COVID changes everything

Masked Bunny c.2020

We have had some changes to the way we operate in the library, due to COVID regulations.

Quarantining books

Under departmental regulations we quarantine all returned books for 24 hours. In the past we had a returns trolley which I would empty quickly and scan returns as students started their borrowing.

To mimimise my handling of the books, I now ask children to line up as they enter the library, get their books scanned by me (without me touching their books) and then stack them in a tub. Students then go out and wash their hands at the toilets right outside the library. That takes 5 minutes at the start of each lesson, but at least it’s done. During the day I carry filled tubs into the storeroom, placing a label on each to show when to shelve the books. For example, Monday’s returns say “shelve Tuesday PM”. On Tuesday afternoon we will shelve the books, saving the tub label to use the following Monday. The downside: the storeroom is full of tubs, and my back sometimes complains about all the lifting.

Gone are the days of student librarians coming in most mornings to help with the shelving. This has been both a good and bad thing, there is more shelving for my assistant and I, but on the other hand at least I get some quiet time before school to prepare for my day. I think the extra shelving is worth the quiet time! My mornings have felt much calmer 🙂 So I’ll have to consider what student librarian involvement I can sustain in future …

Library as second staffroom

Another significant change has been that the library has been used as a second staffroom, to enable social distancing for staff. Our actual staffroom is the size of a classroom, and can hold 10 adults under current guidelines. The library can hold 15 adults, and was designated as the “K-2 staffroom”, although actually there are usually only about 6 of us in the library at a time, since most teachers prefer the usual staffroom.

This change has had implications for us all. For me, this change means that my social circle at school is much smaller; I don’t get to leave the library much, so miss out on a little fresh air, exercise and change of scene and company; the library office has become the staff kitchen, which can be stressful for we library staff; and we can’t have students in at lunchtimes, like we used to. I have to do playground duty instead of library duty (which I don’t actually mind, I find it unexpectedly quieter and more relaxing than library lunchtimes). Surprisingly, students haven’t seemed to miss coming to the library at lunch. I’m not sure whether to be happy or sad about that, but I’m sure they’ll flock back once they are allowed back in … one day …

These are minor changes, of course, and I am definitely thankful that our COVID situation is not worse, but they are changes nonetheless. As for my teaching in the library, it has not had to change significantly since we returned to school. We are not wearing masks, children don’t have to socially distance, and it’s pretty much business as usual, plus a little disinfecting and handwashing, and minus some extra-curricular activities (I started a recorder group the week before we had three cases at school and the state locked down, in July we started again before the playing of woodwind instruments was banned in schools in August).

After 10 or so weeks back at school now I stepped back a little last week to see how we are going in the library, and made some changes of my own:

• Tidied and decluttered to make more space in the library office and storeroom
• Saw a physiotherapist and got some exercises to strengthen my back
• Became more assertive in stating to others what library staff need to do their jobs properly
• Realised this is not going to change in a hurry, and started to think about coping techniques i.e. visiting the main staffroom one lunchtime a week, thinking and speaking more positively about the situation, being thankful for all the good that is still happening in the library.

How has COVID affected your school library?

2020 – Looking back, looking forward

My 2020 vision display with fun ‘eye charts’ was popular, pre-COVID

So it’s been a long time since I posted. A lot has happened, and 2020 isn’t what anyone expected …

I’m hoping to post about some of our library changes and learning in future posts, but here’s the short version:

2018 – My 3rd year as Teacher Librarian; a great new library assistant joined me in the library; we purchased 15 laptops for the library so internet research could finally happen in library lessons; we held our first school book parade; I prepared a design for a library transformation (conveniently also using it for a uni assignment); then our principal left and spending went on hold.

2019 – The library transformation was on again, off again, and finally happened, with the furniture arriving literally minutes after our second school book parade finished. I visited libraries in Canberra for a study visit, worked with Ku-ring-gai Libraries for two weeks on work placement, completing my M.Ed (TL) in June, and turned 50 days a few days after the transformation in August. It was a busy but wonderful few months. We enjoyed the new furniture and layout of the library

2020 – We started strong with great plans for the collection and I had big ideas for learning – then COVID happened. We locked down in March, and had some stressful weeks of online learning, but we were back at school in person in May. We had a big storm in February which took out a couple of bays of books, our carpets have been cleaned 3-4 times and we’ve had industrial dryers in for the storm damage and another perpetual leak. It’s almost a year now since our transformation, students have been back at school for 10 weeks, and it’s a good time to look back and see how far we’ve come.

What makes you sparkle?

This week’s library message.

I heard someone on a podcast during the week mention ‘something that makes you sparkle’ and so this week my students were challenged with this as they entered the library. I would love to have promoted the message more in library lessons, and I wondered whether students would perhaps find some books that ‘made them sparkle’ (or perhaps some sparkly books?). But alas, it didn’t turn out to be that sort of week, there were lots of technical problems to deal with, discipline issues to deal with, and a day off class for me to be trained in Oliver. Perhaps another time …

Those LED stars are among the most versatile display items I ever bought. I don’t bother to light up my signboard, but I don’t mind turning on those stars for a week.

So, what makes me sparkle? These days it’s:

• sunshine
• watercolouring
• being a teacher librarian

What makes you sparkle?

