December 2023
Empower
The BCS Digital Learning Department is thrilled to share our monthly calendar! Feel free to use these resources in your classroom as a way to celebrate the various days featured on this calendar.
Please log in to Clever before accessing any of the linked calendar resources below, and always be sure to preview resources before utilizing them in your educational setting.
Each month, the BCS Digital Learning Team will highlight a Tech-Tip that we find to be especially valuable and practical.
This month, the team has chosen "Clear Browsing Data"
Has someone ever said: "You need to clear your Cache and Cookies"? This is part of clearing your browsing data. You can delete all of your data or just some from a specific time.
In this tech tip you will select to clear:
Browsing history
Download history
Cookies and other site data
Cached images and files
Reflect
Let's reflect on current practices in our school communities, including our amazing library spaces!
BCS Digital Learning Device Kits
with Jennifer Gillam, South Brunswick Middle School Media Coordinator
Incorporating BCS device kits into EC and traditional classes offers benefits enhancing learning experiences for all. The kits promote interactive and engaging activities that align across the curriculum. For example, the Code and Go mice were used with Mrs. Williamson’s Adaptive class to introduce basic coding. The class read a story together, and we placed manipulatives on a map. The students then coded their mice to get to the select manipulative. As their coding skills improved, roadblocks were placed on the map, and the mice had to be coded to avoid the obstacles. Working with Mrs. Williamson and her students really shows how collaboration, co-teaching, and scaffolding can make an impact on student understanding.
Code & Go Mice and Osmo Device Kits in use.
Mrs. Wright, (adaptive teacher) and I collaborated and requested the Osmo kits and iPad mini's. The Osmo kits bring a tactile learning approach to the classroom. Osmo is attached to an iPad, and then apps with different sensory learning journeys are launched for students to interact. For example, the words app has students using manipulative letter tiles to spell words from images that they see. The Pizza Shop app is a favorite where students work on cognitive development and fine motor skills, preparing pizzas that are requested, and giving correct change to the customers. The pizza, and play money are all tactile, but they interact with the app on the iPad. There are a total of four kits to use, so we set them up in stations where students were able to move around and use the programs best suited to their developmental needs.
Copyright Corner
This appears on a unit, workbook, etc. that I purchased. What can I do with it? What can't I?
"Permission is granted to the individual teacher who purchases one copy of this book to reproduce the student activity material for use in his or her classroom only. Reproduction of these materials for colleagues, an entire school or school system, or for commercial sale is strictly prohibited. No part of this publication may be transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher."
There is actually quite a bit to dissect here AND the answer maybe slightly different than it may have been in the past. Context matters. First, the person who bought this, not their teammate, not the person who took over the subject from them, but the actual person who paid for it, can use it in their classroom and can make copies FOR THEIR STUDENTS. Not everyone else. Where it gets complicated is in the last statement that bars transmission. Realistically, and digital format shared with others is transmission. However, the online classroom is now an extension of the traditional classroom and no one can argue that. Therefore, you can share with students in a closed classroom setting (ie. Google Classroom.) Can you put it in your Google Slides? Yes, but....you can't then share that slide with anyone who isn't a student rostered in your class.
Innovate
Looking to embrace new ideas and products in your learning environment? Below are some professional learning opportunities as well as links to some of the many resources BCS Digital Learning & School Library Services provide!
Did you know that NC is the first state to provide ISTE memberships to educators? Be sure to claim your FREE membership to ISTE (the International Society for Technology in Education) - Look for the icon shown above in NCEdCloud! Check out this video for more details.
