Special Storyvoice Author Events For Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Lunar New Year, Black History Month, World Read Aloud Day, and More!

 

There are so many special author events coming up from our friends at Storyvoice including events for Lunar New Year, Black History Month, World Read Aloud Day, and more.

You will find all of the upcoming Storyvoice events here. 

And two that are under Recordings for Martin Luther King Jr. Day too. 

Adventure Awaits For Readers With Follett Online Book eFairs! Watch The On-Demand Webinar To Learn More, Friends.

 

We love bringing Follett Book eFairs to our library and school community for our readers. They are the perfect addition to the reading advocacy we do at Van Meter. 

A lot of you have asked me questions about our Follett Book eFair so I wanted to share the super fun and exciting webinar I did a few months ago. It is a great way to learn all about this wonderful book fair solution for all libraries and communities. 

As shared on Follett Content, 

Renowned teacher librarian Shannon McClintock Miller is no stranger to hosting a book fair. In fact, she hosts them bi-annually as they support her readers with books, and library with new books and resources. 

Find out why she’s added online Follett Book eFairs into the mix, how she took them to the next level, and how her students responded. And she’ll be the first to unveil the theme and book selections for the Spring 2025 Book eFair season!

Attendees will learn:

• How to quickly and easily set up an online Follett Book eFair
• Ideas and key takeaways that will help you bring your online fair to life
• Ways to get teachers, students, families, and communities involved and excited
• The new theme and book highlights for the Spring 2025 Follett Book eFair season

You can watch the webinar on-demand here, friends.  

I am so excited to bring Follett Book eFairs back to our school this spring as we plan for summer reading. I know your readers would love that too! 

Reimagine Your Nonfiction Shelves...Watch How We've Revamped Our Shelving Strategy In Our Recent Demco Webinar

 

Sometimes the smallest changes make the biggest impact! 

In our recent Demco webinar, learn how using simple plastic bins can transform your nonfiction section, making it dynamic and easy to refresh for holidays, special events, or trending topics.

Watch the recording here, friends.

We will be sharing our winter/spring Demco webinar series soon too.

A Special Choice Board For Martin Luther King Jr. Day With PebbleGo, Capstone Interactive eBooks, Pixel Art, An Animated I Have A Dream Speech and More!

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is tomorrow on January 20, 2025.

I have put together a special set of resource to use as we learn more about and celebrate this very special day.  

The first resource is the Martin Luther King Jr. Choice Board.

On the choice board, I included the PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next articles about Martin Luther King Jr. and MLK Jr. Day; 

four Capstone Interactive eBooks, which we also have in our library for teachers and students to check out and read (You can find these interactive eBooks and print books here on the Capstone site). 

For this part of the choice board, you can add your own links to PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next, and the Capstone Interactive eBooks, if you have them for your library and school.  Or you can always add alternative resources too. 

I am very excited about this new addition to this choice board.  Our kids can create a pixel art portrait of MLK, Jr with the StickTogether Pixel Art Canvas found here.  This is free for everyone to use and our kids always have so much fun creating pixel art.  I can't wait to see all of the different MLK Jr. pixel art they create. 

I also added this fun S.T.E.M. Challenge from our friends at Maker Maven, Can You Build A Podium For Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?; 

an Art Hub for Kids video on How To Draw Martin Luther King, and...

...several videos, including one of his I Have A Dream speech. 

I want to point out a really neat new resource from The Martin Luther King Jr Research and Education Institute at  Stanford University.  It is called Freedom Ring. It is Martin Luther King, Jr's I Have A Dream speech animated. 

You will find that in the upper left corner of the choice board and here.  It can be played as the class watches too.  

Thank you Mrs. Stem for sharing this resource with me. :) 

You can find the link to make a copy of the choice board here. You can then add your own links to PebbleGo, PebbleGo Next and the Capstone eBooks, and any other resources you might want to share.

And remember, to share with your students, just to to File, Share and Publish to the Web.  That is the link you want to share with students. 

I hope you enjoy using this choice board and these resources to celebrate this special day as we remember Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Create These NEW Stickers From LitWorld To Celebrate World Read Aloud Day 2025!

 

World Read Aloud Day is right around the corner on February 5, 2025. WRAD brings us together as we celebrate reading aloud in our school and community, and with others all around the world. 

We are getting ready for a big World Read Aloud Day celebration at my school. I am finding so many ideas in the WRAD Activity Packet from our friends at LitWorld. I shared it in this blog post.

