My Kiddos!

This is a group of CDC kids I teach, they are 3 and stay for only a half day

This is one of my favorite little boys in KG1

Me and another Minnie from KG2

Last week was a very crazy week for us in the library. Besides teaching the regular classes we had to prepare for the book fair. That involved collecting books from the children, and adding them to our huge collection of books we had previously pulled from our shelves when weeding. All of the books had to be sorted into groups for KG-5th grade. It took FOREVER to sort through thousands of books and decide which grade level they fit. Eventually the books were sorted into groups, the library was divided into sections, books were spread on the shelves, tables, and across the floor, and the kids came in to pick 1-2 books they could take home. It was a very successful day, but also very long and crazy!

The day after the book fair we decided not to teach any classes, but let kids come in all day to check out books as we continued to clean up and prepare for spring break. One of the Kindergarten teachers emailed Kerri with a request from her kids that Miss Molly come and do storytime in their classroom. So I happily went to her classroom to read "Swimmy" and "The Gingerbread Man." The kids loved it, and begged me to please join them outside for their "Letter P Picnic." I marched in line with the kids outside to join about 100 kindergarteners all piling their plates with popcorn, pizza, pears, pies, pretzels... it was adorable! I sat on the grass with the kids as they told me all about their upcoming spring break, and shooed the flies away from the little boys. The boys were very grossed out by all the critters and continuously ran to me for protection from flies and spiders. After spending the entire time shoeing flies away from little Chris he called me "Queen of the Bugs." I love that kid! Eventually I excused myself and went back to the library to add new books to our system, shelf books, and explain to parents that no matter their pleading, our circulation desk was down for maintenance and I could not allow them to check out any books.

Library Times

I love my job. I love my job. I love my job. I love my job...

I guess you get the point now right? :) Working in the Elementary Library has been such an incredible experience. Every single day I learn new things from the kids and never cease to be amazed at who the child's father is, what company he owns, and the simple fact that I am teaching in an International School in the Middle East.

I have a thousand and one jobs in the library that differ from day to day. I check books in and out, shelf the books, yell at the funky computer system that is in dire need of an update, weed the shelves (hasn't been done in 15+ years,) delete books, add and barcode new books, convince parents that believe themselves to be so entitled that 1. You must create an account to check out books. 2. Your child in not more special than the next and needs to return his book or pay the fine. 3. No matter how much money you pull from your wallet you may not purchase books from the library. I also get to pull my favorite picture books for the Kindergarten display shelf. On it you may find: "Blueberries for Sal," "Angelina Ballerina," "Bedtime for Frances," books by Babbette Cole, Steven Kellog, James Marshall... my list goes on. It is basically Miss Molly's shelf and though technically they are the designated shelves for the Kingergarteners to choose their books from, kids from all grades and parents pull from the shelf too. No matter how many surplus stacks I create I find myself always running around to find more books.

My favorite part of the day is when I get to teach my kids. Daily I teach CDC (3 year olds) and two levels of Kindergarten. Thats about 12 classes every week. We walk into the library as a random animal, sit down and do the wiggles, and then I get to do storytime. We've done alphabet and animal books, and I am now working my way through classic tales, ie: Cinderella. The kids tell me the original story, and I will read the Middle Eastern, Chinese, African... version. With the younger kids we just discuss the differences, but recently I have also been teaching the first and second grade classes, and we do bubble maps. Their comparison and contrast of the two stories are always such a hoot to listen to, but I know it hits home when they start to understand the map and show me how to use it to compare animals.

The kids never cease to make me smile. Today one of the little boys asked me (very seriously) "Miss Molly, I don't understand how the woodsman could hit the wolf over the head and then somehow just shake Little Red Riding Hood and her grandma out of his belly. Wouldn't they come out in pieces or something?" (Smile) I love my job. It may be crazily hectic, but the kids keep me going.

The kindergarteners are always fun to teach because I get to do insane crafts with them after we read the story. When I first started they were simply doing coloring sheets, but now I've got them making crocodiles out of paper bags, pop up birdies, bunny ears, puppets, all sorts of cute crafts that correspond to our story.

This week has been crazy because we have been preparing for the Recycle Book Fair. All our ancient books have been deleted from our system, piled up in the back room, and added to stacks of books the kids have brought in. On Wednesday the kids will get to choose a couple books to take home, and the leftovers will be donated to an orphanage. Till then, I have MUCH work to do. All of the shelves, carts, boxes and bags of books have to be sorted by grade level. That means flipping through each individual book to determine who can read it. And of course you have to mentally compensate for the higher and lower readers in the class and add those to the grade level stacks. Complicated and confusing, but I enjoy seeing all the titles that come through and reminiscing of being little and listening to my dad read them on "the Daddy Tapes," stories he taped while on a tour overseas.

Every afternoon I have to take a nap because I am exhausted by the time the day is over. I work from 7 till 2, and don't technically have a lunch break. During every single one of the students and teachers scheduled breaks the kids are in the library. So morning break, recess, afternoon break, class passes, and their lunch, we sit in the library to help them find and check out books. A lot of days that means I am walking around trying to snarf down a sandwich while hunting for a book on paper airplanes, but the kids understand. The kids are pretty sweet, they constantly bring us donuts, cookies and cakes. It's nice to be appreciated.

Well, I must crash. Tomorrow I have to prepare for the recycled book fair, take care of normal library duties (shelving "Magic Treehouse" books before the kids hunt me down) and since Keri isn't coming in I get to teach ALL the classes. This might be interesting... Fifth graders, here I come!