Our Virtual BOOKHUB For April! Our Monthly eBook Reading Promotion Using Capstone Connect For All Readers!

One of our favorite reading promotions at Van Meter School is our...

...BOOKHUB Takeout Stations!  This is a place where our teachers can pick up books to read aloud and share with their students each month. 

We select these books and put together the BOOKHUB Menu in Canva, which shows the books that are available at the BOOKHUB Takeout Stations each month.  

I print off the BOOKHUB Menu posters for each classroom. The students and teachers like looking at the menu to pick the books they want to read. They also cross them off as they go as a way to keep track of what they are reading too. 

It is so much fun.  You can read all about our BOOKHUB Takeout Stations here in this post.

Here is our new BOOKHUB Menu for April. There are lots of new books and books that tie into monthly themes and events like School Library Month, Ramadan, Earth Day, and more. 

You can find this in Canva here to make a copy if you'd like to use BOOKHUB too. 

Along with the BOOKHUB Takeout Stations with the physical books, I also want to support all readers with eBooks each month. This will give our students eBooks to read as they learn about different events and celebrations throughout the year.  It also gives them choice in what they want to read since I put them together in the Virtual BOOKHUB choice boards. 

To create the Virtual BOOKHUB choice boards, I use Capstone Connect. This is 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 created the Virtual BOOKHUB choice board. 

I logged into Capstone Connect. I searched Earth Day using the Title Search in Capstone Connect. 

When I searched Spring, it gave me the results eBooks and PebbleGo articles.

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

To view the eBook, I clicked on Earth Day and it...

...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 Our March Virtual BOOKHUB 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 BOOKHUB program and can't wait to celebrate reading in one more way with our students as we share these wonderful groups of books and eBooks every month! 

I made this template for you to create your own April Virtual BOOKHUB.  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 April. 

You will find the April Virtual BOOKHUB template without eBook covers here.

Happy Reading, friends. 

Creating Monthly Novel Effect Posters In Canva For Our Special Read Aloud Library! Find The Template For Our April Poster Here, Friends!

One of the best addition to our library and school this year has been Novel Effect. 

In fact, we started a Novel Effect library. This has offered our teachers such a wonderful way to bring stories to life with special and important books. You can read about how we created our Novel Effect Library here. 

In January, we started something new to go along with our growing Novel Effect Library. 

Each month, we will bring together several Novel Effect books around special topics, events and celebrations.  This month, we focused on special holidays, events, snow and winter, and the Novel Effect books that have these topics from our library. 

Once we have our list together for the month, 

I go to Canva and create a monthly flyer for our Novel Effect books using the book covers, a Novel Effect image from their site and fun text. 

I create the collage of the book covers in PicMonkey.  You can edit a copy of this template here. 

You will find the Novel Effect images under the Additional Learning Resources on the Novel Effect site here.

And you can find the Canva template for this poster I created here where you can make a copy to use too. 

I printed the Novel Effect Books posters and passed them out to all of the teachers so they can post in their classrooms and keep track of all of the amazing read alouds to pick from each month.  

I love our Novel Effect Library and can't wait for everyone to read even more throughout the year. 

Don't miss all of the  special book activities for April found on the Novel Effect site here, friends.

Turn The April 2023 PebbleGo & PebbleGo Next Monthly Holiday Calendar Into An Interactive Research Choice Board For Your Students & Teachers!

 

Our friends at Capstone create these super fun PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next Holiday Calendars each month. 

In this post, I share more about the PebbleGo Monthly Calendars. 

I love making paper copies of these to share with our teachers and kids. 

They hang them up in their classrooms and hang them in our library too. I also share them online through social media and as an image in Google Classroom or Seesaw. 

The teachers even use the PebbleGo Calendars for mini research opportunities throughout each week. The students use PebbleGo Create to share what they learn throughout the month with the calendars. 

Here is the PebbleGo April 2023 Holidays Calendar from Capstone. 

Earlier this year, when I was sharing the calendars with teachers and students, I thought....Hey, this would be really fun in a choice board! 

So, I opened up a Google Slide, uploaded the PebbleGo April 2023 Holidays Calendar, and added a little chalk board with text over the top.  

