Follow the "Leading from the Library Podcast" Symbaloo Webmix! 🎉 You Will Find All 10 Seasons and Get NEW Episodes Too.

We are now into our 10th season of the Future Ready Librarians podcast series, Leading from the Library. 

My amazing friends at Symbaloo have brought them together in this special Leading from the Library webmix.  I wanted to share it with all of you, so you can use it too. 

You can follow this webmix by clicking on the Follow button below the webmix on the right hand side. This will add it to your webmixes making it easy to find and come back to anytime you want. You will also receive the updates to the webmix too. 

If you are new to Symbaloo, you can sign up and check out one of my favorite digital curation tools here.

5 Exciting Ways To Bring The NEW PebbleGo Book Packs To Our Readers, Libraries and Classrooms!

 

I love bringing new content, programs and displays to our library, classrooms, and students.  

Over the past week, I have been working on an exciting new project and I can't wait to share it with all of you.  

In our library, and within our classrooms, we have these amazing new displays of books that feature a brand new book product from our friends at Capstone. 

They are called the PebbleGo Book Packs.  I wrote a blog post to share more, and have included it below too. 

The PebbleGo Book Packs take student research and engagement to the next level.  There is a PebbleGo Book Pack for every PebbleGo module including...

...PebbleGo Social Studies Book Pack, 

PebbleGo Science Book Pack, 

PebbleGo Health Book Pack, 

PebbleGo Biographies Book Pack, and the...

...PebbleGo Animals Book Pack. 

I LOVE the titles in each PebbleGo Book Pack and I know our readers will too. 

Every PebbleGo Book Pack is available in hardcover, paperback, and read-along eBook. I started with the PebbleGo Animals Book Packs.  

I purchased the PebbleGo Animals Book Pack in hardcovers for our library collection where I will be setting up a special new section in our nonfiction just for our PebbleGo Book Packs. 

And the PebbleGo Animals Book Pack in paperback for our teachers to use in their classrooms. 

As shared by Capstone, 

PebbleGo Book Packs let students dig deeper into passion topics or research subjects, while building reading stamina. Each bundle has been curated by educators to match learning goals. PebbleGo Book Packs make extending learning easy for busy educators – like you! No more searching for just the right book or resource to fuel eager learners. Every pack includes thirty titles aligned to one of PebbleGo’s five modules – Animals, Biographies, Health, Science, and Social Studies. Each title is available as hardcover, paperback, or read-along eBook within PebbleGo. Every PebbleGo Book Pack is available in hardcover, paperback, and read-along eBook! 

You will find the PebbleGo Book Packs in two places. 

Find them on Titlewave.com here and at CapstonePub.com here.

As I introduce and bring the new PebbleGo Book Packs to our school community, I thought of 5 ways to share and use the Book Packs in our library and classrooms. 

Here are 5 exciting ways to share the PebbleGo Book Packs in your library and classroom.

1. Create a new genre section for the PebbleGo Book Packs.

The first thing we did was catalog the new PebbleGo Book Packs.  Our library is genrefied so we created a new section in our nonfiction for the PebbleGo Book Packs. 

Natasha made these little stickers to put on the spine of the books so students and teachers can easily tell which of the PebbleGo modules it represents.  

2. Create a poster to celebrate and highlight the new PebbleGo Animal Books (and other PebbleGo modules too). 

Once we had the new area in our library set up, I created a poster to celebrate and highlight the new PebbleGo Animal Book Pack. 

I made the poster in a Google Slide and included each of the covers and an image of PebbleGo Animals. 

Here is the poster template you can make a copy of and use.

3. Create stickers with a QR code taking them to PebbleGo Animals for the front of each book. 

Since each Book Pack is aligned to the PebbleGo modules, I thought it would be helpful to create a QR code that took students to the module or article.  I started with PebbleGo Animals stickers. 

Here is the sticker template link from Canva. You can make a copy and add a QR code that goes directly to your PebbleGo Animals, and the other modules. 

When you create the QR code, Copy the link from your PebbleGo Animals module (or whatever module represents the Book Pack you are putting into your library). 

