Back to School...Back to Reality

Anyone who stops by my house will know as soon as they walk in that we started back to school a few weeks ago.  Uh, yeah.  There is a little bit of housework that needs to be done. But this media specialist momma is plum worn out!  This past week was the first full week with the kids.  I held orientations with 22 classes last week and will do 2 more this week.  I am beyond tired, but feeling accomplished...at least at work anyway.

Here are some of the highlights from my week:

The kids are loving the Super Reader theme. From the front doors...

...to the book collection area and circulation desk, everything is decked out in our Super Reader theme!

I used the posters from my Super Reader Library/Media Center Pack to decorate.

And they are grabbing up the Super Reader Bookmarks, too.  I knew they would.  They just love them some bookmarks!

And they'll need some great bookmarks for all the books they are checking out since we started AR last week. They are already working on becoming the Reader of the Month for August to get their picture on this fun bulletin board in the Media Center...

...and this one in the hall just outside the Media Center.  

Source

Plus they get a special certificate from me and a cute little trophy I found on Oriental Trading.

I get to start implementing the Super Homerooms bulletin board next week. 

I used my Super Homerooms bulletin board  set to make the bulletin board.

They are very excited about possibly getting a prize from the Super Reader Prize cart if they return their books on time.

Even the shelf markers got in on the fun.  You can see how I use duct tape to make these guys from this post.

Super Reader centers are ready to go!  

Get the center signs here for free.  =)

I gave out the first prizes of the year for students who completed their summer reading READO boards. You can see what the READO boards look like by clicking here.

Students picked up their punch cards (K-2) or bookmarks (3-5) to earn more prizes by reading.

I got to share the short movie trailer I made to kick off the Super Reader theme this year.  The kids LOVED it, even if it is a little corny.

My principal shared with me that I will be receiving some money to purchase new books. Woot!  Woot!  That was sweet music to my ears!  I know what I will be working on over the next few weeks.

TpT announced there will be another SALE this month.  It's only a one day, August 20th...but, YAY!  Who doesn't love a good sale?  And my store will, of course, be in the sale.  Just enter PROMO CODE:  BOOST at check out and you will get 28% off all my paid items. Woot!  Woot!

As fun as this week has been, I am happy for the weekend to be able to relax and refuel.  More fun is in store next week as I introduce the augmented reality app Aurasma to 3rd-5th graders.  They are going to love going on a Book Hunt with this app!  Stay tuned to find out more about this fun activity!  =)

Note: Since this post was first published, Aurasma has become HP Reveal.  However, all trigger images created with Aurasma should still work with the new HP Reveal app.

Super Reader Buntings

I had a request to make a Super Reader bunting to go with the other Super Reader items in my TpT store.

The first bunting has triangle flags with the phrase "Reading is Our Super Power!". You can check it out by clicking here or on the picture above.

The second bunting has the same phrase but the flag shape is different.  You can check it out by clicking here or on the picture above.

These go great with my Super Reader Library/Media Center pack.  You can check it  out by clicking here or on the picture above.

Tired

...except maybe 10 days at Walt Disney World tired.

Yup.  We went to Disney for 10 days to celebrate my oldest son's graduation to middle school.  We've been back for a week and I am still exhausted.  Don't get me wrong.  It was super fun.  But I am sooooooo tired and I was already pretty tired from the end of the year.  "Why?" you ask...well...

Before leaving for the summer I worked on decorating the Media Center for next year.  

I'm going with the Super Reader theme.

I used the posters in my Super Reader Library/ Media Center Pack to decorate the circulation desk, doors, and the return book desk.

Lots of Super bulletin boards...

You can get the Super Homerooms pack seen in the picture above in my TpT store.  Just click here.  The pictures below show you what you get in the pack.

 You can find the posters I used in my Super Readers Library/Media Center Pack on TpT. Just click here. The pictures below give you an idea of all the stuff you get in the pack.  You can also download the preview on TpT.

After I left for the summer, I got ready for the GLMA Summer Institute where I heard Georgia Schools Superintendent, Dr. John Barge, speak and went to some interesting sessions given by other media specialists.

I love all the great things I pick up at conferences, but what I love even more are the connections I make with other media specialists.  I again was lucky enough to run into Jennifer Lewis from her Miss Liberry Teacher blog.  She invited me hang out with her and her posse for the two day conference. It was so much fun and I made some new friends.  =) 

As if that weren't exciting enough, I came home from the first day of the conference to find I was featured in our city's newspaper, too.  You can read the story here.

After the conference it was time to prepare for the BIG WDW trip.  And boy did I plan. I felt like I was studying for a major exam.  I hadn't been to Disney in over 20 years and then I went as a kid, not as a parent.  So I really did need to do some studying.  A friend recommended The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World and it was the best $19.99 I've ever spent (and right now Amazon has it for $11.29!) Truly a must read if you are going to WDW. We also spent the $12.95 for a subscription to the compainion website touringplans.com so that we could customize our plans each day.  It saved us TONS of time standing in line so it was so worth it.

After all that studying, I needed something fun to do, so I made my boys some autograph books...

painted my toenails, ordered some fun family t-shirts and hats...

and painted my nails.  And before I knew it, it was time to head to Florida!

My oldest was so excited that he started a countdown before we left.

We had such a great time!

We got to meet so many fun characters!

We even had a character breakfast...I definitely recommend doing some kind of character dining.  It was so much fun!

The boys also enjoyed the Sci Fi Dinner Theater.

And trying on all the fun Disney hats.

I loved that I could get a Slurpee everyday.  I miss Slurpees. There are no 7Elevens in Georgia, at least not in my part of Georgia.

I also loved the shopping.  I spied all 7 Kingdom Keepers books in several of the stores.  That reminded me that I still need to read the last 2 books.  Maybe I can finish them before summer is over.

Most days ended like this, so I knew we were definitely seeing it all!

And our final night was a blast!  Seeing the castle all lit up and the fireworks show was truly magical.

It was so much fun that I couldn't wait for Independence Day to see more fireworks.

And I had to redo my nails, too.

So that's why I am so tired.  I hope you will forgive my absence from bloggyland.  I hope to get back to blogging on a regular basis starting next week.  I am working on a few projects and I still have some end of the year things to post that I didn't get to in May and June.  I hope you'll stay tuned.