What Do CUTE and GROSS Books Have In Common? Check Out These New Books and FUN Infographic From Our Friends At Capstone!

We LOVE the new CUTE and GROSS books that are NEW from Capstone and part of their...

...amazing Brain Candy Books! 

Our readers love heading over to the Brain Candy Books section of our library.  I can't wait to add the new Spring 2026 books to our library too. The kids will be so excited. 

Brain Candy Books help a generation of kids addicted to short-form media build stamina and discover that the most stimulating way to consume content is by reading it!

Brain Candy Books lean into what makes fast content appealing: they’re visual, punchy, trendy, and surprising. These nonfiction series are designed to build stamina by meeting kids exactly where they are. Each title is designed to provide a little curiosity hit that makes a student turn one page, then another, until suddenly they’ve read 30 pages and want more. And that’s the sweetest moment.

You can read all about Brain Candy Books here on the Capstone site. 

I am so excited for this new infographic they created to show all the ways CUTE and GROSS books activate the brain systems that support reading.  How fun and impactful is this!  

You will find the infographic here.  I sent this off to the printer to create a bigger one to for our library.  

Find Brain Candy books here on the Capstone site, and they can also be found in Follett Content Titlewave here under this special feature. 

Have fun adding Brain Candy Books to your library, friends. I can't wait to hear what your readers think of the CUTE and GROSS books too. 

Start Planning Read Across America With The You've Been Book'd With Dr. Seuss Books and Activities!

 

In March, we celebrate National Reading Month.

To kick it off, we will celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday on March 2 with Read Across America Day. Read Across America is the nations largest celebration of reading.

This special event was launched in 1998 by the National Education Association (NEA). It is held every year on March 2 which is Dr. Seuss's birthday and promotes diverse and inclusive books for all readers.

 
It's also a wonderful way to celebrate reading all year long by motivating our children and teens to read through events at schools, libraries, and partnerships with community organizations.  

Our friends at Random House Children's Books have put together an amazing week for us as we celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday with our readers in our libraries, classrooms, and communities. 

These virtual author events start on March 2 with an event every day.  

The author will share their books, and read one of Dr. Seuss's books too. 

To go along with the week, they also created a FREE guide, 

12 Months of Dr. Seuss Activities.  

The guide includes activities for every month of the year, all focused around Dr. Seuss books.  

As I opened up the guide today, I found a super fun activity for January that goes along with Fox in Socks. 

I went to the shelf in our library and found a few of these Dr. Seuss books, but needed to order several more to be ready for this fun event in March.  I jumped into my Follett Titlewave and created a list of the books in the 12 Months of Dr. Seuss Activities packet.  

I put the Titlewave list and each book together on the new You've Been Book'd With Dr. Seuss Books and Activities choice board that you will find here.  You can click on each book cover to find it in Titlewave, and I included the entire list of 12 books there too. 

You can also find the 12 Months of Dr. Seuss Activities worksheet packet and the Dr. Seuss Celebrations landing page linked on the choice board.  

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

Have fun planning your reading celebrations, friends.  I can't wait to see how you celebrate with your readers.  

You've Been Book'd With Books For Valentine's Day!

                

It's Valentine's Day on February 14th, friends. 

I picked out 25 special books to share with your readers in the library and classrooms. 

I brought these books together in this special Follett Content Titlewave® list on the choice board here.

If you want to make a copy of the choice board to use with your readers, click here.

You've Been Book'd With Books To Celebrate the Winter Olympics!

 

The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics are taking place February 6-22, 2026.  

To celebrate, I brought together 22 books in a special Follett Content Titlewave list. 

In this choice board, you can click on the book covers to find them in Titlewave, and the entire book list is there in the choice board too.

Have fun celebrating and learning about the Olympics, friends. 

Share Your Voice On February 12th for Digital Learning Day, Friends. Find Out How Here!

 

On February 12, educators across the country will reflect on digital learning.  

We need you to add your voice, friends. 

What has digital learning made possible for your students this year?  

Tag Future Ready Schools (X @futureready Instagram @futurereadyschools) on February 12 and join in on this wonderful conversation and celebration of digital learning. 

Use these hashtags in your posts too... #DLDay #FutureReadySchools 

Here Is A Special PebbleGo Valentine's Day Party Idea For You, Friends!

                

It's time for Valentine's Day  and we are getting ready to celebrate this holiday with our students and community.  

When my own kids were younger, I remember always looking for fun, yet educational ideas, to plan for their classroom Valentine's Day parties.  

We also love doing special library themed Valentine's Day activities when our students come to the library before school and throughout the day.  

