First week of classes!

Well, we are nearing the close of our first week of classes here in our new Multimedia Center.  Overall, I think it's gone pretty well.  

For those of you who were not able to make it (or if you're a B-week class), we did pretty much what I said we would do in the last post...we introduced ourselves using the SMART Board, 

Introductions & greetings with the SMART Board

we introduced the kids to the Read To Me Center, and demonstrated what to do if if that's the center you choose.  
  

Practicing with the AnyBook reader (aka "special pen")

 

We also shared our "kid report" page that we'll give to each student (or to the teachers...not sure just yet of those details) at the end of each visit...so they will have something to 1-take home to tell their family about coming to the multimedia center, and 2-they can share how they felt about it.  

**Note to teachers: If I forgot to give you these when you came with your class, I apologize...if you click on the link (above) you can print them.**

"I went to the Multimedia Center today!" - kid report

Overall, I would say that we had a pretty good first week!  We're looking forward to next week!
 
I did want to also share some info about our SMART Table.  For those who have not heard, it is dying.  Apparently, it was probably in the early stages of dying for awhile...but it was hanging on...until I tried to "orient" it, and then it became aware of its illness and stopped working.  I spent a good chunk of time yesterday afternoon on the phone with the Level II technician from SMART (that's who you talk to when your problem is too big for the Level I folks) trying to "revive" our board so we could at least use it while we wait for the replacement table top.  It was quite a process...as anyone who was in the library during this time can tell you.  I had my phone stretched across my office, the SMART table wedged in my doorway, keyboards and mice hanging all over the place, and at one point, all the lights in the library off.  The situation is this...it's "sorta" functional, but just barely.  So we're going to be without the SMART table until we get the new table top.  Unfortunately, there is a backlog of orders for these (we're not the only ones having this trouble)...so it may be a month or two before we are up and running with the SMART table center.