Making Pop-Up Signs For Our Literati Book Fair!

 

This week I started spreading the word about our Literati Book Fair coming in October.  

In the Marketing Must Have Kit that we received, there were these handy pop-up signs on foam core.  

I went into Canva and made a camp themed sign to share the dates and times.  

You can find it here if you'd like to use it for your Literati Book Fair too. 

I cut it out and taped it to the top of the pop-up sign. I put one up in the library. 

And one in the main elementary office too.  It's the perfect size for on top of a desk. 

I also used the sign I made in Canva in different places around the library and school too. 

Next up, the beautiful posters Literati sent in the kit!  

You can learn more about bringing Literati Book Fairs to your school community here.

My Special Collection Of Epic Books For September!

 

One of our favorite places to read at school is in Epic Books.  We love all of the amazing eBooks, audio books, videos, and more that keep our students engaged, reading, and learning throughout the year.

I love how we can make special Collections for our students, teachers, and families in Epic.  

To kick off the year, I curated a wonderful set of resources in Epic.  

My special Epic collection is called Shannon's Favorite Epic Books and can be found at go.getepic.com/shannon which anyone can follow.  

I will add different books every month.  

A lot of these are favorites of our students at my school.  I love seeing and hearing what they love to reach in Epic.  There are so many amazing choices so there is definitely always something for every reader. 

If you are not signed up for Epic, you can for FREE here.

I am so happy we are all connecting on Epic!  I know everyone will love Epic! and I cannot wait to talk about the new books you are read. 

Our "Literati Book Fair Marketing Must Have Kit" Arrived! Let The Magic Begin!

 

Our Literati Book Fair is coming up in October, and we couldn’t be more excited to host our biggest book fair yet in our new school library!

In fact, last week our Literati Book Fair Marketing Must-Have Kit arrived!

Come take a look inside at all of the amazing things Literati sends to help us build the buzz, market our book fair, and make it a huge success!

At the top of the box is a flyer that with the Marketing Must Have Kit Instructions on how to use everything in the kit. 

First up is the Literati Book Fair Guidebook for coordinators and volunteers. 

It is packed with everything you need to plan and host a successful book fair from setting goals weeks before the fair and organizing volunteers to decorating, creating a special experience for students and families, managing teacher wishlists, and so much more. It truly helps take you from planning to opening day and everything in between! 

As I was reading through the Guidebook, I noticed this year’s Marketing Must-Haves for promoting your book fair.

I just love the Campfire Magic theme, and I’ve been gathering all kinds of ideas and materials to bring the theme to life in our library for our book fair. There are so many fun possibilities, 

and these marketing materials are going to make it even easier to create that special Campfire Magic experience for our students and families.

There are posters, 

bookmarks, 

flyers, 

signage, and more. 

One of my favorite things is the Teacher Wishlist Trail Maps! As teachers create their wishlists, I’ll add their lists as QR codes, making it super easy for families to scan and shop their teacher’s wishlist during the book fair.

Our Literati Book Fair is going to be so much fun! And thanks to everything included in the amazing Marketing Must-Have Kit, we have everything we need to build the buzz, create excitement, and make this year’s book fair extra special for our school community!

Tomorrow, we’ll start filling out the posters, getting the Teacher Wishlist information to our teachers, and putting together the family letter to go with the flyers.

I’ll be sharing every step of the way, so stay tuned, friends! 

You can learn more about bringing Literati Book Fairs to your school community here.

A Dot Day Guessing Contest To Kick Off Our Celebrations!

 

It's Dot Day Week, one of our favorite celebrations of the year.  We have celebrated International Dot Day for 18 years at Van Meter.  It's such a special way to celebrate creativity as we make our mark in so many different ways throughout the week. 

When everyone comes to school tomorrow they will see the Dot Day poster up around the library and on our BenQ interactive board in the daily slides. 

You can grab it here if you need one!  Feel free to change it up to fit your Dot Day celebrations. 

We are going to do a Dot Day Guessing Contest with a jar of orange pom pom's. I made a poster that you can find here in Canva. 

I made these little paper slips they will write their name and guess on.  They will put them into the plastic container that I usually do our This or That in each week. You will find the paper slips here. 

I can't wait to see what everyone is doing in their libraries too this week.  

Have a wonderful Dot Day, friends. 

You've Been Book'd With Books To Share This Fall!

 

Fall is right around the corner and there is a wonderful lineup of fiction and nonfiction books to share with our readers, and all of you. 

I brought together 23 books in a special Follett Content Titlewave list that I included in the You've Been Book'd With Books To Share This Fall. 

You can click on each book cover here in the choice board to find the book in Titlewave, and the entire list is there too. 

Have a fun fall season, friends. I can't wait to hear what books you have for fall too! 

