"...work hard at work worth doing" -Theodore Roosevelt

I was sitting in the library a couple days ago trying to figure out how I could make shelf dividers for the non-fiction books (which I FINALLY got sorted--but more on that in a minute).  As I strolled around looking at what I had available to me, I was suddenly flooded with memories of my grandma Hettenhaus.  It took me a minute, but I realized that what was coming back to me was all the time that I spent with her during my summer breaks and the work that I would do with her.  Grandma watched us during summers when mom and dad were at work and being grandma, there was no way I was going to spend those days doing nothing.  She'd take me to work with her at our grade school where she did things like strip and refinish the floors.  She made me work with her in her garden or do chores around the house.  She'd send me off to farms to help pick stones or bale hay.  I helped her fix things--and learned how to make do with what was at hand.   It was only as adult that I came to realize that grandma Hettenhaus was the major influence on my work ethic and honestly the reason why I have always found great satisfaction in hard work and seeing the fruits of that labor.  

I’m starting to feel like my work at school is bearing some tangible fruits in the library.  A little context—the grant that I got funds two main projects: 1) to create a “cozy corner” in the library; and 2) to create a collection of literacy teaching materials and equipment as a resource center to support teachers.  The cozy corner is a space that will have soft, colorful flooring and child-friendly furniture.  The catch has been that the library could best be described as a “hot mess”—about a third of it has been filled with trash (moldy books, broken furniture and miscellaneous trash), termite-infested furniture has to be removed, over ½ the books have no shelf, it’s filthy with unswept and unmopped floors, spiders living in all the book piles, termite dust, regular dust—you get the picture.  I rallied the teachers behind me and after 8 months (in-person story only, lol), we finally got the moldy books and broken furniture out.  Teachers also just started taking all the superfluous materials and stacking them outside.  But all of the getting books onto shelves, organizing, etc—that’s on me.  That’s fair—it’s what I’m here for.  So the last couple weeks whenever I’m not teaching, I’ve been cleaning and organizing.  And I won’t lie—it’s dirty, hot, sweaty work.  I’ll paint a picture—I’m in my professional clothes in a space that is at least 100 degrees (most of the windows don’t open, which doesn’t help).  I’m moving dirty piles of books around; dust, spiders, ants, cockroaches, lizards all along for the ride.  I’m moving furniture and usually very itchy because the dust and everything loves to stick on the coating of sunscreen, bug spray, and sweat that coats my arms and legs, LOL.  But I will tell you this—I have come home everyday with a sense of satisfaction and purpose.  We still have quite a way to go, but I am hopeful that within the next couple months I will be able to share some before and after photos!  

I have also started training student librarians in an effort to have the library be sustainable after I leave.  It started with 3 girls who wanted to be helpers and I said “you can be librarians!”  They have already taken ownership--I've included some photos of the signs that they have been making during their shifts.  They did these all on their own--no prompting from me!  Other students started asking if they could be librarians, so last week I made an application and they started submitting.  Over the next couple weeks I'll be able to start training more librarians, set up a shift rotation, and increase their responsibilities. 

So coming back around to my opening story--part of what I got to work on was getting our non-fiction sorted into categories and put on shelves; hence my need for shelf dividers.  Looking around the library, I found a piece of semi-decent poster board and some faded construction paper.  I also had a series of off-cuts that I saved after I had made alphabet flashcards earlier this year.  Voila--put them together and you have shelf dividers!  

This one got a little long!  As always, thanks for reading and for all your support!! 💓💓💓