BBTL Professional Development Workshops

BBTL offers free educator workshops that are TrainTn certified on a variety of literacy-based topics. Themes stay the same, but lessons and book suggestions are updated each presentation.

Attend an Event

Monthly Saturday Trainings

Once a month, we present a 2–hour fun and engaging training from 10:00am–12:00pm CST for those who need hours or just some extra inspiration. Sessions are open to any educator from anywhere. We will alternate in–person and virtual trainings (one month we'll be in–person at a library branch and the next month we'll be on Zoom).

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Special Children's Book Author/Illustrator Work(FUN)Shops

Each year, we bring in a well-known children’s book author or illustrator to teach workshops about their writing/drawing process and how to use their books in the classroom. Each attendee receives a free book.

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Schedule a Workshop

To schedule a workshop or ask questions about which options are best for your school or teachers, please contact Bringing Books to Life.

NEW Every Child Ready to Read: Born to Read

For Infant/Toddler Teachers! Learn five simple ways to help children develop skills they need to learn to read. Age-appropriate book suggestions, fingerplays and activities provided. (1 hour)

Every Child Ready to Read

A refresher of the five simple ways to help children develop skills they need to learn to read, but with more emphasis on lessons and books to incorporate the skills for students ages 3 and up. Hands on activity. (1-1.5 hour)

NEW Once Upon a Time: Intentionality with Books and Calendar Time

To calendar or not to calendar…that is the debate. Instead of one or the other, how about trying some fresh ideas for calendar and weather time during your Morning Meeting by using books? We bring you fun book and activity suggestions for this special learning time of the day. (1 hour)

Early Literacy and Story Times

In this workshop, we examine six important early literacy skills; print motivation, print awareness, vocabulary, narrative skills, phonological awareness, and letter knowledge--and explore how to use story time to address each skill. We’ll share great new books, as well as old favorites, to use in your next classroom story time. (1 hour)

Also available as an interactive PDF for those who need to do the workshop on their own time. (1 hour)

Read It Again!

Learn different read aloud techniques that capture and keep children’s’ attention. Then, how to intentionally read a book concentrating on teaching a different skill with each read aloud. We’ll bring an exciting variety of books and practice using them to teach early literacy concepts. (1-1.5 hours)

How to Bring a Book to Life!

Dramatic play is one of the most engaging ways for preschool students to learn. These workshops will show how to use books to create dramatic play "adventures" for students to play and learn all sorts of subjects while also learning literacy skills. Covers a variety of themes and concepts for an exciting workshop that teachers will love! Titles may vary based on new releases and the seasons. Hands on activities included. (1-3 hours)

STEAM and Literacy

Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math are important in the educational world for teaching critical thinking skills. This is a hands-on, experiment-filled workshop with ways to get students problem solving. And, of course, we offer plenty of fantastic book suggestions. (2 hours)

Math Tells a Story

Math is not all about numbers! You can use fun books to teach many math concepts, including spatial skills, patterns, number shapes and more. We’ll share interesting and engaging lesson and activity ideas for infant/toddler through early elementary ages, as well as great math picture books you’ll want to add to your classroom. (1-2 hours)

Wonderfully Wordless!

Wordless books are books that everyone can read, no matter their age, skill level or primary language. We will explore how art can convey emotion and a story line to teach important narrative skills. Hands-on art techniques for use in the classroom can be added on for a longer workshop. (1-1.5 hours)

Non-Boring Non-Fiction

Many of us think of non-fiction as those books with photos and boring lists of facts, but not anymore! We found books that highlight interesting inventions, strange animals, and amazing people who changed history. Be inspired by true stories and get fun lesson and book ideas for the classroom. (1 hour)

Friends with Feelings: Puppet–talking with Children

It’s been proven that a puppet can help a child find, understand, and verbalize their feelings. When you combine a puppet friend with a book about feelings, you have a powerful tool for social-emotional learning in the classroom. We will create a lovable friend and hear about great social-emotional books. (1-1.5 hours)

We’re All in This Together: Using Picture Books to Talk About Collective Trauma

This workshop explores collective traumatic experiences and their effects on development in the early childhood years. We’ll share tools and strategies for using literature to navigate collective traumatic experiences in the early childhood classroom. We will also provide budget-friendly lesson ideas and a list of books and library resources. (1 hour)

BBTL Orientation Workshops

This is our introductory workshop series for sites who wish to become a BBTL partner. Over the course of two sessions, we explore Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences, practice read-aloud techniques and share ideas for incorporating literature across the early childhood curriculum. Additionally, we talk about NPL’s history of puppetry arts and focus on our featured Puppet Truck show, presented by Wishing Chair Productions. Teachers receive curriculum materials and resources to bring the featured puppet show to life in their classrooms as well as time to plan collaboratively. (Two 90–minute workshops; can be combined into one 3–hour workshop)

Also available as an interactive PDF for those who need to do part of the workshop on their own time. (2 hours on your own, 1 hour in person)