Best Day Ever: a journal exercise while subbing 1st grade

I know it's been a minute (aka a long freaking while) since I've blogged about anything, and I promise that I mean to write more often soon, but whathaveyou. There's been a lot going on this year and very little time to sit and process or update here. Some of it I really can't talk about, but other than that I've been really really busy. And Instagram posts are so much faster than blogging. And I've had mad writer's block when trying to compose my thoughts about my trip last summer and I've wanted to finish blogging about #5countries2seasons1zara before posting about anything more recent, but that might be a pipe dream. 

Anyway.

This morning I was subbing for a 1st grade class (because part of my job as a librarian includes subbing when teachers are out - there has been a lot of that lately) and they had an assigned journal to write about their BEST DAY EVER, so as I asked them to tell me about it, I prompted them with questions like "What would you do in the morning? At lunchtime? In the afternoon? At night?" Their answers ranged from going to a theme park and eating pizza with their friends to spending the day at a palace dancing with a prince. It got me thinking about my best day. What would make the best day ever for me; what do I want the most at this moment in time? It's kind of a fun exercise! It would be interesting to see how someone's "best day ever" changes as they age. I thought I might jot down some ideas for my day while the kids are eating their morning snack, so here it is!

After you read, I want to hear about your Best Day Ever, too! After a week like this, with everything happening in the world the past few weeks (Orlando, Stanford Justice, politics, refugees, etc.), we could all use a little imaginative happiness. So let's chat. 


Miss P's Journal Entry in Grade 1C, June 14, 2016
Tell me about your BEST DAY EVER. 
What would you do...

In the morning? 

On my best day ever, I would wake up with the sun in a house on the beach. I would stretch and smile, then leisurely make my way to the kitchen for a cup (or three) of really good, strong black coffee. I would sit on the back porch watching the waves with a close friend, reading a good book. After a good quiet time, I might take a walk. Bliss!

At lunchtime? 

At lunchtime on my best day ever, I would make a big lunch and invite family and friends over to my house on the beach. I'd probably make tacos, cause they're delicious and versatile, and set out all the fixings on the bar, then let everyone come and go through the kitchen and living room and porch, settling down wherever they want, talking and eating and laughing. There's a good chance I'd also make cheesecake brownies. Lunch would be pretty chill, and chill sounds perfect right now!

In the afternoon? 

In the afternoon on my best day ever, everyone would stick around, doing whatever brought them the most joy. Groups could come and go, spending quality time together or taking introvert time alone, alternately as the afternoon goes on. I would spend a while at the beach, reading and basking in the sun, working on my freckles, then shower and change to go hiking! We'd hike up to a series of waterfalls, each one more beautiful than the last, before making our way back to the beach house.

At night? 

As night falls on my best day, my friends and family will build a fire and spend the evening eating and talking (notice a theme: people and food all day long). Someone will have a guitar, of course, and we will have music and singing and maybe even dancing. The stars will come out and we'll finish my best day ever with the sound of waves crashing in the distance...

Ah. Perfect.

Library Bulletin Boards

School's back! School's back!! I had the best summer ever (I'll post about my epic travels when things slow down a little), but it is really good to get back to my domain here in Seoul. I returned to a disheveled library, 300 new books to barcode and enter, and a 5 boxes of textbooks to organize and get to the teachers ASAP before school starts on Thursday. I pretty much went straight from the airport to the school, only stopping for about an hour at my new apartment to drop off my bags. I rolled up my sleeves and tidied up a little, then got to work on the mountain of books. I pretended not to notice that ALL THE BOOKS ARE OUT OF ORDER. I will force ask my library club (minions) to alphabetize them next week :):):)

We had orientation today. The elementary kids and parents came this morning and it was nice to see new adorable faces, but I tell you what - when those middle school and high school kids came with their parents for the afternoon orientation I was like MY BABIES! I MISSED YOU! HOW WAS YOUR SUMMER! ARE YOU GOING TO BE IN LIBRARY CLUB???? ...I am clearly not an elementary teacher. Secondary kids, I heart you. 

In celebration of the new school year, I present to you bulletin boards! This is one of my favorite parts of my job. I get to make bad puns and be crafty at the same time! Sometimes my kiddos help. One day I asked the kids in detention to make leaves for my "Poet-tree" and they said it was their favorite detention ever. Oops. 

These are my boards from last spring. (I meant to actually post this in the spring, but I got distracted and busy and then I was off jet-setting around the world all summer and la la la. So it didn't happen. But now it is!) I'm going to make ALL NEW BOARDS for this fall, but I haven't had a chance to work on them yet. I've been pinning a few ideas... such fun.

Here's to a new year in the library!

I *mustache* you to read!

Come on in! 

What time is it? 

Library rules via acrostic. 

It's a Poetry Tree... a "Poet-tree" if you will! 

*badum chink* 

(thank you, thank you, I'll be here all year)

A poem about trees to go with the Poet-tree

A messy board to balance the straight lines all around it 

We read a latte! 

The book covers are coffee mugs!! Get it?!?!?? 

The 2nd graders helped me make hands! 

Here's my desk set up

The 4th graders drew cyber-safety tips for the computer lab board. 

