Fall Festival and Book Preview for Teachers

I love being involved and on the go, and this last week was one busy week.. and one where I had a booked calendar. Along with all the after school things there was still regular library schedule.
October 26th- Set up the book fair
October 27th- I participated in the North Texas Library Expo. It was a great day of learning! I shared 2 presentations.  U is for Uke...Beyond the Book Club and co-presented Keeping It All Together.
October 29th- Girl Scout Meeting.  This meeting we learned about the Teal Pumpkin Project
October 31st- Destination ImagiNation meeting
November 1st- Uke Can Do It Club Meeting and our schools fall festival
November 2nd- took down the book fair and had goodies for teachers.. and then met my Girl Scout troop for an overnight at ATT Stadium in Arlington.  (I did finally win a workweek fitbit challenge this week!)
This weekend I have slept!

I do love to stay busy, but I also like to be successful.  In order for me to be successful I am a planner!
Fall Festival
The idea behind the fall festival was to create an event where parents and students could learn about the different content areas, learn about what our school has to offer, do activities, shop the book fair, and earn a free dress day in the process.  Each content area was asked to create a tri-fold board that showcased their content (guys.. these boards that the content teams created looked AWESOME!) Each content area was also asked to host a game.  Now.. remember.. I am in a middle school now.  I like things that are easy set up.. easy clean up.. and also fun for students and teachers.  I created this editable Google spreadsheet for departments to sign up for station and then disperse the duties.  There were some GREAT treats for staff that helped.

I know how busy teachers are.. so I tried to have everything together and ready to go for them. I created another Google Spreadsheet that included the time, area, needs, materials, set up and clean up. I also printed this off and taped to the back of the station signs I created. 

A program that I use a ton is Canva.  All my materials for the Fall Festival were created in Canva and used the free features. I also created all of the flyers and images in Canva to use for promotions.

One of the station signs

Punch card for students to turn in

Book Fair promotion. Using Canva and Bitmoji

Student council station

Overall I feel like the Fall Festival was a success. It was my first one to work on in a new school. One thing I know about myself... I LOVE planning these things.. but man.. I get so overwhelmed! I cried at least 4 times on Thursday.  I also am always worried about what people will think and if they will still like me when I come up with these crazy ideas.  I know I can't do things on my own.. and I know I need help.  I had lots of nightmares leading up to this event (almost like the first day of school)
Things for next year:
-Training Student volunteers better
-Having people to help direct traffic better
-Stagger which way people are going. Some places got super packed super fast!
-Promote more for parents to come

This is the back of a sign that includes the station breakdown

The Public Library even had a station!

On Friday we had a PLC day.  I also just finished receiving all my new books to add to the library this year.  So, I decided that on Friday, I would have goodies for the teachers! I used Piktochart (my other favorite product!) to create these.  I put notes in teachers boxes and invited them to come at any point during Friday for a cup of coffee (or hot chocolate) and teacake cookies and to take a look at all of the new books that are about to be added!

I loved that I even saw some educators that don't always make it up to the library!
I ended the week spending the night with my Girl Scout troop at ATT Stadium.

I am forever grateful the people that go along with my crazy ideas and let me be me.  I love what I do.. and I am a super happy person, but real talk guys.. I am one that has a ton of self doubt and anxiety.  I know I am quirky.. but I am always afraid I am too quirky and too needy.  I love programming and planning because I feel as it is a way to prove to myself and others that I am successful.

What whole school programming have you done in middle school? I am always looking for ideas!