Software & Online
ACCELERATE LEARNING STEMSCOPES MATH
(www.stemscopes.com)
Accelerate Learning has released its first core mathematics program, STEMscopes Math. Available in English and Spanish, the new STEMscopes Math curriculum will be available for grades 3–5 and will then be expanded to grades K–8, with Common Core and custom state versions to launch in the coming years.
BULB DIGITAL PORTFOLIO FREE BULB+
(www.bulbapp.com/h/bulb-digitalportfolio-gives-accounts-to-all-teachers)
bulb Digital Portfolios is giving all teachers bulb+, the company’s premium account, absolutely free. Now teachers everywhere can use bulb to fuel their professional growth and teaching. With a free bulb+ account, teachers can create personal collections, curriculum and resources, track professional development, establish learning plans, and more.
CAPSTONE PEBBLEGO RELAUNCH
(www.capstonepub.com/library)
Capstone announced substantial enhancements to its PebbleGo database. Among the improvements include accessibility for children with disabilities, simple navigation, text-to-speech on all articles, transcripts for all videos, screen reader support, alternative text and descriptive titles, access keys for keyboard-only navigation, and mobile responsiveness.
CATCHON
(www.catchon.com)
CatchOn unveiled a brand-new platform that offers an add-on module for class-level data. The new platform launched ahead of the 2019-20 school year. The comprehensive, device-agnostic solution will deliver the same great features and services CatchOn users nationwide have come to know and rely on.
CLASSCRAFT STORY MODE SEASON 1
(www.classcraft.com)
Classcraft: Season 1 is a part of Classcraft’s new “Story Mode,” which is designed to help teachers improve student engagement, foster a positive school climate, and promote social emotional learning (SEL) through a series of stories set within the Classcraft world. Season 1 explores themes of self-discovery and human relationships.
CODE WITH GOOGLE
(edu.google.com)
Code with Google combines Google’s free curriculum and programs that build coding skills—from beginner level to advanced—to help students succeed. Teachers can integrate CS First into their classroom, guide their high school students to the free code learning app Grasshopper to learn Javascript, or share CS scholarship opportunities with students.
CONSCIOUS DISCIPLINE & MAXLINK GROUP PARTNERSHIP
(consciousdiscipline.com)
Conscious Discipline announced a partnership with Beijing-based Maxlink Education Group. Conscious Discipline’s trauma-informed social and emotional learning best practices will be fully implemented in 10,000 preschool and kindergarten sites, primary and middle school classrooms and consulting centers in China by 2029.
CURRICULUM ASSOCIATES IREADY & READY CLASSROOM MATHEMATICS LEARNING GAMES
(i-readycentral.com/articles/learninggames)
Curriculum Associates has added Learning Games to its i-Ready and Ready Classroom Mathematics programs. The new interactive games provide engaging mathematics practice that strengthens students’ understanding of mathematical concepts—including fluency and number sense—and fosters a positive relationship with the challenging skills found in today’s elementary standards.
DISCOVERY EDUCATION
(www.DiscoveryEducation.com)
To help educators welcome students back to the classroom after summer vacation, Discovery Education has added immersive new assets to its digital services, including engineering and biology programs from Science Channel, investigation and conservation content from Animal Planet, new content from Shark Week, Spanish availability for math videos, and more.
EDSBY CAPTURE
(www.edsby.com)
Edsby now offers a mobile device application to help educators document student progress and achievement. Edsby Capture, available via the App Store and Google Play, gives students and teachers the ability to easily capture photographs and video of their work, and create evidence items within the commercial Edsby platform. After a record is uploaded, it’s automatically added to the Edsby evidence stream and associated with relevant students.’
FOUNDATIONS IN LEARNING UPDATE
(www.foundations-learning.com)
Foundations in Learning launched the Foundations Learning System, an integrated solution that combines a screener, diagnostic and intervention, along with curriculum guides and detailed reporting, to change academic outcomes for students from second grade through high school who struggle with reading comprehension and fluency due to poor word recognition skills.
GOOGLE FOR EDUCATION ORIGINALITY REPORTS
(edu.google.com)
Google for Education launched Originality Reports, a new feature that helps both instructors and students ensure the authenticity of coursework by flagging any text that has missed citations and has high similarity with text on the web or in books. It is available through the Classrooms and Assignments feature.
MCGRAW-HILL ALEKS ALLSTAR EDUCATOR AWARDS
(www.mheducation.com/aleksallstars)
McGraw-Hill announced the launch of the first annual ALEKS All-Star Educator Awards, a new awards program honoring outstanding educators. The inaugural 2019 program will recognize one K-12 teacher and one higher education instructor who have used ALEKS to achieve exceptional results, going above and beyond to help students succeed.
SKYWARD SIS & ERP SELF-ASSESSMENT: DISTRICTCHECK
(www.skyward.com)
Skyward announced a new SIS and ERP self-assessment, DistrictCheck, developed in partnership with GreyEd Solutions, which helps school leaders collect feedback from stakeholders through a private URL. Then, the system organizes the data to give a detailed picture of the performance of each district’s systems and processes.
SQUIRRELS LLC DITTO TVOS RECEIVER APP
(www.airsquirrels.com)
Ditto is a wireless presentation software made by Squirrels LLC, a creator of screen mirroring technology including AirParrot and Reflector. Ditto users can screen mirror multiple device types and up to four devices simultaneously with the new Ditto tvOS Receiver app. The app covers Chrome OS, iOS, Windows, and more.
XELLO
(www.xello.world/elementary)
Xello, the K-12 college, career, and future readiness program, has launched Xello for Elementary. Created to engage elementary aged students, the program equips learners with a tailored experience that encourages self-discovery, creates career awareness and nurtures future-readiness skills. Available in English and Spanish (U.S.), English and French (Canada).
Hardware & Software
Vernier Software & Technology (www.vernier.com/biology/physiology) launched the Go Direct Spirometer and Go Direct Blood Pressure sensors to engage students in hands-on data collection. These new sensors join the suite of curriculum resources for high school and college-level physiology which includes 11 Go Direct sensors and the Human Physiology Experiments lab book.
FIRST (www.firstinspires.org) and LEGO Education announced that the 2019-2020 FIRST LEGO League and FIRST LEGO League Jr. seasons will task students to explore topics related to architecture, infrastructure, and sustainability of future cities, as well as a new offering for kids 4- to 6-years-old: FIRST LEGO League Jr. Discovery Edition.
The Hall Research (hallresearch.com/page/Products/UHB-SW2) UHB-SW2 is a wall plate HDBaseT extender kit comprised of a 2-gang wall plate Sender and a Receiver. The system is perfect for all commercial AV and K-12 installations and supports HDMI, USB 2.0 and VGA with audio input.
Sphero (www.sphero.com), with the addition of the littleBits (littlebits.com)
line, will now feature a portfolio of over 140 patents in robotics, electronics, software, and the Internet of Things. Teachers will have access to thousands of community-generated inventions and activities, and over a thousand lessons tied to NGSS, CSTA and Common Core standards.
Ashly Audio’s (www.ashly.com) new mXa-1502 Mixer Amp is an integrated product bringing four zones of mixing and DSP, plus 2 x 150W of power and programmable mic preamps and a complete DSP suite – all in a single, compact rack-mountable unit. Schools can use this for theater productions and auditorium presentations.
