Library Grants Worth Knowing About (Spring 2026 Edition)

WEBSITE ↬ Library Grants Worth Knowing About (Spring 2026 Edition)

AUDIENCE ↬ school librarians & admins

CONTENT ↬ all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

I work closely with the media specialists in all of our buildings. They are some of the most valuable staff members who do so much for so many of us and are often overlooked and underfunded. They sure know how to stretch a dollar! Share this with your media specialist so they know where and how they might find some additional dollars to stretch out .... while the rest of us benefit from it. 

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using this to share with their media specialists or librarians or what ever you call the people who make libraries happen in your buildings. 

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The Summer Reading Chart

WEBSITE ↬ The Summer Reading Chart

AUDIENCE ↬ students

CONTENT ↬ reading

GRADE LEVELS ↬ K-6

I loved the summer reading program at our library, both when I was kid and when my girls were little. Janssen, the author of the Everyday Reading site, shares my sadness about most of these programs going digital. There is something about marking off charts or filling in as-you-go on a physical piece of paper that is so delightful. (Why do you think bullet journals are super popular?) 

Anyhoo ... Janssen created this printable summer reading chart for all of us to use. And not only does it have the space to mark off our reading, along the perimeter, there are special reading "tasks/goals" that encourage us to read things that maybe we wouldn't normally - an awesome, yet gentle, way to expose readers to "different" material. LOVE!

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers sharing this with their students and parents. Whether it's tied to bringing it back in the fall or not, it is one of those super sweet and easy summer reading supports that kids will enjoy. Don't hesitate - get yours today!

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Grouper

WEBSITE ↬ Grouper

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

Brace yourself - this is SUPER cute! Making groups for my classes was always a headache ... I really just wanted something that would allow me to quickly make pairs or groups or teams without much fuss. I used an app at one point, but it was kind of clunky. Anything else I've seen comes at a cost ... and I like free.

Grouper fills this need! With a free account, you can make pairs, groups, and teams of various numbers all while adding a few preferences so depending on how you want the pairs/groups/teams to be, you can have a little control. Maybe student A shouldn't work with student B. You can do that! Yay!  

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using this to help make pairs/groups/teams quickly and even "in the moment" after the initial set-up. Such a time saver! Try it out today! You can even import from your Google Classroom roster!

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70 Free and Easy Directed Drawing Activities Anyone Can Do

WEBSITE ↬ 70 Free and Easy Directed Drawing Activities Anyone Can Do

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ any & all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

Hear me out ... April begins our month of testing (it at least feels like it lasts all month ...) so there will be plenty of required time in a very structured learning environment. How about planning for some non-heavy focused activities? Without losing the benefit of creativity and practicing those following directions skills, how about some directed drawing activities? To the tune of 70???

Let's give our students brains a little bit of a break from the testing environment without there being a free-for-all. I see kids, even the little ones, shying away from drawing. That makes me sad ... doodling and drawing is a fantastic way to relax, and I see our kids shying away from it. Let's give it back to them.  

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using this in the short breaks of time. None of these have to be super intense or with the idea that you are encouraging the next Picasso (but wouldn't that be amazing???). Let's give our students space to try out drawing, but with some guidance. Enjoy!

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Robert Kaplinsky's Lessons - math

WEBSITE ↬ Robert Kaplinsky's Lessons - math

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers & admins

CONTENT ↬ math

GRADE LEVELS ↬ K-12

I love a good puzzle. I'm mostly referring to jigsaw puzzles, but I do enjoy "figuring things out", too. Math is the perfect subject to do that in. Robert Kaplinsky is a math teacher and creator of Open Middle problems, which typically requires higher level thinking to solve. I love sharing resources that will challenge your students but allow them to have fun at the same time.

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using this as bell ringers, activities for fast finishers, or just at random points to break up the regular flow of the classroom. These math problems encourage a different kind of thinking about math. Choose the appropriate grade level and you are set! 