There are the beautiful stacks! They're getting really crowded these days. Time for more shelves! 

Thanks for visiting! 

I can't wait to update all my boards. I love that I get paid to do arts and crafts like this. 

Such fun, such fun. 

This is the library and I am its queen

Have I mentioned that I LOVE MY JOB? I love my job. When I decided to move to Seoul, I knew I didn't want to teach ESL conversation anymore, so I made a list of specifics that I wanted in my next job and just prayed into it. A friend of mine, who is now my sorta-roommate and co-worker, posted about a job opening in the library at her school and I applied... then when I went in for my interview, I could hardly sit still I was so excited. I was just sitting there thinking WHEN CAN I START??  Every little thing that they want me to do is either something I have tons of experience with *or* something I'm super excited about. I told my girl Naomi all about it of course and she stopped me and reminded me, "you know that all of this is exactly what you prayed for?" Wow. Wow. God is amazing. Every detail of this job is something I'd prayed into, but I never expected it to look like this. I never expected to work at a Canadian international school in Seoul, in the library of all places! I always thought I'd go back to teaching Social Studies, but God is pretty creative. 

Maybe I'll get back to teaching history again someday, but for now this is perfect. I love books. I love organizing. I love children, I love being creative. Surprisingly, I love long stretches of quiet time alone in the stacks (which are rare; there are almost always childrens around). I love that no two days look the same. I love teaching after school classes. Even the days that are more stressful and/or frustrating are worth it, because overall this is the most fun I've ever had at a job. I routinely stay late just to finish entering books or working on a new bulletin board. I have library club volunteers who help me with routine chores and new projects. I work with students one-on-one who need a little more attention for ESL. I teach an after school dance class 2x a week and I have an after school debate class 3x a week. I have to be flexible, because I don't know what might get thrown my way halfway through the day. That can be challenging with my propensity to want control of everything all the time, but I've learned a lot about submission to proper channels of authority lately, which is so good. 

I can't believe I get paid to have this much fun. Here's the highlight reel, but remember that there are also days when I'm doing nothing but digging through the stacks to find a missing book or freaking out that someone interrupted my messy stacks of organized chaos or realizing that I just deleted 4 days worth of work in one fell swoop or butting heads with a teacher about ESL support or drafting reports or filling out reimbursement paperwork with linked barcodes to every book in the order... but even with the boring or frustrating stuff, I wouldn't trade it. 

This is the library, and I am its queen :):):)

Some things about this job make me realize just how much I am turning into my mother. Here are my labeled scissors. These are mine, these scissors will not touch tape or any sticky hands. 

Also, the kids always seem to be able to find and knock over my coffee mug. I hear you, Mom. Sorry about all the times I did that as a kid. I don't know how they find it but they do, every single time! It's like they're magnetically attracted to my stuff so that they can knock it over. At least they're cute. I mean, look at them. 

Computer lab time 

My library club minions helping me organize and repair the board games section

Reading buddies come in on Friday afternoons!

ESL support with some 6th graders

And then I get to go to conferences about how to be a better educator. I LOVE PD DAYS. #nerdalert

I was in charge of lunch detention for about a week, so I made the kids help me decorate my Poet-tree. They said it was the most fun detention they'd ever had... I think I did it wrong :)

I ordered a library barcode scanner that ended up being much more hassle than anticipated, but it FINALLY arrived and has since REVOLUTIONIZED my life. SO EFFICIENT, OH MAN I LOVE IT.

We had a spring break carnival for the kindergarten and I got to play on the jumpy house and paint faces. It was pretty fantastic.

I mean, could they be any cuter? 

One day we had an opera assembly. 

And sometimes I make nerdy librarian puns (...and by sometimes I mean always. Just wait until I blog about all my bulletin boards... heheheheheheh iloveit)

I get REALLY excited about all the new books to order and input and barcode and shelve and then READ!!! ...or re-read :-D

    

  

 

 

Best. Smell. Ever. 

Sometimes I get to substitute teach, which is fun and different. I like that it keeps me connected to the classroom. I get to know a lot more kids that way!

Sometimes teachers need an extra chaperone for nature walks and stuff. I'm a big fan of those.

I like to go visit the pre-k and kindergarten classes when I have a spare moment. Sometimes we have a little story time :)

Just a couple of 3 year olds, working on their names. 

One class wrote appreciation notes to people who don't usually feel appreciated... HEART. MELT.

School picture day!!

And here's my after school debate club from the first term!

I had a pretty big* group of 7th and 8th graders, sooooo it was a little challenging to 1) focus and 2) actually debate anything. Teenagers. Oh how I love their awkward wonderfulness! It was fun to do public speaking practice with them! The first term ended a few weeks ago, so I don't have most of these kids after school anymore. They chose web design for their new after school activity... psh. whatever.

*big is relative. For the size of our school this is a big group, but for a 5A school at home, I know this is not big. 

My second-term debate club is only 2 guys, but they are really driven! We are doing modified L-D debate and they are rocking it!! The world needs more teenage boys like this, cause they're growing up to be good, solid men!

I really can't believe I get paid to have this much fun.