Life Happens

It seems I took an unplanned hiatus from blogging. I mean, if you read my blog, you know I'm a spaz anyway, but I haven't blogged since March! Life happened. I'm still around. I'm still drawing clip art & I'm still a librarian, but I just didn't feel like blogging... Or when I felt like it, I didn't have time. 

Things have been a whirlwind since that last post. You all know how the end of a school year is, then summer was a blur of library inventory & travel. I went to Chicago, Mobile, New Orleans, and Orange Beach... In that order! I got back just in time for school to start. 

Me at a tiny Dr. Seuss gallery I stumbled upon 

in New Orleans. I wish I could've afforded 

something! There were LOTS of originals. 

We had a shindig for my MeeMaw's 93 birthday. We sang, we danced, we stuffed our faces, she laughed & talked me into eating a hot pepper (which I love usually) that was hotter than the fires of H-E-double hockey stick, almost literally ROTFL at my red face & me fanning my poor scalded mouth. 

That very night she fell, went into the hospital & never came home again. 

She was amazing. At 93 she had more energy than I do at 36. I'm not kidding. She planted a garden every year. She still drove. She worked one day per week because she loved to get out of the house. She was funny and frisky. She sang like an angel before her voice began to crack with age.

 Guess who she's sticking her tongue out at? :-) 

I miss her very much and some days I just want to work on going through the pictures I've inherited and write down stories before I forget them. This has made it even harder to get motivated for everything else. 

I'm not depressed... In fact, I'm not sure how I feel. Blessed perhaps? I had her happy and healthy for 36 years. I'm so very grateful for that, but there's a MeeMaw shaped hole in my life. 

All of this has made me think about how very short life really is. Even 93 years isn't long enough! Do I want to spend every waking minute on things for school? No. People, I love my job, but it's still a job. I feel awful about all of the chances I wasted... All of the time I could have spent with her. A lot of that time was spent working outside of the school on school related tasks. Some of the remainder was squandered on mental exhaustion. You know what I mean. 

By all means, be a great educator. Just don't forget the ones you love and don't let it monopolize your time. 

You may have seen less of me, but you haven't seen the last of me. I'm still here trying to be the best at I can be at all aspects of life. I don't enjoy mediocrity. We all must find our balance. 

~Foxy 

I love to READ week!

Valentine's Day isn't exactly my favorite holiday. (It's not much fun when you're single.) But, I'm always trying to come up with ways to make it fun in the library. We've been out of school ALL week. (Believe me I've been using that time wisely... Working on our school yearbook and even a little painting and custom clip art work too... With a few strategically placed naps in between.;-)) We may even have MORE bad weather next week! (It doesn't take much to keep us out of school here in KY.) If we actually manage to be in school next week, I have some fun plans and I really think these plans would be fun not just in the library, but also in your classrooms! Give it a whirl! ;-)

Plan #1: I want to cover the library tables with bulletin board paper. I'm going to allow students to write on the table about the book they love most! Hopefully, others will read what they've written and it will inspire them to try a new book! Fun, huh? Since I only see students once per week, I guess I'll try to leave it on there for as long as it will hold up. :-) (Yes, I'm still planning as I go! Lol) 

Plan #2: Mystery Date With a Book. I did this last year. It's a little bit labor intensive for a time-cramped librarian, but the kids loved it and I got a few of them to try stuff they never would have picked out on their own. I even have all the resources you need in my TpT store. (It was one of the very first things I ever posted! Even before I started making clip art!)  I wrap up some of my favorite books (especially older ones that don't get circulated much) and put labels on the front telling the important information. Then, if they actually finish the book and take the AR test, they get a prize!

 

 

Plan #3: I'm not sure if I'll get to do this next week or not, but in the past, I've had a "Book Float Parade." (See the pictures above.) Students use a shoe box and decorate it like a tiny parade float to represent their favorite book. We tie ropes to them, blast the marching band music and drag them down the halls of our school while students who didn't make floats line the hallways to watch the parade go by! The kiddos love it... And so do I.  My float is always the same. It's a Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus float. My shoebox looks like the bus and my Pigeon stuffed animal sits on top. :-) (It really is my favorite book! I mean, can you think of any other read-aloud that would allow you to throw a hissy fit? You know we all want to sometimes!) Some of our teachers are even planning to do some writing to tie in with it. Woo hoo! I love it! Kids writing all about why they love their favorite book!
 

