Check out all the Summer 2021 PD below!

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June 28 - July 2 - Orton-Gillingham Training

See flyer at the top right of this page for more information!

​Register HERE

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July 7, 14, 21 AND 28, 2021 - Making Sense of 20-21 (6-12)
What worked? What didn't? Where do we go from here? Join us to reflect, share ideas, and re-energize!  Participants will have time to make an action plan for next school year. (This  training is a 4 day series.)
Cost: $50.00
Time: 9:00-11:00
Location: In-person (Columbia Middle School)
PD Hours: 12.0
Audience: 6-12 Teachers and Administrators
Facilitator: Angela Huels (Middle School Principal, Columbia Middle School)
​Register HERE

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July 16, 2021 - Using Screencastify with In-Person Learning
Description is forthcoming.
Cost: FREE!
Time: 9:00-11:00
Location: Online (The link will be sent at a later date.)
PD Hours: 2.0
Audience: 5-12 Teachers and Administrators
Facilitator: Joe Cipfl (Regional Educational Technology Coordinator, Learning Technology Center) 
Register HERE

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July 19, 2021 - Google Level 2 Certification Prep
The Level 2 Certification workshop will prepare participants to take the Google Educator Level 2 certification exam. Educators who pass the certification test will be able to advertise their status with a personalized certificate and badge. Participants should bring a device for a full hands-on experience.
Cost: FREE!
Time: 9:00-1:00
Location: In-person (Waterloo High School)
PD Hours: 4.0
Audience: K-12 Teachers and Administrators
Facilitator: Joe Cipfl (Regional Educational Technology Coordinator, Learning Technology Center) 
Register HERE

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July 20, 2021 - Whipped Cream and Sprinkles-Jazz Up Your Lessons with Google
Integrate some lesser-known Google tools like Expeditions, Science Journal, Arts & Culture, and Jamboard.  For each Google tool, I’ll give an overview and then allow for exploration.
Cost: FREE!
Time: 9:00-11:00
Location: Online via Google Meet (The link will be sent at a later date.)
PD Hours: 2.0
Audience: 3-12 Teachers and Administrators
Facilitator: Matt Weld (Director of Technology & Innovation for IL Area 5)
Register HERE

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July 22, 2021 - Tools for the Flipped Classroom
Mix up your classroom and school through flipped learning! With the proliferation of
devices in the hands of students, teachers can provide differentiated digital content, activities, and assessments that students can access regardless of location and time. In this hands-on session, learn key tools and strategies on how to create a flipped learning classroom that incorporates traditional and online learning experiences.
Cost: FREE!
Time: 9:00-11:00
Location: Online via Google Meet  (The link will be sent at a later date.)
PD Hours: 2.0
Audience: 6-12 Teachers and Administrators
Facilitator: Matt Weld (Director of Technology & Innovation for IL Area 5)
Register HERE

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July 27, 2021 - The Feldman Toolbox
Blast from the Past!  Do want to review engagement strategies for students without a Chromebook?  Here's a chance to review those Kevin Feldman strategies you learned years ago. 
Cost: $30.00
Time: 9:00-1:00
Location: In-person (Columbia Middle School)
PD Hours: 4.0
Audience: 6-12 Teachers and Administrators
Facilitator: Angela Huels (Middle School Principal, Columbia Middle School)
Register HERE

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​July 29, 2021 - Digital Storytelling (NEW DATE)
Want to help students develop their most creative and innovative abilities?
Introduce them to digital storytelling! Students can use digital tools to create and share
their own stories or experiences, or reflect on what they've learned. Students love to be
creative and share stories about themselves...digital storytelling is the perfect way to let
them do it!
Cost: FREE!
Time: 9:00-11:00
Location: Online via Google Meet (The link will be sent at a later date.)
PD Hours: 2.0
Audience: K-8 Teachers and Administrators
Facilitator: Matt Weld (Director of Technology & Innovation for IL Area 5)
Register HERE

Education Resources

Remote Learning

Ferpa/Coppa Compliant learning resources

Google Classroom
Classroom helps students and teachers organize assignments, boost collaboration, and foster better communication.

Blackboard
With a modern, intuitive, fully responsive interface, Blackboard delivers a simpler, more powerful teaching and learning experience that goes beyond the traditional learning management system.  

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Class Dojo
​Build wonderful classroom communities with parents and students.

Seesaw
A platform for student engagement that inspires students of all ages to do their best, and saves teachers time. 