What Could You Create? Inspiring Creativity with a New 3D Printing Challenge Every Week!

For our Makerspace, I also created a 3D Printing Challenge. In this one, I really want to push their creativity and thinking, and engage them with a challenge each week. 

It is called What could you create?  a New 3D Printing Challenge Every Week! 

I will give them a 3D printing challenge that will prompt them with a title and question.  

For example, the one above, Make It Move, asks them...What could you create that spins, rolls, or moves? 

They can sketch their idea and describes what it is, or what it does.  

The ideas are due each Friday. I will draw one winner and they can come to the Makerspace to bring their ideas to life on our 3D printer. 

I created 25 3D Printing Challenge cards to start. You will find them here in Canva.

And the poster I put into a 8 1/2 x 11 frame is the first slide in that link.  

Feel free to mix it up however you want, friends. 

My sister, Heather, and I were saying how fun it would be turn these into Makerspace cards without a 3D printer aspect to them.  I will do that next!  

I Spy...A 3D Print! A Weekly Guessing Challenge In Our Makerspace!

 

Our students are soooo excited about the new 3D printers we have in our Makerspace. They ask me about them all the time.  Throughout the year, they will all have a chance to create something on the 3D printers. I also want to create opportunities for our students to use the 3D printers in other ways. 

Today, I created two 3D printing activities for our students to participate while in the library and Makerspace. 

This first one is for all ages.  It is one even our youngest learners can participate in successfully too.

It is called I Spy...A 3D Print!  

In this activity, students look at a little photograph of something that our 3D printer is printing.  I set up the poster in Canva here to allow us to switch out the magnifying glass each week to show the clue. 

Do you see how I put a little clue in that one above?  It is easy to do because it is a frame within the Canva. 

Can you guess what it is?  

When students come up to that little station shown at the top of this post, they will be able to read the poster, look at the clue, and then pick up an I Spy.... sheet to draw or write their guess in the blank.  They need to add their name and grade to participate in the contest. 

You will find the I Spy...Activity Cards here.  

The poster will help also help them to think about what the 3D printer is making with three prompts. 

They need to turn in their guess by Friday. One winnter will be randomly picked each week to win the 3D print that was featured in the clue. 

I can't wait to kick this off next week.  I also can't wait to hear what you do in your library and Makerspace. 

NEW Dot Day Bookmarks For Your Kids To Color and Create!

 

We love celebrating International Dot Day at the beginning of the school year. Dot Day is always on September 15 and it's the best day to celebrate making your mark on the world. 

I love creating new activities every year too.  Today. I created a new bookmark that our kids can pick up and create in the library, their classrooms, and at home. 

I would love to share them with you too, friends. You can find the Google Slide here with four bookmarks to copy and use with your students and community too.  

Sign up here and celebrate Dot Day too! 

Many Faces, One Community: A Collaborative Mural For Dot Day!

                

I love dreaming up new ways that our community can connect. 

When I saw this idea for creating a community mural of our faces, I knew we had to do this at our school to kick off the year. 

Like in this video, I wanted to create a big mural for all of our students and teachers to have a place to share a tiny self portrait of themselves...a place to make their mark. 

I created a giant mural in Canva.  I made it 36 x 75 inches.  I will print three of them to have room for all of our students and teachers.  

I made one that said, Many Faces, One Community.  Every Students. Every Story, Every Voice Matters.

And one for International Dot Day, which is coming up on September 15th.

You will find the Canva template here where you can use or make a copy to adjust for you and your community. 

"Our Special Days Slides for September 2026" Are Here!

This year, we are doing a lot of fun new things in our new library and Makerspace. 

The kids are loving Our Special Days Slides that are part of our daily slides we have up on our interactive board each day. 

We have a lot of amazing new tools in our Makerspace and library, and one of my favorites is our very first interactive board!  We have the BenQ Board Pro RP05 in our space and I am having so much fun learning how to use it in our space.  I can't wait to use it with classes, in collaboration, and even for teacher and family events. 

I am creating the fun and interactive daily slides in Canva to display on the board. 

I am excited to share Our Special Days Slides 2026-26 with everyone this year. 

In Canva, I created a template that was easy to copy and fill in for each day. 

I am finding something special to commemorate or celebrate every day.  Then I just change the calendar and search for an image to complete each day.  These are a few from September. 

It is really fun finding these special days and images to go with them as I create the slides. 

So far, I have the slides through October 

You will find the link to this Canva template here.  Feel free to make a copy and use with your interactive board too. 

You can also print the slides and hang them in your library too. 

On my BenQ board, it is easy to use autoplay in Canva to share the slides. 

Just click on Present. Find the three little dots in the right hand corner. Click on Start autoplay and it will play and loop. 

I know our students will love our new daily slides and learning something fun everyday.