Hopefully, this post will inspire you to try something new in your classroom or library next week. There's a perfect book out there for everyone. Our job is to help them find it and these activities should give kiddos lots of ideas about what to read next!

 



Super Sale going on now!

EVERYTHING'S on SALE! 

(Forgive me... I'm using my iPad to blog & I can't get this cute little sale button to work!

 Grrr! Please just click the word SALE above.) 

I started my sale just a bit early so that you football fans (like me) don't have to miss any of the game OR the commercials! (Isn't that the best part? Those Clydesdales get me every time!) So, who ya rootin' for?

My team's not playing, (I'm a Bears fan!) but I still have my favorite picked. I'm cheering for the Broncos! Peyton deserves it after being kicked to the curb by his former team. (Just my opinion... Don't hate! Lol) 

Don't like football? I didn't either until I obtained two stepbrothers in my late twenties & they forced me to start watching! I love it now that I'm starting to get it. I knew NOTHING about football. My high school didn't even have a team! I guess we just weren't a big enough school! 

For those of you who like my library lesson plans, week 21 will hopefully be up tomorrow night! Wish me luck on getting those done... Sometimes I'm sooooo lazy on the weekends! 

Iditarod Clip Art!

It occurred to me as I sold one of these this morning, that I had never shared my Iditarod clip art set with you! It is a set that is close to my heart since the huskies in the set are modeled after MY huskies. I would NOT recommend mushing with my two. I'm relatively sure they would run me right into a tree or something. :-) of course, as I'm lying there in pain they would probably be sweet enough to come back to lick my face. They are sweethearts, but a bit on the spastic side. Hmmm... Kind of like their mother (me). No wonder I have fallen in love with the most neurotic of dog breeds! Lol! Anyhoo... Here's a preview. Follow the link in the top left corner to see the rest of the set! :-)

See it here!

The Lame-o LibraryFox

Ok... so I'm a terrible blogger. 

I skipped the entire month of December.  I haven't posted ANY new clip art.  :-(

I just sort of checked out for a while.  I'm a woooser.  (aka: loser.)

... but I needed it.  I get stressed out at Christmas time.  It is my favorite holiday, but it's a love/hate relationship.  It's sort of depressing for us single folks... and that's all I'm going to say about that.  I had a wonderful Christmas though and I hope you did too.  Ugh... I still have to take down my tree.  :-( I really hate that part.  I get used to seeing it and then the house looks bare without it.  lol

Anyway, in honor of me being such a lame-o LibraryFox, I decided to put some of my clip art sets on sale and I even made a couple of things FREE! Hop over to my store to see what you can find!

 

There's even a new set of FREE fonts! :-)

 

...and I've just added this set of sports uniforms.  These are blackline only so that your students can decorate them as they like!  I'm no math teacher, but I totally see some of these being used to let students decorate them with numbers then add and subtract each others' numbers. I'm sure y'all could come up with even better ideas than that!  Click here to see them in my store!

 

 

I'm not going to promise to be any better of a blogger in 2014 than I was in 2013, but thank you for making my first year of blogging a success!

 

 

 

What does the Fox say?

My kiddos are always asking me that now that they all know the song. I just tell them that a Library Fox says, "Shhhhh!"

But today, I got the CUTEST ever email from the mama of one of my 2nd grade boys:

Well, I just have to share!

We are getting ready for school this morning, and I hear it - again. That most annoying song (but in the sweetest voice ever) "What Does the Fox Say?!" It has been pretty constant at our house.

But, this time, the song catches my attention...he is just singing away....

"What does the Crystal Fox say? Ring a ling a ling a ling a ling..... What does the Crystal Fox say?"

