Jay Stream Innovation Center

Light pink graphic titled “Double your impact for the Native Writing Intensive!” Beneath the title text is an illustration of hands reaching out and holding hearts, which they’re depositing into a glass jar. There’s also a search engine containing the shortened URL: “bit.ly/2026NativeIntensive”, which will redirect folks to a fundraising page where they can donate to support WNDB’s 2026 Native Writing Intensive.

With your help, we can fully fund the 2026 Native Writing Intensive! Learn more about this essential program at the page below ⬇️

❤️📖 bit.ly/2026NativeInt...

cover of turning the page: an advocate's guide to the freedom to read

Have you downloaded our free digital guide yet?

Turning the Page: An Advocate’s Guide to the Freedom to Read offers tools, strategies, and resources to help defend books and resist censorship.

www.freedomtoreadproject.org/turning_the_...

#FreedomToRead #StopBookBans #IntellectualFreedom

87% of educators state that boom bans are rarely or never justified. According to 2023 First Book report

Teachers and librarians help students read widely, think critically, and engage with the world. Let’s trust the professionals who work with students every day.

Significant tornado threat today across Illinois, especially near I-80, as extreme instability and a lifting warm front create a dangerous setup for strong, long-track tornadoes and destructive hail. Texas also faces a QLCS tornado, hail, and wind threat. Have a safety plan and stay weather aware. 🌪️

Dream Big cover shows elementary age Cassie posing with a big smile and sunglasses in a spotlight. Four other kids smile or frown in the background, including a boy with a movie clapper

On Goodreads there's a giveaway for an ARC of DREAM BIG, the sequel to my graphic novel DREAM ON (art by Marcela Cespedes)
www.goodreads.com/book/show/23...

A collage of book covers

March 2026's new Middle Grade releases include a friendship story full of joy (THE MAGIC OF SOMEDAY SOON), a coming of age story about acne (BREAKOUT), and a relatable contemporary exploration of relationships and body image (THE BLUE DRESS). Learn more here: tinyurl.com/4bcavez9

#edusky #newbooks

8 Proactive Classroom Management Tips New teachers—and experienced ones too—can find ideas here on how to stop disruptive behavior before it begins.

Teachers report losing 2 hours of instructional time to behavioral disruptions each week. These research-backed #ClassroomManagement tactics can help prevent some of them, giving you much-needed time back. ⌛

Author Kimberly Brubaker Bradley on Why Horses Are for Everyone buff.ly/pp83ML5

After the State of the Union Address, House Republicans immediately introduced a bill that would ban books at schools and libraries nationwide. The bans would, of course, target queer titles (and people).

www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...

💎 New EduGem: www.edugems.ai/gem/pe-game-...

⚽ PE Game Inventor - Create fresh, engaging & developmentally appropriate physical education games on the fly based on your specific daily constraints

#EduSky #EduSkyAI #EdTech #GoogleEDU

Graphic with a quote by Judy Blume about readers standing up to censors. Below the quote is a photo of Judy Blume wearing blue glasses and holding a book, with a credit to the Sundance Institute. The quote reads "Only when readers of all ages become active, only when readers are willing to stand up to the censors, will the censors get the message that they cannot frighten us."

Feb.22-28 is #FreedomToRead Week! www.freedomtoread.ca

"Only when readers of all ages become active, only when readers are willing to stand up to the censors, will the censors get the message that they cannot frighten us." - Judy Blume.

#KidLit #FTRW26 #BannedBooks

Want Excellent Free Images for Your Blogs and Wikis? Check out the Digital Public Library of America Want Excellent Free Images for Your Blogs and Wikis? Check out the Digital Public Library of America

We want to share some of the innovations and resources that our colleagues at DPLA have had in the works.

action.everylibrary.org/want_excelle...

Experts at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have rediscovered a recording and determined it’s probably the oldest whale recording still in existence. The likely vocalist? A humpback whale. 🐋 spklr.io/6007Dxy1Z

📷: BlackBox
🎙️: Luis Lamar, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Voices: Reading age-appropriate books about sexual assault would have helped me as a kid. Today’s students deserve better. “Protecting kids and teens from discussions about sex is not saving them from assaults. And books are not causing the assaults,” writes Shannon Hale in an op-ed. “But books can aid in clarifying what ...

I wrote a piece for an Utah paper about why books that deal with sex and assault are important for teens and shouldn't be labeled as pornography and banned. This is a major issue in my home state where many do not believe sex scenes in books are ever justified.
www.sltrib.com/opinion/comm...

fewer than 10% of students are restricted in school libraries by their parents

When parents can set reading limits for their own child, fewer than 10% choose to restrict access.

