This newsletter is full of great information on Gizmos, Reflex and the latest goings on at ExploreLearning:

New Reflex Feature: The Progress Tree

Kids Cheer for Reflex

Summer of Gizmos

Gizmos Win AEP Distinguished Achievement Award

Job Opportunities: Project Managers in Alabama & Quebec

New Reflex Feature: The Progress Tree

Students have been able to use the tokens they earn in Reflex to purchase clothing, hairstyles, and accessories for their avatars. These rewards have been a big hit with students. But of course, kids have been asking for even more things to do with their tokens. Well, we have good news. In the next couple of weeks, Reflex will unveil an additional fun and motivational feature: the Progress Tree.

The Progress Tree is a symbol of student's fluency and can be customized in exciting ways. The tree starts out as a sapling and grows larger as students become fluent with more fact families. After two to three weeks of good usage, a new section of the Reflex store will open up allowing students to purchase cool items for their tree, including various animated critters. Students can even look at a cross-section of the tree to see the fact families that have fueled its growth.

Once your students have decked out their trees, please feel free to post your favorites to the Reflex Facebook page and show off their progress!

Kids Cheer for Reflex

Recently we asked some educators using Reflex what they thought of our great new math fact fluency product. They had so many great things to say about Reflex, we couldn't possibly list them all here. We'll just share some of the best feedback about how their students are responding to Reflex...

Jennifer Locke of St. Johns County, FL says, "My students LOVE Reflex! They use it at home and any available time during the day!"

Michelle Staton of Bryant Schools, AR notes, "The students want to work on the games at home. They are enthusiastic about having time in class to work on the games."

Marcia Barton of Duval Schools, FL writes, "They LOVE it and cheer for it every day!"

Josie DeGraaf from Niagra DSB, ON talks about "how much the students are engaged. The kids love the milestones. I print them out daily…very motivating."

Lauren Fisbeck of Fort Bend ISD, TX writes, "The students are so motivated and have a blast using the program. I am also seeing great results!"

That's just a few of the scores of enthusiastic comments we've received. If you haven't tried Reflex with your students yet, you can take a free trial and see for yourself how students respond. And when you do, let us know! We'd love to see your feedback on the Reflex Facebook page.

Summer of Gizmos

When you return to school in the fall, it's always nice to come back and start fresh with a clean slate. So you may want to think ahead about your Gizmo lists. You can delete classes and Gizmos you won't need and add more for your fall classes.

Before next fall, you will also need to delete current students from your classes and add new students. If you do it now, your current students will still be able to access Gizmos over the summer, but you will not be able to access their information. Consider leaving current students in your classes until fall and even adding some special "summer review" Gizmos. That way, you and your students can fight the summer slide.

If school is still in session, hand out sheets with students' login information as a reminder that they can log in over the summer. You can remind them of Gizmos they found particularly fun and let them know that that new ones are awaiting them in your class tab.

Gizmos Win AEP Distinguished Achievement Award

ExploreLearning Gizmos have again been recognized by the Association of Educational Publishers. This year, Gizmos won the Distinguished Achievement Award in Curriculum for Best K-5 Science solution.

One of the largest and longest-running programs of its kind, the AEP Awards are widely recognized by educators, administrators, and parents as a mark of outstanding educational value.

Congratulations to the developers who work so hard to make Gizmos the best library of online simulations for math and science. And thanks to all the educators who use Gizmos to bring the power of inquiry-based learning to their classrooms.

Job Opportunities:
Gizmos Project Managers in Alabama & Quebec

ExploreLearning is hiring! We have several great jobs available, and we want to highlight the two Gizmos Project Manager positions now available in Alabama and Quebec. These home-based jobs are especially suitable for educators who have a passion for Gizmos, along with Professional Development experience.

Please visit our Employment page for more information on these and several other great opportunities.

As always, if you have a question or comment about Gizmos or Reflex, don't hesitate to contact our Customer Support team. We would love to hear from you.