 

Slow reading

Photo: James West via Flickr

As I scan loans out for students, noting who’s borrowing books, and who isn’t, I wonder how much these children are actually comprehending the books they are reading; how some children can read so much in a week; why some children won’t borrow books at all; and why some boys, who I know are struggling readers, are attracted to the biggest, heaviest thickest books in the library (usually found in the reference section).

These are mysteries I hope to solve at some point.

I know as a child I read voraciously, but I skimmed over the “boring” bits, such as any wordy description, and focused on the dialogue. I worked my way through Enid Blyton and Laura Ingalls Wilder, Elizabeth Enright and L.M.Montgomery, K.M.Peyton and Noel Streatfeild. (My favourite memories of reading these books include Easter eggs and glasses of milk, all consumed at high speed along with the books, stretched out on a beanbag in my bedroom). It’s only when I read these books again (and again) as I grew older that I appreciated these books fully through reading all the words. Funnily enough they made much more sense when I read slowly and carefully. In fact, it’s a wonder the books made any sense to me at all, the way that I read them back then. On the other hand, it’s a sign of good writing that books that I still love the books now that I enjoyed reading at breakneck speed at 9-10 years of age. That good storytelling has engaged me in both reading modes.

I just read this great article about reading speed, fluency and comprehension. Cindy L.Rodriguez says “comprehension is key” when it comes to reading. One part of my job that I love is helping students comprehend the books we read together. I give them pointers to understanding the writing style, the historical or geographical context, the visual literacy techniques and the intricacies of the story, but they also help me comprehend the stories too, because, as it turns out, in the rush of day-to-day teaching, I sometimes read those stories too quickly, until I read them aloud to a class. I don’t spend moments looking at each illustration, as my students do while I hold the book before them, and I don’t read with the wonder and fresh eyes of a child.

I still need to slow down.

I still need to read all the words.

It’s not a race, Fiona.

It’s a book.

Read and returned

This week I’ve been promoting an upcoming competition I’ve named The Secret Slushy Party Competition to encourage certain Yr 4-6 classes (and boys in particular) to read more and to improve their borrowing & returning habits. Today I was explaining to a Yr 6 class that I’ll be counting the books that are returned, with random checks/questions to see if they are actually reading them.  I talked about this for a few minutes and then summed up by saying that I was counting the books that were read and returned. (Because, hello, I’m not counting books that are borrowed, perhaps never to be returned!)

The Yr 6 boys were quite excited about the idea of the competition, and rushed off to find books. At last, I thought, I’ve got some real interest happening. A few minutes later I looked over to see a table covered with books they had selected to borrow, and boys avidly checking and comparing their piles … then I noticed that the books they’d selected were all RED.

Because I did say that the books had to be “red and returned”!!!

Absolutely hilarious. Thankfully I had one observant boy who had listened to share the joke with, he and I laughed for a long time. And it’s no coincidence that he is my star student librarian.

Eventually the rest of the boys understood that they didn’t have to read RED books (but I notice they borrowed most of them, anyway 😉 )

 

Round #1 to me!

Reading will make you cool – library display

This is my summer library window. I haven’t had much feedback from the students yet, but the staff love it 😉

I made the iceblocks using a corner rounder punch, a scallop circle punch, and a word window punch. The letters are all bought. I’m really happy with the way it turned out!

Back to school 2017

School began for students this week.

This is how I greeted them in the library. I loved this little “bookworm” from the Reject Shop, I’ll have to make him a little book. (Cactus also from the Reject Shop, and the lightbox from KMart).

It’s strange to be back in the library again for the second year, everything feels the same, but different. Same kids, in different combinations. Same me, but this time with a year of experience behind me.

I’m looking forward to seeing what the year holds. For one thing, I’ll be studying Teacher Librarianship at CSU, which might change everything I do.

Christmas in the Library

For Christmas in the school library I used a small tree from home and decorated it with lights, pom poms, jingle bells and silver beads.

My favourite ornaments were the ones I made from pages of an old Little Golden Book, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, (which I photocopied – despite owning two copies of the book, one I’d found at a thrift store specifically to use for craft,  I still couldn’t bring myself to cut up a book). I stuck diecut circles onto red scalloped circles, and called it done.

I also made some teensy-tiny miniature Christmas books which you might just be able to make out. These turned out to be a bit too small for the scale of the tree, so perhaps next Christmas I’ll create some larger ones.

Wintry Window

This was the winter window I created for winter 2016. I used a lot of different dies, and embossed a brick pattern onto the house walls. Hanging above the poster were some diecut snowflakes and LED star-shaped fairy lights.

Best of all, children could peek through the house window and see into the library.

Weeks after I made it, I was still wondering what the correct Australian spelling was – cosy or cozy? I think it should have been cosy, but it was too hard to pull off the multiple layers of card I’d stuck to the window by the time I’d figured that out. I blame too much time spent on Pinterest.

And if only I could get rid of that security sticker ….

Summer Reading Mini Bunting

This was the mini bunting I made this time last summer for our mobile book stand. It was pretty quick to put together using Memory Box dies and  Lawn Fawn stamps and dies and some brightly coloured cardstock.

Best of all it packed up nice and small and I easily can use it again. I might pull it out next week when school begins. #buntinglove