We hope you are continuing to see growth in your students as they are working on Lexia. If you have been encouraging usage minutes and your students are "meeting" their target of minutes weekly but still not making progress or leveling up through the program, here are a few suggestions:

• Make sure the student is actively working on the program. Students are smart and some have learned to log on but open another tab and do other things. 

• Change the focus - instead of focusing on meeting target minutes, you may want to focus on meeting unit targets. Typically for every 5 minutes actively working on the program, students should gain 1 unit unless they are at a point of struggle and need direct instruction.

  • See snip below - The icons circled in red indicate that the students have an open lesson for direct instruction. The orange highlights show that students have been working on meeting their minutes but have not gained any units. This would be something you would want to look into. Also, notice that the students' target minutes are 80 and not 60 so 10 minutes a day would not help them meet their weekly goal. Look at each student individually and not collectively to ensure creating the best path for them to grow.

We want to thank Jodie Buford, East North Street Academy, for sharing how they are finding successful usage of Lexia.

"I wanted to let you how we are having such success with our Lexia usage. Mrs. Hooker, principal, had a great idea! She suggested that we have a Lexia League. Each morning as students complete breakfast, they remain in the cafeteria and begin working on Lexia. Many of our ESOL students are at school by 7:05 each morning. A great deal of our students ride the busses so this really targets a lot of them. They remain in the cafeteria and begin Lexia until 7:40. This is working really well. We really pump them up with encouragement. We are also rewarding any student that Levels up with Takis and full size candy bars! Another avenue that is getting some of our students the time needed is the after school program. Those that attend are given the opportunity to work during the afterschool time. They are highly motivated by the rewards. They have started keeping track of their own minutes on the screen when they first log in. They cannot stand it on Mondays when the new time count starts." 

Here are some troubleshooting tips that may help with the Chromebook error you’re experiencing:

• Check that your Chrome browser is updated. If you see an icon of a circle with an arrow in the upper right corner of Chrome, click on it, and then click Update Google Chrome. 

• Clear your cache:

  • Click the Chrome menu (The icon is in the top-right corner, and will look like three horizontal lines if Chrome is updated, or like an arrow if Chrome needs updating). 

  • In the pull-down menu, select More tools > Clear browsing data, which will open a pop-up tab.

  • In the dialog box, check the box next to "Cached images and files" and choose "the beginning of time" from the pull-down menu. Uncheck the other options if you do not wish to clear their data. 

  • Click "Clear data" at the bottom of the dialog box.

• Chrome extensions or user permissions may cause issues. Try logging in as a guest, or as a different user to see if it’s a user-related issue.

• If your device is managed, please consult with your IT team to make sure that both 3D Content and WebGL are allowed. When 3D content is blocked, it can prevent the program from running smoothly.

There is also a Chromebook setting called Overscroll history navigation that may be contributing to this issue. You can disable the history navigation in Chrome in Windows and Chrome OS by following the steps below:

• Open up Chrome and input “chrome://flags” into the address bar.

• Locate the “Overscroll history navigation” setting (you can enter the word “overscroll” in the search box), and disable it.

• Relaunch Chrome

On Thursday, October 21st, Tanya presented Lexia to Principals and Instructional Coaches. She shared the purpose and expectations of the usage of the program. Here are a few key points from the presentation I wanted to make sure you are aware of. 

1. There is now a Lexia and F&P correlation chart that can help you in comparing levels. You can find it in this document - Understanding Lexia Core5 Reading and Fountas & Pinnell Literacy

2. Reminder: Lexia is for your MLs in grades K5-5th coded 1.0-6.0 who have not exited the program. Students coded M1-M4 do not have active accounts. There are also some secondary schools with itinerant teachers who have PowerUp accounts.

3. Students are expected to move 4 or more levels during the school year as a measure of meeting growth expectations on Lexia.  

