On the DL
Notes from Digital Learning and School Library Services
May 2021
There is a lot happening in the Digital Learning Department these days! The May (and last for this year) Be Cyber Safe unit is linked below. This month's theme is Privacy and Security. This is especially important as we release our students for summer vacation. Teaching them how to keep themselves safe during this time should be a priority.
In the graph to the left, you can see how your DLSs have served you this year. As you begin planning for next year, remember they are there to support your instruction. They not only provide professional development but can also co-plan and help you create instructional resources aligned to your standards and content.
And it is Tech Camp time! Since we are virtual this year, we will be inviting our neighboring districts to join us if they like. We also have a new Digital Choice Board Project being released at Tech Camp. Be sure to check out those sessions! Below is a sneak peek at the official invitation that will also be coming to your inbox soon!
June 2nd, 3rd, & 4th
8:00 am - 3:00 pm
We cannot wait for you to join us for Brunswick County School’s Tech Camp ‘21 to be hosted through Zoom.
We have a powerful list of sessions available to you to help you reflect, innovate, and empower yourself, your fellow educators, and learners.
Check out our camp website by clicking here! You can preview the list of sessions (registration for all sessions will run through NCEES), customize your digital conference badge, and purchase some sweet swag that will help you spread the love for digital learning!
If you are interested in moderating a session, please email Acacia Dixon, adixon@bcswan.net.
See you soon!
The Brunswick County Schools Digital Learning Team
#ReflectInnovateEmpower #BCSedchat
Copyright Corner
(click the down arrow to see the response to the question)
Is there a way to download this video (from Facebook)? I couldn't find a feature anywhere to do it.
The appropriate way to handle this would be to contact the owner, which is who I assume did the post and request a copy explaining your purpose and intent. Technically, are there ways to record your screen while playing it and not ask permission? yes but none of those model good citizenship or best practice.
School Library Spotlight
In other Book Fair news...
Natalie Caddell, the School Library Media Coordinator at Lincoln Elementary, organized and ran the school's first ever Drive Thru Book Fair. It turned out to be the LARGEST book fair in Lincoln's history - and during a pandemic! The funds raised will be used to purchase more books for the library.
Encouraging a Love for Reading
This spring, several elementary media coordinators collaborated to organize fun ways to promote reading by reaching out to community members and leaders to show their support for encouraging reading. Mrs. Lewis, the school library media coordinator at Bolivia Elementary, utilized this opportunity to share her love for reading with students, staff, and the community.
At Bolivia Elementary School, reading was showcased throughout the buildings and the community as everyone celebrated Read Across America the first week of March and School Spirit during the second week. Students in the classroom, virtual students, and staff all participated in various activities to show their support and appreciation of reading. Students and staff dressed up as characters from their favorite books, participated in activities that related to stories, and community leaders recorded read-alouds for all the schools to see, just to mention a few of the projects.
Families shared pictures from our virtual students. Parents in the car rider lines got a real treat seeing all of the teachers dressed up for the theme for each day. Students enjoyed utilizing the hands-on activities that brought the events for the day together with the books they were hearing or reading.
But the reading encouragement didn’t stop there! In April, we were allowed to have our first in-person book fair. The event was scheduled for a week and for the first time ever it was going to be open on Saturday. The response from students, parents and teachers was overwhelming. In the five years that I have been in the media center this was the best response I had ever seen. The parents were so excited to be allowed to attend the book fair with their children and to have the opportunity to do so on a Saturday. I would like to thank everyone for all of their support and positive feedback.
It is obvious that our school and community understands that reading is the foundation of all learning. Therefore, it was not surprising that everyone was ready and willing to encourage and foster students' love for reading.
by Sally Lewis, School Library Media Coordinator - Bolivia Elementary School
Digital Learning Resources
Are you in need of digital math manipulatives? The Math Learning Center offers manipulatives with both mobile applications and web-based versions. Students are able to access their digital manipulatives on any device, and the link is available to teachers and students in Clever! In addition, sharing is now supported on most of the resources listed below. Now students can share their work with other students or their teacher with a link and code.
Fractions
Geoboard
Math Clock
Number Frames
Number Line
Number Pieces
Number Rack
Pattern Shapes
Whiteboard App
Math Vocabulary Cards
Number Pieces
Partial Product Finder
Do you have questions about the Math Learning Center? Please contact your school's Digital Learning Specialist!
