the library | Mama Cormier

… finally finished cleaning the library

If you walked into my library right now you’d think I was off my rocker making a statement like that. There are boxes of books everywhere.

Believe it or not that’s what I had to do. Over the summer a new carpet is being put down in the library and the books on the freestanding shelves had to be taken down so that the shelves can be moved.

I also had to clean my office so that the caretakers can get in there and clean the floor and the counter. I was really stressing about not being able to get in there and get things off the floor and the counters.

I spent two extra days at school this week to get the job done. While there I started to purge and threw away a lot of paper and old outdated documents. It was a slow process but worth it in the end. I can now enjoy the rest of my summer without worrying about the state of my office.

Now I hope when I return that the carpet will be down and that my office will still be uncluttered. I suspect that many of those boxes will end up in. It’s the one area that’s not being carpeted.

The big challenge is to keep my office like this all year.

….after a stressful and frustrating couple of days, an act of kindness melts my heart

Today was much calmer at school. The children actually got outside for recess despite the overcast skies. We started the day with our Character Education assembly and two of the kindergarten classes entertained us with fantastic performances featuring the theme cooperation. Mr. J. presented the trophy to this year’s winning floor hockey team and handed out medals to the boys’ touch football team that came in second in the City Finals. Mrs. F’s grade 3 class performed a musical production on the Orff instruments, conducted by Ms C. In my opinion it was one of the best assemblies we’ve had this year.

Now that all the voting for favourite books in the library is finished some of my stress has been lifted. I managed to email the last set of votes before I left school today. All day during library classes the kids were truly interested in knowing how the vote went. In art class the grade 3s continued on their weaving projects. I’m really loving this assignment. It’s so relaxing and the kids really like it. One of the students who finished his project is working on a design for our class project that everyone will participate in. When it’s done we will donate it for the silent auction at this year’s Fun Fair at the end of May. I’ll keep you posted on our progress.

I started and ended the day with soccer tryouts for the grade 4/5 girls. A group of students wanted to help me in the library and I told them what I really needed was a clean office and clean art equipment. They were happy to take up the challenge. All I really wanted was to have the paint cleaned off the palettes and brushes from Monday’s class.

When I walked into the library after soccer practice the room was dark but I heard a few giggles and my three helpers jumped out from behind my office door and yelled surprise. Not only had they put away all the books but they cleared off my library/computer table, washed all the art equipment, polished the sink, tidied the counter and organized the table and surfaces in my office. If that wasn’t enough they brought me a tray of fresh fruit and made me a cup of coffee. What a great way to end the day. They made me feel very special.