Filtering Issues I've seen a lot of issues with the iBoss connection that was installed on our student ipads yesterday afternoon. I have reported them to tech services and they are working with iBoss on the issues. My thinking is that many parents dealt with the issues on their own. It appears that the main issue is a pop-up telling them that a secure connection can't be made to the proxy server. It seems to point them to Settings to sign in. Several parents I've talked to followed this route but are still getting pop-ups. One thing to suggest is to have families update their ipads to the latest version. When I hear more, I'll let you know.
Mark Twain Award Nominees Next week I'll be launching our Mark Twain Award challenge for fourth and fifth graders. Per Abbey Upton's suggestion, I made a Keynote presentation with an audio recording of the first chapter of all twelve books. I found a local celebrity to read them! If you teach 4th or 5th, shoot me a 15 minute window next week when I can "visit" your classes to get them started.
Sora I also want to have time to talk with all 2nd through 5th grade classrooms about Sora. There are a few changes this year that are pretty cool. I have also spent nearly $1000 this month on new ebooks and audiobooks for our students. I know many of you push Epic, but Sora has a lot of great stuff and is always available. I'm planning on spending a good chunk of my budget this year on Sora, so let me know if you want additional titles. I can have them up and running with a 15 presentation that is sure to be memorable.
STEM Activities Next week I'm hoping to start a process for students to check out materials from me to explore at home. I will include challenges and "how to" videos to guide them. I doubt it'll be up and running next week, but I'm fine with you sharing the concept with families who might be looking for extension activities. Just tell them it's coming soon and it's going to be really awesome. Or make up your own line.
Happy Friday! These five days weeks are crazy. Here are a few updates from the media center. I've been holding off on emails, so there's a lot of stuff here. I sat in a media specialist meeting this morning where they walked us through how to set up a Zoom meeting. I know. We are so proficient with our practices and things are running so smoothly here at Cedar Ridge. It's so cool seeing all the interactive features of your classes and sheer number of quality posts kids are making to your courses. Great job!!
"Sit and get" Powerpoints are dangerous to your health.
Library Drive Thru We've had a nice turnout for the drive thru this week. As of this publication, we have 36 kids come through. We will continue next week with all grade levels. If you are 3rd or 4th grade teacher and haven't scheduled a time with me to talk to your class, you know how to reach me.
YouTube This info might not apply to you, but there have been an increased number of blocked videos. Technology Services has indicated they are making changes to the parameters. If you have come across this issue, you are supposed to call the help desk (if you can get through, Larry will buy your lunch the next day). Or send me the link and I'll handle it for you.
So an email just went out to everyone in the world. I would not worry right now about having your students login to Youtube. I have a few followup questions for Dr. Monroe and then I'll pass along my suggestions. Update: she says that students will still be able to view video without logging in. I would highly suggest you test your YouTube videos by using the Chrome Incognito browser. What the heck is that, you say? Click on the three dots in the upper right corner of Chrome. Choose "new incognito browser". The paste your YouTube video there. That shows you what happens when someone not logged in as you accesses your links. Next level stuff.
iPads for Justin and Rebecca Rebecca came to me and asked if she could have an iPad to better support you. What a great idea! So both Justin and Rebecca have an iPad so they can see what the students are seeing and learn more about the apps. Now that I'm writing this, I'm wondering if Emily might want one as well. If you are reading this message, Emily, then come see me! Right now I'm eavesdropping on Ainsley's class as Justin is leading them on a lesson. He's doing an awesome job! Very cool!
ST Math Here is a video about how students can get into ST Math. I've also put it on the webpage under the "Learning at Home" tab.
SeeSaw Courses Our specialists have asked that our students practice how to go in between courses in SeeSaw. If you haven't already, on Tuesday of next week can you show them quickly how to toggle between their courses? Each classroom teacher will continue to post the schedule on your homeroom course.
Battery Life Students are using the heck out of these devices. I see how drained Maggie's and Ainsley's iPads are after a morning of usage. I'd suggest you tell the kids to plug in during their lunch break. If parents are having charging issues, I'd suggest you first have them try a different cable if possible. Those are the most likely point of failure. Lemons do happen, so if it can't be resolved with a cable swap I can issue a new device after we go through all the other variables.
Jamboard I got to spend some time this week with Nikki's small group work on Jamboard. It's an interactive whiteboard app from Google. There are some pretty cool features and would support cooperative learning with students. If you'd like to learn more about how you might be able to use Jamboard, let me know and we can meet.
Featured App: Reminders I've been really impressed with how you are teaching kids how to augment their executive functioning skills using the timers and alarms on the iPad. Next week, see if you can blend in the Reminders app. It's a great way for kids to document things they need to do. You can schedule reminders just like calendar events and can also make them recurring. Students can check off completed reminders as well (everyone loves checking things off their list). Schedule a time with me if you'd like a Zoom breather and I can walk them through it next week.
I'm confident in saying that the last seven days have been the most intense of my
19 years in CPS. It was about at this time last week when the iPads stopped communicating and my weekend took a turn for the worst. Looking back now, it was a great opportunity to see that our Cedar Ridge staff is the most patient and hardworking group of people around! You all were truly impressive in handling the week. All the preparation and collaboration paid off big time. But I'm glad it's over (knocking on wood right now)...
Wondering how things are going across the school? Check out these stats from SeeSaw (this hasn't been updated with Friday's activity, so it's just three school days!):
For those of you who are new here, I try to send out a weekly blog with highlights and updates. My goal is to only send emails for time sensitive issues and keep the main info here. This blog is linked on the Media Center website for anytime access. Here we go...
Circulation Plan We will begin circulating books next week. The plan is to start with kindergarten and 5th grade. I'll be connecting with 5th graders on Monday to show them how to place holds in Destiny. We will check those out to them and have them ready for pickup. The little people will drive up and will pick from a mobile library. We have 127 book bundles ready (thanks Stormi, Stephanie, and Emily). Colleen is creating something really special to display the books. Seriously, it's going to be incredible!! Here are the current times for pickup:
Thursday 11-1 Friday 11-3
If you teach kindergarten or 5th grade, I'm going to attempt to send out an announcement to them via SeeSaw admin with directions. I'll let you know how it goes! Once I get a look at the process next week, I'll start bringing other grades online.
Overdues The Locust/Cedar Ridge library currently has over 400 overdue books. That's a
roughly $5000 expense. Starting Monday, I will place a book return on the front porch. Please message your families and ask them to return their books. I will be sending out a video next week on how to login to Destiny and see what is overdue. I will also start messaging families through SeeSaw directly at some point.
Specialist Zoom Info In the spirit of continuity, please make sure you are posting the document I sent you for specials on Wednesday. Each specialist will also be posting an activity in SeeSaw for all their classes to access the link. Participation was great this week and we're excited to see them again on Wednesday.
Matt Time For Your Class I would like to make contact with your students next week. I have a scope and sequence to follow each week. I didn't bring that up initially because you are totally booked. I also looked at what they wanted me to do and pretty much all of it is being handled by you right now anyway. So please contact me to schedule a time to join in and a topic to cover. I am planning on just 10-15 minutes of a focused skill. I'll do the same thing for each grade. For 5th grade for example, I'm getting them set up with Destiny and Sora.
STEAM Home Integration Next week I'll be formulating a plan for home based STEAM activities. One piece will be the ability for students to check out materials we have at school (Spheros, Dash and Dot, Ozobots, Cubelets, etc). Each device will come with directions and challenges to complete. I'm hoping to get that up and running the following week.
That's it for now. You all did an amazing job this week. Rest up this weekend!
