diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 2742b13f..1f7be80c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -4,6 +4,11 @@ Change history for XBlock SDK
 
 These are notable changes in XBlock.
 
+1.0.0 - 2024-05-30
+------------------
+* dropped python 3.8 support
+* transitioned from deprecated pkg_resources lib to importlib.resources
+
 0.9.0
 -----
 * Xblock bumped to 3.0.0. Removed the deprecated id_generator method parameter in xblock.runtime
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 2043a96c..9d5dee12 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ COPY . /usr/local/src/xblock-sdk
 WORKDIR /usr/local/src/xblock-sdk
 
 ENV VIRTUAL_ENV=/venvs/xblock-sdk
-RUN python3.8 -m venv $VIRTUAL_ENV
+RUN python3.11 -m venv $VIRTUAL_ENV
 ENV PATH="$VIRTUAL_ENV/bin:$PATH"
 
 RUN pip install --upgrade pip && pip install -r /usr/local/src/xblock-sdk/requirements/dev.txt
diff --git a/sample_xblocks/filethumbs/filethumbs.py b/sample_xblocks/filethumbs/filethumbs.py
index 80bbef4a..22ce39aa 100644
--- a/sample_xblocks/filethumbs/filethumbs.py
+++ b/sample_xblocks/filethumbs/filethumbs.py
@@ -17,12 +17,10 @@
 
 """
 
-
-
 import json
 import logging
 
-import pkg_resources
+import importlib.resources
 import png
 from web_fragments.fragment import Fragment
 from xblock.core import XBlock
@@ -72,8 +70,9 @@ def student_view(self, context=None):  # pylint: disable=W0613
         """
 
         # Load the HTML fragment from within the package and fill in the template
-        html_str = pkg_resources.resource_string(__name__,
-                                                 "static/html/thumbs.html").decode('utf-8')
+        html_str = importlib.resources.files(__package__).joinpath(
+            "static/html/thumbs.html"
+        ).read_text(encoding="utf-8")
         frag = Fragment(str(html_str))
 
         if not self.fs.exists("thumbsvotes.json"):
@@ -86,12 +85,10 @@ def student_view(self, context=None):  # pylint: disable=W0613
         self.downvotes = votes['down']
 
         # Load the CSS and JavaScript fragments from within the package
-        css_str = pkg_resources.resource_string(__name__,
-                                                "static/css/thumbs.css").decode('utf-8')
+        css_str = importlib.resources.files(__package__).joinpath("static/css/thumbs.css").read_text(encoding="utf-8")
         frag.add_css(str(css_str))
 
-        js_str = pkg_resources.resource_string(__name__,
-                                               "static/js/src/thumbs.js").decode('utf-8')
+        js_str = importlib.resources.files(__package__).joinpath("static/js/src/thumbs.js").read_text(encoding="utf-8")
         frag.add_javascript(str(js_str))
 
         with self.fs.open('uparrow.png', 'wb') as file_output:
diff --git a/sample_xblocks/thumbs/thumbs.py b/sample_xblocks/thumbs/thumbs.py
index e6f9afca..b1ba1bec 100644
--- a/sample_xblocks/thumbs/thumbs.py
+++ b/sample_xblocks/thumbs/thumbs.py
@@ -1,10 +1,8 @@
 """An XBlock providing thumbs-up/thumbs-down voting."""
 
-
-
 import logging
 
-import pkg_resources
+import importlib.resources
 from web_fragments.fragment import Fragment
 from xblock.core import XBlock, XBlockAside
 from xblock.fields import Boolean, Integer, Scope
@@ -36,17 +34,16 @@ def student_view(self, context=None):  # pylint: disable=W0613
         """
 
         # Load the HTML fragment from within the package and fill in the template
-        html_str = pkg_resources.resource_string(__name__,
-                                                 "static/html/thumbs.html").decode('utf-8')
+        html_str = importlib.resources.files(
+            __package__
+        ).joinpath("static/html/thumbs.html").read_text(encoding="utf-8")
         frag = Fragment(str(html_str).format(block=self))
 
         # Load the CSS and JavaScript fragments from within the package
-        css_str = pkg_resources.resource_string(__name__,
-                                                "static/css/thumbs.css").decode('utf-8')
+        css_str = importlib.resources.files(__package__).joinpath("static/css/thumbs.css").read_text(encoding="utf-8")
         frag.add_css(str(css_str))
 
-        js_str = pkg_resources.resource_string(__name__,
-                                               "static/js/src/thumbs.js").decode('utf-8')
+        js_str = importlib.resources.files(__package__).joinpath("static/js/src/thumbs.js").read_text(encoding="utf-8")
         frag.add_javascript(str(js_str))
 
         frag.initialize_js('ThumbsBlock')
diff --git a/workbench/__init__.py b/workbench/__init__.py
index 000ebbbe..7f182161 100644
--- a/workbench/__init__.py
+++ b/workbench/__init__.py
@@ -2,4 +2,4 @@
 Provide a djangoapp for XBlock development
 """
 
-__version__ = '0.11.0'
+__version__ = '0.12.0'