Tech & Media Newsletter
December 2021 - January 2022
"The time is always right to do what is right." -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Help for the Holidays
Did you know that according to the World Giving Index, the U.S. is the most charitable nation in the world!
And did you know many local Lexington organizations offer special assistance to families in need during the holiday season? If you have students and their families who may need help with food, clothes, or childcare over the holiday break, please invite them to visit our district website for a list of Lexington organizations that are offering special assistance this season. Go to: www.lexcs.org >> Parents & Students >> Community Services. They may also contact their child's school counselor. Lexington and the LCS district are always here to help!
Do today's students recognize the significance of MLK day?
Below are two great sites for K-12 that offer lesson plans, videos, and other resources you can use with your students. These are provided by NEA and Stanford University. Be sure to check these out and consider using some of them in the days leading up to MLK Day.
In Need of Online Textbooks?
NC is a leader in digital teaching and learning and has spent the last couple of years working with educators across the state to curate and establish an online repository of high quality instructional resources.
An easy way to get started is visit the GoOpenNC Collections.
- To begin, log into IAM/NCEdCloud
- Click GoOpen in the dashboard
- From the GoOpenNC page, select Discover and choose Collections
- Scroll through and click on your content area
- On the Collections page, use thee drop down to select Textbooks (or search by Standards, Grade Level, etc.)
These resources can all be linked to Canvas and accessible by students. The resources are available for all NC Educators for use with all K-12 students. Check it out!
Recent iPad Changes for every student!
This week we rolled out a new profile that was pushed to every student device. Students can no longer:
- turn off bluetooth
- reset their iPads
- log out of their LCS Apple ID
- airdrop. to other students
- and a few more...
This means you can focus on teaching and students can focus on learning! When using the Classroom app, teachers can also ensure students only visit the websites they make available and can view the iPad screen of all the students in their classroom...all from the app. This app also allows the teacher and student to airdrop content back and forth easily!
If you have any issues with these features on student iPads, please submit a Tech Ticket and your school tech will get right back to you. If you would like to know more about how to use the Classroom app, please reach out to your media coordinator or your school's i3 team!
K-5....Feeling Festive??
You can find the book by going to the Teacher App. Click My Resources and choose the Documents Tab. You can then GET the Book. You can download the templates and push it out to students via Schoolwork.
In the Book Store you will find more festive challenges for you to download and try with students: Doodle-a-Day and 12 Days of Creativity - Volume 1 and 2
Need more inspiration, check out #12daysofcreativity on Twitter and there you will be able to see teacher's challenges.
6-12...Build Listening Comprehension with Sketchnoting
Use the link below to see how this high school teacher and Apple Distinguished Educator teaches her students how to create sketch notes for English Class. Sketchnoting can be applied across all content areas to help students understand and remember new information.
SPOTLIGHTING OUR MEDIA CENTERS: Lexington Senior High School
As we wrap up this calendar year and get ready for the next one, we want to celebrate some of the great things we’ve seen at Lexington High School recently.
LSHS received a large book order earlier in the fall and have seen many high school students, often reluctant to read for pleasure, excited to read and discuss the new materials. Many are even asking their friends to return a book so they can check it out next!
The LSHS media center commonly hosts college events, such as video chats with college representatives, TRIO Lunch & Learn presentations, and recently covered the media center with festive streamers to celebrate College Application Week. It also serves as a classroom when students who are dual-enrolled at DDCC use the space to for their distance learning classes. The center is used for professional seminars, student presentations, make-up testing...and even had a TODDLER TAKE-OVER recently when LSHS students working on their Child Development certification got hands-on practice with a group of tiny toddlers!
There’s always something going on in the LSHS Media Center so drop by anytime!
Lexington City Schools
Website: www.lexcs.org
Location: 1010 Fair Street, Lexington, NC, USA
Phone: (336)242-1527
Twitter: @LCSJackets