Is that not the cutest?! Let me tell ya... It made my day! :-)

Oh yeah! I got so excited to tell you my story that I almost forgot to tell you about my new clip art set. It's some cute little rotten kids (boys & girls). Perfect for the bullies or bad kids in your stories! These were originally a custom set for my buddy, Nicole Shelby, to use for the Herdman kids in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. They are even named after those kids. ;-)


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rotten-Kids-clip-art-for-Personal-or-Commerical-Use-984780

Please forgive me for ugly links & stuff. I'm posting this on my iPad & I really don't like this version of Blogger. Anyone else feel that way? Maybe I'm missing something, but I hate not being able to add links to images! Oh well, happy hump day! :-)

New Clip Art Sets

Hey!  I finally had a chance to post a couple of new clip art sets!  Yay! 

Back before school started, I had a chance to make some clip art for a teacher in Moore, OK.  If that name sounds familiar, there's a reason.  That's where the terrible tornado hit and destroyed an elementary school.  A teacher there contacted me to make her some clip art of kiddos in army uniforms lifting weights.  This set is what she got. 

 

She sent me a picture of her finished bulletin board.  I think it turned out really cute!

 

 

The other set was a request, too!  A friend contacted me to make her some setting clip art.  Well, here it is!  I can see this being used with writing prompts! I'm sure there's other ideas of things to use it for, but that's the only place my brain will go right now.  lol...  I admit it.  I'm a little brain dead.  ;-)

 

Well, I'm gonna go try to find something warm to wear tomorrow.  It looks like we're gonna have our coldest day yet.  Boo!  I hate cold weather.  Oh well, I guess I'll live.  :-)

 

 

 

Crafty Like a Fox!

Heads up! This post has nothing to do with TpT or even school!  (Well, unless you count the fact that I wore my craftiness to school today.)

I LOVE wearing boots in the fall and winter.  I have a pair of sweater UGGS that I got for a steal a couple of years ago.  (Did I mention that I'm cheap frugal?) I won't even tell you how cheap they were because you'll be mad at me for getting so lucky.  They were a returned item... and the only thing wrong with them was a little tiny pull in the stitching on one boot.  They are soooo comfy, and they go with EVERYTHING... when they wear out, I might have to break down and buy another pair... but I will cry if I have to pay full price!  ;-P

Anyhoo... on to my craftastic creation.  lol

Ok, seriously... I am such a dork!  I mean... just look at that face!  lol

It was "orange" day today. (For Red Ribbon Week... it's one of our school colors, so it's kinda like spirit day.) I didn't have enough orange in my outfit.  I was wishing that I had some orange boot socks.  I love boot socks.  I think it's because they remind me of slouch socks and leg warmers from the '80's and I am an '80's child! I have a few pairs of boot socks, but no orange ones.  Darn.  What's a girl to do?  I didn't have much time to come up with anything... but I knew I had an old orange t-shirt that I had already cut the arm out of to use for a headband. (See the picture of my fox sweater from last week.) So.... I cut the bottom out of it.  The whole deal seriously took less than 5 minutes.  (After all, I get up at 6:30 and am usually at school by 7:30. That's including the time it takes to stop and get my smoothie from Dairy Queen... and I did this all when I woke up this morning.)

Here.... I'll just draw you a diagram of what I did.  :-) 

I couldn't believe how many compliments I got on them today!  Believe me, I will be making more.  After all, who doesn't have tons of old school shirts laying around?  ;-)

 

Happy Halloween!



It's Fall!

I think I'm a complainer... it always seems like I'm complaining.  I don't want to be like that!  I want to be positive...

But.... Fall is NOT my favorite season.  I love the colors, I love the cool days, but I HATE winter... and when fall comes, it's hard to enjoy it because I know that winter isn't far behind.  The days are shorter and sometimes the skies are so cloudy.... Some afternoons I just want to come home and go to bed, but I can't!  I have too much to do!!! 

However, my mama always says that every cloud has a silver lining.  My silver lining came in the mail today in the form of my new "LibraryFox" uniform, thanks to a fabulous sale (don't they always have fabulous sales at Old Navy?) and the most perfect sweater... it might as well have been custom made for me... and since it's fall and the weather is cooler, Imma gonna wear it tomorrow! 

