This Week at the Library; or, Cough Cough

What's happening at the library and in my head

• Monday
• 1st grade class visits (2 visits)
• Read with Pearl
• Autism Support Group
• Oy. What a day. I still have a cough from my sinus infection, which is annoying. Sick staff, schedule changes, staff meeting, phone calls, emails, working on reports, packing outreach baskets, and on and on. I am thankful to the fate which determined this would be the one time I have my phone by my bed (something I normally never do) and so was able to come in and meet the 1st graders! Two very sweet classes - especially loved the kids who helpfully translated their classmate's remarks for me, when I couldn't understand him. We read Eat Like a Bear and talked about omnivores and what bears do to get ready for winter, Round Robin and talked about birds flying south and Tap the Magic Tree and talked about how leaves change (which I may have made up - I should check that) and how important bees are. Phew! I'm also grateful for our awesome reading dog and her mom, who can handle things without me!
• Tuesday
• Toddlers 'n' Books (2 sessions) (Pattie)
• Bookaneers
• Pattie made glittery pumpkins with the toddlers and they were many happy faces meandering around the library. Happy babies always makes the morning more cheerful. I worked on this week's programs, av orders, and some possible grant stuff. We had a very loud and enthusiastic book club. We were so chatty we barely had time to pick our next books! Making our own escape plans a la The Great Pet Escape was a favorite activity. Some of us wanted to talk about Rosa Parks, but things were a bit too loud and raucous for serious conversation at that point. Some important things I couldn't leave until later so I finally left well after six. I'm tired.
• Wednesday
• 2nd grade community walk (2 sessions) (Jess)
• Outreach Storytime: Autumn (4 sessions)
• Youth Center: Oven-Bake Clay
• Jess covered the 2nd grade community walks while I did outreach storytimes in the morning and afternoon. Then I worked again on reports, then I went out to the youth center. Although the kids had really, really wanted clay again they were more meh this time. Still, about 10 participated. They are very worried about Killer Clowns (and Trump). Then I finally finished my reports.
• Thursday
• Books 'n' Babies
• Messy Art Club: Leaf Art
• Sara the Librarian came to my rescue with leaves! Most of the morning was taken up with the latest news: Trump is definitely coming to town this Saturday (the middle schoolers were correct on this one, but I am not taking their word for the killer clowns). The fair grounds are up the street from the library so we need to be prepared. At Messy Art Club I had a huge group at the beginning and then suddenly everyone left! But many leaves were used.
• Friday
• Outreach Storytime: The library is fun! (5 sessions)
• Phew. I love all my four year old and five year old kindergarteners but that was a marathon, especially since I still have a miserable cough. I did three back to back morning storytimes at once school, raced across town to do another, then back to the library to grab some lunch and then an afternoon storytime. I spent the afternoon working on scheduling staff and programs for the next couple months. I have some shopping for work to do this weekend, but other than that the week is over!

Projects in progress or completed this week

• Monthly outreach baskets to 4K packed and sent
• Updating schedules through December. This was very complicated and involved Math.
• Monthly report

What the kids are reading: A selection

• books about solar energy for younger kids (teacher request) - gap in collection.
• level 1 readers for school visit - kids really wanted Scooby-Doo but I don't have any readers
• wimpy kid
• talked to several fans about new manga coming (as soon as I finish reviewing it)
• fall, apples, pumpkins. will I ever have enough?
• Open Up, Please! and Shapes, Reshape! were both super popular at storytime