I have a PebbleGo Valentine's Day party idea to share with you! 

Our friends at Capstone have a PebbleGo Bingo Card available on the...

...Lesson Planning Support, which is full of ideas, projects and lots of sheets to use.

You can find the PebbleGo Bingo Card to download here.  I printed them in color on card stock and laminated them so we can use them over and over for all classes and year to year.

Using candy conversation hearts, the PebbleGo Bingo Cards, and....

...PebbleGo, students will be able to have lots of fun playing Bingo together, while reading, learning and using their research skills in all of the PebbleGo databases. 

You could even throw in a few extra questions around the Valentine's Day article in PebbleGo found...

 ...in Social Studies and...

...within Holidays.  

They will love learning a little more about the history, symbols and celebrations around Valentine's Day and lots of other interesting and engaging topics too. 

Have  a wonderful day, friends. 

Bringing Hearts To Life For Valentine's Day Using MergeEDU and Merge Cubes!

                   

I love working with our youngest learners. Throughout the year, I go to our four preschool classes for library and technology lessons. 

For one of my visits last year, I asked the teachers what they were learning. The teachers told me they were celebrating Valentine's Day and using a lot of hearts in activities. 

I did a little brainstorming and remembered that in MergeEDU...

...there is a Science Simulation called Mr. Body where you can view his heart. 

This was the perfect activity for Valentine's Day. Not only would the preschoolers see what a heart looks like, they would be learning a new technology resource with Merge. 

I gathered up my iPads from the library and Merge Cubes. 

I started out by talking to them about augmented reality and technology. I then showed them how the app works with the Merge Cubes. 

They were ready to go! 

We paired them up and gave them an iPad and Merge Cube,  For this first time, I had the app opened to Mr. Body so they could start using it right away. 

They were amazed when they saw what a human heart actually looks like.  We had all kinds of conversations and comments. 

And one of the best questions, Is Mr. Body in here? Mr Body?  

I love what MergeEDU brings to our students and how it enriches their learning.  We love the little sparks it brings to all kinds of topics and content.  

You can sign up for a free trial of MergeEDU here to try out with your students too. I know they will love learning about hearts for Valentine's Day with Mr. Body too. 

You can learn more about the Merge Cubes here.

And if you don't have Merge Cubes yet, you can print this one off and make your own for this activity.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day, friends. 

Celebrate Valentine's Day With This Special Choice Board!

                      

It's almost time to celebrate Valentine's Day so I put together a choice board of resources to celebrate

this special day by reading, learning, making, technology, singing and fun. 

To use this choice board, you can make a copy at this link. 

After you have made the changes you would like,  go to File and down to Publish to the Web. 

This will give you a link to share with your students. 

In the Valentine's Day Choice Board, there is a PebbleGo article. I have a little tip for those of you who use PebbleGo. You can now grab the link from the top of the Valentine's Day article and it will send them to directly to that article without logging in. 

You can read more about that new feature here.

Have fun celebrating Valentine's Day with your students and community too.  

It's Time For Our February Choice Board! You Will Find TWO Versions This Month & the Links For Both Here, Friends.

                     

February is here and it's time for a new month filled with learning, exploring, creating, collaboration and fun. 

There are many things happening in February so Our February Choice Board is filled with lots of places to connect our learners to these events and information.  

This month, I made two versions of the February Choice Board to share.  

Version #1 includes the Let's Learn About Presidents' Day Choice Boards created with PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next. 

You can share this link with your students for Version #1 and if you want to make changes you will find it here to edit too. 

If you don't have PebbleGo and don't want to make any changes, you can use Version #2 which includes links to the Groundhog Day Choice Board and National Geographic Kids to learn more about the Presidents.  

You can share this link with your students for Version #2 and if you want to make changes you will find it here to edit. 

Let me walk you through this months choice boards. 

In the first column, I included choice boards for Groundhog Day, Valentine's Day and Presidents' Day.  

You will find the Happy Valentine's Day Choice Board here. This is where you can make changes if you'd like. 

I included two choice boards for Presidents' Day on Version #1.  The first is for grades TK-3rd here and...

...this one is for grades 4-6th. 

On Version #2, I included the Groundhog Day Choice Board.  You will find everything you need for this one here. 

I also included a place for the Let's Take A Trip Around The World Buncee Choice Board, 

which you can find here too. 

And just as a reminder, remember to share it with your students by Publishing it to the web and sharing that link.  It will just show the slide when you share it that way. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or need help.  I am always happy to share and help you in any way. 

Have fun getting ready for February, friends.