I am so excited about the NEW Destiny Version 21.0!  The new Destiny version is loaded with amazing updates and additions.  We are having a great time getting to know it in our library and today, I want to share 5 features I LOVE about the NEW Destiny Version 21.1 with all of you.  1. To start, users can now easily access all areas of Destiny from the new waffle menu in the top-right corner.  When you click on the waffle menu, the drop down menu features all of these different choices shown above and let's you easily go back and forth between them from the waffle menu.&nb ..read more

  I have exciting news to share, friends.  StickTogether® has officially joined the Demco® family.  You can read all about it in the press release here. I can't wait for all of the special things to come.  ..read more

  Our students LOVE reading eBooks in Capstone Interactive!   They go to Capstone Interactive to read eBooks that are connected to content from the curriculum; eBooks for book clubs; eBooks that are interesting to them; eBooks that are new to Capstone Interactive; and much more. Capstone Interactive eBooks is definitely our go-to for all students and teachers within our school.  With Capstone Interactive eBooks, we love:  Read aloud audio voice over from real actors Multi-user simultaneous access to all eBooks by every student in our school Post one-click ..read more

                 Dear teacher librarian friends,  I have been working on a very special new initiative with my friends at Level Up Village.  It's called LUV for Libraries. I would love to share a personal invitation with all of you to join us for the Pilot Program: We are Digital Explorers.  Here is a message and more details about this amazing opportunity. ❤   We would like to invite you to participate in an innovative new program from Level Up Village, LUV for Libraries. In partnership with best-selling author ..read more

  Friends, I am excited to share the upcoming Future Ready Leadership Forums for 2024.  These are powered by Capstone.  We are kicking them off in Edinburg, Texas at the Region One Education Service Center on September 24, 2024.  The Future Ready Schools® (FRS) Leadership Forum is a one-day professional learning event designed to empower educators with the knowledge, skills, and strategies needed to lead their schools and districts into a future shaped by leadership, equity, technology and innovation. This year the theme is... Leading Transformational Change: AI, Innovat ..read more

                   We celebrate Earth Day tomorrow on Friday, April 22.  It's a day to celebrate by learning what we can do to help the Earth. I have put together the Let's Celebrate Earth Day Choice Board with resources to learn, read, create and play with Earth Day, environmental and recycling activities.  I made two versions.  We use PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next at our school and there are several awesome articles that are perfect for Earth Day.  One includes the Earth Day PebbleGo article,&nb ..read more

                Vooks is such a wonderful place for librarians, teachers, families and most of all, our readers.  As shared on the Vooks site...Storybooks Brought To Life!  Vooks is an entire library of storybooks brought to life with beautiful animation, read-aloud narration, engaging music and sound, and read-along text. We're educational, safe, and ad-free screen time that inspires a lifelong love of reading! You can search any of the books to watch. At the bottom under Activities, you will find the amazing activities too ..read more

                 Our kids love bookmarks.  They especially love the bookmarks they can color.  As we celebrate School Library Month, we have been created a lot of new ones for our readers at Van Meter.  For this batch of 25 new bookmarks to color, I went to Canva. There are 100's of bookmarks and lots of templates for bookmarks to color.  I found 25 bookmarks to color and added them to this link in Canva. Feel free to use this template and bookmarks too.  I made it even easier to print these off by downloadi ..read more

  It's almost April 2024 and time for a new set of books on the April Capstone Holiday Calendar.  I love using these calendars to highlight books each month from our collection.  It's a great way to celebrate and learn about topics that tie into our curriculum including important historical events, and other special events that our kids love to learn and read about throughout the year.  You will find the Capstone April Holiday Calendar here, along with the other months too.  And here is the April 2024 Capstone Holiday Calendar Book List where ..read more

                 Last week, I had so much fun joining my friends at Storyboard That for the new webinar, 10 Ways We Can Celebrate and Support Library, Literacy and Technology Skills with Storyboard That.  It was such an exciting hour as we shared lots of ideas and resources for using Storyboard That in the library and throughout the school community.  You will find the webinar here, friends.  And the slides for the webinar here. I hope you loved the ideas I shared and that you try them in your school community too.  ..read more