I think I'm gonna rock it with my skinny dark brown cords (I really have an issue calling anything that I put on MY butt skinny... How can the jeans be skinny? I'm not! lol), pink boot socks and light brown boots.  Would a statement necklace be too much?  Nah... there's no such thing as too much!  ;-) Ok... yeah... there is, but I think it will be cute.  We shall see.  (Maybe I can remember to take a picture to post here... lol... I wouldn't count on it though!)

You know those days when you're soooo tired... guess what, the right message just always seems to come along to remind you why you need to keep going.  Here is the message I received in my inbox not too long ago:

I just wanted to take a minute to let you know how much your lesson plans are helping me though this school year. I will be retiring at the end of this school year and yet I knew I needed new ideas and a new format to meet the needs of students. Your creativity has done this and more. I am excited too and look forward seeing what you are doing each week. Thank you for making year 35 a blast for me and my students."

You know what? I realized that my library lesson plans might be a help to those who are just starting out.  I know how I felt as new librarian... lost as a goose with no idea where to start.  There's no core content for library... there's no library curriculum in most school systems.  You kind of have to create a program from thin air... but to help someone who's been doing this for 35 years?!?!  Let me just say how wonderful that made me feel!  I feel privileged that someone so experienced thinks that my lesson plans are worthy of use in her library.  :-) All I can say is thank you.  In so many ways, TpT and the experiences it has allowed me to have are such a blessing. 

We're up to week 11 in the library.  I CANNOT believe that we have been in school for 11 weeks.  Time flies when you're having fun!!!  (I'm ready for time to slow down a little bit!)

Do you get to celebrate Halloween at your school?  What are your favorite Halloween books?  Here's a few of mine in case you're looking for a Halloween Read-Aloud for your class.  Some are just "Halloween-ish" in case you can't actually do Halloween stuff.  I linked them all to their descriptions on Amazon so that you can read about them, if you like.  :-)

1. Creepy Carrots
2. I Need My Monster
3. Leonardo the Terrible Monster (by my favorite author, Mo Willems!)
4. Froggy's Halloween (You've just got to love saying "Undervear" in your best vampire voice!)
5. Scaredy-Cat, Splat!
6. The Hallo-Weiner (Has a great underlying theme about bullying!)
7. Hoodwinked (A sweet story about finding just the right pet.)
8. The Bones of Fred McPhee
9. Bone Dog (I absolutely adore this book, but I haven't been brave enough to use it for a read-aloud yet! I'm afraid I'll cry. If you are a dog lover, you have to read this one.)
10. Wanda's Monster (This one doesn't have much info about it on Amazon, but after looking it up, I'm thinking I might need to list mine for sale on there... two used ones listed at over $4,000!?!?!?  Holy Cow! lol)

And before I go, I want to mention some new clip art I'm working on.  I had a request for some trees.  Not just any trees, but trees that represent each season... AND can even represent those seasons without being in color.  Anyone interested?  What else would you like to see in a set like that? I'm looking for ideas of other things to include in the set.  :-)  Thanks for your help!!! 

 

Have a great rest of the week! :-)

 



I'm lazy and I don't want to go back to work...

Hello… it’s your absentee blogger here.  Ok…so I went on Fall Break last week and I’ve been lazy, but who really wants to drag out the laptop when they’re on the beach? 

 

I went to Orange Beach, AL to stay with some friends. Lucky dogs… they get to live there year round!  We had a blast just doing the normal things.  My only regret about the whole trip was that I didn’t get to see the turtles hatch.  Let me explain.  My friends that live there are part of a program called, “Share the Beach.” They help assure that the sea turtle hatchlings make it to the water after they emerge from their eggs.  I knew that they had two nests that were ready to hatch.  I was hoping that they’d hold out until I got there on Saturday, but both nests hatched on Friday night before I got there.  L Oh well, at least I got to go out and help with getting another nest ready for the eggs to hatch.  I just wish I could have seen those adorable little turtles... and you'll see why that makes me sad even though I had a great time when you see the picture below.