I just LOVE this new sticker they created for us to share with our kids on World Read Aloud Day.  I downloaded the sticker image and ordered stickers for our students and teachers. They turned out so cute! I can't wait to share them as we read aloud on February 5. 

You can access the sticker image here.

Create Your Digital Connection Card For Digital Learning Day, Friends. Find The Template and Padlet To Share Here.

 

I am having so much fun getting ready for Digital Learning Day coming up on February 13, 2025. 

As we come together to celebrate Digital Learning Day (DLDay) and share the love of learning, teaching, and innovation. This year’s theme focuses on how technology connects us, transforms education, and brings “heart” into learning.

In my post this week, Join All4Ed’s Digital Learning Day 2025 on February 13! Check Out Three Ways To Participate In This Special Day, Friends, I shared the ways we can celebrate and participate.

Today in this post, I want to take a little more time explaining how to create your very own Love of Learning Digital Connection Card in Canva.

It’s simple, fun, and impactful in your community, and in our Future Ready Schools network as we all share our cards.

Here are the steps in creating your "Love of Learning" Digital Connection Card. 

• Use our Canva template here to create your organization’s customized Digital Connection Card.

• Share how you are innovating and fostering connections through digital learning.

• Post your card on social media using #DLDay and tag @OfficialDLDay.

• Share this card on our Padlet

I printed off my Digital Connection Card and hung it on our library door to celebrate and share the love of learning with my school community. I will have other teachers and administrators in our school do this too. I can't wait to see everyone's Digital Connection Card hanging up around the school. 

And I can't wait to see yours on our Digital Learning Day 2025 Padlet too. 

Print Yourself A Fresh Copy Of The Future Ready Librarians® Framework As You Kick Off A New Year, Friends.

 

At the FETC Conference this week, we posted the Library Leaders Summit.  

We shared the Future Ready Librarians® Framework that has a few little designs updates on our poster. I want to share it with all of you so you can print it off and hang it up in your library and school too. 

It's helpful to carry along with you as you plan and collaborate with your teachers. 

And I always like to make sure I share the Future Ready Librarians Framework with my administrators, teachers, students, and even families too, because I want them to know what we do as librarians within our library and throughout our school community. 

You will find the poster here. 

The FRL Framework is part of the Future Ready Librarians® Hub that includes everything you need....Framework, Events, Support, Podcasts, Stories, and more. 

Engage All Of Your Readers With Nonfiction... Watch Our Recent Demco Webinar To Learn More, Friends.

How do you inspire all of your students to explore nonfiction?

In this clip from our webinar with Demco, we share creative tips, from featuring eye-catching titles in newsletters and Google Classroom to spotlighting nonfiction books that spark curiosity.

Watch our full webinar here and discover strategies that work for both younger and older readers.

Join Me As We Kick Off 2025 With The NEW Follett Content Webinar, Transform Your Library: 15 Ways To Make Reading Irresistible!

             

I am excited to share our new Follett Content webinar to kick off 2025, friends. 

On Thursday, February 12, 2025 join me and my friends at Follett Content for Transform Your Library: 15 Ways To Make Reading Irresistible. 

As shared in the invite....

Make the second half of your school year a reading success with some fantastic new ideas that are sure to light a reading fire under students – even those who are tough to engage! Shannon McClintock Miller has done the heavy lifting to come up with new ways to make your library stand out as the center of fun literacy learning.

Join Shannon and Follett Content as we share 15 ways to make your library known as “the place to be” while enticing students to read, read, and read some more! Teachers and librarians alike will leave this presentation with inspiring ideas that will engage students, promote learning in the library, and bring things to light you may not have previously considered.

Shannon McClintock Miller will share a multitude of concepts, strategies, tips, and resources to promote reading and learning. From book displays to choice boards and Titlewave® nodes and beyond, you’ll learn so much you’ll be able to apply right away.

Register today.

Key Takeaways

• Creative Engagement Techniques: Learn unique and effective methods to captivate students’ interest in reading.
• Library Transformation Ideas: Discover how to turn your library into an inviting and dynamic space that encourages exploration and a love for books.
• Collaborative Literacy Projects: Gain insights into collaborative projects that involve students, teachers, and the community, fostering a supportive reading culture.

You can register for this wonderful new FREE webinar here. 

And don't worry if you can't attend live as everyone who registers will get the recording and resources after the webinar too. 

Hope to see you there, friends.