4. Dually served students who are also expected to be on Reading Horizons. Here is guidance via a collaboration from the SpEd Department and ESOL Office: "Dually identified students (both SPED and ML) need to be provided services to meet their individual needs.  Elementary MLs that are also SPED identified have two core curriculums - Reading Horizons (SPED) and Lexia Core 5 (ESOL) that are utilized to meet their service needs.  Both programs require online/software usage that prompts Face to Face minilessons given by the SPED or ESOL teachers.  The expectation is that students utilize both programs according to their disability and linguistic needs.  The IEP team consisting of the SPED, ESOL, and Classroom teachers can work together to determine the balance and need of each student.  If support is needed, please reach out to your SPED Specialist and Tanya Franca, Director of ESOL Services." 

Since Tanya has now presented to the Principals and Instructional Coaches, you may be asked to introduce/reintroduce Lexia to your faculty. With that in mind, I have created some slides with notes in case you needed some support for your presentation. The link should force you to make a copy so you can adapt the slides as you need to. 

Welcome to a new school year and to the Lexia page.

During Summer Academy, I offered a session titled Lexia Core5: Helping MLs Gain & Grow Literacy Skills.

Below are the slides to the presentation as well as the session recording. 

Here is the link to the presentation slides:

The link will force you to make a copy of the slides. Please be sure to read the notes in the note section of each slide for more information beyond the slide.

Meeting Recording:

https://greenvilleschools.zoom.us/rec/share/oBo0KZNhuWcBnnQgpaOOAaceDFsdmxlmNau9aFcupdu3HYQbKlDexNRLLOzHGH33.owba7mJsgQ3sjlos

Since the recommendation is to not have returning students start the program over, please do not reset the initial placement assessment for them to retake. They will pick up where they left off. You will need to run a Skills Progress Report so you have baseline data for each student. I recommend you export a report that gives you information on where everyone is starting in the program. For your new friends, you can run individual reports for each to know where they start. To progress monitor, I suggest running this report monthly or bi-monthly to determine growth.

PLEASE, do not add/create student and/or teacher accounts. Our licenses were purchased for MLs who have not exited the program. Students' accounts will be created automatically once their proficiency information is in PowerSchool if the meet the criteria. No accounts will be given to Interventionist or SpED teachers. You can; however, run reports to share with them on students' progress in the program.

There are a couple of issues with some ESOL teacher accounts that I am looking into that stem from teachers not being listed as a teacher in PowerSchool or no students being assigned to them for instructional support. If you know that you don't have access to other systems please confirm with your clerk that you are indeed on listed as a teacher and have students in instructional support. Those of you at multiple locations may not have your two schools combined and if that is the case I am having to create a separate account for you and add students. I will send you an email if I have to go that route along with directions on how you will have to log-in. If there are other circumstances preventing me from creating your account, and I having to seek assistance from Lexia support I will let you know via email.

Remember students should not be on Lexia during designated ESOL pullout time. In the slides above are some recommended times to suggest to teachers as to when students can work on Lexia.

If you have questions, please let me know. Please do not contact the company we have assigned people we are to work with to track our issues.

Have a fantastic school year!

Christine/Chris

What a great PD session we had on April 20th!!! 

We would again like to thank our colleagues for sharing how they are using the curriculum at their schools. :)

A BIG Thank You to Angelica Herrera (Crestview), Roxana Evan (Paris), Margie Manchester and Rebecca Durst (Monaview), and Amelia Stefanelli and Shelley Weber (Duncan Chapel). We truly appreciate each of you for "Unboxing the Curriculum".

Here is the link to the Slide deck from our April PD. It will force you to make a copy.

Here is the link to the recording from our AprilPD.

How to Motivate Students Using Resources in Core5

Staying motivated to read can be a challenge for many students. Collaborative activities encourage students to learn from each other, which is an appealing option for many students. Here are a few Lexia® Core5® Reading resources you can use to motivate and engage your students. To access these resources and more, visit the Core5 Resources Hub in myLexia and navigate to the Support for Instruction section.

NEW for 2021, Lexia Decodable Readers are ideal for small groups of students. Opportunities for peer support and collaboration often motivate students who struggle to work independently. When used in conjunction with Core5, the Decodable Readers build decoding skills, promote accurate and automatic word recognition, and boost student motivation and confidence.

