Book Fair Mania!

Posted on October 24, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….it’s that time of year again

You would have thought it was Christmas at our school today.

Just before lunch today the book company delivered 7 large cases of books and numerous boxes of more books and accessories. As the children passed the library they let out shouts of joy. Many wanted to come in and start spending money they didn’t have.

I have numerous student volunteers for the library this year. Many join just so they can help out with the book fair. The steel book cases, however, are so large and awkward that I move them and position them on my own or with the help of another adult. I let the students open the smaller boxes but they get so excited that they want to open everything, even though many of the items are duplicated and don’t need to come out right away.

Sometimes I think it’s more work for me to delegate jobs for my eager workers but they love it and in the end they do get the job done. I think I’m going to have to make a schedule and assign specific days and times for my volunteers, otherwise I will have 20 bodies at my door every day asking if they can help and there won’t be any room for our paying customers.

For the next 7 school days our somewhat quiet library will become a bustling hive of activity with children and parents looking to purchase one or two special books, posters and accessories from the boutique case. The benefit of doing a book fair, of course, is that a sizeable percentage of the sales comes back into the library in the form of new books and classrooms also receive books and teaching aids. It’s a great community activity that brings people together and promotes reading.

A Guys Weekend

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….leaving me by myself in this big house

Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that my husband is off for the weekend with one of his best friends. He doesn’t do it often and I’m so happy that he’s enjoying the cottage. Apparently so is the dog. It just feels weird being in this house by myself. K’s gone away before but he’s always left the dog with me so I’ve never felt alone.

I stayed late at work again tonight. Knowing that no one was waiting at home, I decided to unpacked more boxes of books. A lot of the books that the boys and girls were asking for were still packed away so with the help of 3 former students who came back to help me in the library we pulled out the more popular titles. We created some more space by using the top of the lower book cases. I know that the boys will be happy to see Star Wars, Captain Underpants and Wimpy Kid back in the library.

On the way home I stopped and did a little bit of shopping for dinner, picked up some supplies for my budgie birds and bought a lottery ticket for tonight’s draw. When I walked through the front door my husband called from the cottage. He’s having a great time with his friend D. They got some more work done on the staircase railing and they hope to finish tomorrow. They’re eating like kings and the sauna was warming up while we were talking. Frances, our wonder dog, has been in doggy heaven. There aren’t too many people up at Big Sand Bay this weekend so she’s had a lot of freedom. She’s had so much fun that she hasn’t even wanted to eat. She was sleeping when K called. She’ll be one hungry dog tomorrow.

My daughter, A called about an hour ago and we’ve made plans to get together tomorrow. We’ll be heading out to the farmer’s market in the Junction and we’ll see where we go from there. My husband’s birthday is next week so we’ll probably be looking at some potential gifts to buy. Unfortunately my vacuum cleaner stopped working this week so I might also be looking for a good sale on vacuum cleaners.

As I’m writing this post I’m watching the last two episodes of America’s Got Talent. This year’s show has some of the best talent I’ve ever seen. All of the six finalists are winners in my eyes. They all deserve to be there and I will be happy, no matter who wins (or won, seeing that the winner was announced earlier in the week).

I had planned to get some work done around the house this weekend but I think having fun with my daughters and friends is going to take precedent.

Cheers!

Trinity College and the Library

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Mama Cormier

……how can a librarian go to Dublin and NOT see the library at Trinity College?

One of the first places our son, B, wanted to see was Trinity College and its famous library. I took a tour of the place the last time we were in Ireland but I was happy to visit it again.

I’ve quickly learned on this trip that B isn’t interested in waiting in line or paying to see historical sites. In this regard he is very much like his father; in fact K didn’t even come with us to the college.

When we walked through the archway that leads to the campus grounds we recognized that the place was very busy and there was a huge line-up to get into the library. We settled for the gift shop, where we could walk right in and in one corner, if you looked up you could get a pretty good feel for the size of the library.

After purchasing a couple of books we made our way back onto the grounds and viewed the numerous statues and the interesting architecture. We discovered the outdoor track that was situated in the middle of an idyllic park setting. . We made ourselves comfortable on one of the many park benches and watched the runners, young and old make their way around the track. As my son said ‘ it was surprisingly relaxing watching other people run’.

Time for a Clean Sweep

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….in my library office

I love a clean, well organized space. If you came into my office in the last couple of months….well lets be honest…..for most of the year you would have been assaulted with a chaotic mess. It’s been a challenge trying to keep my art materials organized and maintaining a school library at the same time. I’m glad to say that the library itself was mostly tidy and organized, thanks to my library helpers and parent volunteer. As for my office, I was able to close the door and put posters up on the class windows to hide the mess.

The end of the school year is always hectic and there never seems to be enough time to do everything that needs doing. On top of that it seems that the art teacher gets to inherit anything and everything that other teachers don’t want. Every time something new was donated to my art program I’d tell the donor to just put it on the counter, table or desk in the office and I would look at it later. Well later didn’t happen for a long time.

This week a few of us returned to school to finish doing things we couldn’t get to before school was out. I thought I could do it all in one day but it took me three days. I’m happy to report that the office looks great and I didn’t just stuff things into drawers and behind closet doors. I actually threw things out and organized materials onto shelves and into boxes.

There are still two carts in the office that contain art supplies, neatly organized mind you, but I’m hoping to clean out the storage room down the hall in August and make some space for most of my art papers and paints. This way the library office can once again be used for library work. The only thing that I need for my art classes is the use of the sink in that room.

It leaves me with a good feeling, knowing that the room if finally clean and organized. I can now enjoy the rest of my summer.

Before After