Lovely day.
The 10-year-old's piano recital (she did GREAT!),
plus Father's / Grandfather's day (we got him his favorite ice cream),
plus a sweet necklace from the 10-year-old, lots of cards, and cake with coconut frosting. (which we ate with the ice cream about 8 pm.)
-wendieO
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Writing Friday
Did I do housework today?
nope.
Did I work at the library today?
nope.
Did I cook up a storm?
nope
Did I do things with the 10 year old on her last day of school?
nope.
(she made arrangements to go to the pool with a group of friends and had an enjoyable day off from everything. Okay, a half-day, since she is in the special choral group that sang in the morning during the 5th grade graduation.)
Actually, I had a very productive day printing out manuscripts and getting them ready to send out.
One that I'm especially proud of is the manuscript that I sent to the Hunger Mountain Katherine Paterson writer's contest. I finally managed to get the first page of that manuscript to say what I had visualized. Every time I had revised that page before, it still sounded clunky. But today I figured out the words and phrases I needed to make it sparkle. Yippee!
The Deadline for the Katherine Paterson Prize for YA and Children’s Writing is June 30th! And I got mine into the mail, today. How about you?
-wendieO
nope.
Did I work at the library today?
nope.
Did I cook up a storm?
nope
Did I do things with the 10 year old on her last day of school?
nope.
(she made arrangements to go to the pool with a group of friends and had an enjoyable day off from everything. Okay, a half-day, since she is in the special choral group that sang in the morning during the 5th grade graduation.)
Actually, I had a very productive day printing out manuscripts and getting them ready to send out.
One that I'm especially proud of is the manuscript that I sent to the Hunger Mountain Katherine Paterson writer's contest. I finally managed to get the first page of that manuscript to say what I had visualized. Every time I had revised that page before, it still sounded clunky. But today I figured out the words and phrases I needed to make it sparkle. Yippee!
The Deadline for the Katherine Paterson Prize for YA and Children’s Writing is June 30th! And I got mine into the mail, today. How about you?
-wendieO
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Why do we have a Summer Reading Program at Public Libraries?
Susan Kusel, another children's librarian, just sent me this message. New on her PBS blog is her take on why Children's Librarians are sooooo tired in the summertime.
She says:
"It's summer reading time!
Why does every library in the country have one of these programs?
Is it because the librarians enjoy repeating themselves about 3,000 times? Or, could there be another reason? Find out today at Booklights."
-Susan
She says:
"It's summer reading time!
Why does every library in the country have one of these programs?
Is it because the librarians enjoy repeating themselves about 3,000 times? Or, could there be another reason? Find out today at Booklights."
-Susan
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Tuesday
So much for Nonfiction Monday.
Monday was the first day of Summer Reading. We figured (okay, I figured) that, because school is still in session, the day wouldn't be as busy as a normal beginning day of the Summer Reading Program.
Ha!
In the morning we were busy registering preschoolers.
They tell me that there was a lull of a few hours in the afternoon, but all h*ll broke lose once school let out. I wasn't there. I was at the 4th grade picnic as the representative parent for the 10-year-old. My husband couldn't make it because his library system was closing a branch and moving it to a new building, which meant the computer department was in charge of unwiring and packing up the computers. (at the picnic she was embarrassed when a boy came over to tell me how much he LOVED her. She doesn't even like him! Oh my, what a catty discussion she and her friends had when he moved away. It turns out that he's not very nice -- he gropes girls. In fourth grade? Yuck.)
When I returned to the branch at 5:00, the person on the children's desk was sooooo glad to see me. A few minutes there, I could see why. Busy, busy, busy.
We have a table set up in the Children's Room with several middle schoolers registering the elementary students for the Summer Reading Program and giving them string backpacks and nice coupons. All their younger siblings get registered over at the Children's Information Desk. Me. (ooops, the desk is now called the "Ask a Librarian Desk.") These little ones are being given a yellow tote bag plus the coupons. It was fun, but exhausting.
Meanwhile, my husband had taken over Kid-duty Monday evening and was the representative parent at her first Swim Meet of the summer. Last year my husband would e-mail me after every event she was in to tell me how she did. Monday I didn't have a moment to look at my e-mail, so I had no idea what had happened. Amazingly enough, this year she was in the first heats, which meant that her second place in breaststroke counted for the team total points.
But most amazing of all, the coach put her in IM. (Individual medly -- one length each of the four strokes) It was her first time doing this and my husband says she looked practically dead when he pulled herself out of the pool. But, She managed to complete it. We're so proud of her for even attempting to do this.
Why did I tell you all this? To explain why I didn't do Nonfiction Monday on Monday. Too busy/ too tired.
-wendieO
Monday was the first day of Summer Reading. We figured (okay, I figured) that, because school is still in session, the day wouldn't be as busy as a normal beginning day of the Summer Reading Program.
Ha!
In the morning we were busy registering preschoolers.
