Oh. My. Word! Not Again!

I really shouldn't be surprised at how crazy the beginning of the school year is, but it always does surprise me.  And no matter how organized I am and how well prepared I am, something always seems to happen that I hadn't planned for.

Like me losing my thumb drive.  Yes. Again.  **sigh**  Let me just say that I did not have the best of technology days yesterday anyway.  My projector went out. The one I use EVERYDAY for just about EVERY class for orientations, which were this week. Then we had technical issues with Renaissance Place. And then I went to look for my thumb drive... and it was G.O.N.E.

You might remember that I lost my thumb drive around this time last year and I had vowed to make time to download and save so that nothing so tragic would ever happen again.  (You can read all about that fun little adventure here, if you're interested.)  Yeah, well, I was real good about backing up...until life got busy.  And having gone through losing a thumb drive once already, I was a bit on edge.  I really thought everything was gone, and unlike last time, I hadn't backed up in months.  I was really pushing my luck.

Well, PTL, some sweet soul found my thumb drive and turned it in. I had dropped it at the grocery store.  And everything was all there!  I was so relieved that I cried even more than when I first realized it was lost. And my husband, who was the one who went to retrieve it from the grocery store because I was a blubbering mess, immediately backed it up for me when he got home with it.  He really is my knight in shining armor.

So even though I am super busy right now, I was so stressed that I needed to do something fun.  So...I created another book return incentive bulletin board pack!

It is super cute!

I made it to go with K-8th because I've had several requests lately for higher grade levels.

Everything you need to make a cute bulletin board to encourage your patrons to return their books on time and in good condition...all for $1.75 in my TpT store.  =)

And as promised, here's a look at my finished Wild About Returning Our Books On Time bulletin board set:

Looks like I had for planned it to be there all along.  =)

And here's a close up picture.

The "Super Homerooms" pack is set up the same way.

So there you go.  My stress reliever.  Ahhh!  I feel much better.

And just because I am feeling so grateful, I have another freebie for you.  =)  It's a Lost Book Notice that I send home with students who have said that they cannot pay their fine for whatever reason.  It gives them the option to "work off" their fine during their recess times.

You can download your free copy here or click on the picture above.  It's in a Word format so you can download and edit it to fit your needs.

Hope the beginning of your school year is going more smoothly than mine.  =)

Summer's End

It's my last official day of summer vacation and I've been home with a sick little guy.  He has slept most of the day, so I was able to get a few items made that I needed for this year.

I had an empty area on my bulletin board where I usually put my Genre of the Month.  At the final Media Committee meeting last year, we decided to change things up a bit and so that section of the bulletin board was left for something new.

At the end of last year, we had a ton of lost or overdue books, so that got me to thinking about making some type of recognition for classes who did not have any lost or overdue books at all each month.  I decided to use that idea for the bulletin board space and created this:

I spoke with my NEW principal about it yesterday and she loved the idea.  I can't wait to get to school to print it off and laminate it.  I think it's going to be a great addition to the Media program.

This set includes a "Wild About These Homerooms" sign that can be printed using a poster printer for a larger size,

6 grade level mini signs to post underneath the title poster, 10 blank animal signs to write the names of homerooms on and hang on the mini posters each month (I am going to use velcro),

  and 3 different award certificates to give to homerooms who are recognized each month.  I am also going to do a monthly announcement and will give some small prize to the homerooms who receive this recognition.

I posted this set in my TpT store for $1.75.  You can get it here.

Once I get it all up, I will post pictures.  Can't believe I have to REALLY be at work tomorrow. I am so much more productive when I can go in at 10 am instead of 7:30 am.  LOL  Back to reality!

How about you?  When do you go back to work, officially?

New Get Wild About Reading Theme

Wow!  It has been really tough to get motivated knowing that our beloved principal will not be returning next year.  We are still on pins and needles wondering who will take her place.  To take my mind off of it, I've been working on my Media Center theme for next year.

After meeting with my media committee, I decided to go with the "Get Wild About Reading" theme.  

I had so much fun putting this packet together thanks to some cute graphics from Scrappin Doodles and Digi Web Studio.

After creating my signage, I used our poster maker to enlarge the signs for the doors and circulation desk.  Then I printed the smaller items and laminated everything before got started decorating.

Some of the teachers and staff were kind of laughing at me because my Media Center is ready to go and we've only been out of school for a few days.

What can I say?  I like to get things done.  

And now I can enjoy the rest of my summer, well, until July when I start working on my lesson plans.  =)

My "Get Wild About Reading" Library/Media Center pack is available here on TpT for $7.00.  It includes a ton of items:

• 10 "Get Wild About Reading signs (5 with "in our Media Center" and 5 wth "in our library", different orientations and different backgrounds
• 2 check out sings
• 1 "Return Books Here" sign
• 2 Schedule signs (one for a media center, one for a library
• 8 library/media center passes with space to write teachers' names
• 2 pass reminder signs
• 3 due date reminder signs
• 8 Group/Table signs
• 2 volunteer recruitment posters (one that says "library" and one that says "media center"
• 12 different "Search Slip" signs to decorate search slip baskets/containers
• "AR Wild Readers' Club" sign
• "Hall of Fame" letters for AR recognition or other reading recognition
• "Wild Reader of the Month" signs for 2nd-5th grades
• 12 animal print month signs that can be used to display the "Wild Reader of the Month"
• 12 different "Wild About Reading" bookmarks (9 that can be used as part of a reading incentive program; just have students fill out the bookmarks and turn them in for a small prize when complete
• Blank "Wild About Reading" 12 month calendar

BONUS:  Adopt a Book sign  (You can read about my Adopt a Book shelf here.)

Here's a free download of some of the bookmarks included in the pack.

This pack was so much fun to make.  I hope the kids will be excited about it next year, too!