Minnesota Youth Reading Award

388 cases, 30 huge bags...

of packing, and seven Mackin employees working for over three hours!


It is simply astounding the amount of packing needed to safely ship books!




















But it is worth it because our shelves are filled with books, glorious books, something for everyone!

















This is a sight I have never before seen.
Almost 14,000 brand new, never opened by a reader before, books. Waiting. Poised to be chosen by an eager reader!

What is left to do? Signage for each column, Popular Author names, and posters to welcome our readers!








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We Become

One of the wonderful Mackin shelving team working on the Picture books and another working in the fiction section.






















Another wonderful Mackin shelver working on the last few sections of fiction! As you can see I didn't remove all the signage yet, but the books look perfect!

I'll post the rest tomorrow!













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The Books Arrive!

388 Cases containing almost 14,000 books arrived on Wednesday morning, unfortunately, the rain met the truck at the door!

Three of the pallets went through the front door on hand trucks and a flat truck. It looked to be a long, long delivery.
But, with the rain was coming down really hard and assessing the project, our wonderful principal, Kim Grengs, arranged space on the loading dock!
















The truck drove up and the rest of palletts were moved into the hall adjacent
to the media center.
The job went much faster because we had only a short distance to move the books by hand truck! In just 3 short hours, we had all the cases staged for unpacking and shelving!














I was sooooo tired, but the LMC looked poised on the threshold of something great!






















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Just One More Book!!

I have had this site on my rss feeder for quite a while and read with interest the weekly posts, but I had some time today and decided to explore the site. I'm glad I did!

Every person who reads to kids before bed has heard this cry. In our family, Solomon (who is now 5-years-old and starting kindergarten!) always tried to negotiate for "just one more book."
These days, he has two "youngers" (Abraham, 3-years-old, and Eden (who at three months has no words, yet) to help him convince whom ever is reading to read just one more book.

Luckily for me (and for you), there is a podcast and website that is dedicated to reviewing and discussing childrens books! If you haven't looked at this site, you should! The podcasts that I have listened to feature a variety of people, including kids, talking about the title.
The site is search-able by age level, by author, and subject category.

Whether you are looking for something to read to a child in your family, or a library professional, or teacher, there is something valuable here for you. Seriously, check it out!

Just One More Book!!


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Reader's Advisory

One of my favorite things about working as a media specialist is talking to students about books.
Learning what books they have read, and liked, and discussing what they might like to read next is one of the reasons I became a library media specialist.

Now that I am at a K-5 school, one challenge will be to get a better grasp on all that there is to offer reader's at the pre-reading, beginning reading, and transitional reading levels. I know about Fancy Nancy, Junie B., and Arthur, but there are many that I have yet to explore!

I am thrilled to find a newly launched website that will be a great help to any elementary and middle school level library media center staff. "A Book and A Hug" was created by Barb Langridge, and it is beautifully designed!

Barb has some excellent pointers on how to connect to boy readers, as well as reluctant readers of all shapes and sizes. I am sure that once you visit A Book and A Hug it will become a favorite resource. I think her four categories of guy readers is spot on target, and the search features works great!

Gearing up for MYRA

Check out my MYRA kick off commercial!

Riverview students in grades 3-5 will have the opportunity to participate in the Minnesota Youth Reading Awards (MYRA). Since this will be the first time I have participated in the award as an elementary media specialist, I expect there will be more excitement in the program than I have ever experienced, so I thought it would be fun to make a commercial to advertise it. I started one, then I found a commercial for a "Read it Forward" program (which, by the way, I would LOVE to do!) out of a school in Texas. This is an adaptation of that commercial.

More pictures of the new LMC

This is my office from the doorway.
I love having the side table
and plan to add a couple
of chairs for conferences.
The Cat in the Hat is made
of papermache and was a
gift from Kim Boe and students in D.L.











The poster above my bookcase
has been every classroom or office
since I was a student teacher.
It talks about following your dreams.

To the left of the bookcase is a
window that looks into the
media center.



These pictures are of my
lab classroom. It is in disarray,
but has 32 computers,
really nice chairs,
and a projector. Very nice!