Join Us Tomorrow for the Future Ready Librarians Webinar, The Summer Bookshelf: Professional and Personal Reads That Inspire.

Friends, we are so excited for our Future Ready Librarians webinar tomorrow on May 7th, The Summer Bookshelf: Professional and Personal Reads That Inspire.  

This one is on May 7th at 5:00-6:00pm EST with a special lineup of library and education leaders, and a few authors too. 

As shared online, 

Summer is a season of renewal—for both personal growth and professional learning. In this special roundtable session, Future Ready Librarians from across the country will come together to share how they use the summer months to grow, recharge, and get inspired for the year ahead. From must-read books and favorite podcasts to impactful professional development opportunities and creative self-care routines, this conversation will offer a wide range of ideas to spark your own summer plans.

Whether you’re diving into your “to be read” pile, attending conferences, or just taking time to reflect and refocus, this session is designed to celebrate the many ways librarians continue to lead, learn, and grow—even when school is out.

Join us for a lively and inspiring exchange of ideas, and walk away with a list of resources, reads, and routines to fuel your summer!

You can register today, friends. We can't wait for this conversation and for you to join us.

Join Me On May 28th For #TLSkyChat On BlueSky As We Talk About Igniting Creativity Through Literacy and the Library

 

I am so excited to join #TLSkyChat (Teacher Librarian Chat) on Blue Sky May 28th at 7:00pm CST as we talk about Igniting Creativity Through Literacy and The Library.  

You might be asking...What is #TLSkyChat? #TLSkyChat is a weekly educational chat held on Bluesky. It's organized by Jennifer LaGarde and Heather Turner.  It's filled with amazing hosts and conversations around important school library and teacher librarian topics. 

On May 28th, I hope you join us for this special #TLSkyChat as we celebrate the role we have in unlocking students' creativity.  It's going to be a great one! 

6 Heartfelt Teacher Thank You Cards for Students to Make In Book Creator During Teacher Appreciation Week!

 

It's Teacher Appreciation Week, friends.  We love finding ways to help our students thank their teachers.

These special Thank You Cards in Book Creator are the perfect way for students to thank their teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week. 

You can help your students show their gratitude by remixing these heartfelt Book Creator thank you cards this week. 💜

What a wonderful and practical way to practice letter writing too. 

You've Been Book'd For The Children's Book Week This Week, May 5-11, 2025!

                

This week we are celebrating Children's Book Week May 5-11, 2025. 

Children’s Book Week, established in 1919, is a celebration of books and the connection they bring. This beloved program continues to grow and adapt each year with new resources and ideas for joining in. Read on for everything you need to celebrate with us May 5-11!

Read more about this event and get the free materials here. 

I brought this list together from the children's book illustrators highlighted in this years program. You can click here for this amazing Titlewave® list of books.  Or click on each book to see individual titles.

You will find the featured illustrator and authors for this years Children's Book Week by visiting the site.

Have fun celebrating Children's Book Week with your readers and community too. 

Let's Celebrate May the 4th All Week Long With This Choice Board For Creating, Exploring, Learning, Coding, & Fun!

                  

This week we are celebrating May the 4th....Star Wars Day! 

On this day, there are lots of exciting, educational, creative and fun ways to celebrate.  We tie in lots of STEAM, art, coding, reading and learning online to this day and throughout the week. 

To kick off our celebration, I created this choice board, Let's Celebrate Star Wars Day With This Choice Board. You will find the link to share with students here.   

If you would like to make a copy to edit, you can get a copy here. 

I also made a version that includes space and planets articles from PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next so our students can research and learn about these topics for Star Wars Day. 

You will find this version with PebbleGo to share with students here.  You can make edits to this choice board here.  If you have PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next, you will want to add links to those articles. 

In addition to the choice boards, we are going to set up different stations and activities for our students.  Here are some of the resources we are going to use.  

The Anthony Herrera Designs site has amazing Star Wars Snowflakes. 

You can download the snowflake patterns so students can create their own.  You will find the site here.

The Star Wars Day May The 4th Be With You site has lots of special resources and information too. You can visit it here. 

I love the cooking and...

...craft activities.  

And this Star Wars Day Activity Kit is packed full of games, recipes and more!  You will find it here.

I hope you have fun planning a Star Wars Day Celebration for your community.  I can't wait to see what you and your students have planned. 

You're Invited! Future Ready Librarians Summit in Nashville – July 24!

 

Join us in the heart of Music City for a powerful day of learning, leadership, and inspiration at the Future Ready Librarians® Summit—a free, in-person event on Thursday, July 24, 2025, from 9:00 AM–3:00 PM CST at the Tennessee State Library & Archives.

Offered in partnership with Metro Nashville Public Schools and the Tennessee School Library Association, this summit is designed to empower librarians to lead innovation, amplify student learning, and transform their schools from the library out.

