Bigger and Better

At the end of the first, full week of school, I was feeling on 'empty' in the emotional and physiological tank.  I was stressed, and I was completely exhausted, despite getting more sleep than usual.  Driving home after 5 p.m. on a Friday, I saw a man riding a bicycle toward oncoming traffic, on the sidewalk, though.  My mind did that, "Is that a baby on the front of his bike?!?" right as he came into focus and my brain realized it was, in fact, a toddler, and she was adorable and waving at every car as her dad biked her down the road.  I wish I had a picture.  She was the cutest!  I immediately waved back, and the man's face smiled, big, and he waved back, too.  My heart just melted.  And I was restored.

Our school year started very early, on Wednesday, July 24th.  Our first day back was a district-wide look at our county's new Instructional Framework infographic.  From all that I've read about the messages companies' send to their employees, our county had us spend so much time looking at the infographic that first day back, because of the importance of the instructional process to our county's mission, "Quality Learning and Superior Performance for All".  Our district focus this year will be Planning.

The next day, our principal, Amy Bartlett, kicked off our school-wide focus with her fabulous, "Framing the Year" talk! This year's theme is "Strength in Numbers".  The entire staff had taken the Enneagram test at the end of May, and we each got a shirt with the strengths and weaknesses of our personality type printed on the front of it, for the beginning of the school year.  I came out as a "6" - The Loyalist.

We broke into teams based on grade-level or department.  Our Administrators gave us a giant paper clip and sent us out into the community to trade up for something bigger and better.  

Our team went from a paper clip to a gift certificate at Black Diamond Grill, to signed memorabilia from a school parent and University of Georgia football star, Buck Belue, to a gift certificate at Elevate Fitness Studio, to a gift card to Tiffany's!  It really did take strength in numbers, because I didn't have any of those connections.  Our art teacher thought to get the gift certificate from where our school would be eating lunch later, our PE coaches knew about Buck Belue, our ITS exercises at Elevate Fitness, and our science lab teacher knew the parent who had a Tiffany's gift card. 

Many other teams came back with items like full-week vacations at the beach, a Pokemon costume, and even a kitchen sink!  Our principal awarded the trades back to teams and departments, so that each team got a prize.  Our team won a day off and a free Enneagram test code!

THEN, at our Friday, School Library Media Specialists meeting, our county Media Specialist, Kristen Deuschle, arranged a vendor mini-fair.  Got to see Follett, Scholastic, Nisewonger AV, Swank Motion Pictures Inc., Permabound, and other publishers.  Such a FABULOUS idea for seeing multiple vendors all in one meeting!  It makes it easier to be able to focus on collaboration and learning at our monthly SLM meetings.  Also got to hear an author talk from Stem Gems author, Stephanie Espy.

And then school started and it's already been a month and a week!  Just flew by.  It was loads of hard work and late nights, but worth every minute. 

One additional note: Our first year of Birthday Book Stars has raised our media center over $5,000!!! I'm SO excited that we'll be able to purchase more books for our readers!
Also very appreciative for the encouragement of Kelly Lessard, Jennifer Canavan, and Danielle Steele, certified Media Specialist colleagues, for sharing their expertise and insights into making this new fundraiser easy and successful!