Since the beginning of the new school year, the North Merrick faculty have been busy attending training sessions to further integrate instructional technology into their classrooms. Christine Talbot, the district's technology coordinator, has facilitated this professional development, including a multi-part course through the Teacher Center called "All Things Google" in which participants developed their own ready-to-use activities for their students across many Google platforms - like hyperdocs, slide decks, forms and sheets. Teachers also receive support from Joanne Donovan, trainer for the BOCES Digital Age Technology and Education Model Schools program, who meets virtually with them in small groups a few times a month to review programs, troubleshoot issues, and brainstorm ideas. In addition, North Merrick teachers prepare and lead after-school workshops for their colleagues, such as "The Bitmoji Classroom" (creating a personalized virtual classroom with bitmojis), "Discover with Kahoot!" (a game-based software to review and reinforce knowledge), and "Ask Anything with Quizizz" (a new creative software using quizzes).

With the Kami collaborative and annotation app, K-6 students can transform existing documents into a fully interactive experience. Kami easily integrates with Google to draw, split or merge pages, and fill out forms online.

Kindergarten through second grade classes also have access to the Seesaw platform, which allows these youngest students to easily use interactive tools to complete virtual activities. They can select from a variety of drawing tools, voice recordings, photos and more. Teachers are also providing feedback to students in voice recordings and text. Explains Ms. Talbot, "The platform is very user friendly for students, and teachers love Seesaw!"

North Merrick teachers have been using Padlet as a digital bulletin board to brainstorm ideas and provide students with multiple ways to respond through photos, text, video, voice recording, uploads and more. This month, library teachers at Camp, Fayette and Old Mill are using Padlet as the vehicle for their Turkey Disguise Challenge in selected grades. Students download the turkey image in order to dress the turkey as a book character or historical figure. They are encouraged to utilize their craft skills with fabric, construction paper, yarn, ribbon, glitter, buttons, feathers, or other materials. They then need to snap a picture and upload the image by November 20. See the flyer below!

The Fastt Math K-6 program, which was discontinued, has now been replaced by Reflex Math, an individualized curriculum for each student as he or she progresses through the levels toward mastery of basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. Students complete tasks at their own pace, and teachers can monitor their progress and give virtual rewards for success!

Additionally, EnVision Math for K-6 has been renamed Savvas Math. Teacher leaders (Lisa Drewes and Stephanie Schreibman for K-2; Tara Sumberac for grades 3-4; and Alissa Palen for grades 5-6) received training on the new features that they are now turnkeying to grade-level colleagues. "The program is rich in content and rigor and integrates beautifully with Google Classroom," notes Ms. Talbot. Because there are so many components, training will continue throughout the year, and teachers will be sharing their best practices and tips and tricks with one another.