To make the QR codes in the middle of the sticker, I took the URL from my PebbleGo Animals and a little screen shot of the PebbleGo Animals module icon and added it to QRCode Monkey. It will create a QR code for you with an image in the middle. 

Once I had the design all set within Canva, I downloaded it to my laptop. I went to the Avery Design and Print site and looked for the Avery Template: Presta 94509. This is what I needed for the round stickers. You will find this template on the Avery site here.

I opened up the template, selected a blank sticker template, and uploaded the image to each round sticker space. Once you have them uploaded into each circle, save it as a PDF and print onto the Avery sticker sheet. 

I put the stickers right on the front cover so students would see them right away.  

I am excited for our students to use the QR code stickers to go to PebbleGo at school and at home.  This is going to be an easy way to get them connected even more to our favorite place to go for research and exploring. 

4. Create a bookmark to go along with the books that will also take them to PebbleGo. 

To create the bookmark, I took the top of the poster and copied it into a Google Slide. I added the QR code that takes my students directly to our PebbleGo Animals.  

You can do that too, just like I showed you above. 

You will find the template to make the bookmarks here.

5. Create a choice board that takes them to the PebbleGo eBook Pack and PebbleGo. 

For the choice board, I used the poster again and just made a few changes.  

Since I also purchased the PebbleGo eBook Packs in hardcover and paperback, I also purchased the PG Animals Add-on Perpetual Packs of eBooks  

I made this choice board to add links to all of the eBooks, and to PebbleGo Animals. 

I am excited for our students to try this out with our new eBooks, and with the print books and PebbleGo too. 

Here are the two templates you can make a copy of and use for choice boards by adding your own links.

As you can see, there are so many exciting and meaningful ways to bring the NEW PebbleGo Book Packs to your readers, teachers, classrooms and library.  

Next up, I will be creating posters, stickers, labels and bookmarks for the other 4 modules and Book Packs. I will make sure to share all of that with you on my blog, friends. 

You will find the PebbleGo Book Packs on Titlewave.com here and at CapstonePub.com here.

Our Kindergarteners Researched, Created and Shared Amazing Books About Oviparous Animals Using PebbleGo and Book Creator This Week!

Our kindergarteners in Shelby McIlravy's class have been researching, creating, and sharing amazing books about oviparous animals using PebbleGo and Book Creator this week.  Shelby and I teamed up for this project and it has been so much fun! 

First, the students went to PebbleGo Animals to research an oviparous animal they wanted to learn more about and used...

...the Animal Information Report Notes to write down what they found in their research.  

We created a template in Book Creator that gave the students a place to share what they learned about their animal.  

You can find the Oviparous Animal Book Creator Template here to remix and use with your students.

I love using the Panels for the templates because they guide and support our students while creating their books.  

To find these, click on the + at the top and go down to the bottom to the red grid of Panels. The pink arrow in the image above, shows you where to find the panels. 

When you click on the Panels icon, several will pop up that you can choose from for the pages of the template. 

When the Panels are used, students just have to click on the cells to add Images and other elements. 

I also love how I can lock the different elements in the pages. This is especially helpful with our youngest students.  

After the kindergarteners research was complete, it was time for them to go to the template to work on their projects. 

To get the students to the Book Creator template,  I assigned the book to the Library I created for this project. 

When you start the assignment, 

it will give you a copy invite link or a code to share with them. 

Since our kindergarteners use iPads, I created a QR code with that invite link. 

I like to use QRCode Monkey because I can add an image to the center. Then I always know what the QR code is for, and students and teachers do too. 

The QR code made it very quick and easy for them to get to the template and start their book. 

They had so much fun working on the different pages of their book adding text, images, stickers and even little photos of themselves for a special author page at the end. 

When all of the students finished their books today, we published the library. 

It was very special for them to see how all of their projects make such a cool library of books about oviparous animals.  They can't wait to read each others books and share them with their families. 

Here is one of the Book Creator books by Reese.  

Every one of the kindergarteners created such special books, and as you can see, they are all very proud of their books. 

Get Book Creator here today, friends. You can try this project with your students too!