You've Been Virtually Book'd With The Joy of Reading....A Special Program and List I Use Within Our Destiny Discover & Library!

 

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is read. I read more in the summer than anytime of the year. 

As I read, I am always looking for books to inspire and encourage my readers at school too. 

This month, I created a choice board with 14 eBooks from our Destiny Discover that will be perfect to share at the beginning of the school year to celebrate the joy of reading.  

I put together a choice board so my readers will be able to find and read them easily within the library, classroom and at home. 

Let me show you how I set up this choice board for my school community. 

First, I created the choice board in a Google Slide.  I added the covers of the 14 eBooks I included in this choice board. 

Second, I went to our Destiny Discover and...

...grabbed the links to each eBook.  

This is easy to do.  You just search for the eBook, click on the three little dots next to Open, and this drop down menu will appear. 

Click on Share and the link to the book will pop up. That is the url to share in the choice boards. 

Take the copied link and add it to the book cover.  

When every book cover is linked, you are ready to share the choice board. 

Go to File and down to Publish to the web.  

This will give you a link to share with the students and teachers.  

When they click on that published link, the You've Been Virtually Book'd With These Picture Books will pop up and all of the eBooks can be read from there. 

I am excited about this list of 14 special new eBooks I put together in Titlewave.  In this choice board, you can click on any book cover to view and find the full book list from Titlewave there too. 

Our students will love these books that celebrate reading and that are part of our You've Been Virtually Book'd program.  And I love how we can keep this program going all year long!  It brings so much joy to our readers each and every month.

How Are You Using This Summer To Relax, Recharge and Feel Inspired? Share Your Thoughts Here, Friends.

 

Our friends at StickTogether are wondering how we are taking care of ourselves over the summer. 

They are collecting our short responses in this Google Form over the next week and then will share the combined responses back to the StickTogether Community. 

I really love this idea and can't wait to see how everyone is making their summer as restorative as possible. 

Happy Thursday, friends. 

Using Sound Walls in Teaching Reading: These Tools and Classes Can Help You Be Your Best This Fall

                      

There is so much I’m looking forward to this summer! One of those things is learning about classroom resources and summer courses I can share with teachers and students.

Because I love reading so much – and I love helping students learn to read well and develop a love of reading, too – I was really happy to learn about Tools4Reading.com, and the dedicated folks there who introduced me to their Sound Walls Solutions resources. 

Let me tell you about the Sound Walls Solutions resources too.

Sound Wall 

A Sound Wall allows teachers to organize sounds (phonemes) and the different letters (graphemes) used to make them. These have been used in speech and language programs, as well as intervention programs for struggling learners, for many years. Because there are 44 sounds in the English language and only 26 letters, classroom resources like sound walls are needed to help students learn to read and progress with literacy learning. 

With a sound wall, teachers go from speech to print INSTEAD of print to speech. Many teachers I know use sound walls already, but Tools4Reading.com provides them with the resources to implement them well.

Summer Classes

This summer, Tools 4 Reading is offering Sound Wall classes, which are affordable, flexible sessions for individuals–you don’t have to go through your district to enroll. If you want some instruction on the science and implementation of sound walls instruction, check out these online classes that run from the end of June throughout August. 

Visit https://www.tools4reading.com/book-online to for the schedule and to register.

(They also offer PD for reading teachers called Top 10 Tools for Teachers – a topic for another blog sometime!)

Cards, Images, and a Manual for Teachers 

Tools4Reading.com offers an array of classroom resources that you might find helpful. The one I spent some time with was the Tools 4 Reading Value Pack, which is a handy collection with several impactful resources:

Sound Wall Solutions™ is the manual, which is really the heart of the elements included in a Value Pack they offer. The manual helps bridge the gap between understanding sound walls and allows teachers to quickly integrate sound walls into daily classroom reading instruction.

There are Phoneme/Grapheme Instructional Cards, which feature the most common patterns for reading and spelling. There are 47 cards, and they detail the reason behind the various spellings in our language.

There are also Phoneme/Grapheme mini cards for kids, perfectly sized for young learners’ hands. 

I loved the two posters included in the Value Pack! These two posters represent 41 speech sounds of the English language, and are arranged by the place and manner of articulation.

This is a great resource when teaching phonemic awareness—because students can easily make connections by making their mouth look like the one on the poster. 

Also included is a collection called Kid Lips, which is a simple yet so effective way to help children learn to form sounds and words correctly. The 100-page instructional guide includes short lessons and tips for instruction.

There is an inset image to match the correct Kid Lips™ picture card with each lesson. The cards feature pictures of children’s mouths to illustrate the correct placement of the tongue, teeth, and lips when producing specific sounds. 

Are you interested in these resources for your fall classes? 

You can order the Value Pack now and let them know you read about it here on my blog. Just use LIBRARY10 as the discount code when you go to https://www.tools4reading.com/ to order. 

I hope you’ll check these out! I know you and your students will love them. 

The Library Voice Shop Is Open For Business! Brianna and I Can't Wait For You To Visit, Friends.

 

My daughter, Brianna, and I have some exciting news to share.  

It's always been a dream of ours to open a little shop to share our passion for creating things for libraries, education, cooking and baking, gardening and plants, arts and crafts, clothing, family and more.  

We thought the perfect time was during the summer months, so we are excited to announce the opening of...

...The Library Voice Shop...Creations by Brianna and Shannon. 

Brianna and I will be working on lots of fun things this summer.  We are kicking it off with a few of designs and ideas. 

On the Shop Our Collection page here, you will find....

My Summer Reading Challenge, 

Cutting Down Recipes....one of my all-time favorites that I have hanging in our kitchen, and...

