Library Managers Visit Plaza Towers Elementary
On August 13, library managers had the privilege of helping teachers from Plaza Towers Elementary teachers set up their classrooms. We arrived at 10 a.m. at their temporary location in Moore, not knowing what to expect. What we found was controlled chaos: boxes of donated supplies lining the hallway, maintenance crews with drills and hammers, and volunteers from around the community eager to lend a hand.
I found myself helping out 4th grade teacher Nikki McCurtain, along with four other managers: Katrina and Priscilla were busy organizing shelves of donated books by author and title; Chris and Barbara were decorating a bulletin board and building a cubby; I unloaded textbooks and backpacks, and set up a filing system (a perfect job for a former cataloger!)
Another teacher popped into the room and Nikki beamed at her. “You won’t believe this! I have FIVE librarians helping me with my classroom!” She had tears in her eyes as the two colleagues hugged each other.
With this volunteer opportunity, we got to see one of the goals of our strategic plan in action: we were tangibly connecting our community to expert library staff with up-to-date knowledge, skills and abilities to deliver library services. What a great feeling! I know the other managers had equally poignant moments.
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It was truly a positive experience! Melody and I helped the special needs Kindergarten teacher and her assistances. They had not been able to get in their room before that day, (it was just painted that morning) Their donated supplies were just in boxes all over the floor, so she put us on the task of organizing their art supplies.
Who knew? When they purchase construction paper, they buy it in one color packages, but the donated construction paper was multicolored. So we separated it out, so they could know what colors they have and how much! Easy! But so rewarding to help them not just separate construction paper, but organize their art supplies and bulletin board supplies into categories they need.
You could see the emotion was still very near the surface as they worked through the donations and remembered things about their classroom, before the tornado. What a great group of professionals! They were dealing with the memories and enjoying the kindness of donations, and taking pride in their new room and preparing it for the new group of children this year. They seemed determined to have as normal of a year as possible, given the displacement from the old building, yet welcoming to a new building, in different surroundings. Truly modern day heros!
What an awesome experience! Who wouldn't like to have a bunch of librarians helping out?!?
So proud to know each one of you. What a wonderful idea for community involvement.
What a wonderful commentary and story. I am also proud of your efforts and proud of each of you representing MLS in such an outstanding fashion!
This was a very rewarding experience. Devin, Michael, Randy and I assisted one of the teachers in setting up her classroom. While the three of them put together a podium, I unpacked boxes and bags of books and supplies. Because the donated items came from many different sources there was a little of everything in many of them that had to be sorted before it could be put away. It was gratifying at the end of the morning to see the book shelves filled, organizers with sorted supplies, and clear space on the floor where all the boxes and bags had been. And it was heartwarming to see how pleased the teacher was and to know that our efforts would help her be ready for the children on their first day.
It was an amazing experience helping to set up
a couple of classrooms for the Plaza Towers teachers.
I was touched to see items such as pillow cases sewn
by people in Minnesota. Priscilla and I helped place
donated books on the two classrooms' shelves.
If anyone caught the KOCO story on the primetime
news, the cameraman caught Priscilla and I carrying
desks from one building to another. Our 3 seconds of fame.