3 Tech Tools To Celebrate Dot Day....and a NEW Choice Board Too!

 

It's never too early to plan for International Dot Day!  After all, it's one of our favorite days of the year.

Today, as I work with my teacher librarian friends at New Hyde Park-Garden City Park Union Free School District, we are getting ready for Dot Day this fall.  We are creating different Dot Day stations for their elementary classes.  

One of the stations is going to let the students use technology to celebrate Dot Day.  I created the choice board above for them to use in that station.  They can create a dot with Scribble & Ink from PBS, create a Spirograph dot, and create a virtual dot with the online LiteBright site. 

You can find this choice board to share with your students and teachers at this link.  

If you want to make edits, you can make a copy of the choice board here.

And just  remember, Dot Day is fun to celebrate anytime of the year! 

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

The June 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 June 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 June 2023 Gallery.  

Check out a few of these special days and Virtual Stickerboards below...

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

The Virtual Stickerboards are FREE for everyone to use.  

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

Sign Up Today For The 2023 ReadingCon, Collaboration For Literacy, From Our Friends At Follett and a Very Special All-Star Line Up!

Friends, there is an amazing literacy event coming up on June 22, 2023 that you won't want to miss!  Especially if are in the Chicagoland area, make sure to check it out. It's right before the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago too. 

ReadingCon from our friends at Follett is back!  

This very special event pairs together today's most popular authors with educators to bring us live presentations, breakout sessions, discussions and more-all on hot topics in Grades K-12 literacy. 

As shared online, 

ReadingCon: Collaborating for Literacy

Follett is bringing educators together to discuss trending topics in today's K-12 schools. This premier event will focus on literacy and diversity and how we can make a difference in the students we serve. This inspiring professional development event will feature meaningful sessions that address key topics facilitated by teachers and librarians in education alongside high-profile authors to promote discussion.

• Breakout sessions on education topics
• A full day of professional development
• Dynamic author keynote speakers and author signings
• Bookstore with available featured author titles for on-site purchases
• Publisher marketplace to browse the latest titles from key publishers
• Continental breakfast and lunch buffet provided

Let's start with the authors...check them out! 

So many amazing authors sharing stories that our readers love. 

And here is the schedule...

....filled with these...

 amazing presentations from authors, librarians and teachers.  You can check them out here.

Seating is limited so you can register today for 2023 ReadingCon here. It's the Early Bird Rate at $75! 

Look How You Can Turn The June 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 and PebbleGo Next June 2023 Holidays Calendar. 

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 June 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, Best Friends Day is June 8. The PebbleGo article about Making New Friends is featured on this day. 

I went to PebbleGo and found the 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.  

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. 

Since we are into the summer holiday (or almost into the summer holiday for a lot of you), I plan to continue to share the PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next Holiday Calendars with my students all summer long. I will share them on our library social and in our summer reading newsletter too. 

I love sharing these interactive PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next Holiday Calendars with our students and teachers. They love learning all about these special days that are highlighted each month too.

Join Storyvoice For 4 Very Special LOVE Author Events To Celebrate The End of the School Year!

 

This week, you can join Storyvoice for their final live author events of the school year!  

They have four very special love events with four amazing authors on May 25 and May 26. 

You can find them all here. 

Friends, There Is A NEW StickTogether Sticker Poster Of "The Library Voice" With A Secret Message and Special Note From Me!

 

I am excited to share a special new StickTogether Sticker Poster very dear to my heart. 

It's The Library Voice, created from the amazing art work my friend and artist, Susan Reagan, created for my blog, stickers, business cards and note cards. 

While brainstorming with Sylvia and Brianna from StickTogether one day, we talked about the idea of bringing The Library Voice to life in a Sticker Poster. Not only did we include the art work, 

I also wrote a personal message that is included at the bottom of the Sticker Poster.  

And to make it even better, there is a secret message included within the Sticker Poster too. 

I love how the Sticker Poster turned out as it includes 20 different colors within the beautiful pixel art image. 

You will find The Library Voice Sticker Poster here, friends. 

I hope you and your students, teachers and community enjoy The Library Voice too. 

Join Joe Sanfelippo and Myself For The 3rd Annual Future Ready Bookclub Starting June 6th...Lead From Where You Are; Building Intention, Connection and Direction in Our Schools

                    

Friends, I am so excited for the 3rd annual Future Ready Summer Book Club!  This summer, Joe Sanfelippo will join us as we read his best selling book, Lead from Where You Are: building Intention, Connection and Direction in Our Schools. 

As shared on our Future Ready Summer Book Club page...

 This summer we will be featuring, Lead from Where You Are: Building Intention, Connection and Direction in Our Schools, by Joe Sanfelippo, author and Superintendent, Fall Creek School District (WI), (@joe_sanfelippo).

 

A little bit about the book - Lead from Where You Are offers a down-to-earth, implementable approach to rethinking how we build leadership and community in schools. Dr. Joe Sanfelippo, a veteran principal and superintendent, argues that our focus must be on growing leadership potential all across the community, from students to teachers to staff. We can do this by reflecting on how we build a sense of intention together, how we connect with each other, and how we direct those we lead with compassion and affirmation. Sanfelippo’s frank discussion of the highs and lows of leadership will help new principals and superintendents feel prepared, while also providing useful methods and sound counsel.

Here’s how it will work.

• June 6 - Chapter 1
• June 13 – Chapter 2
• June 20 – Chapter 3
• June 27- Chapter 4

• July 5 – Chapter 5

• July 11 -Chapters 6 and 7

• July 19 at 2:00pm ET-  Live discussion

Register and order an autographed copy of the book: futureready.link/summer23

We hope you can join us this summer friends. It is going to be an awesome way to continue our learning and growth throughout the summer. 

New Resources With FREE, Fun and Engaging Content From Our Friends From Capstone On Their NEW Summer Inspiration Site!

 

I am excited to share these new resources for SUMMER INSPIRATION from our friends at Capstone. 

As they shared on Twitter, 

Looking for summer inspo?

We created this new page so your students can access a ton of free, fun, & engaging content that will encourage their love of learning + boost their use of #CapstoneConnect, #PebbleGo, or #CapstoneInteractive this summer.

I couldn't wait to check it out and look what I found!

On the Inspire Reading All Summer Long page, there are...

so many wonderful Extra Summer Resources including Guided Activities, Video Tutorials, Letters Home, Customizable Bookmarks, Summer Calendars and My Choice Boards for the Capstone Virtual Summer Camp Adventure. 

Oh, and check out this super neat Summer Reading Log!  

There is a place where you can learn more about the different tools in Capstone Connect and even...

....an Example of what you can do to enhance learning and creativity using these tools together around one learning topic. 

This site is loaded with so many awesome things to check out this summer. You will find the site here and can contact your local rep at REP@capstonepub.com to find out more. 

You've Been Virtually Book'd With These Summer Reading Books....A Special Program and List I Use Within Our Destiny Discover & Library For Summer Reading!

                

Summer is almost here and it is time for summer reading! 

We get out of school in three days so I have been spending a lot of time getting ready and finding ways to best support our readers in meaningful, helpful and personalized ways. 

When I plan summer reading for our students, I think about how successful we have been at including not only wonderful books, but also eBooks, audio books and other digital resources within our library summer reading program.  

One thing I did was put together a list and choice board filled with 14 new and favorite print and eBooks from our Destiny Discover that will be perfect for summer reading. 

And being in a preschool to 12th grade school, I made sure to include something special for all of our readers.  

With these eBooks, I put together a choice board. 

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 summer reading books 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 to our readers each and every month.