Standard & Framework Updates

UPDATED Standard Resources:
Priority Standards from ISBE

UPDATED Danielson Framework Resources:
Webinar Recording
The Framework for Remote Learning

Helpful teacher tools

Google Docs
​Google Docs brings your documents to life with smart editing and styling tools to help you easily format text and paragraphs.

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Google Slides
With Google Slides, you can create, edit, collaborate, and present wherever
​you are. 

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Google Forms
​Create a new survey and edit it with others at the same time.  Choose from a variety of pre-made themes or create your own.  

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Google Drawings
Allows users to collaborate and work together in real time to create ​​flowcharts, organizational charts, website frames and more. 

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Jamboard
​A collaborative, digital whiteboard makes it easy to create without boundaries and share ideas in real time. 

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Seesaw
A platform for student engagement that inspires students of all ages to do their best, and saves teachers time. 

Screencastify
​The #1 free screen recorder for Chrome. No download required.  Record, edit and share videos in seconds. 

Video Platforms

Google Meets
Hold video meetings with people inside or outside of your organization. 

Zoom
The leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing chat and webinars.

Virtual Textbooks

CK-12
​CK-12 Foundation provides a library of free online textbooks, videos, exercises, flashcards, and real world applications for over 5000 concepts.

Virtual field trips

San Diego Zoo
​Live cams and videos of your favorite animals.

Over 30 Virtual Field Trips! 
Links to over 30 virtual field trips.

Return to Learn playbook

RETURN TO LEARN PLAYBOOK
​Promoting Engagement, Feedback, and Communication in any Learning Environment

Teacher Tools

Recommended Reading

The Way of Mindful Education
by Daniel Rechtschaffen

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Educated: A Memoir
by Tara Westover

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Harnessing Technology for Deeper Learning
by Scott McLeod, Julie Graber

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Explore Like A Pirate
by Michael Matera

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Poor Students Rich Teaching
by Eric Jensen

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Teach Like a Pirate
by David Burgess

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From Pencils to Podcast
by Katie Stover Kelly, Lindsay Yearta

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Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators
by Elena Aguilar

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The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child
by Donalyn Miller

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​​Teacher resources

PBS Learning Media
​Inspire your students with thousands of free teaching resources including videos, lesson plans, and games aligned to state and national standards. 

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Read Write Think
​Providing educators and students access to the highest quality practices and resources in reading and language arts instruction.

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TeacherTube
​A free community for sharing instructional videos and content for teachers and students.

Powtoon
​Make videos in minutes with Powtoon.  Use our library of styles, characters, backgrounds, and video, or upload your own. 

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Reading IQ
​A complete digital library, with thousands of books to choose from, that your child can access at anytime. 

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Storyline Online
Storyline Online®, streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations.

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National Geographic for Kids
A fact-filled, fast-paced magazine created especially for ages 6 and up. 

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SplashLearn
An award winning math learning program used by over 30 millions kids for math practice.

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Epic!
Unlimited access to 40,000 of the best books, audio books, videos and more for kids 12 and under. 

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Moby Max
This award-winning platform helps struggling learners quickly catch up to grade level and closes learning gaps for all your students.

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Easy CBM
Widely recognized as one of the most state-of-the-art systems in support of Response to Intervention available today. 

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Story Time From Space
Listen to a book read by a real astronaut live from the International Space Station.

Poetry4kids
Here you will find lots of funny poems for kids, classic children’s poems, games, poetry lessons and activities, plus a rhyming dictionary, videos, author visit information, and lots more.

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Khan Academy Kids
​Khan Academy Kids is a free, fun, educational program designed to inspire young children to become learners for life.

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TIME for Kids
Authentic journalism and high-interest nonfiction for students

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Mystery Science
Offers open-and-go lessons that inspires kids to love science. 

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Safe YouTube
Watch, crop and share YouTube videos safely without comments, ads, or other distractions. 

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Freckle
Helps K-12 teachers differentiate instruction to reach every student at their own level across Math, ELA, Social Studies and Science. 

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Amazing Educational Resources
A community of educators sharing resources and support!

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Agriculture Around You
Teacher training, lesson plans, virtual field trips, author visits and so much more!

Parent Resources

Parent Resources

Google Classroom Parent Guide
​Google Classroom is a web-based learning environment.  Use this guide to learn more about your student's digital link to learning.

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Seesaw for Parents
Tutorial for parents on using the reading platform Seesaw.

IXL Parent Guide
Personalized learning program to meet the needs of each student.