Thursday, August 31, 2023

Apply For A FREE Future Ready Schools Virtual Workshop In Your District, Friends.

 

Is your school or district looking for an interactive professional learning session that focuses on the use of innovative tools to spark curiosity and innovation? 

Apply today to let FRS help you host a  FREE one-hour professional learning session focused on infusing digital learning across the curriculum.

The Future Ready Schools “Unlocking Student Engagement Through Meaningful EdTech Infusion” Virtual Workshop will focus on using digital tools to spark curiosity and innovation across the curriculum. Instructional leaders, teachers, and librarians will leave with ideas for seamlessly integrating digital tools into their lessons. This workshop is being offered free of charge and fits nicely into most districts’ professional development programming.

Participants will leave with: 

  • An understanding of what the effective use of edtech looks like in instruction;
  • Ability to leverage instructional frameworks for deeper levels of engagement; 
  • Knowledge of high-quality digital tools to promote student engagement and the local curriculum; 
  • A collaborative list of “go-to” resources for student engagement curated by colleagues and a network of like-minded colleagues looking to innovate; and
  • A plan to leveraging digital tools to enhance learning and creativity.

We promise you that our workshop will be interactive, collaborative, and high-energy. You won’t experience a “death by Powerpoint” session but will have the opportunity to discuss, share, and collaborate around ways to integrate digital learning into lessons across the curriculum seamlessly.  

All participants will need a device, an open mind, and a willingness to connect, collaborate and innovate!

You can find out more and apply here, friends







Join Me In Oklahoma On September 28 or 29 For A Day In Celebrating Bringing Digital Literacy To Life Through Innovation, Technology and Student Voice!

 

I am so excited to be coming to Oklahoma this fall, friends.  I will be joining Bigbee Learning Resources and Capstone for this special event. 

Join me for a day to celebrate the role Oklahoma School Librarians have in bringing digital literacy to life through innovation, technology and student voice! I will share inspiration, creative ideas and engaging resources. You will also learn how to use and create activities to take back to your school community and use the next day. 

It will be a day you won't want to miss, friends.

There are two days to choose from.  They include: 

Thursday, September 28 - Broken Arrow

Central on Main

210 N Main Street

Broken Arrow, OK 74012


Friday, September 29 - Oklahoma City

Moore Norman Technology Center

13301 S. Pennsylvania Avenue

Oklahoma City, OK 73170


You will find more information and the registration here in this Smore


I hope to see you in Oklahoma. 

It's Here Friends....Our September Choice Boards!

                   

It's here, friends!  Our September 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 the Our September Choice Board here to share with students.  And if you would like to make changes or additions, you can make a copy to edit here.
Within the monthly choice boards, I include other choice boards for special events. 

In September, we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. You will find the links to this choice board here.
Dot Day is coming up on September 15, so the special Let's Celebrate Dot Day choice board is included and loaded with lots of creative fun.  You will find it here in this post. 
It's also Be Who You Are Day with Todd Parr on September 30th. My sister, Heather Fox, made this choice board for that celebration which you can find in this blog post.  
In the September Choice Board, 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. 

This is the link to the 2023 September Choice Board that you can share with your students. 

I will explain how I share choice board posters in an upcoming post. 
With each choice board, I also share the link to make edits and changes.  This is the copyable link to the 2023 September Choice Board.  Please feel free to use the choice board with your community and make changes to fit the needs of your learners and teachers. 

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. Happy Dot Day, friends. 

Join Us TODAY For Our NEW StickTogether Webinar...Ideas, Tips and Resources To Kick Off The Best New School Year!!

  

As we go back to school this fall, we are all looking for ideas, tips and resources on how to kick off the year in special, exciting and memorable ways. For this webinar, we have brought together a few of our favorite librarians and educators to celebrate just that! Shannon McClintock Miller and Brianna Cua welcome Blake Hopper, Amanda Hunt and Andrea Trudeau to the August StickTogether webinar as they share ideas, tips and resources for kicking off an awesome new year. You will hear how librarians, teachers and administrators can support reading, learning, creating and collaborating in so many wonderful and impactful ways this school year. Three attendees will WIN a Standard Size Sticker Poster Kit, Puzzle Face™, or a Virtual Stickerboard™ - Basic Plan. We can’t wait to see you at the webinar as we kick off our year together in the StickTogether webinar series. Hosts: Shannon McClintock Miller, Future Ready Librarian Spokesperson, District Teacher Librarian Innovation Director, Van Meter Community School (IA), (@shannonmmiller) Brianna Cua, Director of Digital Marketing and Community at StickTogether, (@briannamcua) Guests: Blake Hopper Former School librarian, current assistant principal H.Y. Livesay Middle School, (@travelingguybrarian @travguybrarian) Amanda Hunt, Middle School Librarian and Secondary Lead Librarian, New Braunfels, TX, (@thenextgenlibrarian all over social media) Andrea Trudeau, Library Information Specialist, Alan B. Shepard Middle School in Deerfield District 109 (IL), (Twitter/X: @Andrea_Trudeau & Threads: @Andrea_Trudeau1)


We hope to see you there, friends. It will be so much fun!

