Picture Books For Welcoming Spring!

Is spring in the air where you live?

This week being home in Iowa, traveling to New York and Washington DC, and coming home to Denver, I saw lots of seasonal changes. We have loved watching the birds out our window in Iowa ever since Eric put up a new bird feeder and little plants popping up in Denver.

We even planted little pepper and tomato seeds last week in Iowa too!

One of my favorite things about spring is the chance to plant and garden. We get to welcome the new into our lives. It is truly like a breath of fresh air. Growing up on a farm in Iowa, I would watch my dad prepare, plant and care for the land around our house every spring and throughout the fall. Now to see my brother farming the same land is such a special thing to see.

My children always helped us kick off the spring by taking me to buy and plant flowers on Mother's Day. I look forward to this special event every year. I love this tradition of welcoming spring too!

After asking you all to share your favorite picture books about gardening and planting, Brianna and I have created an amazing collection gathered together on our Padlet. Now that we have all these picture books, how can we incorporate them into our classrooms and libraries?

One of our favorite picture books for spring is The Curious Garden. A fun way to add an activity to The Curious Garden would be to have students imagine a place where the would want to plant a garden.

Want to add some tech? Try using Buncee. You can have students create a book about why they would want to plant a garden where they chose and what they would want to plant. They could make it into a book full of colorful spring pictures and their own words.

How are you going to celebrate spring in your classroom and library?

The 10 Future Ready Librarian Gears All Have A Collection Now!

For the last several weeks we have been sharing Collections by Destiny focused around the Future Ready Librarian framework for....

Shannon's Favorite Finds!  

The 10 Future Ready Librarian Collections are filled with resources such as the FRL webinars, organizations, articles, Follett case studies, helpful tips, online communities for librarians, tools, and much more.  

Today, I am going to share the last two Collections with you. 

I created the Leads Beyond the Library Collection and...

the Facilitates Professional Learning Collection. 

I can make you a collaborator on these Collections if you'd like to add resources or just let me know what you would like me to add.  

I added these two to The 10 Future Ready Librarians Wedge Collections Are Here Collection that you will find here.  This is one to bookmark and then you could get to the entire series of Future Ready Librarian Collections anytime. 

Have a wonderful weekend friends!  

Next week, I kick off a month full of Collections focused around School Library Month!  You won't want to miss it!  

The Winners Are....2018 Global Read Aloud Choices Are Announced!

Today, my dear friend Pernille Ripp, announced the Global Read Aloud choices for 2018!    

I have participated in Global Read Aloud from the beginning and it is always one of my favorite events every year.  I love how GRA brings all of us together through books, reading and celebrating the wonderful authors and illustrators that bring our readers these special reading experiences.

As Pernille stated about the 2018 choices today,

With an emphasis on perspective, on understanding others, on connecting and change, I feel that all of the books and picture book authors chosen will help us see the world in a new light.  Will help us make connections.  Will help us build community both within our own classrooms, but also with all the thousands of classrooms that will participate.  As usual, I hope you like them, I hope you read them, and I hope you read all of the amazing contenders as well.  Deep breath here.

I don't want to reveal anymore.  You just have to visit The Global Read Aloud site to read all about the 2018 GRA choices here! 

School Library Month Is Here....Let's Celebrate With These Resources, Ideas and Fun!

April is a very special month for school libraries and librarians.  It is School Library Month!

School Library Month is the American Association of School Librarians' celebration of school libraries and school librarians.  It is the time to celebrate the impact a strong library can have within a school community and show the essential role they play in transforming learning.

This year the theme is Making Connection at Your School Library, which will bring together four special weeks of School Library Month subthemes including:

• Making Learner Connections 
• Making Educator Connections 
• Making Community Connections 
• Making Global Connections

The School Library Month Committee created four weeks of amazing programming and ideas for all of us to implement within our libraries and communities. You can find it here.

These are wonderful!

Take a look at the first week, Making Learner Connections at Your School Library, to see all of the different activities focused around Elementary School Activities, Middle School Activities and High School Activities.

And don't miss the webinars that are listed at the bottom of each week.  

These will run throughout the month of April and tie into each one of these subthemes.  You will find them on this page. 

