RIDGEFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOLS
PROGRAM NEWSLETTER
Program Newsletter
Technology within our Schools
Website: http://www.ridgefieldschools.com/domain/112
Location: 555 Chestnut Street, Ridgefield, NJ
Phone: 201-945-7747
Where We've Been: The Beginnings of Integration
For the past three years, the Ridgefield Public Schools have invested in the upgrade and expansion of technology throughout the district. The onset of PARCC testing has prompted many districts to expand technology tools because it is a testing platform that is online. Ridgefield has worked to expand our tools beyond just testing.
At the upper elementary grade levels and the high school, the schools have been provided with laptop carts that are shared among grade levels and content areas. The blended learning program has been piloted to provide students with 1:1 technology throughout the school day in the areas of math and science. Many other online programs have also been incorporated into the classrooms. Programs such as Study Island, IXL, Achieve 3000, and Front Row provide students with the opportunity to bring the learning experience beyond the classroom. A majority of the textbook content is also available to students online. Your child no longer has to carry that heavy backpack, full of textbooks, home from school.
The district also launched an initiative to improve our communication with our parents. The schools worked to have more of our parents connected to Genesis, our student database system. On this system, parents can monitor student grades, receive report cards, and view graded assignments. The district also invested in a new and improved website that provides our parents with the most up to date information regarding events within the district. On this one website, parents can view the school calendars, find daily homework, go to individual teacher web pages, and garner information regarding district presentations and initiatives.
Where we are now: Continuing our Growth
In an effort to continue the expansion of the technology offered to our students, the district invested in additional Chromebook technology for our students. Teachers were also provided with laptops to enable them to work from any location. This feature is especially helpful to those teachers who travel between classrooms and building locations.
Students in grades 1 and 2 were provided with grade level carts. The students and teachers now have access to the technology throughout the school day with the use of the mobile cart. Students use the cart to work with the online components of our programs such as: Razzkids, Brainpop, or Pebblego. The students also participated in their trimester benchmark test in math using the online software from the Envisions 2.0 program. Using technology at the primary grade levels provides students with a foundation for the skills of the 21st century and prepares them for the rich technological environment of the upper grade levels.
In grades 4-12, the number of Chromebooks made available to our students increased with carts at both Slocum Skewes School and the high school. The blended learning program has expanded to the middle and secondary levels incorporating the areas of English, math, and world language. Students are now using new technology such as: Studysync, Aleks, Rosetta Stone, and Revision Assistant to individualize and drive their education. Students are working in the virtual class using Google classroom. This effort of the district in the area of technology has been recognized by our peer districts and technology companies, as the Ridgefield Public Schools hosted a blended learning training event for both our teachers and those from other school districts in New Jersey and New York this past summer.
The district is continually striving to increase our communication with our parents and stakeholders. Each school is scheduling parent training nights in the area of technology to ensure that our parents have the information and access regarding the new online programs from their child's classroom. Please check our website regarding the dates of the ongoing trainings. The Ridgefield Public Schools also just published a new Facebook page titled 'Ridgefield07657". Updates, events, and district information are also posted on this page.
Please feel free to like our Ridgefield07657 page using this link: https://www.facebook.com/ridgefield07657/?fref=ts
Spotlight on our Special Services: A Child's Sensory Haven
Sensory Integration is the process by which the brain organizes and interprets sensory information gathered from sight, sound, smell, touch, taste, spatial orientation and body awareness and turn it into an appropriate motor or behavioral response.
Many children on the autism spectrum have difficulty with this process. This lack of integration can contribute to stereotypical behaviors, over or under responsiveness, and difficulty with focusing and maintaining attention. All this can impact upon a child's ability to interact appropriately and effectively with people and objects in their environment. This affects learning.
"The Child's Sensory Haven" is an area located in the Physical Therapy Room at Shaler Academy. It is available to all students in the Magnet School Program who are experiencing difficulty modulating behavior due to sensory integrative dysfunction. Children are evaluated by a physical and/or occupational therapist to determine if the use of this area may be beneficial for the child. This specially designed room allows the child to be placed in a controlled environment to help them calm and focus.
The "Child's Sensory Haven" is a small area with a ceiling, three walls and a curtain that help absorb sound and light. It has a multitude of calming sensory materials. These materials are used based upon the individual needs of the child. In this way the "just right input" can be provided.
It has soft mats, bean bags, cushions, body soxs, weighted items, and a squish chair. Light is controlled by providing darkness, low light, black light, projections of stars, clouds, changing colors and lighted hand held objects. Sound is controlled from nothing to quiet music, and environmental sounds (ex: ocean, babbling brooks, birds, train, etc.)
Tactile materials are available from vibration to various types of textures and resistance.
All children are accompanied by an adult who remains with them throughout the time that they are there. Documentation is kept on the input which is effective for that child.
This haven has helped many of our students to regroup so that they can go back to their classrooms to participate in school tasks. It also allows us, as educators and therapists, to discover what the child is either seeking or avoiding and then providing what is needed during the school day.
This calming place is just one of the many strategies that are used by therapists and teachers to help our students learn.
where we are going: 21st Century Skills
- Maintain the STEM Chairperson in their current role. The continuation and expansion of this vital staff member to provide expertise to the teachers in all grade levels from k - 12 will strengthen the growth of our technology programs and ensure that the technology tools are provided to all grade levels.
- Provide the funding for curriculum resources to continue to invest and implement in the programs that have begun their implementation over the past two years. Continue to invest in programs and tools to allow programs such as the blended learning program to continue and expand to enhance the instruction of all students throughout our schools.
- Expand library media, technology, and information literacy by adding two specialists. Currently, the Ridgefield School District has no operating library media centers. It has only one Library Media Specialist for all students in Grades K-12 who delivers part of a newly developed information literacy program. Additional staffing is needed to expand the information literacy program, create more technology electives and courses, and provide students with a more comprehensive experience and the much needed and valuable instruction, giving students the tools to compete in the 21st century.
- Develop a three year technology plan. This three year plan will allow the district to plan for the expansion and further integration of technology throughout the district. It will also provide for an evergreen maintenance plan to ensure that the current technologies are in working order and updated on a regular basis.
These plans for the future will provide our students with an even more solid foundation in using technology and media to drive their learning.
GAFE: Google Apps for Education or G Suite
What does Google do for our schools. There are many applications within the Google platform that allow students to work together virtually. Students can be in their own homes, working on the same group project simultaneously. This is true virtual communication, team building, and a skill for the 21st century.
GAFE or G Suite are the core services are the heart of Google's educational offering to schools. The core services are Gmail (including Inbox by Gmail), Calendar, Classroom, Contacts, Drive, Docs, Forms, Groups, Sheets, Sites, Slides, Talk/Hangouts and Vault. These programs are similar to the Microsoft programs such as: Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Your child received a Gmail address through our schools that allows him or her to access our Google programs. Students can submit work to a teacher for review or a grade virtually and teachers have the opportunity to view student work in real time.
Your child may be experiencing interaction with the Google classroom. Google classroom is a blended learning platform for schools that aims to simplify creating, distributing and grading assignments in a paperless way. Through the classroom, the teacher can post assignments, communicate with students, create conversation threads, grade student work, and provide students with access to classroom content. All of the work that a student completes for a class using the G Suite programs will be readily accessible to the teacher. This month, all of our teachers will be using Google calendar for the posting of homework and assignments. This will appear on our district website and through Google classroom.