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Ditch That Textbook: Templates!

WEBSITE ↬ DTT: Templates

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

Matt Miller, of Ditch That Textbook, has a wonderful website packed with templates that are free and available to teachers everywhere. I love how he has them organized into groups to make it easier to find what you are looking for. The categories are:

• Social Media Templates
• Game Templates
• Interactive Activities
• Graphic Organizers
• Lesson Plan Templates
• Communication Templates
• Feedback Templates
• Exit Ticket Templates
• Back to School Templates
• End of Year Templates

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using DTT's Template Gallery to hep themselves in quite a few ways. Feedback & Exit Tickets are helpful in many classrooms. Having students provide each other feedback is helpful to learn and improve. The Back to School & End of Year Templates are a great way to help start and reflect on the school year. If you only check out one of the categories, be sure to hit up the game templates ... so many different games that you - AND your students - can customize and create using.

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A Soft Murmur

WEBSITE ↬ A Soft Murmur

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

Ok. At first, I kind of did an eye roll when I came across this website. Then I started playing with the ambient noises and I realized how helpful it can be. I cranked up the chirping birds along with some waves and took a deep breath. Ahhhh, relaxing. Which is your favorite? 

You can set a timer so the sounds turn off. And you might miss it at first, but there is a little squiggle line to the left of the play button. It is the "meander" function which will randomly change the volumes of various sounds.  

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using this as background noise for their classroom. I know there is a place for silence and a place for noise. Sometimes our students need help regulating this. I think this site can help - possibly on their own, possibly for the entire class.

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US Mint Coin Classroom

WEBSITE ↬ US Mint Coin Classroom

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers & students

CONTENT ↬ coins / math

GRADE LEVELS ↬ K-6

Oh my goodness! How fun is this website?! I just played the "Counting with Coins" game on this site and, while it's geared for elementary students, I enjoyed identifying & sorting the coins. I KNOW your students will enjoy this game and the others. And it's created and supported by the US Mint, so you know you can trust it. No ads, either, so give your students the website and let them get to work learning and practicing coins.

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using this in their math classrooms to reinforce students' identification, counting, and adding up of coins. There are 17 games available (as of this publishing) and when you hover over each tile, you are given guidance for the grade level the game is geared toward. 

And if you have a way to share with parents, this might be a really good site to share. After all, if parents are going to give their kiddos time to play games, why not suggest this as an option?

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Unite for Literacy

WEBSITE ↬ Unite for Literacy

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers & students of ESL/ELL

CONTENT ↬ ESL/ELL

GRADE LEVELS ↬ mostly primary and lower elementary, although it can be a resource for older students if you feel it's appropriate

My previous district was experiencing an influx of non-English speakers. We've had very limited experience with this, so any resource we could find we were grateful for. Our students spoke a variety of languages ... not just Spanish.

The website I'm sharing today would be one of those awesome resources! Simple books students can choose from and listen/read in both English and about 20 other languages.

NO accounts are needed, just provide the link to this site and students can read and enjoy!

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using this with younger students who do not speak English as their primary language, or are learning to speak English. In a primary or lower elementary class, this site can definitely become a great way for ESL/ELL students to independently choose books and hear both the English and native language version.

While the books are simple, this has the potential for helping older students with recognition and independent practice & learning. Older ESL/ELL students might like having the independence to use the books as reference for learning pronunciation or specific vocabulary on a topic. 

For students learning a second language, this might also be a great resource helping them to learn a language other than English!

I can't even begin to guess how many books are available! 

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Puzzlemaker!

WEBSITE ↬ Puzzlemaker!

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

Puzzles might not be everyone's idea of high-impact learning, but they sure can be fun little breaks for all ages. I also believe they push a person to use their brain in a different way, so as long as it's not the only method of learning, puzzles can be great additions to your classroom. Discovery Education shares this FREE website with the ability to make 10 different types of puzzles. 

