Shoreham-Wading River library media specialist Brittany LaValle and Assistant Director of Technology Kassandra Nitti were invited to deliver their presentation “From Storytime to STEM Time” at the Long Island Technology and Education Summit, held on Oct. 24 in Melville. 

LITES is held annually for K-12 instructors to explore new ideas, innovations and trends in education and technology and is an excellent opportunity for educators to connect with peers and technology experts. LaValle’s and Nitti’s presentation explained how the duo connects literacy and STEM through storybooks using Ozobots, Indi, AI support tools and other technology while providing teachers with takeaways.  

During the conference, LaValle and Nitti asked the question, “Why connect books and bots?” They explained that integrating STEM tools into literacy units helps to boost students comprehension and retention and supports equity in learning. Robotics also increases engagement with literary tasks, and AI tools can reduce teacher workload while supporting differentiation.  

LaValle shared that one of the AI tools she utilizes is an AI Book Recommender in which she imported a file with library books for each grade and level. She also shared examples of literacy units from each grade level which integrated various technology tools. One such example included a first grade unit in which students read “Jack and the Beanstalk.” In addition to retelling the story and sequencing the plot’s events, students were instructed to code Shero Indi cars along a color-tile path. 

“It’s always exciting to bring these stories alive and make connections, “LaValle said. “The presentation is based on the founding principle of sparking joy in instruction.”