Celebrate Halloween With These 3D Augmented Reality Coloring Sheets From QuiverVision!

Happy Halloween, friends. 

Here is a fun technology activity for you to try with your kids.

On the QuiverVision site, you will find two Halloween coloring sheets under Holidays. 

After you download these, they can be colored with markers or crayons and scanned with the 3D Coloring Sheet Quiver App.

All of our kids, younger and older, love these and the rest of the Quiver coloring sheets too. 

You've Been Virtually Book'd For November! Our Monthly eBook Program Using Capstone Connect For All Readers!

One of our favorite reading celebrations at Van Meter School are the...

...You've Been Book'd bags and lists that we have shared throughout the year. 

Our students and teachers love hanging the You've Been Book'd posters in their windows, reading the books, checking the boxes and trading them with other classrooms.  

It is so much fun.  You can read all about our You've Been Book'd program here and you will find the first one for this year and back-to-school here in this post.

Here is our You've Been Book'd for October and November. 

Last year, as we were learning together virtually, I thought it would be fun and special to take our You've Been Book'd program online and use all of the wonderful eBooks in our Capstone Interactive to make this happen. 

And now, I am getting ready to kick off another year of our You've Been Virtually Book'd program using Capstone Connect, an amazing new platform from our friends at Capstone that connects PebbleGo, PebbleGo Next, Capstone Interactive eBooks and teachers resources in one place with links to use that connect to each resource.

Let me show you how I put the You've Been Virtually Book'd For November choice board together today.

First, I logged into our Capstone Connect. 

I searched for school eBooks using the Title Search in Capstone Connect. 

When I searched school, it gave me the results eBooks, PebbleGo articles and teacher resources.

For the choice board I created, I needed the book cover and link to the eBook.  

To view the eBook, I clicked on Diwali and the eBook...

...opened up in Capstone Interactive.  This let me view the eBook and also grab the cover image. 

I then clicked on Copy Link and took it to the choice board. 

I then went back to the You've Been Virtually Book'd For November choice board I created in Google Slides.  I added the screen shot of the book cover, clicked on the image, and added the link I copied to the image. 

When our students and teachers click on the book covers, it will take them straight to the ebooks within Capstone Interactive.  

We don't even have to login because by using Capstone Connect it takes us directly to the eBooks and PebbleGo resources every time.  

We love our You've Been Book'd program and can't wait to celebrate reading in one more way with our students as we share our You've Been Virtually Book'd program every month! 

I made this template for you to create your own You've Been Virtually Book'd For November.  If you have Capstone Interactive eBooks, you can find the link and add them to the book covers I have included above or take this template and fill in your own eBooks and choices for November. 

You will find the November You've Been Virtually Book'd template without eBook covers here.

Also, if you are interested in finding the eBooks and books I added to this list, you will find them in this Capstone Book List here.  

Celebrate Diwali On November 4 With This Choice Board

 

We kick off November celebrating Diwali. As shared in the PebbleGo Next Holidays article, 

Diwali is a festival celebrated during the Hindu month of Kartika, which falls in October or November. Diwali is also called the Festival of Lights. It is India's biggest, most important holiday. Diwali lasts five days and started as a harvest festival. Today, it is celebrated by almost all Indians, regardless of faith. It is seen as a celebration of good triumphing over evil.

You will find the Diwali Choice Board here to make a copy, Publish to the Web and share with your students. 

Please note that in this choice board, I have pictures of the PebbleGo Diwali article...

...and the PebbleGo Next Holidays article.  

You will need to add the links to these in order for them to work for your students with access to your PebbleGo.  If you do not have PebbleGo, you can swap these out with another resources around this special holiday. 

Voting Opens November 1st For Capstone's Cats VS. Dogs! Check Out This Special Event Today, Friends.

Our friends at Capstone are kicking off a special new event on November 1! 

It's called PebbleGo Cats VS. Dogs!  

As shared on the site, 

PebbleGo Cats vs Dogs is a free resource where K-3 students can research the various breeds of cats and dogs, engage in a variety of lessons (both physical and digital), and cast their ballot for the animal of their choice.

Your K-3 students love learning all they can about animals, especially dogs and cats. PebbleGo Cats vs. Dogs allows students across the country to share who their favorite pet is and get a great civics lesson at the same time. From November 1-November 30 students will have free access to all the cats and dogs articles on PebbleGo.

Access all the articles on cats and dogs within the PebbleGo Animals and Animales modules. 

Don't subscribe to PebbleGo Animals or Animales? We have you covered!

Sign up for free access to select articles within the PebbleGo Animals and Animales modules November 1 - November 30.

Incorporate PebbleGo Cats vs. Dogs into your curriculum. 

Students can participate in a nationwide vote with schools from across the country to see which animal is the favorite across the country. 

We've created a variety of lesson plans and downloadables to make it easy to incorporate PebbleGo Cats vs. Dogs into in-person and distance learning lessons. You can also access several free Buncee templates for engaging digital lessons. Check out all the resources below.

Share what you're learning!

Get the whole school community excited with downloadable posters, 

social media images, and "I Voted" stickers. Tag us on Twitter @capstonepub and use hashtag #PebbleGoCatsvsDogs.

Here is how you sign up, friends. 

Visit pebblego.com/catsvsdogs to find all of the details and resources for Cats VS. Dogs. 

It will give you the details for how to sign up if you already have PebbleGo and details for getting a free trial from November 1-30 too. 