 

Anyhoo... on to other news and happenings.  My friend Deb (who happens to have a mini-me right on the header of her blog!) is having a giveaway to celebrate 1,000 TpT followers.  You'll love the stuff she's giving away and it includes any resource priced up to $8 from me!  Yay!  I love giving stuff away to my friends! :-)

 

 

 

I've also posted a few new things in my store this week.  Of course, I've posted my lesson plans for week 10. I don't think I ever even blogged about week 9.  Aggghhh.... it's so easy to get so far behind!

Week 9 was all about reviewing what we had learned and doing centers.  We had a blast.  Here's the evidence written on the faces of a couple of my cutie pies.   

 

 

 

 

I also posted a power point that we will be using this week as we learn and review information about GENRES.  I hope you'll find it useful! It goes right along with our genre bingo that can also be found in my store. 

 

 

...and finally, I posted some new clip art.  It isn't much, but it's more than I've had time to complete in quite a while. 

 

 

Sooo to sum it all up, I guess I'm not really all THAT lazy... but I really don't want to go back to work.  :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All I can say is Nooooooo!

I was just talking to a teacher friend of mine online the other day.  I was asking a question in a Facebook group about how I was planning to do centers and how I should try to make them work in our 1 hour library time.  She was totally surprised that I would have my students for a whole hour.  I couldn't understand it at first, but then she explained that in her school, the students have 15 minutes in the library to pick out their books and they HAVE to checkout the FIRST book they touch!

WHAT?!?!?!?!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?

Can you tell that this was upsetting to me?  Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of a million reasons that you should NOT have an aide or para-professional running the library without a Library Media Specialist to guide them! 

Among those reasons is this...  I teach!  I don't just sit behind a desk and check out students when they need a new book. (But I somehow find time to do that when I do manage to sit down for a minute!)  I teach ELA skills, information skills, 21st century learning skills, research, literature appreciation, genres, drama skills.... well, you get the picture. 

It has become common practice to relieve librarians of their duties only to replace them with an aide.  I have so much respect for para-professionals...  Don't misunderstand that.  They do most of the things we do with MUCH less of the pay, BUT...  they aren't teachers or librarians.  There's a reason we all go to college to do our jobs.  If we let this kind of thing slide, how long will it be before schools, with all of their budget crunches these days, start putting para-pro's in charge of classes instead of teachers?  I know it might sound far fetched, but if certified librarians can be let go to be replaced by aides, it could happen eventually. 

Here's more food for thought.  If we don't teach these students to love the library and books, how long before our local government is run by former students who see no need for our public libraries?  I know that many think e-books are going to take over, but I still feel that there will be a need for libraries... and if we teach the love of books, well, an e-reader will NEVER replace the printed word.  Do you really want books to go out of style?  I can't imagine never feeling the pages of a book under my fingers again... that satisfying thump that a book makes when you've read the last page and you close it for the final time.  You just don't get that same feeling from finishing an e-book. 

Don't get me wrong... I love e-books, too.  They have their place.  I read on my iPad often... but it just isn't the same. 

Love books, love libraries and love your librarians.  Without all of those things, I certainly wouldn't be who I am today. 

What do you think?  Why do schools need librarians?  Or if you think schools would be ok without one, please tell me why... I want to know even if it does break my heart. 

A Giveaway and a Busy Week!

Oh me... I just finished up my book fair.  If you don't happen to be a librarian and you are reading this, that is Librarian (yes, that's a language... really!) for "OMG, I'm exhausted." I totally meant to take pictures of the madness, but I forgot because of all of the madness! Everything else in life has to go on standby while the book fair is on.  I figured it up and I spent a minimum of 60 hours actually at school this week.  That doesn't include the time spent at home working on stuff for school.  lol... so...  I'm thinking I have a right to be tired. 

 

In other words, if you are waiting for me to finish a mini me... it didn't get done this week.  ;-)

 

Ok... So on to the good stuff... 

 

My friend, Tammy, over at Dots of Fun is having a giveaway. 

