The American Association of School Librarians released its annual list of Best Digital Tools for Teaching & Learning; Follett will begin online book fairs; the National Women's History Museum is looking for proposals for its annual For Educators, By Educators resource development; and more in News Bites.

AASL's Best Digital Tools

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) released its annual list of Best Digital Tools for Teaching & Learning.

The recognition honors digital tools that “foster innovation and collaboration, encourage exploration and participation, are user-friendly, and offer information and references.” The use with AASL’s National School Library Standards is also considered in evaluation of each tool.

"As we look to enhance and increase the collaborative opportunities within our school communities, what could be more exciting than sharing these new resources with colleagues and learners,” AASL president Courtney Pentland said in the announcement. "I encourage everyone to share these resources with your fellow educators to demonstrate the essential role school librarians serve within the school in connecting the right tool with the right lesson to meet the needs of our diverse learner communities.”

The tools on the 2024 list are: Book Creator, ClassHook, Copyright & Creativity for Ethical Digital Citizens, Diffit for Teachers, EarSketch, Khan Academy Kids, KidLitTV, Masters of Tradition: A Cultural Journey Across America, MusiQuest, New American History, Parlay Ideas, PebbleGo, Pixton, Seesaw, Sora, TeachingBooks, Wild Classroom, and Write the World.

Find the descriptions for each tool here.

Follett To Begin Online Book Fairs

Follett Content it will begin offering online book fair fundraisers later this year.

Follett Book eFairs will be offered to all PreK-8 schools in the United States and have no minimum sales requirements. For every dollar an online book fundraiser earns, schools will receive a percentage back in Titlewave credit that can be used to buy books for school and classroom libraries.

The online book fairs offer quick set up and will feature a wide selection of affordable, physical books, with hundreds of new releases and popular fiction and nonfiction titles from leading PreK–8 publishers.

To learn more about Follett Book eFairs or schedule,  visit follettlearning.com/book-efairs.

National Women's History Museum Invites Proposals

Each summer, the National Women's History Museum (NHWM) invites K–12 educators to participate in the museum's "For Educators, By Educators" classroom resource development initiative. Educators collaborate with museum staff to create K–12 lesson plans that help learners explore women's impacts on society.

Any current, licensed K–12 educator can submit a proposal. Proposals will be reviewed based on their alignment to priorities of the museum and its mission. The "For Educators, By Educators" program runs between June 17 and August 30 and all work will be done remotely using email and in Google Classroom. All resources should be inspired by one of the 265 biographies in NWHM's online biography compendium , must align with the C3 Framework for Social Studies Standards, and use Teaching with Primary Sources strategies and primary sources from the Library of Congress. Proposals are due by June 10, 2024.

Approved participants will be asked to attend a July 11 virtual educator workshop and will receive a $350 honorarium per lesson plan, with up to two lesson plans per participant.

All resources developed through this initiative are included in the NHWM's free catalog of online classroom resources. 

Author Katey Howes dies at 47

Katey Howes, an award-winning picture book author and poet, died unexpectedly of natural causes on May 20, 2024, at her home in Bucks County, PA. She was 47.

Howes's books for children include Woven of the World, Be a Maker, Magnolia Mudd and the Super Jumptastic Launcher Deluxe, as well as multiple forthcoming books, including The Reindeer Remainders, which is scheduled to publish in July. Howes was also a frequent contributor to websites, including Nerdy Book Club, KidLit411, STEAM-powered Family, and Imagination Soup. 

She is survived by her husband and three children.

Freedom to Read Foundation Elects Board of Trustees

The Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) has elected five people to its 15-person Board of Trustees for two-year terms that begin on June 27. The elected trustees are: Shauntee Burns-Simpson, director of youth & family services at the District of Columbia Public Library; Dorcas Hand, retired school librarian from Houston, TX, who is a co-chair of Students Need Libraries in Houston Independent School District (HISD), a grass-roots advocacy effort to return school librarians and libraries to all campuses in HISD; Lesliediana Jones, associate director and interim assistant dean at the Harvard Law School Library; Pat Scales, SLJ columnist and free-speech advocate and is the author of Banned Books for Children and Teens, Protecting Intellectual Freedom in Your School Library and Books Under Fire: A Hit List of Banned and Challenged Children’s Books; and Sophia Sotilleo, dean of the Thurgood Marshall Library at Bowie State University and ALA Executive Board Member.