takes me out for dinner and boba tea after a long two weeks of spirit days!
until next time,
--Katie
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