Pardon Our Dust

In our media center, we have championed change. We want to evolve to make this a great, interesting, wonderous learning space and the hub of our school building. We have been taking baby steps for the past year but all of these baby steps add up. We have been able to add color, texture, MakerSpace items, lights, tents, teepees, and a host of other kid-friendly entities to our space. One things that had not changed was our old, dilapidated circulation desk. It was an eyesore even after dressing it up as best we could. With permission from our principal, Tammy Brown, our Facilities Manager Yanka Ruiz was able to schedule the construction of a new circulation desk. When we heard the news, we were ecstatic! This was the one thing that we could not do ourselves and we had no idea how long the wait would be in order to make this change. Would it be months? Years? Well, it came sooner than we thought.

We got a visit from the district construction team and they outlined for us what the process would be. We told them that we would make any changes necessary to give them the space to work. We chose our color palette and the design of the desk, and we waited a few days. Word came that the process would start so we moved to a couple of temporary tables for a couple of weeks. In that time, we saw the demolition of the old desk and construction of our beautiful new desk. We stayed open during this time, providing all of the services that we normally would, with as little impact to the kids and the learning as possible. This time period was not as difficult as we feared it would be.

As you can see, this was a big undertaking. The construction team was remarkable. They were considerate of our needs and tried to work around us. We also tried to work around them and since we all had the same goal in mind, things went seamlessly. As you can also see from the pics, the old counter was very high. While sitting behind the desk, we could not see many of our younger students. This desk was not conducive to an elementary school library. 

After a week or so, things really started coming together. We could see the footprint of the new circulation desk. It was much roomier than the previous incarnation. It was built with a busy media center in mind. There would be lots of closed cabinet space, a low counter for the younger kids, and lots of outlets for electricity and Internet connections. This would be a modern circulation desk. As more of the construction happened, we got more and more excited. 

After the construction team was finished, we unveiled our beautiful new circulation counter. Our color scheme matched our media center perfectly and it looked beautiful. The "ooooohs" and "ahhhhhs" from both students and teachers were audible as they entered the library. After we moved back over from our temporary space, we immediately noticed how much better this counter was. We could see the kids! We could store things and close the cabinets! We could have two functioning computers to serve the kids and adults better! 

This change was not a small change like the ones that came before. This change was ginormous! This change sets the tone for more changes to come but nothing we will do in the future will have as great of an effect as the new circulation desk. We are grateful to the district for completing this project during the school year and we are grateful for our team at Lely, from our principal to our facilities manager, who made this change possible. We are now ready for the next fifteen years of service to the kids and staff at Lely Elementary School.

Student-Driven Book Purchasing

 Last year I had a boy, Elano, come into the library and ask for a book called Hilo. I had never heard of this book before. He explained that it was a graphic novel series and that he was very excited to read it. Well, we didn't have it. I explained to him that our graphic novel selection was not very good. He just looked at me for a minute and finally asked, "Well, can you order it?" What a simple question. On our next book purchase, I ordered the Hilo series and one or two other graphic novels. I held the books for Elano since he asked for them. He was so excited when he came in and saw them. He got them all and gobbled them up in a few days. He came back elated and asked what else we had. Well, our selection was still very limited but Elano had shown me that if we have the books, kids will check them out. It's kind of the "Field of Dreams" premise. 

While Elano was repeatedly asking me to order more graphic novels, his friends were busy reading the Hilo series. I determined at that point that in order to properly serve these students, I had to pack the media center with things they really wanted to read. So, last year before Covid, we got in a few more graphic novels. We still hid them in a shelf along the far wall of the media center, off the beaten path. Kids still found them, lots of kids. 

This year, we took a different approach to graphic novels. While our budget is small, our grant opportunities are endless. We decided to write a Donors Choose grant for graphic novels. I looked at lots of sources to find the best graphic novels for elementary students. Our first grant was for 902.00 and was funded in two days. It was funded so quickly that I immediately put up a second graphic novel grant for 865.00. That grant was funded even quicker. Now, we had 1700.00+ of graphic novels coming to school. We cleared off the tables in the media center to display them so the kids could see all of the new books that we received. Well, let's just say that the kids were super stoked.

Many times we heard screams of elation when kids came across books that they had only heard about before. They ran from table to table, looking at all of the new, colorful graphic novels. You would think it was Christmas morning! We loved seeing the kids so excited about books! 

All year long, the kids have been flocking to the graphic novel tables. We have trouble keeping them in the media center. I have learned a lot from this experience. I learned from Elano that kids love graphic novels more than I thought they did. This experience also confirmed my conviction that kids will read more than they ever have if they have the right books. I know some teachers and parents don't like graphic novels because they are books with pictures but when you look at the amount of information on the page and all of the brainpower it takes to interpret the words and graphics on the page, graphic novels are an excellent exercise for the brain. And if kids willingly, doggedly read these books, then we have tapped into a slice of motivation that may not have been there for strictly text-based books. 

Often graphic novels act as a vehicle to get kids reading in the first place. From there they choose a variety of books. I would much rather have kids excitedly reading graphic novels than learn to hate reading by being forced to read books that they don't like. We try to nurture a child's natural love of stories by introducing them to the books that they will love and grow their reading abilities from there. Graphic novels often act as the hook that brings kids into the world of reading. 

Leader In Me Habit Boards

This is our second year as a Leader in Me school. While Covid played havoc with our school year, we were still able to make some gains in building a foundation of Leader in Me in our school. One of the things that we tried to do right off the bat was change the environment of various spots around campus. We wanted students and teachers to come to school on the first day and be "wow'd" by what they saw. One project that helped us accomplish this feeling was our Leader in Me Habit Boards that are mounted right outside the media center. We spent over two weeks creating these boards and mounting them to the wall for all to see. They are strategically placed because you can see them from the front entrance. On their way into the office, parents and visitors will see the boards and be reminded that we are indeed a Leader in Me school and there is much to appreciate about our school. 

Now that the year has been going full-steam, we will document some of the other areas that we have made progress. We will recognize the outstanding work of our teachers, staff, and students, and make sure that everyone knows what an amazing place Lely Elementary School is. This is just the beginning of our story. It is a good one to tell and throughout the next several posts, you'll get a sense of what our school year has been like with all of the challenges we have faced. Click this link (LIM Habit Boards) to see the video of our LIM Habit Boards.