Conference Scheduling
Teachers on Monday Sue will be getting your conference scheduling online in Skyward so you can work on setting your schedule. Remember to block out breaks, add additional times if you would like (ie starting at 3:45pm instead of 4:00pm) and connecting with special educators/parents to pre-schedule conferences with certain families of students on IEPS. That way these times can be pre-scheduled in Skyward before parent sign up begins. Please use your Wednesday 8:05am team planning time to create your schedule and connect with special educators/parents regarding pre-scheduled conference times. Skyward conference sign up will go live to parents on Monday, February 2nd. For each conference night, parent sign up will end two days prior. Hopefully this will help you all with the problem of parents changing their conference times during the day of conferences.
K-5 Digital Reading
Following last week's ELF meeting, Katie Coppenbarger was kind enough to share her blog highlighting some of the discussions around digital reading and the connection to MAP assessments and the new Badger Exam coming in the spring for 3rd-5th graders.
This fall Nancy Dressel presented at each of the classroom grade level professional development days about reading and technology. I have copied below some of the information that Nancy made available on our Hudson Elementary School Professional Learning website because I would like to encourage you to provide opportunities for students to practice reading and building stamina reading on electronic devices. We know that students are required to read from computer screens effectively for MAP assessments, they will also be required to do so for the Badger Exam but in addition we know that much of the reading they will do in life outside of school and even at the middle school and high school will be done on screens. Nancy noted in her presentation that skills learned reading from books do not necessarily transfer when students read on devices, the best way to help make sure it happens is to allow students to practice. You are encouraged to reserve the computer lab so that students can practice reading on a computer-is their stamina the same as it is with books? What do you observe about their reading? If you have a comprehension conversation with them after they read how is their comprehension? If you have found a good way to help support these skills with your students share them through the comments below. I also encourage you to share your observations and learning with your team so that you can learn and grow together as we support our students being successful in our technology rich world!
Reading is always an interaction between a person and a technology, be it a computer or an e-reader or even a bound book. - Anne Mangen, a professor at the National Centre for Reading Education and Research at the University of Stavanger, in Norway
Although there is no longitudinal research data about digital reading, we do know this:
- Digital reading is and will continue to be a part of our students personal and school/professional lives and is a part of our current standardized assessment systems.
- Digital reading involves more distractions (multi-media, hyperlinks, ads, etc...) than reading a print resource.
- Students do not automatically transfer comprehension skills and strategies initially learned with print resources when reading on a device.
So, we need to:
- Create opportunities for students to read on devices.
- Teach students how to self-monitor and exercise self-control to navigate and disregard distractions when reading on a device.
- Teach students how to use digital tools to apply comprehensions strategies when reading digital resources.
Being a Better Online Reader by: Maria Konnikova - New Yorker July 16, 2014
Resources for Digital Text
Media Center Databases - Hudson Elementary Media Centers Homepage
Usernames and Passwords for each building are available under the School tab (you must be signed into your HSD Google account to view) or from your building media teacher.
Usernames and Passwords for each building are available under the School tab (you must be signed into your HSD Google account to view) or from your building media teacher.
- BookFlix
- FreedomFlix
- TrueFlix
- Science Flix
- PebbleGo
Media Center ebooks
Check with your building Media Teacher username/password information.
- Follette Shelf
- *New options coming soon through Mackin
WI Databases - Badgerlink
- Britannica School - Elementary - Encyclopaedia Britannica and other reference sites (can be filtered by Lexile and annotated with Diigo)
- Primary Search - Full text magazines for young students (searchable by Lexile)
- Searchasaurus - Magazine articles, book chapters, and images for elementary students (searchable by Lexile level)
- Kids Search (searchable by Lexile)
*Public Library Card required
Classroom Subscriptions
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