A monthly newsletter for parents, grandparents, families and the community dedicated to updates and information on how McKinney ISD uses technology in the classroom.

Safari Montage is a streaming, on demand video service that provides up to date, content based video from over 50 publishers including PBS Kids, BBC, National Geographic, The History Channel, Disney Education, A&E, Khan Academy and Scholastic. Safari Montage includes not only video resources, but print and visual content as well. Safari Montage is searchable by subject, title, or content area. This service is available to all students at home and at school 24/7

~ See your campus administrator or Media Resource Specialist for login information. ~

Overdrive is MISD's digital library for all students in grades PK-12. The MISD Overdrive Library contains thousands of titles for all levels of readers. Books can be downloaded to any device (eReaders, tablets, laptops, smart phones etc.) and accessed for a two week window of time. Once a book is finished it can be electronically returned or renewed with the touch a of a button. See your campus Media Resource Specialist for login information or to make suggestions for new titles to add to the district collection.

Gale Virtual Reference Library is a multi-volume online collection of reference books for student research available 24/7/365. The GVRL library is set up to meet the needs of students based on their grade and interest levels. Titles in GVRL can be translated in to 13 languages, downloaded to any device and searched or leveraged any time they are needed.

~See your campus administrator or Media Resource Specialist or login information. ~

MISD students have the option of accelerating their course work by taking an additional course online during the Fall of 2016. Courses are provided by Apex Learning and taught by MISD teachers. There are no course meeting times, and classes can be accessed 24/7 for the duration of the term. Online classes are available to students in grades 8-12. Please see THIS BROCHURE for more information on registering for online course work with MISD.

The following Twitter accounts are great resources for parenting in a digital world:

• @P21- Partnership for 21st Century Learning
• @commonsense- Common Sense Media
• @courosa- Dr. Alec Couros
• @globalearner- Alan November

1:The World Assurance fees for Junior and Sophomore level high school students can now be made with Credit/Debit card through the Home Access Center using either the parent or student login information. Parents can pay with cash or check in person with the campus book keeper. Payment will be taken through December 16th. ($50.00 or $25.00 for students on free/reduced lunch).

Please click here for more information and directions about how to make payments through HAC.

Did you know that the Texas Education Agency provides technology TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) that cover technology tools and applications for students in grades K-8? These TEKS are based the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for students and cover 6 strands:

• Creativity and Innovation
• Communication and Collaboration
• Research and Information Fluency
• Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making
• Digital Citizenship
• Technology Operations and Concepts

Visit the TEA website HERE to see a listing of grade level technology application TEKS or visit THIS SITE to see a listing of the National Education Technology Standards for Students.