Shoot or Shute

We are busily checking out books for the summer, stamped with a due date of September 8, 2014. I

was gathering a stack of requests for a colleague, and as I went through the stacks I was talking to myself (as I often do). A student, one of our regulars, looked up with concern and asked "Is everything okay, Mrs. Cicchetti?" I smiled, and pulled the book I was looking for off the shelf. He laughed when I pointed to the cover and he saw the author's name.

I was muttering "Shute, Shute, Shute" and he heard  "Shoot, shoot, shoot...".

Even as we are checking out books for the summer, we are still chasing down students with overdue

books from the academic year. We have come up with an inexpensive and fun way to help students remember to bring in their books. We bought a packet of big, chunky, #84 rubber bands, and write OVERDUE BOOKS in red pen. Students are instructed not to remove the rubber band until they return their books. It is all done with a laugh, and it is working! Smiles all around.