What a whirlwind start to our new school year! Here are some updates for you from the elementary technology world:
Pay very special attention to the email that Mr. Nolt is sending out regarding Java updates on student laptops. This update should not be interrupted for any reason! If students notice their device running updates either at startup or shutdown, they should not interrupt this process!
Successnet accounts have been finalized for grades 3-6 teachers and students. Primary accounts should be completed by the end of this week. Visit our Successnet resources page for tutorials and resources.
Tomorrow a team of teachers from each elementary building and the support specialists will be attending professional development with our Pearson trainer to learn more about the Waterford and Successmaker programs. Our goal with this year’s trainings will be to learn how to most effectively utilize the programs’ classroom reports for data-informed decision making and instructional planning.
Qwertytown accounts are completed and students have begun engaging with this program in the computer labs. Teachers, you will receive an email with your login credentials so that you can access your class’s progress reports. This program is accessible from student laptops and home as well. Please check out our Qwertytown page to learn more about this program!
Kidblog accounts have been created for all grades 2-6 classes. Please see more resources about Kidblog and the uses of blogging in the classroom here. I am very willing and eager to push in and introduce blogging to your students! Please use this form to schedule time with me and/or email me with specifics!
Student homepages in Internet Explorer will soon be transitioned to Symbaloo webmixes. A webmix was created for Grades K-2 and Grades 3-6. When a student logs in as himself, the applicable Symbaloo page will appear as his homepage. Symbaloo is a wonderful tool for bookmarking sites of interest and those often accessed. Students can locate the tile of the website using the tile’s visual and title and click to visit the site. If there are any websites you’d like me to add to a grade level band’s Symbaloo page, please email me. Please consider that all buildings are using the same webmixes at this time.
In the coming weeks I will be creating an elementary technology newsletter (yes, on paper! gasp! at least for now 🙂 ) for our district’s parents, informing them about the programs, activities, and goals for meaningful technology integration this year. It will be shared with principals to be distributed as they see fit.
Coming soon to this blog…. a post about ways to use blogging in the classroom and instructions for how to subscribe to these posts via RSS!