A Visit to Hurffville School in South Jersey
I was invited by Librarian Extraordinaire Bev Siti to speak to her grade 1-5 students. I met Bev at the NJASL Conference in November. (NJ Association of School Libraries.) She was in charge of book sales at the conference and we got to chat quite a bit. (She's great at selling books: she sold 150 books of mine for this visit!) I instantly liked Bev. When you meet her, you just know that she's one of those super librarians that goes above and beyond in every aspect of her job. As soon as I stepped into her school, she made me feel so welcome. She created this lovely bulletin board:
Actually, Bev made me feel welcome before I even walked into the school.(Early March) This was waiting for me (From Bells School, too!) at the hotel:
One of the reasons Bev booked me was because her annual read-a-thon was going to have a beach theme. After seeing Splashing by the Shore, she thought we'd be a good match. True to her word at the conference, she called me and booked me for March to culminate her week-long reading celebration. Although she was the first to book me, three other schools in the district have booked me as well. Lucky me! Since I'm visiting so many schools, I offered to do my Reluctant Reader: Squash the Resistance Program one evening for free. I'll be presenting it in April.
My visit was delayed by a few days due to snow. This was tough on the kids who were SO WELL-PREPARED and eager for my visit. I had thousands of hits to my website from the school. Why? The 3-5th graders, with the help of the computer teacher, all completed my webquest/scavenger hunt. Lots of the kids also signed my guestbook. By the time I arrived, I felt I knew many of them and they certainly "knew" me since they had spent lots of time on my site. (Weeks later, I'm still getting emails from the kids!)
Here's Bev and her library assistant outside of the library. This "scene" is amazing: real sand was brought in and with the press of a well-hidden button, the sound of waves hitting the sand echoed throughout the hallway. How cool is that?
A mother helped make the adorable HUGE mural that ran along two walls. Looks closely: creative touches everywhere:
Bev hosted a meet and greet breakfast for me. How thoughtful! This is a picture of Bev with the gym teacher. A very talented Martha Stewart-like gym teacher: Look what she made for each breakfast table. Beautiful beachy centerpieces! This staff knows how to have a good time and COOK! Yum! I couldn't believe all of the food they had! I initially sat with the second grade teachers and then walked around to chat with a lot of the staff. Everyone- and I do mean everyone, raved about Bev: her way with kids, her bright and beautiful library, her eagerness to help the staff find just the right materials, etc. Bev's ears must have been ringing big time!
While I have pics of kids I'd like to show, I don't have permission yet to use them. Maybe I'll be allowed to add them in later. I hope I can because the kids were simply wonderful! If I know a school is well-prepared and has visited my site/read books before I come, I play a quick game show during my presentation with the 4-5 graders. (Sometimes 3rd as well.) The kids love to hear this music blasting as a signal the game show is starting:
The prizes are reading tattoos and in this case, copies of Splashing by the Shore.
Bev and Karen, the librarian from Bells which I'm posting about tomorrow, took me out to eat dinner. Look who I ended up running into as we were leaving the restaurant: Sudipta and her beautiful girls! A small world!
Thanks Bev, for all you did to make this a fantastic visit for all involved. Hurffville is very, very, very lucky to have you! You rock!
Actually, Bev made me feel welcome before I even walked into the school.(Early March) This was waiting for me (From Bells School, too!) at the hotel:
One of the reasons Bev booked me was because her annual read-a-thon was going to have a beach theme. After seeing Splashing by the Shore, she thought we'd be a good match. True to her word at the conference, she called me and booked me for March to culminate her week-long reading celebration. Although she was the first to book me, three other schools in the district have booked me as well. Lucky me! Since I'm visiting so many schools, I offered to do my Reluctant Reader: Squash the Resistance Program one evening for free. I'll be presenting it in April.
My visit was delayed by a few days due to snow. This was tough on the kids who were SO WELL-PREPARED and eager for my visit. I had thousands of hits to my website from the school. Why? The 3-5th graders, with the help of the computer teacher, all completed my webquest/scavenger hunt. Lots of the kids also signed my guestbook. By the time I arrived, I felt I knew many of them and they certainly "knew" me since they had spent lots of time on my site. (Weeks later, I'm still getting emails from the kids!)
Here's Bev and her library assistant outside of the library. This "scene" is amazing: real sand was brought in and with the press of a well-hidden button, the sound of waves hitting the sand echoed throughout the hallway. How cool is that?
A mother helped make the adorable HUGE mural that ran along two walls. Looks closely: creative touches everywhere:
Bev hosted a meet and greet breakfast for me. How thoughtful! This is a picture of Bev with the gym teacher. A very talented Martha Stewart-like gym teacher: Look what she made for each breakfast table. Beautiful beachy centerpieces! This staff knows how to have a good time and COOK! Yum! I couldn't believe all of the food they had! I initially sat with the second grade teachers and then walked around to chat with a lot of the staff. Everyone- and I do mean everyone, raved about Bev: her way with kids, her bright and beautiful library, her eagerness to help the staff find just the right materials, etc. Bev's ears must have been ringing big time!
While I have pics of kids I'd like to show, I don't have permission yet to use them. Maybe I'll be allowed to add them in later. I hope I can because the kids were simply wonderful! If I know a school is well-prepared and has visited my site/read books before I come, I play a quick game show during my presentation with the 4-5 graders. (Sometimes 3rd as well.) The kids love to hear this music blasting as a signal the game show is starting:
The prizes are reading tattoos and in this case, copies of Splashing by the Shore.
Bev and Karen, the librarian from Bells which I'm posting about tomorrow, took me out to eat dinner. Look who I ended up running into as we were leaving the restaurant: Sudipta and her beautiful girls! A small world!
Thanks Bev, for all you did to make this a fantastic visit for all involved. Hurffville is very, very, very lucky to have you! You rock!