Our state had Dreambox for many years as a way to reach tier 2 and 3 intervention students. The state didn't fund Dreambox this year, but did replace it with Zearn. I've heard great things about Zearn, but I haven't had the opportunity to ever use it. If you have experience with it, will you give me your thoughts, any tips/tricks, and/or ideas on how best to share with teachers all the features? Thanks so much!

I have a water table in my kindergarten classroom and my students love to use it during literacy and math times for a variety of letter and number activities. I also let them use it during our play time so they can explore how water moves and changes in different containers of different shapes and sizes. What do you add to your water table to keep it fun and interesting for your students?

Technology thoughts!

- What digital tool or app has transformed your teaching this year?

- How are you helping students use technology in creative—not just consumptive—ways?

- If you had one hour to show a colleague how you use tech in class, what would you spotlight?

What are some of your favorite STEAM activities that you like to do with elementary students (bonus if you can share something that could be done as a family!)?

We have adopted enVision for our Math Curriculum and text books this year. We are using Savvy as the adaptive practice for third through fifth grade. I don't know much about the program and as the STEM Coach, I don't have a class to play around with to see what it looks like. Any tips or tricks about using this effectively in the classroom? Teachers aren't happy about using it (our state had paid for Dreambox previously to this year and they are reluctant to change) so I'm looking for advice from others who have used it and seen growth for students.

I have been reading a lot about assessments and assessing students to reduce anxiety for students. I came across this idea and I immediately fell in love with it. I also wished I would have seen this as a classroom teacher. What I love about it is that it gives students an opportunity to build their thinking capacity before testing and increase their thought process when working on questions. I know students can't do this before high-stakes testing, but I think using this will build students' confidence and expand their thinking.

Thoughts about this? What are some other strategies you have tried?

"'I'm gathering evidence of learning.'
That shift in language in how I approach the assessment process opened so many doors for how l assess students and what I pay attention to in order to determine
where a student's at in their learning." --Tyler Rabin, educator

I read this quote recently on Edutopia (I went back to try to find the article but unfortunately, I couldn't find it. My notes weren't thorough enough I suppose!) and it helped me figure out how to frame this for teachers. Students don't need to be afraid of assessments and changing how we speak about them could change their mindset. How do you frame assessments for your students? Any tips on how to change teachers' mindsets around assessments or students'?

As a Kindergarten teacher, I guide my students through a calendar routine everyday that includes the date, the weather, counting how many days we have been in school and singing songs about the days of the week and the months of the year. Is there anything else that you do that has been helpful to review or introduce your students to skills that could be added in this time?

I love incorporating read alouds when I'm teaching math and science. As a math interventionist I've used quite a few in the past few years, but as I step into the role as a STEM Coach, I'd like to come up with some science texts that discuss science topics that are good for Kinder through 5th grade. Any ideas are greatly appreciated!