To help us amplify our message during School Library Month, AASL picks a special spokesperson. This year it is author Jason Reynolds. 

I just love the message Jason has about school libraries.  Take a moment listen and share this with everyone within your school too. 

There are lots of web graphics that you can use for free to promote and celebrate School Library Month.  You will find a PowerPoint template, various graphics to share on social media, and several that are perfect to use on a website or blog.  

One of my favorite is the School Library Month poster too!  

The official hashtag is #AASLslm so it is time to share lots of amazing stories, projects and celebrations on social media.  

As you are sharing, use the hashtag and don't forget to add the School Library Month Twibbon to your....

Twitter and....  

Facebook profile pictures.  You will find them here. 

Also, make sure you share within the larger community.  

You will find the Proclamation Templates very helpful in advocating throughout the community and helping others spread the word.  

School Library Month 2018 wouldn't be possible without the committee that AASL brought together.  Thank you friends.  What a special month you planned for all of us.  We appreciate all of your hard work, creativity and thoughtfulness in putting this together.

My daughter, Brianna Cua, has created a special newsletter for School Library Month too!  You can check it out here and will love all that she has included, especially this....

awesome Flipgrid Reading Challenge you will find here!  

Let's make sure we make this School Library Month the best it can be by showing all communities, families, teachers and especially students by making connections to create the best school libraries and library programs we can! 

Sign Up For The Library Voice Catch-Up Corner!

Tomorrow we will be kicking off something brand new from The Library Voice.  It is called The Catch-Up Corner and will feature top posts, news, celebrations and other special announcements. 

The Library Voice Catch-Up Corner Newsletter will come out every Friday.  You can sign up for this free newsletter here. 

We can't wait to share The Catch-Up Corner with you tomorrow!  

Thank you, friends.  

Special Author Signing & Book Giveaway At TLA In The Capstone Booth!

On Tuesday, we leave for the Texas Library Association Conference in Dallas, Texas. TLA is one of our favorite conferences every year.  We learn so much, see favorite and new authors, learn about amazing innovation and practices for libraries and catch up with lots of special friends.  

This year I am even more excited as I will be sharing my book, Find a Book, in the Capstone Booth #1313 on Wednesday at 11:00am.  I hope you can join us for this special book author signing and book giveaway. It will be lots of fun.

And don't miss two more in the Capstone Booth!  On Tuesday night, there will be a special Caldecott Honor Celebration for A Different Pond and Saadia Faruqi, author of the new Meet Yasmin on Thursday at 11:00am.  

It's Almost Poetry Month....and We Have A Collection by Destiny For That!

April is Poetry Month...one of the best times of the year for libraries, classroom, students, writing, sharing, creating and fun!  

As we kick off another awesome year of celebrating poetry in April, I have brought together lots of resources in the Poetry, Poetry, Poetry Collection by Destiny that you will find here. 

In just a few days, I will be announcing a very special event on Poem in Your Pocket Day with lots of friends from around the world.  As you get ready for this announcement and that day, please don't miss the Poem In Your Pocket page from the Collection.

And don't miss checking out all of these wonderful poetry books that are part of the Poetry Month Titlewave List that our friends at Follett put together for us.  There were so many that I enjoyed reading about and added to my library list for Poetry Month. 

Please let me know if you would like to collaborate and add things to this Collection too.  Or just drop me a note and I can add them as well. 

Happy Poetry Month, friends.  I can't wait to see how you and your students celebrate and all the poetry that you create too!  

The Power of School Librarians!

We know that school librarians increase student achievement.  In fact, years of research show that librarians make a measurable difference for our students.

This needs to be part of the important and essential conversations that we need to have as school librarians, teachers, administrators, parents and others interested and invested in the future of our children.

 In the Advocate's Toolbox from School Library Journal and Capstone, you can now find....

the amazing School Librarians Make a Difference infographic that our friends at Capstone have created for all of us to use as an advocacy and conversation piece.

If you head to The Advocate's Toolbox, you can download the infographic here.

I really love how they have laid the infographic out into 8 pages, because it will give us a chance to use pieces of this information in creative and helpful ways throughout the year.

