Future Ready Libraries and Project Connect Spokesperson...What A Way To Kick Off 2017!

I am excited to share that I have taken a new position with Follett and the Alliance for Excellent Education.

I will be the Future Ready Libraries and Project Connect Spokesperson working with my colleague and friend Mark Ray, the amazing people at Future Ready Schools and Follett, and library leaders around the country.

This is such a honor and something that I have worked towards over the last 12 years. I can't wait to make a difference for school libraries, teacher librarians, education and all the students that we serve.

I will continue to work as Buncee's Teacher Librarian Advisor and Cantata Learning's Library Advocate and Consultant too.

Bring on 2017!

To read more about Future Ready Libraries http://futureready.org/about-the-effort/librarians/ and please join the Future Ready Librarians Facebook Group.

We Can't Wait To See You In The Buncee Booth At FETC In January!

In January, I am so excited to part of the annual FETC Conference in Orlando, January 24-27, 2017.

This is one of my favorite conferences each year.  I love the learning, connections and sharing that takes place during this awesome week with teacher librarians and educators from around the country.

I will be presenting on January 26 and 27. You can view all four of my presentations at FETC here.

Also, this year I am thrilled to be joining the Buncee crew as the new Teacher Librarian Advisor! Buncee will be located at Booth 1852 throughout the conference.

I will be in the booth on Wednesday and Thursday with my wonderful Buncee coworkers and several of our amazing Buncee Ambassadors too!

We can't wait to see everyone there and share the Buncee love throughout FETC!

Research Fun With The PebbleGo Fortune Tellers!

Our friends at Capstone have done it again!  

They have created something super special for our young researchers and readers just in time to kick off a fun new year of learning!  

Do you remember the little paper things we folded up and put our fingers and thumbs in to then lift a flap and reveal a fortune?  

Guess what?  Capstone has created some for us to use in our libraries and classrooms!  

With the PebbleGo Fortune Tellers, students will choose a category from one of the four PebbleGo databases and lift the flap to reveal a question.  They will then use PebbleGo to research the answer.  

There is a PebbleGo Fortune Teller for four of the databases including...

 Animals, 

 Biographies, 

 Science and...

Social Studies.  

There are so many ways the PebbleGo Fortune Tellers could be used.  They would be the perfect to kick off research and learning all about the different databases of PebbleGo.

They could be used at the end of a lesson or day to explore PebbleGo individually, in a small group or even as a class.

And what a fun thing to send home as a parent/child activity!  I know parents would be very impressed with all of the research and learning skills that shine through when our students use PebbleGo.  

You will find the PebbleGo Fortune Tellers in the Teacher Resources button at the bottom of the 4 different databases listed above.

 Go to Teacher Resources and look for the Fortune Tellers under Reproducibles.  

 You can add the Login and Password at the top before you print it off.

You can also Create Your Own Fortune Teller.  You can type in the boxes from the internet before you print them off.  

It is really fun and easy to create for your students too. 

Find out all about PebbleGo here!

It's Here...Our Makerspace-To-Go From Eduporium!

It's here and what a special treat for my family and I to play, create, tinker and create with over the holiday break!  

It is the Makerspace-To-Go that Eduporium created for me and it is filled with so many wonderful STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) resources including circuitry, robotics, music, coding and general technology materials, resources, gadgets and more! 

I first wrote about this in the recent post Look How Eduporium Helped Me Build My Makerspace-To-Go. 

From the moment the special green Eduporium arrived, I knew it was going to be the perfect Makerspace-To-Go as I travel working with schools, organizations and others within libraries and schools....and at home too.  

Just look at what is inside....

 And here is the detailed list from Eduporium too....

As I dig into each thing even more, I will let you know what I think, how it fits into Makerspaces and others special elements which make it unique.  

You can go to the Eduporium website to find out more and see all of the wonderful things they have brought together for us. 

Also, find them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @eduporium

This is a great place to see what they have for all of us and gain lots of ideas on how these materials and ideas are being used in schools and libraries. 

Send Fun Holiday Texts With Buncee's New Holiday Sticker Pack!

What a very special gift Buncee gave all of us this week!  They have released the free i0S 10 Buncee Holiday Stickers Packs!  

My Buncee friend Marie shared a few with me last night through texts.  Well....let's say a lot!  We were having so much fun adding stickers and layering them in the texts..... just in time for the holidays.

And you can do it too!

They created a Buncee to show you exactly how to add them to your texts too.....

You can also get to the Buncee here.  Feel free to share this with others too.

And, as always, if you have any questions...

please reach out to Buncee.  They are super helpful and excited for all of us to use these stickers throughout the holiday season.

And the Buncee stickers are just for the holidays.  They have a whole suite of them available.

I wrote all about the Buncee Sticker Packers in this post and...

and you can see them all here.  

I hope you send a little holiday fun with the Buncee stickers today too!  

The Makerspace Cart Is Ready To Go In The Amana Elementary Library!

In August, I shared the wonderful story of my sister Heather's plan to turn one of the old book carts into a Makerspace for her students in the library.

You can read the Makerspace Carts Bring Mobile Making....Look What Heather Is Bringing To Her Library and Students post here.

Well last week, she sent me these AWESOME pictures of what is happening with the Makerspace cart now and I just had to share them with all of you.

I LOVE what Heather has added to the cart to make it their very own Makerspace and all of the students and teachers love it too!

By adding a few words, pictures and descriptions to the ends of the cart, Heather has made their Makerspace accessible and understandable for all.  

Then she filled it with engaging, creative and amazing materials that her students will make with all year long.  

Just take a look....

I can't wait to see what is next for the Makerspace at the Amana Elementary Library.

Way to go Heather...You have created a space we all want to come create in!  

Groovy Joe and More Awesome Reading Fun From Scholastic!

I received a very special surprise in the mail this week from my friends at Scholastic....Groovy Joe Ice Cream and Dinosaurs a new series that launched this past fall.  

This is the newest from two of our favorite...

author Eric Litwin (Pete the Cat) and illustrator Tom Lichtenheld (Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site).

Take a look to see what is in store for you and your readers as they...

take a musical adventure through this fun book about Groovy Joe, ice cream and...

lots of fun dinosaurs along the way.

I love how the characters all come together to sing, dance and share something they all love.

The fun doesn't stop there!  Just wait until you all do The Groovy Dance too!

On Schoalstic's Meet Groovy Joe website you will find so much fun!  

You can read all about this terrific new character, 

find the Weston Wood animated video, 

listen to and download Groovy Joe: Ice Cream and Dinosaurs in English and Spanish, 

find a Discussion Guide and so much more!  

I know you and your students will love everything here too.  

I have to tell you about something else I found while on this site!  

At the bottom it says For Parents: Explore More where you can go and...

check out more Scholastic Picture Books at The Story Starts Here.

On The Story Starts Here, you can Explore Their Books, 

Check Out Storyplay which offers fun ways to engage your young readers,

find lots of Downloadables including two for....

 Groovy Joe and

Videos.  

This is the perfect place to share with parents as we head in the holiday season.

And Groovy Joe is surely going to be an all-time favorite in our libraries, classrooms and homes.