Hit#2: First Days of School (Libraries)

[Bakers <whatever@IPA.NET>]

Hit Continued:


Perhaps the first day of school for many of us is now looming on the horizon
and we don't want the dawn to break as we think about what we will be doing...

Quite honestly as a middle school person I spend the first few days trying
to clear out the library of all the equipment send to us in June (our first
week is always 4 days)  ...check out materials to teachers for their initial
days in the classroom, set up a schedule for orientation so that we can
begin the Monday of the second week of school  for all the sixth grade
students (usually a slide show, but this year a power point
presentation--somewhat done), set the library check-out schedule to begin as
soon as we finish orientation though we have checked out books to classes
the first week if we have their names dumped into our computer system --do a
short orientation for the new staff. We do a book order in May so that is
waiting on us..we try to mark all the AR books and get all those titles on
the shelf.

We acquire student lists from the teachers and try to add manually all those
"additional children" who were not included in the master disk that we dump
into our Winnebago Spectrum system.  Usually a hundred or more children.  If
we don't do this, our inital check-outs are slowed adding the extras.  Plus
the names don't tranfer correctly so we try to correct names so when we send
letters and overdues later the computer prints the info correctly.   Our
fields don't quite match the school board's fields....each year we keep
hoping they get it right.

Attend all the grade level meetings during the first week.

 We do post our rules:

Speak so softly you don't disturb others.
Bring pencil, paper, pass and assignment with you.
Keep hands, feet and objects to yourself.
Follow directions the first time given.
Be responsible with borrowed materials.

 We have a student population of 1400 and well over 100 staff members.  We
come back 1 day before teachers...and the week before school starts is spent
in meetings...both school and district wide plus we have a back to school
night during the week before school starts so there is a real effort to have
things physically shipshape by Wednesday of those first few teacher days.

Wishing I was on vacation.   Caroline
cmellen@erols.com

==================================

From: Gbaldauf@aol.com
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 18:17:57 EDT
Subject: Harry Wong
To: whatever@ipa.net
Content-Length: 940

Cecelia,
I have often wondered the very same thing.  Please copy me on any replies
that you receive or post a HIT.  Harry Wong is so inspiring!  I am beginning
work in a new school this September and I really want ot get off on the right
foot with teachers and students.  At my previous school, new teachers went
through an induction program where we saw Harry's video and  received a copy
of his book.  I plan on re-reading it before school begins.  One thing that I
have learned is to keep the rules simple.  Mine are:  1.  Be respectful.  2.
Be responsible.  3.  Be ready.  I also like his ideas about having something
on the board for students to do immediately upon entering the class.  Have
tried to so this with some success.  I think it needs to become a habit
(mine)  to always have it there.  Thanks in advance!
Sincerely,
Gretchen Baldauf
Gbaldauf@aol.com
Librarian
Thos. Edison Elementary School
Tonawanda, NY  14150

===============================================

Harry Wong's book made me think of and create a poster for the Three Rules
that Make You Welcome in Any Library in the World:
     1.  Be quiet (this is a reading place)
     2.  Take care of the materials (and you will have what you need)
     3.  Put everything in its proper place (and you'll be able to find what
you need)


For really little kids I add, 4.  Wait your turn (and everyone will have a turn)


I like to start with #1 because everyone already knows it, and I can start
by asking "what is the first rule of libraries everywhere?" and someone
always knows, and we start on a successful note. When I talk about these
rules I do a "who, what, where, when, why" analysis of each rule--the
scientific inquiry of rules.

At Texas schools there is really two starts to school.  The first is the
arrival of teachers for staff development, and it nearly always is in the
library.  I have to arrange chairs and tables for the principal to be most
effective.  Harry Wong teaches about the importance of manipulating the
environment for instructional purposes.  I make sure the principal knows I
care about his or her teaching environment.  Then the library has to be
rearranged for the arrival of kids.  Books have got be on display,
front-side out, in every spare space.  Signage needs to be spiffed up so no
one will be lost in the library.  Kids have got to feel welcome.

Your second posting jogged my memory of Harry Wong, his rules and his desk
arrangement discussions.  Maybe if you listed his chapters it would jog
others' memories.  The idea of transferring Wong to the library is very good.

Donna Cook, Nacogdoches, Texas :
Teacher/Librarian Central High;
District Coordinator, Central ISD;
Library Consultant, Douglass ISD;
"Minister of Information" First Baptist.
donnacook@mailcity.com
409-853-9345


================================

I am the media speicalist in a school of 620 kids - first, second and
third graders. My Rules:

1. Walk, don't run.

2. Sit like a pretzel.
        (of course, I mean when we are sitting together on the floor. )
3. Keep books safe and dry.
        (safe from babies, dogs, food, and not near any kind of water:
rain,                           drinks, wet tables and counters, toilets,
bathtubs)
4. Keep your book in your book bag or your desk.
        ( unless you are reading it)
5. Remember listening position.
        (This is a school wide thing - sit up, eyes and ears on the speaker,
quiet hands)
6. Only LOOK at the fish.
        (This is my effort to make a postive statement out of don't touch the
fish tank!)

I made a cube from yellow foam board using six 6 inch squares. Three
squares have a sad face made from felt, the other have happy faces. I
hot glued the edges together.
We sit in a circle and each child has a turn rolling the cube.  If it
lands on a happy face, they say something that is a GOOD thing to do in
the library. If they roll a sad face they say something that is a BAD
thing to do. This gets quite comical with the kids who "get it".  I
printed out each rules on a piece of paper 8.5 x 11 and keep them on the
wall next to where we sit, in case soneone need help remembering.
I got the face cube idea from LM_NEt but I have no idea who it was! It
works great. The kids ask about playing it all year.

Karen DeFrank
Dorothy L. Bullock Elementary School
Glassboro, NJ 08028
defrank@voicenet.com
=================================

From: William Crawford <bill7728@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: Target2: First Day of School--If Harry Wong was an LMS

I put mine in a bookmark.  If they return with the bookmark colored each week,
they get an extra book.  Shows they remember the rules.

=================================

I do post my 3 library "behaviors" in VERY large print on the wall.
Talk quietly
Be involved in the lesson
Respect people and materials

These are explained on the first visit and reinforced each time one of them
comes into question.
*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)
>>
>>Gayle Hodur                           Snail Mail:
>>District Librarian                    Main Street Middle School
>>Soledad Unified School District               441 Main Street
>>(408) 678-3923                                Soledad, CA  93960
>>ghodur@redshift.com
=====================================















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"Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is
pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any
excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these
things." Phil. 4:8 NRSV

  Cecilia Baker, Library Media Specialist
  Cord-Charlotte High School Library
  225 School Road        whatever@ipa.net (Home)
  Charlotte, AR  72501   bakerc@cchs.ncsc.k12.ar.us (School)
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