Then I went through the calendar and found every special day in PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next.  

For example, National School Librarian Day is on April 4. The PebbleGo article about Librarians is featured on this day. 

I went to PebbleGo and found the Librarians article. I grabbed the link, as shown in the image above. 

I took that link and added a linked text box around each special date. 

Now, when the kids click on a holiday, it will take them directly to that PebbleGo article.  

I can't wait to share this with our students and teachers each month.  If you want to use the template to create your own, you will find the Google Slide here to make a copy and add links to the PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next articles. 

And to make it a choice board, just Publish to the web, as shown in this image above. 

You will share that Published Link with your students. 

I plan to do this every month so will keep on sharing them with all of you too. 

The April Virtual Stickerboard Calendar Is Here and Filled With So Many New Stickerboards!

The April Virtual Stickerboard Calendar from our friends at StickTogether is here and filled with so many new Virtual Stickerboards! 

Every month, StickTogether creates a wonderful calendar that shows special events throughout the month. And the BEST part...they have created a monthly Virtual StickTogether Sticker Board Gallery to go along with these special events and celebrations!  

You will find the April Virtual Stickerboard Calendar here.

You will find out more about Virtual Stickerboards and how to use them with your students here.

Once you click on Create a Virtual Stickerboard, 

you will find the April 2023 Gallery.  

This gallery has all of the Virtual Stickerboards that correspond with the days on the new StickTogether Virtual Stickerboard Calendar. 

Check out a few of them...

The Virtual Stickerboards are FREE for everyone to use.  

Have fun using the April Virtual Stickerboards with your students and community too. 

It's Time For Our April Choice Boards, Friends!

                                   

Friends, it's April this week and time for Our April Choice Board!  In April, we have so many special things to celebrate including Poetry Month, Ramadan, Passover, Easter and Earth Day.  

You will find Our April Choice Board here to share with students.  

If you would like to make changes, you can make a copy of it here. And remember, to share a copy with students, you must go to File and Publish to the Web. 

You will grab that link you create to share with students. 

Also, you will find the Poetry Month Choice Board here in this post, 

the Ramadan Choice Board can be found here to share with students and you can make a copy here and...

the Passover and Easter Choice Board can be found here to share with students and you can make a copy here. 

This year, I also created this Ramadan Choice Board for our students.  You can find the information and template here in this post if you'd like to use that in your April Choice Board. 

For Earth Day, I made two versions of the choice board.  One with PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next, 

and one with National Geographic Kids.  

You will find the Let's Celebrate Earth Day (with PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next) Choice Board here.  If you want to make a copy, you will find the link here. 

You will find the second Let's Celebrate Earth Day (with National Geographic Kids) Choice Board here. If you want to make a copy, you will find the link here. 

You will find the April Choice Board with PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next, linked above.  And the second version with National Geographic Kids can be found here to share with students and here is the link to make a copy and edit. 

Please let me know if you have any questions and have a wonderful time planning for April with your students, teachers and school community too. 

Check Out This Virtual Stickerboard Gallery Giveaway From Our Friends At StickTogether!

 

Our friends at StickTogether have a special giveaway happening right now.

It's the Virtual Stickerboard Gallery Giveaway.

Check this out from StickTogether's Twitter....

We love seeing our community display our Virtual Stickerboards on their interactive displays! To enter our giveaway, share photos or short videos of your students working on a Virtual Stickerboard shown on an interactive displays.

Tag both @byStickTogether and your interactive display provider. We will announce 3 winners on Friday, March 31st.

Enter for a chance to win: A Private Virtual Stickerboard Gallery with 5 CUSTOM images of your choice How to enter: Follow

@bysticktogether

Share an image or short video of your students working on a Virtual Stickerboard displayed on an interactive display. Tag

@byStickTogether

and your interactive display provider. Each photo or video with both tags = an additional entry! No purchase is necessary. This promotion is not associated with Twitter. By entering, you confirm you are 18 years of age or older and a USA resident. Giveaway closes Thursday, March 30th at 11:59 pm PT. Three lucky winners will be notified via DM.