As students progress through a level in Core5, the updated Lexia Fluency Passage Packs can be used to support and encourage oral reading practice. Have students read a passage aloud to you or to a partner and encourage them to practice as many times as necessary to give an expressive oral reading. 

Lexia Close Reads, for upper-elementary students, include fables, myths, science fiction, realistic fiction, and informational passages. With a focus on comprehension, the full-color Student Readers in Core5 draw students in with engaging topics and discussion questions that target higher-order thinking skills.

It was so good to see those of you who could join us for the Lexia sessions held on March 16, 2021. We had Lexia Trainer, LaTonya Simmons, led the sessions as we took a deeper dive into Lexia. 

During the sessions, LaTonya shared the following resources.

Professional Learning Guide

Data Coaching Sheet

She also shared a demo account:

www.mylexia.com

o Username: class@core5demo.com

o Password: success

Lastly, she shared a survey link. If you attended but did not get the opportunity to complete the survey, please do so this week. Your feedback is important to her.

Participant Survey:

https://tinyurl.com/LexiaSurvey

Facilitator: La Tonya Simmons

Here are the recordings from our Lexia Training sessions. The First link is the training in its entirety.  In the second recording, the beginning of the session was snipped out because it repeated. However, where it picks up is where LaTonya went into a little more detail on a few things that she did not during the first session. 

Recordings:

Lexia Training March 16, 2021  (full training session)

Lexia Training March 16, 2021 (excerpt)

Due to internet connection issues, the recording of the December Curriculum presentation was lost. This is very disappointing because we had 2 guest to share with us during Voices from the Field. 

Our first guest was David Janiskee, ESOL Teacher at Welcome Elementary. David shared with us how he shares a usage report from myLexia with his administration weekly. From there his administrators use the reports to get the whole school involved and celebrating usage of Lexia with "Shout Outs" to the classes that have reached a specific percentage of usage.

Our second guest was Sara Awtrey, Instructional Coach at Monaview Elementary. Sara shared with the group how she introduced the program to the classroom teachers to make them aware of the program, how the teachers and students can access the program, making time for the students to use the program, the resources available to the teachers, and encouraging the students to work in the program.

We truly appreciate David and Sara taking time to share with us.  Lexia is truly a great program. Make sure your students working in the programs in order to meet their weekly goal. Students who are working to meet their weekly usage goal and moving up many levels and making progress. :)

December Slides

Here are the latest tips for navigating Lexia Core5:

I had a phone conference with one of Lexia's Support Technicians and shared  with her some of the issues we have been having that seem to be resolved one day to only return a few days later. 

Here are a few troubleshooting suggestions for teacher accounts:

1) Always make  sure you are logging into the program through Chrome. The program does not work well in some of the other search engines..

2) If you have not done this in a while or ever clear your cache (browsing data). This link guide you through how to do this if you need the support. 

3) Shutdown your laptop and restart after a minute. Sometimes syncing updates require this in order for the updates to happen.  

I have  been working at a few schools this week and seen Core5 being used by the students. We found when the students were having trouble getting on the program the following things helped. 

Here are a couple of troubleshooting suggestions for student accounts:

1)  Be sure the student is typing in their username and password correctly. This is the same information they use to log in on their Chromebook.  It may be helpful to put their information on a sticky note and tape it in their for them. 

2) Shutdown the student's Chromebook and restart after a minute. Sometimes syncing updates require this in order for the updates to happen.

Quick Guide to Error and Alert Messages

Need help getting students onto Lexia:?

Here are some slides to use to guide students in how to access Lexia Core5

We would also like to thank Amy Harper for sharing a doc she created - Easy Access to Lexia Core5

Lexia Refresher Training:

We would like to thank  those of you who were able to  join us for the Lexia Refresher Training.  The session was recorded; however, the first few minutes were missed. 

Please know we are still working to resolve some of the issues that you have been experiencing. This now includes students randomly getting kicked out of the program.  