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using this to create fun activities for students. Brain breaks - teasers - revealing a special surprise - fast finisher activities - puzzles can be used for many reasons in classrooms of all ages. Maybe even allow students to help create them for other students.

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Storyvoice

WEBSITE ↬ Storyvoice

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers & students & families

CONTENT ↬ ELA & history

GRADE LEVELS ↬ grades K-5

Scholastic offers this website to help inspire the love of reading. Authors come on and read their books. It's a treat for every classroom to enjoy. 

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using this during their class as a great supplement. It is also a great way to bring the human element to their students. Seeing and hearing from authors will allow students to make connections.

This can be a "quick break" or part of a larger unit studying authors.

*** Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

Bouncy Balls

WEBSITE ↬ Bouncy Balls

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers & students

CONTENT ↬ all

GRADE LEVELS ↬  K-5

Spring is a tough season to teach. Everyone is comfortable around each other - maybe a little "too" comfortable; the year is winding down, yet it's crazy busy; the weather is getting warmer, but not always enough to enjoy being outside; and let's face it ... we are all tired.

Are you looking for something to introduce to break up your "usual"? I've got it with Bouncy Balls! It's a website you can customize & change based on the day or maybe allowing students to choose the theme and encourage the students to keep noise at a "decent" level. I love how you can have the same number of balls as you have students ... just a cool way of customizing the screen for your students.

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using this website to help encourage students to keep volume at a "decent" level without the teacher having to "shhhh" or interrupt. The kids can visually see how high the balls bounce and hopefully use it as a self-regulation tactic. It's also fun to use different themes ... maybe it's the star student who gets to choose the theme ... maybe it's a reward for something. You can adjust the sensitivity of the volume. Use this to help students visually SEE their noise level.

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NatGeo Kids - games & more!

WEBSITE ↬ NatGeo Kids - games & more

AUDIENCE ↬ students

CONTENT ↬ science; has content integrations possible

GRADE LEVELS ↬ grades K-5

This. Is. Fun!

I stumbled on this site and I've been sharing it with just about everyone I have come across. It is PACKED with games and opportunities for fun! And depending on the area kids explore, it can also be used for learning. 

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see students using this site in a lot of different ways. There are matching games, memory games, find the difference, mad libs, puzzles, jokes and videos. I shared this with kindergarteners and one of the top picks was a maze - getting a dolphin through a maze to its family. Amazing animal videos were another hit - no video was more than 2 minutes long. In a third grade classroom, the jokes were a hit! (Lots of reading and laughing going on in there!) This is also the class I learned about the mad libs - packed with parts of speech and lots of giggles with the resulting story.

The videos have facts about animals - making it a great resource for research.

The memory & matching games help students practice their memory skills in a very fun way.

The "find the differences" help students visually compare & contrast.

... and so much more! This website has been personally tested out by me & I give it two thumbs up!

*** Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

Tools4Reading

WEBSITE ↬ Tools4Reading

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ reading

GRADE LEVELS ↬ K-3

Can you ever have "enough" resources to help your students learn to read? I know it's something the teachers in my district are always looking for. One of them shared this and I feel like it's a gold mine.

*** YES! You have to create an account to log in ... but it's free. ***

Tools4Reading provides resources and professional learning. 

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using this to find resources to support teaching young students. I strongly recommend checking out the Tools 4 Teachers area of the their site.

*** Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

Mystery Doug

WEBSITE ↬ Mystery Doug

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ all - varies based on the video content

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades; focused more on K-5

I love everything about this site. I love that it is driven by questions kids have. I love that the answers are short and in video format. I love that they meant to be filler for those times in the school day where you need "something" but you don't have to prepare it. The questions are intriguing ones, ones that will encourage your class to start thinking:

• Why do we get goosebumps?
• Why does soap make bubbles?
• Can a turtle live outside it's shell?

And did I mention, it's FREEly available? Yep! Thanks, Doug.

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using this just like advertised on the site ... during snack time - during morning meeting time - maybe as a regular portion of one day a week. I can also see teachers encouraging their students to come up with questions just like the ones answered by Mystery Doug. 

*** Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

Virtual Field Trips

WEBSITE ↬ Virtual Field Trips

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers & students

CONTENT ↬ SS, Science, Geography, Ancient Civilization, Language & Expedition

GRADE LEVELS ↬ grades K-9

The past few years have taught us that we are not alone and that we can make connections around the world. It has also taught us we cannot always physically "go" to places - yet opportunities are readily available for us to virtually go.

This site provides one example of these kinds of adventures - and it packs a bigger punch than just the field trip. Each trip comes with activities that further support the trip and allows for a richer experience. The filtering ability also makes it super easy to discover which trips will support specific content.

*** This is a paid site - I know costs can be a struggle - but the cost for this site is more than reasonable.

*** Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

What Kids Are Reading - 2022

WEBSITE ↬ What Kids Are Reading - 2022

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers & students

CONTENT ↬ ELA

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

Struggling to help your students find books they want to read? Here's a fun way to encourage reading. From one of our reading programs, this website, "What Kids Are Reading - 2022" allows you - or your students - to choose a state, their grade and see the top 12 most popular books with those kids. It doesn't even have to be YOUR state or your grade!

Now, I'm guessing you could have your students to look at various states and see the books being read, as a means to encourage them to read those books. But don't stop there ... what if you used this as a way to encourage some compare/contrast? How similar are the grade 3 kids in Ohio as Florida?

And when you scroll further down the page, you can do some even deeper filtering and investigating. I encourage you to explore this site with your students and see what connections they make.

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Topical Classroom Activity Packs

WEBSITE ↬ Topical Classroom Activity Packs

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ holiday themed activities

GRADE LEVELS ↬ K-6ish

You might asking yourself, what in the world is this? Quite often, companies put out supporting material that gets overlooked. Because of my position, I received lots of emails and quite often, I find little nuggets tucked inside.

This is from edmentum - we use one of their programs - and I stumbled on this "Topical Classroom Activity Packs" and found holiday themed lessons and activities inside. They are separated by month, so it is easy to find activities based on the time of year. Be sure to bookmark this one and return to it! And by the way, they are FREE downloads.

To peak your interest, here are just some of the themes included:

• Martin Luther King, Jr (January)
• Black History Month (February)
• Women's History Month (March)
• International Children's Book Day (April)
• Space Day (May)
• National Physical Fitness & Sports Month (May)
• Back to School (August)
• Constitution Day (September)
• Fire Prevention Week (October)
• Veteran's Day (November)
• Winter Solstice (December)

Groove Pizza

WEBSITE ↬ Groove Pizza

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers & students

CONTENT ↬ music

GRADE LEVELS ↬ grades 2 & up

I'll admit it ... I was struck first by it's name since pizza is a top choice in my family. Then I started to play with it. Wow! It's a site where you can use shapes to create music! It was created by a couple of students at NYU as part of their thesis projects. (Read more here: https://musedlab.org/groovepizza/ )

I'd recommend checking out the video below as an intro, then hop on over to the site (linked above) and starting making some music!

ReadWorks

WEBSITE ↬ ReadWorks

AUDIENCE ↬ students

CONTENT ↬ ELA

GRADE LEVELS ↬ K-12

Teaching reading is THE MOST important job. (Math is a super close second.) Any time I come across a resource that supports reading teachers, I'll shout it out!

I believe ReadWorks.org has been around for quite some time, so maybe you are already using it. They are a non-profit who want to "support the growth of successful, joyful readers." How awesome!

So what does their site do? It provides FREE high-quality fiction & non-fiction passages and all the goodies that go with them to support teaching reading in your classroom. Now it's great they offer this content, but they offer both webinars personalized to your school and free nation wide ones. I also love you can use their filter tool to better narrow your search.

Be sure to check out the Teacher Guide on their site to learn more about how YOU can use ReadWorks.org in your classroom.