In fact, the Power of School Librarians infographic and this information can be used in so many ways.  Here are a few mentioned on the page....

• Include in discussions with your principal and other administrators.
• Post throughout your library on parents night
• Use to create a library fact-of-the-month display
• Share with your fellow teachers
• Add to your newsletters and website

And don't forget to share this information with your students.  Their voice and advocacy can be some of the best we have as librarians too.  

We want each and every one of our students, teachers, families and community members to definitely know the power of school librarians! 

Join Us For The FIRST Future Ready Librarian Leadership Summit Before ISTE!

I have some very exciting news to share!  Follett has announced the inaugural Future Ready Librarian Leadership Summit to be held on Saturday, June 23, 2018 in Chicago.  

As the site states,  

Let’s think differently about how librarians can lead, teach and support Future Ready schools. 

In this one-of-a-kind workshop designed for librarians in leadership roles, Shannon McClintock-Miller, Mark Ray and Future Ready Librarian leaders will explore how to promote and support Future Ready Librarians in all your libraries. 

Explore key challenges, network with other library leaders and strengthen your own skills to make Future Ready Librarians part of every library you lead.  

You will find the agenda and session descriptions, along with information about each presenter on the site too.  

Please visit the site here to read more and register. 

We hope to see you at the Future Ready Librarian Leadership Summit.  It is going to be a very special day and a day to take your leadership skills, librarians and district to the next level.  

10 Easy Ways To Promote eBooks and eResources Within Destiny!

As we add more and more eBooks and other eResources into our libraries, classrooms and schools, we need engaging, meaningful and easy ways to promote these resources with our students, teachers and families throughout the community.  Especially with summer right around the corner, being able to promote the resources that can support reading throughout the summer will make a big impact on your readers all summer long.

There are several things that I did in our library and classrooms that lead to circulation, use and a whole lot of success.  It took a little creativity and extra time, but it was so fun finding and developing ways to get these into the hands of the students, teachers and families.

I also gathered lots of ideas from other teacher librarians and educators....and of course our friends at Follett have created awesome tools and materials to help us too.  

Let's look at....10 Easy Ways To Promote eBooks and eResources within Destiny from your library, classroom and school community!  

1.  First Tip…. You must promote your eBooks and eResources in a big way in order for your students and teachers to know these resources are part of your library collection and ready to use.

When we started adding eBooks to our collection within Destiny, we had a school wide celebration with all of our students in kindergarten through 12th grade, teachers, the public librarian, families and we even invited the community.

I created posters and cards with the Destiny information.  

We handed the cards out to everyone and hung the posters up in the library, classrooms and throughout the school. I put a QR code on them so they could scan it to get to the eBooks and eResources easily anywhere, anytime.

It was fun to watch a lot of the students tape the cards to their laptops and put them into their billfold or backpack in a safe place.  

We made these cards available not only on this special day, but throughout the year at Back-to-School Night, student conferences, PD days and they were always available in the library and office.  

2. As part of the celebration, I created a Destiny Read Box outside of our library.

It was filled with eBook covers and screenshots of different databases such as PebbleGo,  Tales-To-Go and PebbleGo Next, all found within our online library in Destiny.

When they scanned the pictures, book talk videos and trailers would pop up that the students, classroom teachers and I added with an augmented reality tool.

Metaverse is a new augmented reality tool that would be fun to use with a Read Box project. You will find Metaverse here.

3.  Did you know that within every resource within Destiny, there are two easy ways to share it with your patrons?

You will see the Share button (it is circled in green above), 

which allows you to share the link to the resource by URL or QR code.  

This will allow you to easily add the QR code or link to promotional posters, bookmarks, cards, Google Classroom, emails, newsletters and more.  

I explain the share feature found in Destiny in this post.

4. In Destiny, you can create rich Collections by Destiny that can contain any of the eBooks, databases, links to websites and online resources, audiobooks and videos that you have within your library.

This is an easy and meaningful way to share resources with your students and others. It is also a helpful way to strike up collaborative conversations and opportunities between teachers as you collaborate on building Collections together.  

One of my favorite things to do within Collections is to create them focusing on different times of the year.  The one above is the Libraries and Reading Rocks All Summer Long Collection I created a few weeks ago.  You will find it here.