And one of the MOST exciting parts of Cats VS. Dogs are the Buncee templates designed especially for this event.  You can sign up for a free 30-day Buncee trial and use these...

...ready-to-use digital resources throughout the month to make the Cats VS. Dogs event even more special, engaging, creative and fun. 

Here are a few of the Buncee templates...

Aren't they awesome?!? Our kids will LOVE these. 

The PebbleGo Cats VS. Dogs voting opens November 1, so check it out today, friends. We can't wait to see who wins! 

Here Is The "November Choice Board Poster"....Making Choice Boards Easy & Organized For All Students To Access & Use

Hi friends, 

I want to share a little tip that I have been using for all of the different choice boards we use each month.  This will help when organizing and sharing choice boards with students at school and those learning remotely.  

Each month after I have my choice boards done, I pull them together in another Google Slide choice board.  

I add each choice board as an image and link the choice board to that image.  Under the image, I add a QR code that I make in QR Code Monkey for each choice board too.  

Our teachers can share the monthly choice board posters in Seesaw and Google Classroom.  This works great for our students at school and those learning at home.  

We also print the posters so our students with iPads can scan the QR codes.  This can also be projected on the screen in the classrooms for students to walk up to and scan.  

For this month, I have created Our November Choice Boards poster that can be found here to make edits and additions.

I hope you find these choice board posters helpful too. 

It's Here, Friends...Our November Choice Boards!

It's here, friends!  Our November Choice Board where reading, learning, making, coding, technology and music can take you on adventures all month long. 

This month, the choice board is filled with so many new and exciting things!  I can't wait to share it with our students, teachers and families, and all of you. 

You will find Our November Choice Board here to make a copy to use with your students and school community. 

With the monthly choice board, I do include other choice boards and special holidays and celebrations. 

We kick off the month celebrating Diwali on November 4.  You will find the Diwali Choice Board here.

As we celebrate Veterans Day on November 11, I created two choice boards for TK-3rd grade and 3rd-6th grade. You will find them to make a copy in this post.

I included The 1621 Harvest Celebration and Thanksgiving PebbleGo articles in the one I share at school. If you have PebbleGo, you can add these two articles with the links too. 

And I LOVE including this special choice board to learn about Macy's Day Parade. You can find this choice board and a super fun Ozobot activity in this post. 

You will also find the Elementary Coding Choice Boards found here, 

Our Virtual Makerspace found here, 

...and the Let's Take A Trip Around The World Buncee found here. 

I create most of my choice boards in Google Slides and Buncee. With each choice board in Google Slides, I share this with our students and teachers by publishing it to the web. 

In the image above, you can see how to do this by clicking on Share and Publish to the Web. 

The Publish to the Web window pops up that will direct you to publish to the web. It will give you a link that you will copy to share with students and teachers through Google Classroom, Seesaw and any other place you want to share this like social media and through QR codes. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or need help sharing and creating choice boards.  

I hope the monthly and special choice boards will give you and your students special opportunities for reading, learning, creating, collaborating and having fun all year long. 

Celebrating Día de los Muertos With A StickTogether Poster In Our Secondary Spanish Class!

 

Earlier this month, I gave our middle and high school Spanish teachers...

...the Day of the Dead StickTogether poster to help them celebrate Día de los Muertos in their classrooms. 

StickTogether was new to both of the teachers but they were excited to try them out. 

And guess what?  Our older kids loved doing the StickTogether posters together! It was so fun to see pictures of all of our middle and high school students working together...

...to complete the poster.   They worked on them in between classes during passing time.

And it has been fun to watch the design appear.  

I am bringing a Halloween and Day of the Dead StickTogether poster with me to school today for a fun little giveaway to two teachers as we celebrate Día de los Muertos and Halloween.  

The Halloween Scene is on sale right now and you can find the Day of the Dead StickTogether poster here.

So You Want To Build A Library...Check Out This NEW Book & 3 Makerspace Extension Activities To Do With Your Kids Too!

 

I love finding picture books that are not only wonderful read alouds to share with our students, but that also spark lots of ideas the minute you read them. 

This happened when I picked up....

...So You Want To Build A Library, one of the newest picture books from our friends at Capstone. 

So You Want To Build A Library is by Lindsey Leslie and illustrated by Aviel Basil. 

I just love the story told in this book. 

As shared in the Capstone article, 15 Perfect Back-to-School Books!, 

There is no better place in the world than a library. Especially a library that kids create! A million stories high? Sure. Bathtubs? Absolutely. A full-service sundae bar? Of course. Everything is possible in this library—just like in books! Author Lindsay Leslie puts the reader in charge as the architect of a fantastical library in this imaginative picture book celebrating libraries and the joys of reading.

As I read the book, I thought of how fun it would be for kids to build, 

plan and...

...even share libraries they dreamed up with one another. 

Here are a few fun ideas to try! 

We love 3Dux Design!  You can check out their site here.  Students can use these building materials and other Makerspace supplies to plan and build their dream libraries. 

Students love creating with KEVA Planks and these would be a great materials for building libraries. 

We also love using Tinkercad, an online CAD program to build houses and communities.  

Once built within Tinkercad, a code can be shared to Merge EDU Object Viewer to be shared on a MERGE Cube using augmented reality too. 

You can read about a similar project using Tinkercad and Merge EDU here. 

As you can see, the sky is the limit with the Makerspace and STEAM ideas you can dream up using picture books. 

I also wanted to share these two fun posters that go along with So You Want To Build A Library.  You will find one here and...

...here.

And the book can be found here on the Capstone site.