When is the last time you visited National Geographic? NatGeo is an awesome resource for teachers and students. National Geographic offers:
Professional Development (Become a National Geographic Certified Educator)
Classroom resources including lesson plans and mapping
Blogs
and student experiences including Explorer Classrooms. These are free events led by National Geographic staff and take you to amazing adventures. Check out the latest one below. Additionally find past events here as well!
Learn with Google Arts & Culture is an amazing resource for teachers to incorporate resources that cover a variety of topics within multiple subject areas. Subject areas highlighted that include lesson plans are:
Music
Chemistry
History
Physics
Art
Biology
Geography
Literature
Computing
Prepare to travel with virtual field trips, offering students the ability to explore content to deepen learning. Try out the interactive activities that can be incorporated as wonderful brain breaks such as coloring famous pieces of art and completing digital puzzles. Learn with Google Arts & Culture also offers the ability for teachers to share content via Google Classroom.
Disclaimer: Due to the artwork available within Google Arts & Culture, ensure that you are only sharing resources with students that you have chosen, then share via Google Classroom.
It is time to start thinking about BCS Tech Camp, Brunswick County School's annual professional development camp dedicated to the tech-integration needs of our wonderful educators and beyond. This years Tech Camp will be hosted virtually on June 2, 3, and 4, 2021. Keep a look out for more details on offered sessions and prizes!
Save the date for the 2021 Virtual North Carolina Beginning Teacher Summit to be hosted by NCPDI on June 16th and 17th, 2021. Registration will open in April.
Rich Text Formatting Now Available!
You are now able to able to customize Classroom assignments and posts using rich text formatting! This means that you can now format text to make it bold, underline or italicize key words and phrases, and create bullets in the Stream, posts, and assignments.
Accessibility Features
Did you know that Chromebooks and other Google tools have built in accessibility features available - you just need to know where to find them and turn them on!
On a Chromebook, you can change the color and size of the cursor for better visibility.
You can also enable Select to Speak on a Chromebook to hear selected portions of text read aloud.
Google Docs has braille support and you can turn on live captions in Google Slides and Meet. There is even screen reader support for live edits in Google Docs!
THIS POST from Google explains them all!
UNC World View Summer Program: Culture and Arts on a Global Stage
Musicians and poets, artists and dancers have played and written, painted and danced their way around the world through centuries - illuminating the time and the interplay of peoples and societies. In this program, Culture and the Arts on a Global Stage, UNC World View provides a professional development program for all K-12 and community college educators to explore examples of the ways different cultures use the arts to celebrate, reflect, document and heal their societies. The arts have a unique ability to open new dialogues and stimulate ideas which leads to a deeper understanding of our global connectivity.
UNC World View participants will be introduced to a variety of cultures and explore ways in which culture and the arts can be integrated across disciplines and grade levels. University professors and performing artists will share their expertise and their craft. Global education and area studies resources will be shared by representatives of UNC and Duke National Resource Centers. Join us this summer to gain new knowledge and resources to prepare students to engage in our interconnected and diverse world. 1.0 CEU / 10 PDCH offered. Scholarships available! Register today: go.unc.edu/WVJune
About World View:
World View is a public service program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, providing global education professional development since 1998. World View equips K-12 and community college educators with global knowledge, best practices and resources to prepare students to engage in our interconnected and diverse world.
As we come to the end of this school year, we want to revisit some cleaning tips for your boards. The file attached is for your Newline boards but can apply to other boards as well. When cleaning the board remember these tips:
Wash your hands before using the interactive display.
Wear a mask when using the interactive display
Clean your screen-
Power and cool down the board
Spray cleaner or warm water on a cloth (never on the screen)
Wipe in a circular motion
Spray alcohol-based disinfectant on a clean soft cloth (never on the screen).
Wipe in a circular motion (again) and let dry.
Wash your hands and cloth.
NEVER use amonia, coarse cloth or scrubber, harsh soaps or chemicals, bleach on your boards or on the cloths.
Do you often have many tabs open while you are working on Chrome? Do you pull up everything you need for the next few classes only to struggle when toggling between them, trying to locate the right site? It is time to group your tabs!
Once you have all of the tabs you want to sort pulled up in Chrome, right click on a tab to get started. Select "Add tab to new group." Name your group and select a color. Click here for more information on how to navigate through these steps.
How can this directly benefit you?
Group tabs according to class period!
Close entire groups of tabs with ease when a class period is over!
Color code groups to match with your schedule or materials.
