~and I suppose the same will be said of me as well~

It all started with an old window pane and a bunch of boards that at one time were destined for the backyard scrap pile.  I actually do not recall who had the idea first, Mike or I, of making a little library for my classroom that year at Petrolia Elementary School in the Clay County town of Petrolia, Texas.  Whoever had the idea, it didn't take long for Mike to get started in the designing of something I could use in my classroom to entice children to keep reading!

A few weeks before school began in August and just in time for "Meet the Teacher" night, the Renfro Little Library was born.  I still remember the evening that Mike drove it over to school from our home 30 miles away in Burkburnett, Texas. 

Petrolia Elementary School
Petrolia, Texas  August of 2015

I set to work acquiring as many gently used books as I could for my 4th, 5th, and 6th grade language arts students.  I didn't have many at first but as time went on I was able to find plenty to keep the shelves full of books for kids to choose from.  Usually on Friday we had what we called "Little Library Give Away Day" and everyone seemed to enjoy the chance to choose a good book that they could keep forever.  The little library got quite a workout that first year.

When I went to Big Pasture Elementary in Randlett, Oklahoma that following year, the little library went right along with me.  This time it sat upon the shelves of my 3rd grade classroom where boys and girls could have the chance once a week to choose a book that was theirs to keep with no questions asked.  My sister Sherry was still alive at the time and I remember how much joy she had by going to garage sales and looking for books she could buy to help keep quality literature in the hands of my students.  Such a sweet memory for me to have of a woman who was nearing the end of her own life, yet still thinking of how she could make a difference with children just like the ones she once had taught.

Sherry was so happy when I showed her this picture of the little library that was filled with the many books that she herself had found for my Big Pasture 3rd graders.  

When I left at year's end and headed to Grandfield Elementary School just up the road a ways from Randlett, the little library once again was packed into the car.  I knew that my new class of second graders would enjoy it tremendously and even though I had completely given away all of the books I had left to my Big Pasture 3rd graders, I just knew that somehow I would come up with enough to at least get us started.  I was actually a little off on that prediction.  Because I wasn't sure where I would find books around that area, I put out a plea to friends back home in Kansas to see if anyone had extra books they no longer needed.

969 donated books later, I found that there are plenty of good folks out there who are glad to help out projects such as this.  This sweet class of Tillman County, Oklahoma second graders were some of the lucky recipients of the benevolence of strangers.  


Grandfield Elementary School
2nd Graders
2018-2019

As was a class of second graders who came right before them during the 2017-2018 school year~


I wasn't sure if I would retire the little library once I made it to my current classroom here in Kay County, Oklahoma.  I felt like 5th graders might enjoy it and appreciate the chance to have a new book to read that they could call their own.  Once it was selected from the many on the shelf, that special and chosen book was never "due" back again.  I thought I'd give it a try and I'm very glad that I did!  Our little library has been filled with selections of fiction and nonfiction literature for the biggest part of the year now.  Friends and family have donated so many books for it.  I've even had some of the students go through their own personal bookshelves at home to find ones that they no longer were reading to add to the collection.  It's been fun to watch the looks on the faces of my fifth graders as they examine the titles and find ones for their very own.


August 28, 2019 surely seems like forever ago now, but here we are at our very first little library give away this year.  The library has been refilled many times since then.

My time in the classroom is coming to an end soon, in fact it's only about 10 weeks away.  It is time for me to start bringing some closure to this career of mine and to know that I will not have another class to call my "own" again.  It wasn't easy, but last week I made the decision to give away one last round of books from the little library and then to have Mike bring it home for me.  He helped me over the weekend and just like that, Mike's little library found a new place of residence in the garage at home.  

Perhaps we will do something with it in the future, but for now it has earned its well deserved rest.
I suppose the same will be said of me as well.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

As We All Hang on to Hope/Along the Road to Home

Image
The birds were singing in our neighborhood this early February morning.  The resident Northern Cardinal called out from the tops of the trees in our side yard to any and all who would hear it.  The Cedar Waxwing, House Finch, and European Starling joined in the chorus as well.  It was so nice to hear their voices as I stood on the front porch breathing in the fresh air.  It gave me hope that someday soon all the many birds will return as the weather and the calendar move closer to spring. We hang on to that hope. For the past month, during these horribly cold days of January and winter, I have been trying to get some spider plants to start in the south kitchen window.  Slowly I watched their roots develop, getting bigger and stronger every morning.  I knew it would be time to soon take them from the water and transplant the tender young plants into soil.  I wasn't really expecting to do it this morning, but the weather brought us more tolerable tempera...
Read more

From the plains of Oklahoma, along the road to home

Image
It's early, in fact it's 4:30 a.m. in the morning early, here along the plains of Oklahoma.  The house is remarkably quiet save for the once in a while snoring sound of Gus, our 7-year-old miniature Aussie dog.  I love the quiet and every chance I can, I sit in it and relish the gift of peace that it offers to me.  Soon enough the sun will arise, cars will wake up on the streets of our town, and children will venture up and down Magnolia Avenue on their bicycles as they yell back and forth to one another. The gift only lasts so long so I enjoy it when and while I can. Many years ago, I began blogging right before I left for the Bike Across Kansas in the summer of 2011.  Writing turned out to be something I really loved to do and so I continued during the summer.  In August of 2011, a really poor decision made while I was riding a bike ended up sending me to the hospital with a badly broken left arm and wrist.  The recovery was a long one, punctuated by nume...
Read more

~and I came here to stay~

Image
I learned something about myself as a teacher and a person during the first 3 days of school last week, and the something is this. "I have a plenty to learn." I have wanted to be a teacher for Ponca City Public Schools   for well over a year now.   I wanted to come here because I knew it would be a great opportunity to grow and change as a teacher.  With a quite limited number of years left as a public school educator, I didn't want to waste the chance to be able to help kids in any way that I could.  This particular district offers a tremendous amount of support to its staff who in turn are able to pass that support on to the children they teach each day.  I like that about being here, and it is a win-win  for all concerned. I definitely learned a lot during the first three days of school, and some of it was the hard way.  It's a humbling thing to be a veteran teacher of 40 years now and find yourself making mistakes that others who have bee...
Read more