Riverdale CI
Learn more about the changes at Riverdale CI at their Library News webpage.
Etobicoke School of the Arts
I purchased these at a retailer in Port Carling (near our cottage) when they were closing up shop for the winter on Thanksgiving weekend. I wanted to get them last year but they didn't have any red left at the end of season... and I refused to pay full price! This year they had a red set left. WooHoo! It required an extended family effort to get all the pieces home (there is a fourth chair but I moved it for the sake of the photo) and they have been a hit. They are large - and heavy - but we have the space to pull it off (at least I think so).
KI Chairs. I debated and debated and finally went with the KI chair over the Node chair. Price was one issue. The "handedness" - it can be left or right handed - of the tablet was the real deciding feature. The colour is "Splash" which works well with the rest of the colours in the Library. I am very pleased. The kids are thrilled with these also. So far there have been no "bumper chairs" but they do get rolled around, as indeed they are supposed to.
Immediately they arrived and the kids started using them they all agreed that these should be the seating of choice in all of their classrooms. I concur, and advise them to "talk to the boss" and let the Principal know what they think. We'll see...
Since they are located at the rear of the space I am able to let go about obsessing that they always be left neatly in a circle or such. They are a bit "messy" but it's a small price to pay. I'm learning to lighten up and that's a good thing.
Immediately they arrived and the kids started using them they all agreed that these should be the seating of choice in all of their classrooms. I concur, and advise them to "talk to the boss" and let the Principal know what they think. We'll see...
Since they are located at the rear of the space I am able to let go about obsessing that they always be left neatly in a circle or such. They are a bit "messy" but it's a small price to pay. I'm learning to lighten up and that's a good thing.
Discovery chairs for the computer workstations... These came in last spring but someone asked about how I paid for them... I found out that they were replacing the chairs in a couple of the upstairs classrooms. The teachers upstairs didn't care what colour their chairs were, but I did. They took the old chairs from the Library - perfectly good chairs but not my colour scheme - and I got to order in the chairs I wanted in the colour I wanted. It was a win-win for everyone!.. especially for me because it came out of someone else's budget line.
Freshly painted walls... at least some of them! Last year there was a capital request put in to paint the Library, which hadn't had a coat of paint on it in the time I've been at the school (17 years now). The walls were dingy and filthy dirty (indeed some still are).
One day in June the painters just arrived, announcing that they were here to paint. I had them for three days. Fortunately I had given some thought to the matter and knew what colours I wanted... not that anyone had asked ahead of time! We chatted about what needed painting - including a long wall that runs the length of the Library with wall mounted stacks!! - and they told me that they would have time to paint half the Library. I gave them the colours - which they were going to have to colour match to their paint supplier - and they went away to get the paint. I didn't see them again until the next day. One of my three days gone.
The second day they arrived and proceeded to get on with priming the walls which they were going to have time to paint. They came, they primed, they left.
The third day they arrived and put the colour coats on the walls which they had time to paint. Now I have a Library with:
We are currently trying to negotiate a deal to have the painters come back to finish the painting... but on a specific day, so that we can close the Library in advance, have a work party to take all of the books and shelves off the wall so that it can be painted, and then another work party to put everything back up again.
One day in June the painters just arrived, announcing that they were here to paint. I had them for three days. Fortunately I had given some thought to the matter and knew what colours I wanted... not that anyone had asked ahead of time! We chatted about what needed painting - including a long wall that runs the length of the Library with wall mounted stacks!! - and they told me that they would have time to paint half the Library. I gave them the colours - which they were going to have to colour match to their paint supplier - and they went away to get the paint. I didn't see them again until the next day. One of my three days gone.
The second day they arrived and proceeded to get on with priming the walls which they were going to have time to paint. They came, they primed, they left.
The third day they arrived and put the colour coats on the walls which they had time to paint. Now I have a Library with:
- one lovely long wall painted in Benjamin Moore White Dove (OC-17) - still waiting for the artwork to be installed, that's another story;
- a back wall painted in Benjamin Moore Grasshopper (AF-415); and,
- two short sidewalls on the upper level painted in Benjamin Moore Plum Raisin (2082-20)
We are currently trying to negotiate a deal to have the painters come back to finish the painting... but on a specific day, so that we can close the Library in advance, have a work party to take all of the books and shelves off the wall so that it can be painted, and then another work party to put everything back up again.
- Anyone managed to pull this off successfully?
- Any pointers to share to help us make this happen?