Curriculum Corner

Did you know there is a District-wide initiative to get students checking out books from our district libraries? Have you checked them out lately? Did you know we have lots of non-fiction and fiction e-resources available for staff and students to utilize as well? Did you know a good portion of our ESSER Funds were utilized to completely revamp the selection in our school libraries?

There is a group working to help students develop (or reignite) a passion for reading. We want to see students carrying library books around again. We hope to hear that students are getting in trouble because they don't want to put their books away when we start class, or because they are sneaking them out trying to read while we are teaching (remember when that used to happen). We are hoping you encourage them to close their Chromebooks and open a "real" book when they complete their work and that they are reading books for pleasure. Can you imagine if students get more excited about books instead of their phones? Okay, maybe some of this is a pipe dream....but didn't some other really big dreams start out that way too?

We will feature a section in the smore each week entitled D118 Reads and here you will find ideas and inspiration to help students (any maybe even yourself) get passionate about a good book or two.

Happy Reading!

Take Care,

MEB

See how one teacher uses a rewards-based program to help both joyful and reluctant readers build a habit of reading.

(click on the picture to get the full story!)

Good afternoon D118 Family,

There have been multiple questions about Clever username and passwords. Below you will find instruction on how to change password and look up student username.

Here are the details and training video:

To Change a Clever Password:

1. Go to Clever.
2. Navigate to My Students.
3. Open the student roster.
4. Choose the class.
5. Select the student.
6. Set a new Clever password using a combination of numbers, letters, and special characters.

If Clever does not accept the password, it will display an error message. For example, avoid using simple passwords like “ABC1234”.

Error message you will receive:

Clever Username: Your Clever username is the same as your district username or Skyward log in. If a student is unsure of their username, you can check in Clever.

To Find a Student Username:

1. Go to Clever.
2. Navigate to My Students.
3. Open the student roster.
4. Filter by class.
5. Go to More Class Tools.
6. Download student usernames.

If you encounter a student username that looks like this: CRISPBRO0000, please send me a ticket, that means something has not communicated correctly between Skyward and Clever.

Clever/Username & Password Training Video

Important Note: All usernames are now our district usernames (Skyward Logins). Please do not use your network email address. You will be asked to change your password daily.

If you have any problems updating passwords, please send the request to me.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Have a great day!

Kindest regards,

Christy Orr

Oct. 1 | 11 a.m.: Webinar: Part 2 - Helping Students Learn: Using Various Forms of Assessment in CTE

Oct. 18: Deadline to submit Illinois State Flag designs

Nov. 15: 8th annual Mastering KIDS Summit

Please note this is not a complete list of events, meetings, and deadlines. For more events and details, visit the ISBE Calendar webpage

Need support to implement the new Illinois Learning Standards for Social Studies?

Apply to join the i3 Professional Learning Series

Are you a K-12 educator or administrator looking for support to implement the new Illinois Learning Standards for Social Studies? Then this paid professional learning opportunity is just for you!

ISBE is excited to continue a partnership with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Education Social Studies Network to provide a five-month-long professional learning series and resources to K-12 social studies teachers across the state. Watch this video to learn more about the series.

The i3 (Inclusive, Inquiry-Based Social Studies for Illinois) professional learning series will guide participating educators through activities that:

• Prepare K-12 educators to implement the inquiry-based Illinois Learning Standards for Social Science and the Inclusive American History Mandates.

• Share curricular and pedagogical resources that support inquiry-based and justice-centered social studies.

• Build networks of K-12 social studies educators from across the state of Illinois.

Each month, i3 participants will complete online modules and attend synchronous Zoom sessions. Attendance is required for each Zoom session, which are scheduled from 4:30-6:30 p.m.:

• Oct. 22, 2024

• Nov. 19, 2024

• Dec. 17, 2024

• Jan. 21, 2025

• Feb. 18, 2025

• March 18, 2025

The monthly online modules can be completed at your own pace, but will be due before the next meeting date. Each module should take between two and four hours to complete. Each participant who attends every session and completes all the online coursework will receive a payment of $450 and 24 professional development hours.

If you have questions, please reach out to Dr. Asif Wilson at ajwilso1@illinois.edu or Dorlande Charles at dcharles@isbe.net.

Digital Letter Tiles:

Are you looking for a way for students to practice building words on their chromebooks/tablets? Really Great Reading offers a free version of their digital letter tiles that you can bookmark on student devices to use for making words when you need a digital option.

Really Great Reading Letter Tile Freeplay

You can also add:

Decodable Books:

We have reorganized our decodable book options in Google Slides. In this folder you will find additional folders with decodable books by skill. These books are in a printable format for you if you are looking for additional books to send home with students for practice.

Decodables

Get Confident With Student Behavior

What you'll get:

• Specific, helpful teaching on how to understand student behavior
• Research based practices to drop into your classroom immediately
• Ways to increase positive student behavior without completely changing your teaching style
• Data collection systems that are practical for educators to use
• Printable guided notes
• Printable resources to use for your classroom

This content was created to help educators understand student behavior and improve the cultures of their classrooms.

If you would like access to the Teach Train Thrive webinar, reach out to Rachel Webber by email.

Flyers for the following workshops are attached. Please find registration links within the attachments.

• Understanding and Evaluating Components of an FBA

• Understanding and Evaluating Components of a BIP

• (For Admin.) Streamlining Individualized Behavioral Support: Developing a Collaborative Process in your School

UPCOMING WEBINARS

None at this time - please check back

Calling all K – 12th grade teachers! Have you heard of Paper and want to know more? Look no further.

Link: PAPER

Paper is an online tool that our students can access for: personalized academic support (24/7 tutoring), interactive, independent practice (bell ringers), & future exploration and guidance (that supports AVID).

If you are seeking additional information or training, please contact Nicole Zaayer.

• MEB: Director ext. 1086
• Heidi Goula: Secretary to the Director ext. 1098
• Cathie Witte: Records and Professional Development ext. 1092
• Julie Cox: Literacy Coordinator ext. 1064
• Christy Orr: Tech Integration Specialist ext. 1087
• Sara Stimac: Literacy Coach ext. 1939
• Angela Wilson: Math Coach ext. 3297
• Brian Klett: Fine Arts Facilitator ext. 1075
• Nicole Zaayer: Curriculum Facilitator ext. 1090
• Bob Cundiff - Math Coach ext.3538
• Jacob Roskovensky: Media Specialist ext. 1533