As COVID Continues…

Some of you may be out for the summer, some of you may have one more month, and some of you may be gearing up to start summer school. Whatever these next three months brings you, one thing remains the same; we will continue to provide curriculum and technology support as well help you brainstorm and provide a number of resources to meet your students’ unique needs.

In this issue of Tips and Tricks we are sharing one way a user has implemented SiLAS’ new components. Cheryl Fitzgerald is a SLP from Tenafly Public Schools in New Jersey. Cheryl was also showcased in a previous SiLAS Spotlight. Please take a moment to read Cheryl’s excitement and success she has experienced using SiLAS with distance learning. 

“I was watching your video this past weekend (on how to make the videos remotely) and set this as my students’ assignments for the week.  And within day, a student made a video with his mom, saved it and I was able to view it!  This is SOOOOOO cool and I’m so appreciative of you guys for all your amazing work, so thank you!  For the prior 2 weeks I used the anxiety curriculum–given the current situation, I wanted to gauge their overall well-being–and was able to find books to go along with it, on EPIC (Scaredy Squirrel, Jaylah’s Jitters, etc) that they have access to. I used Google slides to make a presentation, and then they could type their responses right in there.  It was a great lesson and it brought up a lot of things.”

After reading Cheryl’s enthusiastic response, we thought there isn’t a better way to both show you the potential of the distance learning tools and our willingness to come alongside our users and help ideas become reality! Our team is always excited when educators share their personal spin on the SiLAS curriculum. This week we encourage you to select an element from the program and make it your own! The bulleted list below highlights Cherly’s spin and a few other ideas to support kids. 

  • Choose Read Alouds or Independent Books to Accompany Topic
  • Incorporate Other Apps and Programs into SiLAS Lessons (NearPod, Google Slides, etc…) 
  • For Students Without Access to Technology Create a Script By Phone 
  • Engage Learners by Creating Polls Using an App Like Kahoot to Critique, Review and Assess Example Videos 
  • Encourage Students to Create Scripts/Animations Independently and Schedule a Zoom Debut
  • Be Creative and Share Your Brilliant Ideas! 

From all of us at SiLAS, stay well and find ways to relax and enjoy the nice weather!  

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