It's October, so let me share one of my fears.

I always fear that all our students aren't getting the same opportunities. I think that is happening right now. I don't want our students to miss out on opportunities but I also don't want to flood your inboxes with emails. So please glance through the sections because sometimes I sneak in relevant info amongst the hilarious memes...

iPad Troubleshooting
Things have really slowed down this week in the iPad repair department. Thank goodness. I appreciate you sending out the document I created for families. Please remind your families that issues should go through you first. I'm happy to help if you can't, but I think it's important that you know what's going on. There are so many different tools out there and I just don't know what you all are doing. If you are going to try something new, please let me know ahead of time so I can look it over and find out who to talk to if it's broken. Especially if it's a district provided resource. I'm so glad you all are trying new things, but a little heads up is appreciated. 

Sora
Thanks to Nikki, Julia, and Abbey for letting me talk to your classes about Sora. If you are new to CPS or teach younger grades, perhaps you don't know what a great resource Sora can be. It's a digital collection of eBooks and audiobooks that have been purchased for use by myself just for Cedar Ridge students as well as from Columbia Public Schools. It contains engaging, popular, new titles just like the library. And unlike Epic, it's free to use 24 hours a day. I recently purchased over $1000 in materials that are only accessible to our kiddos, so I would really like to see that money go to good use. Talk to me about giving your class a ten minute intro into how to use Sora. As a bonus, I will show them how to get into theDaniel Boone Regional Library's collection as well.

Library Drive Thru
We've just finished up our third week of Library Drive Thrus. We've been able to check out several hundred books to families. If you teach 3rd through 5th I should have already talked to your class about placing holds in Destiny. I would like to expand to 2nd grade next week so they can learn how to place holds. I'd appreciate any advertising you can give to your families. We are scheduled for Thursday and Friday from 11-1 next week. We might add another evening session once I figure out my personal calendar. Stay tuned.

ClassLab Works!
If you are looking for another interactive tool to use with your classes for formative assessment, try out ClassLab. Most of you may remember ClassLab as the tool that is inserted into Smart Notebook files. It allows students to post comments directly to your Smart Notebook activity from anywhere (I got my wife started on it earlier this week so I know it works!). Kids can launch it from the ClassLab icon on their iPads and connect with the code you provide them onscreen. If you need a refresher course on how to utilize this simple, effective tool for engagement and formative assessment, let me know. 

Have a Great Weekend!