They tell me that there was a lull of a few hours in the afternoon, but all h*ll broke lose once school let out. I wasn't there. I was at the 4th grade picnic as the representative parent for the 10-year-old. My husband couldn't make it because his library system was closing a branch and moving it to a new building, which meant the computer department was in charge of unwiring and packing up the computers. (at the picnic she was embarrassed when a boy came over to tell me how much he LOVED her. She doesn't even like him! Oh my, what a catty discussion she and her friends had when he moved away. It turns out that he's not very nice -- he gropes girls. In fourth grade? Yuck.)
When I returned to the branch at 5:00, the person on the children's desk was sooooo glad to see me. A few minutes there, I could see why. Busy, busy, busy.
We have a table set up in the Children's Room with several middle schoolers registering the elementary students for the Summer Reading Program and giving them string backpacks and nice coupons. All their younger siblings get registered over at the Children's Information Desk. Me. (ooops, the desk is now called the "Ask a Librarian Desk.") These little ones are being given a yellow tote bag plus the coupons. It was fun, but exhausting.
Meanwhile, my husband had taken over Kid-duty Monday evening and was the representative parent at her first Swim Meet of the summer. Last year my husband would e-mail me after every event she was in to tell me how she did. Monday I didn't have a moment to look at my e-mail, so I had no idea what had happened. Amazingly enough, this year she was in the first heats, which meant that her second place in breaststroke counted for the team total points.
But most amazing of all, the coach put her in IM. (Individual medly -- one length each of the four strokes) It was her first time doing this and my husband says she looked practically dead when he pulled herself out of the pool. But, She managed to complete it. We're so proud of her for even attempting to do this.
Why did I tell you all this? To explain why I didn't do Nonfiction Monday on Monday. Too busy/ too tired.
-wendieO
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Busy week
This week I booktalked all grades at an elementary school -- my last for the year. Then spent the rest of the week getting ready for the first day of the Summer Reading Program which begins ( Yikes!) tomorrow --on Monday, June 14.
Saturday, the 10 year old had stroke practice. It also was the last day of her gymnastics. Then we went to the library branch to decorate the place. You should see it. The national summer reading program theme is -Make a Splash! Read!
And we now look as if the library is under water.
Afterwards, we had a cookout at a librarian's house. Yummy!
(this message typed on an iPhone. Now to see what it looks like on my blog.
--wendieO
Saturday, the 10 year old had stroke practice. It also was the last day of her gymnastics. Then we went to the library branch to decorate the place. You should see it. The national summer reading program theme is -Make a Splash! Read!
And we now look as if the library is under water.
Afterwards, we had a cookout at a librarian's house. Yummy!
(this message typed on an iPhone. Now to see what it looks like on my blog.
--wendieO
Monday, June 7, 2010
Nonfiction Monday -- The Smash! Smash! Truck
The Smash! Smash! Truck, Recycling as You've Never Heard it Before! by Professor Potts. London: David Fickling Books, 2010.
Who is Professor Potts? Beats me. I've gone to his website and still am not sure. This seems to be a comic book writer/ artist, possibly named Aiden Potts, who is branching out into children's books.
Easy reading? yes.
Boy appeal? yes -- lots of Smashes and Bangs.
Recycling? yes -- down to the last atom.
From the creation of everything with the Big BANG, the atoms that make up our universe are constantly being re-used.
The water cycle is quickly mentioned.
As is the plant cycle.
But since this book is narrated by a glass bottle, naturally the GLASS cycle takes a prominent part. Gathering used bottles/ smashing them/ melting them down/ to make -- more bottles. With lots of smashes. (and day-glow print) (There are even coloring pages on his website from this book, with instructions to use day-glow markers.
A fun look at recycling. It's too bad that it will be lost in the 363s when so many preschoolers and early elementary kids would enjoy it. Try putting it on display so they can find it.
More Nonfiction Monday posts can be found at Charlotte's Library.
enjoy. -wendieO
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Being a Medicine Cat is a Dangerous Job
I've discovered that being the Medicine Cat for a tribe of Warrior Cats is a dangerous job. The 10-year-old has completed reading the third book of the series, and yet another Medicine Cat has been killed.
Now, normally characters in a book don't worry me. But she's so wrapped up in this story that she named everyone in the family for one of the cats in the book. So far my husband's cat is still alive. But me? I die in every book.
She finally took pity on me and let me choose my own name. Being a grandma, I chose to be a Queen cat called Goldenflower. (for you non-cat owners, a Queen is a female cat with kittens.) Nice name. I just hope that I haven't jinxed this poor queen. Does she survive in the fifth book, or will SHE die, too?
What's the series that has my granddaughter enthralled?
Warriors, by Erin Hunter. (which turns out to be a pen name for four writers.)
-wendieO
Now, normally characters in a book don't worry me. But she's so wrapped up in this story that she named everyone in the family for one of the cats in the book. So far my husband's cat is still alive. But me? I die in every book.
She finally took pity on me and let me choose my own name. Being a grandma, I chose to be a Queen cat called Goldenflower. (for you non-cat owners, a Queen is a female cat with kittens.) Nice name. I just hope that I haven't jinxed this poor queen. Does she survive in the fifth book, or will SHE die, too?
What's the series that has my granddaughter enthralled?
Warriors, by Erin Hunter. (which turns out to be a pen name for four writers.)
-wendieO
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