 

There's some super cute clip art available from some great artists in the giveaway! You need to go over there and enter!  Oh and there's a set from me in there too!  It's this one.  :-)

 

I hope you had a great week & have a restful weekend!

 

 

My Classroom

I am always seeing everyone's cute pictures of their classroom.  Well... I decided that I'm going to post pictures of my classroom even though my classroom happens to be a library. :-) There's still a lot of things that I would change after 10 years, but overall, I love my library and I think my kiddos do, too!  I certainly hope so.  That's what I strive for all of the time.  After all, if we don't teach them how fun reading can be when they are in elementary school, when are they going to learn? 

The view from what I call "the Non-Fiction side" of the library.

Notice the center column?  It's a neat design element, but boy does it get in the way sometimes.  My predecessor built "tree house" out of foam around it.  It's cute, but I so wish I could have a reading loft around the column.  I've been trying to find someone to con into building it for years, but alas, I have had no luck.

Our Non-fiction section

Our puppet curtain and storytime area. 

Our 5 computers... complete with their antique monitors.  :-)

In the background you can see the back side of my picture window decorations. 

The slightly messy biography section.

 

My extremely messy circulation desk. :-( Oh well, it's messy because I'm hard at work!

 

The fiction section and a great view of my wooden tables.  They've held up pretty well for 21 years.

The picture book section.  My favorite.  Notice all of my stuffed animals?  Oh how I love my book character stuffed animals.  :-)

 

Up until last year, all of the walls in the library were gray.  I'm NOT a gray kind of girl... so I begged and pleaded for several years to paint my walls.  I finally got permission.  I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.  I love the change it's made.

 

 

Back to my picture window that I mentioned.  I redecorate that window several times per year for seasons, book fairs and other special events. I meant to take a picture of it, but I forgot.  Maybe I'll remember to do that tomorrow and have more than one blog post per week for a change! 

 

I was just contacted by a librarian in the same state as me and she thanked me for my lesson plans that I have been posting.  I won't say that I don't enjoy making some extra money, but helping others out... that's the best part!  I am so glad I started this adventure! :-) It makes my heart happy to know that I might be making life just a little bit easier for others!

 

 

New stuff posted to TpT and Custom Art

Did you miss me? ;-) You probably haven't had anyone to talk your leg off lately, so you might have!

Seems like the weeks are flying by! We're already over 5 weeks into school! My kiddos are learning all about using the library. This week we're learning how to use the library catalog in 3rd through 5th. (For those of you who aren't librarians, that's the computerized version of the card catalog.) My 2nd graders are learning about biography. K & 1st are learning about settings & characters. It's a busy week, but that's normal & the way I like it! That's why the time flies by! Anyway, for the librarians out there... Here's the new things in my TpT store for you this week. Check them out & see what you think! As I have every week since school started, I'm posting my lesson plans on TpT to save you valuable time to spend with your family and my lesson plans are editable in case something I'm doing doesn't fit your resources or needs.  ;-)

Library Lesson Plans Week 6
Don't be lost like an Easter Egg, Learn to Search the Library Catalog!
Learning about Biography and Autobiography
Freebie- After Reading Worksheet- Draw the Setting and Characters

Now for the second part of my post: Custom Art.  You guys probably already know about my Mini-Me's.  They are my most popular clip art item in my store.  The picture below is from Renee's blog Mrs. Mathis' Homeroom.  I totally love the adorable cards she made with her Mini's! :-) It makes me so happy to see these popping up everywhere! :-)

If you've blogged about your Mini-Me and how you are using it, please send me a link! I'd love to post it here for others to see!

 

 

I've also been collaborating with Christi over at Ms. Fultz's Corner on a few of her blog designs.  Here's a couple of screen shots of the latest ones! Christi does a fabulous job, so if you are in need of a new design for a blog, hit her up! (She did mine!) 

 

This is my favorite custom art that I have done!  I love this header!  The colors, the car, the sunset... I love it all!  I'm so proud of this one! :-)

 

I hope you are having a fabulous week!  It's flying by.... I can't believe tomorrow is Hummmmmp Dayyyyyyyyyyyy!  (I love that commercial!)