We focused our summer reading programs around not only the print resources we had in our library, but on the eBooks and eResources we had in our collection too.  The students and families really enjoyed this because they had unlimited, 24/7 simultaneous access to all of the digital resources.

5. Students will love creating their very own Collection of digital resources too!  This is an awesome way to give your students a voice in promoting eBooks and eResources within Destiny too.

This gives them a very personal connection to the eBooks and eResouces by creating Collections for school work, reading and even things they are passionate about.  

You can create a place in your library or classroom to share and celebrate Student Collections of the Week!  By creating a simple poster, adding an image of a student Collection and a quick description wrote by the students, you will be able to not only celebrate student work, but promote the eBooks and eResources they are sharing within the Collections they have created.  

What a fantastic way to celebrate your students and the resources they love!  

You can even do this with the Collections teachers create too….Teacher Collections of the Week would be a helpful way for others to see and use all of the awesome Collections others are putting together.  

Quick tip….Don’t forget to add a short URL or QR code to the poster so students and others can get to the Student Collections of the Week quick and easy.

6. Did you know that students can write reviews within Destiny on the eBooks and eResources they are reading and using?  They can even add a link to a book project they created using a digital tool or app such as StoryboardThat or Buncee.

This is a not only a way to get your students to write about what they are reading for school work, but it gives them a place to share their interests and passions for things they personally love to read (or maybe don’t love) too.

This activity can also be used in talking to your students about digital citizenship and being part of an online community.  They will take pride in their voice and the way they promote the eBooks and eResources for the library and throughout the school.

I wrote about how to add video reviews and digital book projects within Destiny here.

7. Students can use Biblionasium within Destiny, which they love.  Being connected to this amazing online reading community allows students to not only write reviews, but to keep track on digital book shelves of what they are reading, what they have read and what they want to read; set up reading challenges for themselves; recommend books to others; and more!  

Hagan actually used Biblionasium one summer to keep track of all of the state eBooks he was reading within Destiny.  He loved creating his very own challenge and gaining badges as he went.

8.  You can connect your eBooks to print books within the library collection. This will promote both of these resources. I created QR codes that I added to the front of the books which also had an eBook copy.

With the QR codes available for each eBook and eResource within Destiny, you can quickly print these off and add them to your books.

You can also add the QR codes to things like shelf markers, table tents and signage within your library. It makes the eBooks and eResources super accessible to patrons and connected to your print collection even more.

9. You can add signage to the different area of your library to promote ebooks and eResources that go with that genre or area.  

I love how my friend and elementary librarian Elaine Deja used Buncee to create posters for the different genres in her library. By simply adding a QR code, like we did in the Buncee above, the students not only see what books they have within that genre on the shelf, they can also scan it to see what eBooks and eResources there are within that genre in Destiny too.  

This is the post explaining how Elaine created the Buncee signage.

Here is a tip to get students involved in this type of promotion.

You can ask students to create posters with art supplies or using Buncee to retell one of the eBooks they loved.  When they are finished, have them add these posters to the location where the eBook would be found on the shelf.

If they use Buncee, they can even add the link to that eBook from Destiny right into their Buncee.

When they are finished with their Buncee, have them add a QR code within Buncee and print it off. Now their classmates and others can scan their Buncee and get to that special eBook too!  

10. Follett has created a whole suite of promotional tools.  These are amazing!

Take a look at what they have created!  There are two categories including Promotional Materials and Get Teachers Involved.

Promotional Materials include....

 and Get Teachers Involved includes....

I really love the Using eBooks in the Classroom Lesson Plans.  There are a variety of topics which can fill many needs while promoting eBooks and eResources in the classroom too. 

This is also a terrific way for us, as teacher librarians, to find even more ways to collaborate with the classroom teachers within their classrooms and the library. 

To gather even more ideas on promoting eBooks and eResources in your library, I have created this Padlet that others have been adding their ideas to.

Just click here and it will take you to all of these ideas like...

I can't wait to see what people add next!  

And I can't wait to hear how you get your students hooked on eBooks and eResources by promoting your digital collection too!