Wednesday, August 30, 2023

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

The September 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 out more about Virtual Stickerboards and how to use them with your students here.

Once you click on Create a Virtual Stickerboard, go to the September 2023 Gallery.  
This gallery has all of the Virtual Stickerboards that correspond with the days on the new StickTogether Virtual Stickerboard Calendar. 

You can read all about the NEW Virtual Stickerboard subscription experience here.

Have fun using the September Virtual Stickerboards with your students and community as we get ready for a brand new school year, friends. 

The September Achievery Calendar Is Here! And Join Us For An Opportunity To Be Achievery Ambassador!

I am so excited to share the August 2023 Achievery Calendar with all of you!  This is a wonderful resource to enhance your curriculum with engaging lessons and videos using the special monthly choice board calendar created with The Achievery.


In the August 2023 Achievery Calendar, you will find it filled with videos and lessons that link to special events throughout the month.  These are for all ages, kindergarten through 12th grade, in a wide variety of topics.  There is something for everyone in The Achievery. 

The Achievery Calendar is the perfect way to find special ways to bring the videos and lessons to your students and community all year long. 

Here is how it works! 
1. Create a FREE Achievery account at futureready.link/achievery 

2. Click on the image to directly access the video and lesson. Please note that to access the lessons directly from the calendar, you need to be logged into your Achievery account first.

3. Use these videos and lesson with your students. There is something for ALL grade levels and content areas. 

We will be sharing theses calendars from The Achievery and Future Ready Schools every month.  

This is a great resource to share as we go back to school with others within your school and network. The Achievery is FREE for all teachers, students and families. 

As a champion of digital learning, Future Ready Schools is proud to collaborate with The Achievery. We're building a community of innovative educators who are committed to using high-quality digital learning tools to support more equitable, more engaging student learning experiences. 

As educators, we all want to help our students develop a love of learning and explore their passions. That's why we wanted to let you know about the Achievery Ambassadors Program, a free professional learning community.

The Achievery is a digital learning platform that connects students to high-quality learning through stories that spark curiosity. The Achievery Ambassadors program is designed for educators who are passionate about inspiring students to explore their interests and pursue their dreams.

As an Achievery Ambassador, you will have access to:

  • Professional development and training on using The Achievery platform in the classroom.
  • Opportunities to connect with other educators and share best practices.
  • Exclusive resources and content to help you inspire and engage your students.
  • And much more!

Whether you are a teacher, media specialist, or instructional coach, The Achievery Ambassadors program is a great way to enhance your teaching and help your students explore their passions.

You can learn more and apply here today

I hope you will join us for this special opportunity. 

Thursday, August 24, 2023

Turn The September 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. 
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 September 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, Talk Like A Pirate Day is September 19. The PebbleGo articles about Oceans is perfect for this special event. 

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.  

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.

We start back in a few weeks, so I will have the September 2023 PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next ready to go! 

Our August Choice Board Is Here, Friends!

                

It's back-to-school time and that means a new year of planning wonderful reading, learning, engaging and creative activities, projects and programs for our students, teachers and school community.  

One of the first things I have been working on are the special monthly choice boards. I started putting these together last year for our students and teachers, and had so much fun sharing with all of you and your school communities. 

Each month, I will share the monthly choice board that contains special activities around monthly events like holidays and celebrations; the NEW monthly S.T.E.A.M. choice board; the Virtual Field Trip Buncee, which I add to all the time; and additional rotating resources for coding, reading, making and technology. 

Within the monthly choice boards, I do include other choice boards.  
In the August Choice Board, you will also find the August S.T.E.A.M. Choice Board found here
the Elementary Coding Choice Boards found here, 
Our Virtual Makerspace found here
the Let's Take A Trip Around The World Buncee found here, and...
...the Let's Celebrate Reading Choice Board 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. 

This is the link to the 2021 August Choice Board that you can share with your students. 

I will explain how I share choice board posters in an upcoming post. 
With each choice board, I also share the link to make edits and changes.  This is the copyable link to the 2021 August Choice Board.  Please feel free to use the choice board with your community and make changes to fit the needs of your learners and teachers. 

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

Enjoy the start of the new year, friends. 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. 

Our BOOKHUB Takeout and Virtual BOOKHUB For August! 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 August. There are lots of new books and books that tie into monthly themes and events like back-to-school, bus safety, friends 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 School using the Title Search in Capstone Connect. 
When I searched School, 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 Buzz Beaker and the Race To School...
...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 August 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 August 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 August. 
You will find the August Virtual BOOKHUB template without eBook covers here.

Happy Reading, friends.