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Educating Students to Succeed in a Changing World

March 28, 2020: E-Learning Update

Dear District 27 Parents,

Thank you again for your commitment to our partnership. I am keenly aware of the efforts that you are investing in your children to ensure that they complete their lessons and activities. As we begin our second week of E-learning, I wanted to mention a few things:

Our staff will be working toward creating lessons that include videos and other components to vary the learning and help parents support their children.
As I mentioned in my prior communication, Monday, March 30 will be a teacher Institute Day for planning/collaboration. New E-learning will be posted this week Tuesday through Friday.
Thereafter, for each five-day week, four days per week of curriculum-aligned E-learning will be posted. One day per week students will choose from menu-driven E-learning items and continue any ongoing assignments.
K-5 students will continue to use Exit Slips and 6-8 students will continue to use Canvas to communicate with their teachers.
We have just received (last night) a guidance document from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) that is providing additional information about E-learning moving forward. We are currently processing all the information to help guide our work with you during the school closure. We will provide you more information this upcoming week regarding any modifications to the E-learning plan required by the State.
Now that we have the ISBE guidance on E-learning, we will finalize our protocols for synchronous communication to connect our teachers to students for check-ins (likely using Google Hangouts Meet). We will confirm our plan with legal counsel.

We know that many students are in need of additional independent reading books. Therefore, we are sharing the following information from the Northbrook Public Library:

Tumblebooks: This is great for early elementary students but also has a nice selection of chapter books for middle elementary. Web based and doesn't require an app on tablets and phones. Access it here: https://www.northbrook.info/download/kids/tumblebooks
Overdrive/ Libby: The NB Library is working on transitioning all of the kids titles to Axis 360, but until that happens, there are still titles here: https://dlil.overdrive.com/library/kids. It also has a great selection for teens if you are looking for stuff for the middle school: https://dlil.overdrive.com/library/teens. People can go online or download the Libby app to get access.
The Library is also giving us access for free right now to their TeenBookCloud. You can access it here: https://www.teenbookcloud.com/Home.aspx.
Flipster: This offers downloadable magazines. This has adult and kids titles. There is a whole section with magazines for kids including Ranger Rick Jr., Sports Illustrated for Kids, and Discovery Girls. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip%2Ccpid&custid=s4928737&profile=eon

Additionally, we have learned from the Northbrook Library that they will be adding thousands of dollars of books to Axis 360 in the next week. They are working on getting all the Children's Choice Award lists for this year ordered now that they have been released. The students should be seeing more titles very soon. I would remind you that students will need to have a Northbrook card to access the e-books. But if they don't have one, they can sign up online right now and get an eCard. Please fill out this form.

We will continue to work daily to provide valuable experiences for your children. We remind you to approach the posted learning activities as best suits your children in terms of their ability to engage in an E-learning environment. You know your children best. Be flexible and follow your parental instincts on what is best for them on a daily basis.

We cannot thank you enough for your patience and commitment. This fluid situation is a monumental change for all of us.

With gratitude,

Dave Kroeze, PhD

Superintendent of Schools