For those teachers who have had the issue of one day seeing your students and then the next day not, in the recording Tory Pennington shared a work around that has worked for her and Deandra Kiser shared in the chat that in talking with Lexia Help Center she was given the same guidance Tory suggested. Try it out and see if that works for you.

Don't forget to check out the Resources Hub to access the many resources available to you which includes ready-made slide decks, lesson plans, school to home communications, etc.

Creating Exceptional Classes 

Are you at a school with multiple teachers and looking for a way to create manageable groups? Or just want to create separate groups within Lexia? 

You can create what are called Exceptional Classes to manage smaller groups from your roster. Here are some slides to guide you through the process.

We are so happy to say we are ready to start Lexia! 😊

There are still a few glitches with a couple of teachers' accounts not being active and kindergarten students are still not loaded.

Reminders:

• Teachers will login to MyLexia by going into the Portal and then to Backpack for Staff and login (district username and password). Go to Education Apps on the left and scroll down until you see the icon.

         **You will also see the Lexia Core5 Reading icon - this will allow you to see the student version (not the pre-assessment)

•  Students will login to Lexia Core5 Reading by going into the Portal and then to Backpack and login (use the same login info they use to log on to their Chromebook. Or they can use the Backpack icon that is usually found on the bottom of their screen. Then go to Education Apps on the left and scroll down until you see the icon. 

    ****Because teachers and students will access Lexia through the Backpack - there is no need for a username and  password to access Lexia.   ***If it is left idle and times you out, just got back to the Backpack icon to get back in.

• Here are the slides from Monday 's Lexia Start up Overview

• Here is the recording from Monday's Lexia Start up Overview

• Tanya and I are working on a date for later this month to share information about Lexia with school Instructional Coaches so they can share information with classroom teachers.

Last  reminder, Tuesday, October 20th 3pm, Barbara Rabon will be providing a refresher to get everyone going since we are far removed from our initial training. It will be recorded! 😊 In the meantime here are the links to the previous trainings held during the summer.

• • Lexia training part 1 was held on July 27th. Here is the link to access the video for part 1.

  • Lexia training part 2 was held on August 3rd. Here is the link to access the video for part 2.

Please let Christine Ware know if you have any  questions/concerns.

Lexia Help Support is offered on Fridays from 1-1:45 pm using this Zoom link. However, there will be no Help Support on the following Fridays - October 16th  and October 23rd. 

In other Lexia News:

Here are some resource documents for you as shared by our rep.

Lexia is 1 part online and 2 parts offline. One of these is a paper/pencil spiraling review called Skill Builders. JUST ANNOUNCED! ALL Skill Builders will be available in the MyLexia Resources Hub in GOOGLE CLASSROOM Format!! They are 100% ready to be shared with students via that platform. Many teachers use this even when in person so this is an amazing update!  We are very excited about this resource for teachers and hope it is helpful! You have access to all Elementary and MS skill builders if other teachers want to use this resource, even if not using the online portion.

MyLexia > Resources > Resource Hub > Support for Instruction

Family Resources you might want to include in a virtual parent night or newsletter:

-- https://www.lexialearning.com/customer-resources/support-for-families

-- Parent Open Access Sessions- Free 45 min parent sessions : https://www.lexialearning.com/remote-learning/families/training/webinars-videos

-- Parent Links for Remote Learning:  https://www.lexialearning.com/remote-learning/families/core5/overview  

-- Technical Assistance: Visual Guide to Core5 messages and errors:

https://www.lexialearningresources.com/Core5/Core5_Guide_Messages_and_Errors.pdf 

- Online Help Desk: https://help.lexialearning.com/s/

Technical Assistance for Teachers and Admin: 

- Visual Guide to Core5 messages and errors: https://www.lexialearningresources.com/Core5/Core5_Guide_Messages_and_Errors.pdf 

We know you all are anxiously waiting for an official start date to begin using Lexia Core5. We are still not quite there. Please rest assured that Tanya is on this daily. We want to make sure everything is ready for you and your students to access and use properly. It is possible that you may hear everything is set to begin next week or the week after. (fingers crossed) :)