...Special Book Recommendation Sticky Notes From Your Librarian that I love using with my students and teachers. 

You will find The Library Voice Shop here. Please check back often as we have lots of fun additions coming soon.  

Come Join Me In The StickTogether Booth At ISTE For Great Ideas, Sharing and A Chance To Win A Sticker Poster!

 

One of my favorite things to do with our students is StickTogether!  We love the physical sticker poster, the virtual stickerboards and at the end of year our kids even designed and created their own sticker posters!  

StickTogether has brought so much to our school community and I can't wait to share these ways with all of you. 

At ISTE, you can join me in the StickTogether Booth #3323 where I will share how we have used StickTogether and the difference it has made through creativity, collaboration, research and more. 

And guess what...Our friends at StickTogether are giving all of you who come to the booth a chance to win a StickTogether sticker poster of your choice! 

To get ready for ISTE, I would love for you to join me in a very special virtual stickerboard with others around the world. You will find it at bit.ly/ISTEsticktogether

I hope to see you in the StickTogether at ISTE, friends. It will be so much fun! 

Come Join One Of The All-Star Teams At ISTE For The PebbleGo Game Show! 3 Grand Prizes, Swag and Lots Of Snacks Too!

 

It's only a few more days until ISTE LIVE 2022 in New Orleans! 

And that means it's almost time for....The PebbleGo Game Show LIVE at ISTE in the Capstone Booth #2242. I am your host and have an All-Star lineup of six amazing education and library leaders that will be the Team Captains. 

We will have 3 Rounds so you will have 3 opportunities to come join one of the PebbleGo Game Show Teams for a this fun and fast paced time together. The 3 Rounds include...

...Round #1, Monday at 4:00pm in Booth 2242 with Adam Bellow and Bill Bass; 

Round #2, Tuesday at 1:00pm in Booth 2242 with Kathi Kersznowski and Team Mystery (news of this super special guest coming soon); and...

....Round #3, Wednesday at 1:00pm in Booth 2242 with Capstone's very own, Eric Fitzgerald and Elissa Malespina. 

In each Round, there will be snacks and special PebbleGo giveaways for everyone, plus ONE AWESOME GRAND PRIZE in each Round!  

You won't want to miss the PebbleGo Game Show, friends!  Join us at the Capstone Booth 2242 early so you can join the team that you would like to be part of for this fun event. 

BIG News! Virtual StickTogether Stickerboards Are FREE For The Summer! Get Yours Today, Friends!

 

Our friends at StickTogether have some very exciting news for us this summer. 

They are offering Virtual StickTogether Stickerboards for FREE throughout the summer! 

As shared in their newsletter, 

Over the summer we are offering a discount code for 10 FREE Virtual StickTogether Stickerboards. Simply add 10 Stickerboards to your cart and at checkout use Discount Code: Summer22. 

Look at all of the amazing new virtual stickerboards they have in the gallery for the summer.  

I love sharing these with our students and families on our library newsletter and social media sites throughout the summer. 

I have been using them in professional development events, and just for fun too! 

You can go here to grab your free stickerboards today! Enjoy, friends! 

It's Week 5 of the Capstone Virtual Camp Adventure...Let's GO To Where Our Imagination Takes Us!

It's Week 5 of Capstone's Virtual Summer Camp Adventure!  For Week 5, the theme is Let's GO to where our imagination takes us! 

ALL students and families can visit capstonepub.com/summerchoiceboards to access this 12-week long fun summer learning and reading adventure with our friends at Capstone.  

On the capstonepub.com/summerchoiceboards site, there are six bi-weekly Where Will You Go This Summer? themes that include a choice board and set of 20 FREE Capstone Interactive eBooks for each. 

The choice boards can be accessed by clicking on Open Choice Board under each tile.  

When they click on Open Choice Board, it will take users straight to the choice board that is filled with reading, making, moving, coding, stem, technology and fun virtual field trips around the world.  

In the left hand corner, they will find a place to click to GO to eBooks around the six different themes. 

All they have to do to read and listen to the Capstone Interactive eBooks is click on the eBook covers.  They are directly linked so a username and password is not required. 

If you want to make any changes or edits, you will can make a copy of the entire 12-weeks of choice boards here.  This post will be helpful in doing this too. 

I am excited about a special new addition in this summers Virtual Camp Adventure with our friends at StickTogether. 

Under the STEAM column, you will see a StickTogether box. 

Every week, starting May 23, 2022, we will be adding two special virtual stickerboards that StickTogether created around each weekly theme. 

All students will be able to collaborate together to complete these weekly virtual stickerboards.  The images they reveal are amazing and our kids will love this wonderful global activity. 

As the students and families use the choice boards and need help, there is a Family Help button on each choice board slide and...

...on the bottom of the capstonepub.com/summerchoiceboards site.  You can find it here too. 

This document includes How To Use The Virtual Camp Adventure With Your Children This Summer and...

...Directions For Using The Virtual Camp Adventure Choice Boards. 

At the very bottom of the page, there are two FREE downloads that will help when promoting Capstone's Virtual Summer Camp Adventure. 

You can find the flyer here where you can copy or edit, and....

...and the special bookmarks I created in Buncee by Capstone here.  You can print as is or make a copy to edit this too. 

The post, Here's The Family Letter, Bookmark & Posters To Kick Off Capstone's Virtual Camp Adventure With Your Students and Families Too!, found here will be helpful too. 

I just had mine printed using Overnight Prints and they do an amazing job. You will find the link here. 

I hope all of the students and families have a special summer visiting Our Virtual Camp Adventure.  I can't wait to see and hear all of the different ways it is used and what is learned, read, and created from this amazing summer experience. 

Please let me know if you have any questions...I am happy to help you, friends.