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It Was Definitely a New Leaf in Learning....Follett Software User Conference
On March 9th after a busy day of connecting with several schools and six authors for World Read Aloud Day, I flew to Chicago for an exciting event. I was going to the first Follett Software User...
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The Day That Van Meter Dropped Everything and Read
Drop Everything And Read Website It was a very special day of reading in schools, libraries and homes today.We were all celebrating D.E.A.R. Day! On this day we "Drop Everything and Read."D.E.A.R. is...
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Katie Davis Shares Her New Book....Little Chicken's Big Day!
Last week, author Katie Davis visited my 3rd graders over Skype in the Van Meter Elementary Library. Katie shared her new book Little Chicken's Big Day that she created with her husband Jerry. This...
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A Real Treat....Robert Forbes Visits Van Meter!
Last Friday we had the honor of hosting Robert Forbes in our library. John Schu and I were introduced to Robert and his poetry through our friend Rocco during Poetry Month in April. We soon planned a...
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Don't Stop Believing...That We Can Make A Difference!
Last year I had the pleasure of meeting Stephen Gagnon, who is a 4th grade teacher in Portsmouth, New Hampshire at Strathum Elementary. Our mutual friend Patrick Larkin introduced Stephen and I on...
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Our Kids Caught the Gingerbread Man With a Little Help From a QR Code
To start off the year, I read Laura Murray's new book The Gingerbread Loose in the School to the kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade students. Laura did an amazing job writing this book and the...
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Next Up....."DOT DOT" Celebration!
This post is from John Schu and Shannon Miller's Two Libraries One Voice blog. We are so excited! This week we will be celebrating "International DOT Day" together. DOT Day is on September 15th, which...
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My Fifth Graders Join Club Click, Our Virtual Student Photography Club!
Last spring, Diane Cordell and I thought it would be fun to get others involved in "Club Click", the student photography club that the two of us started with students at Van Meter, after we had lots of...
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What I Learned By Visiting Bookstores in Colorado Over Christmas
Happy New Year, Everyone. I hope your holiday break was filled with peace, happiness, and lots of fun.And of course a lot of wonderful books and reading too.When I went to Colorado over Christmas, I...
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We Celebrated Digital Learning Day at Van Meter Today!
Today was Digital Learning Day. "Digital Learning Day is a nationwide celebration of innovative teaching and learning through digital media and technology that engages students and provides them with...
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Two Libraries One Voice Celebrate Bubble Gum Day
We celebrated Bubble Gum Day together this week.On Bubble Gum Day everyone who donates 50 cents gets to chew gum at school. It is a great day to have fun and raise money for a cause that you care...
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Something Exciting Has Come To Van Meter..... Mackin VIA and eBooks!
The students and teachers are so excited for something NEW we have at Van Meter! It is an online eBook management system called Mackin VIA. And inside of Mackin VIA are over 160 eBooks which will...
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A Little Sock Monkey and Sock Puppet FUN In The Library....
On Friday, we had a little sock monkey and sock puppet FUN in the Van Meter Elementary Library. Nikki Hawkins, a student from Grand View University who has been student teaching in Staci Braun's 4th...
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Awesome Cereal Commercials All About Books!
The 4th graders in Jenny Stephens classroom have created some AWESOME cereal commercials about the books they have read. After the little people created cereal boxes about their book (and even a fun...
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A Little FUN In The Library.....Mackin VIA Open House and Scholastic Book Fair
We had a little FUN in the Van Meter library last week! During conferences, we always hold a Scholastic Book Fair. This wonderful event puts books into the hands of our little people and brings books...
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"I Want To Find The COOLEST eBooks Too"....Learning About Mackin VIA...
"Mrs. Miller, my brother showed me the coolest dinosaur book on our computer at home. Can you show me where I can find that book so I can look for other books about dinosaurs and aliens and football...
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Our 3rd Grade Country Project...Something A Little Different This Year
Every year Ann Volk, one of our third grade teachers, and I do a big country project together. When Ann and I started planning the country project together this year, I was so excited when she wanted...
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Our Second Graders Are Piloting Evernote At Van Meter
I love the words on the Evernote site... Remember everything. Capture anything. Access anywhere. Find things fast. I have always thought..."Wouldn't Evernote be perfect to use in education?" So, when...
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Our New Pet "Rocky" Visits Lots Of Awesome Drawings In First Grade
When children's author and my new Twitter friend Tammi Sauer sent me a tweet asking if I would be the home to a little "pet rock" I quickly said "YES." My friends at Van Meter would LOVE our new pet....
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The Second Graders Community Walk with the iPads and Evernote
Last week, we continued the Evernote project with our second graders. One of the classes is doing a project with communities for our Evernote pilot so Tracy Ferguson and I took them on a walk through...
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