Most families trust guidance and conversation, not bans.

You can guide your child without deciding for mine.

Protect choice. Trust librarians. Keep libraries open.

#FreedomToRead #BooksNotBans

Shovel smart! Shoveling heavy, wet snow can cause back injuries and heart attacks. Don’t push yourself! Dress warmly, making sure to cover your head, fingers and toes. Stay hydrated, but avoid heavy meals right before or after shoveling. Move only small amounts of snow with each pass of the shovel. Take frequent breaks. Stop shoveling entirely if you feel exhausted!

Heavy, wet snow is no joke!

Shoveling can strain your back, and even your heart.

✅ Dress in layers and cover exposed skin
✅ Stay hydrated
✅ Lift small amounts at a time
✅ Take frequent breaks

If you feel chest pain, dizziness, or exhaustion — stop immediately! #ShovelSmart

I'm HONORED Louder Than Hunger is a nominee for the 2027 Illinois Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award and the 2027 Illinois Lincoln Award! Thank you, Association of Illinois School Library Educators (AISLE)! Caudill - bit.ly/2027CaudillA... | Lincoln - bit.ly/2027LincolnA...

This local Wolfdog joined an Olympic ski event and triggered the finish-line camera. This is Nazgul. He snuck into a cross-country skiing sprint this morning and raced the homestretch with some competitors before being escorted home. 14/10 someone get him a medal

BREAKING: The Department of Education has ended its directive that attempted to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in schools nationwide.

This is a victory for academic freedom and education equity.

Right?! He's only 2 years younger than me!

Join me today at #OETC - www.controlaltachieve.com/2026/02/oetc...

📊 Google Sheets for Schools: From Data Noob to Nerd
👓 Hipster Google - Tools You Probably Never Heard Of
🕵️ Did a Robot Write this Report? Managing AI Cheating

#EduSky #EdTech #EduSkyAI #GoogleEDU

Collage of three images. Top: Judy Blume, a woman with short curly hair and blue glasses, holds a copy of Are You There God, It's Me Margaret while seated indoors; text reads “Photo: Sundance Institute.” Bottom left: close-up of a book jacket credit page showing “Jacket design by Lauren Rille” and “Jacket illustrations copyright © 2014 by Debbie Ridpath Ohi,” along with “Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Simon & Schuster • New York” and a website link. Bottom right: two women smiling for a selfie at an indoor event space.

Happy birthday, Judy Blume!

I can't yet share recent new covers I've just been working on with Lauren Rille (S&S art director) so am sharing THIS one, which we worked on yrs ago along with others: debbieohi.com/judyblume

Thanks to Lauren for her brilliant book designs!
#JudyBlume #KidLit

Shannon Gibney: The KidLit community and the ICE invasion I have some friends here who are writers who cannot write. I can write, but this is all I can write about now.

Shannon Gibney: The KidLit community and the ICE invasion
pearlsandrubys.slj.com/2026/02/10/s...

Illustrated book cover showing a young girl sitting on a wooden bench outdoors at sunset, playing an acoustic guitar. A brown and white dog sits beside her, looking up at her attentively. The scene is warm and peaceful, with soft golden light, grassy fields, trees, and pink clouds in the sky. Sheets of paper with writing lie on the ground near her feet. The title “Dream” appears in large white letters at the top, and the author’s name, “Barbara O’Connor,” is at the bottom.

Educators’ Guide (that I was so lucky to make!) for Dream by Barbara O’Connor www.unleashingreaders.com/29545 @barbaraoconnor.bsky.social 💗

That teachers buy supplies out of their own meager salaries while we make new tax laws to make billionaires more billionairey is unconscionable. We need an entirely new system, but in the mean time, NO INCOME TAX FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATORS.

Normalize letting introverts eat their lunch alone if they want & decompressing for 30 min - 1 hr without the pressure of being considered antisocial in the workplace

Child at the podium: “A woo woo woo.”

Mamdani: That’s how I felt when we came up with this plan. Together, we will expand the idea of what is possible in our city—and what sounds and noises we can make at a press conference.

Teachers! Are you looking for historical fiction to engage your students? The Unsinkable Cayenne teaching guide includes a class set of Titanic boarding passes. Students can research the name on their ticket to discover if they would have survived the sinking! jessicavitalis.com/books/unsink...

This, too, is book banning.

@heykellyjensen.bsky.social
@tasslyn.bsky.social