 

What You’ll Gain:

• Practical strategies from the Future Ready Librarians Framework
• Ideas for collaboration, leadership, and instructional design
• Tools to elevate student voice and foster 21st-century skills

 

Location: 1001 Rep. John Lewis Way N, Nashville, TN

Cost: Free (lunch on your own – explore nearby options!)

 

Facilitated by:
 Lia Dossin, All4Ed
 Shannon McClintock Miller, Future Ready Faculty

 

 Register now and be part of the movement to lead from the library.

 

Hope to see you there!

The PebbleGo Games Get A Refresh! Check Them Out Here, Friends!

 
Our kids love PebbleGo!  They love going to PebbleGo to research, read, discover, and celebrate their learning and discovery.  

This week there are fun new updates to the PebbleGo Games!  Mixing play and learning is such a great way to encourage exploration and spark curiosity for all kids.  

In PebbleGo, you wll find the Games at th bottom of the screen.  

There are 6 different games including...

As you can see the PebbleGo games are so exciting, engaging and fun! 

You can check out PebbleGo here. 

It's Here, Friends....Our May Choice Board!

                  

It's here, friends!  Our May 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 May 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.

There are also several choice boards embedded.  

Under the Learn about celebrate special events in May column, there are two including...

...the Cinco de Mayo Choice Board that you will find here in this post and...

...Star Wars Day...May the 4th Be With You Choice Board that you will find here in this post. 

Under the Read column, I have created a choice board for Children's Book Week on May 5-11, 2025.  You will find it here in this post. 

I hope you and your students have a wonderful May and lots of fun exploring all of the choice boards this month.   

A Fun Way To Show How Many Books Are Still Checked Out! You Will Find The Template To Copy and Use Here, Friends.

                

It's almost the end of the school year and time to get our books back to the library.  

To make it fun for our readers, I put a little twist on the book counter we use throughout the year. You can read all about our digital book counter here.

For this one, I created a place to show how many books we still have checked out.  

You can find the one with three columns here to make a copy. 

You can find the one with four columns here to make a copy. 

And to make this super easy and quick to do every day, we can go to the NEW Destiny Library Dashboard to find the data we need.  

In the image above, you will see the number of books still out under Checkouts.  I love how easy this is to find this data every day. 

You can read about the Destiny Library Dashboard, and a few of my favorite new Destiny 21.0 features, here in this post from my blog. 

Once you have the data and you are ready to share, just go to File, Share and Publish to the Web. 

We will share this with our teachers and students everyday, and we can even make little posters by printing the image too. 

Sign Up For Early Access To Socrait and Get A FREE Starbucks Coffee!

 

As educators, our days are packed — from planning and collaboration to grading and managing daily classroom and library activities. It can be overwhelming.

That’s why I’m thrilled to introduce Socrait, our new AI-powered class assistant designed to lighten the load and bring joy to our workday.

I’m so excited to bring it to my school and begin using it in both the classroom and the library. I truly believe it’s going to make a meaningful difference in how we work, teach, and connect with students.

Want to give it a try?

You can sign up and try it too!  Sign up here to get early access to download.  

Join Us On May 7th for the Future Ready Librarians Webinar, The Summer Bookshelf: Professional and Personal Reads That Inspire.

 

Friends, we are so excited for our upcoming Future Ready Librarians webinar, The Summer Bookshelf: Professional and Personal Reads That Inspire.  

This one is on May 7th at 5:00-6:00pm EST with a special lineup of library and education leaders, and a few authors too. 

As shared online, 

Summer is a season of renewal—for both personal growth and professional learning. In this special roundtable session, Future Ready Librarians from across the country will come together to share how they use the summer months to grow, recharge, and get inspired for the year ahead. From must-read books and favorite podcasts to impactful professional development opportunities and creative self-care routines, this conversation will offer a wide range of ideas to spark your own summer plans.

Whether you’re diving into your “to be read” pile, attending conferences, or just taking time to reflect and refocus, this session is designed to celebrate the many ways librarians continue to lead, learn, and grow—even when school is out.

Join us for a lively and inspiring exchange of ideas, and walk away with a list of resources, reads, and routines to fuel your summer!

You can register today, friends. We can't wait for this conversation and for you to join us.

The May Activity Journal From Book Creator Is Here and Ready To Remix For Your Kids Too!

One of my favorite monthly activities to share with our teachers and students are the monthly activity book journals from Book Creator.  These special books are filled with amazing activities for each day of the month. 

The May Activity Book Journal is packed with fun tasks for ...

...National Space Day, 

National Teacher's Day, 

World Baking Day, National Be A Millionaire Day, and more. 

You can find the May Activity Book Journal here, where you can remix and share with your students too.

At the end of the May Activity Book Journal you will find all of the Monthly Activity Journals too. 

Get Book Creator here today, friends.