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

Expert Corner: A Treasure Map to the Ah-Hah Moment

Educator of the Month: Beverly Roy

Gizmos and Reflex win EDDIE Awards

Get the Facts with the New Reflex Counter

The Reflex Educator Grant Program

Expert Corner: A Treasure Map to the Ah-Hah Moment

Laura Chervenak has been with ExploreLearning since 2010 as VP of Professional Development. She has taught high school science, and is the founder and former director of GOAL Digital Academy. Laura is National Board Certified in Science/Adolescence and Young Adulthood, with a B.A. in Zoology and an M.S. in Anthropology.

After two years of helping teachers and students experience Ah-Hah moments with Gizmos, I had my own Ah-Hah moment. I was watching over two math teachers’ shoulders as they browsed the Gizmo library, and I was puzzled as they quickly dismissed student favorites like Cannonball Clowns and Fraction Artist after only a cursory glance.

I approached these teachers and encouraged them to open the Student Exploration Guide for the two Gizmos they had rejected and see how the lesson builds for the students. As they read through the materials, they both began to nod their heads and one turned to me and said, “Oh! I get it now! You are right, this is really great.”

The Gizmos themselves provide rich visual and interactive fun for kids (and adults) as they learn math and science concepts. Sometimes the accompanying Lesson Materials can be overlooked.

Think of it this way - if you were to arrive on an island where there were valuable gems hidden among the landscape, it might take you a while to find them if you began your search in the wrong place. And your chances of hitting the big jackpot would be smaller if you didn't understand the bigger picture. Think how much easier and more rewarding it would be if you had a treasure map to guide you as you explored. Similarly, the Gizmo Lesson Materials provide teachers and students with a treasure map to gems of understanding waiting to be revealed within each Gizmo.

The Teacher Guides help the instructor to plan a lesson or series of lessons using Gizmos in combination with other activities to meet desired learning objectives. Here, teachers can find rich discussion questions, real-world connections, follow-up activities, and scientific or mathematical background relating to the Gizmo.

The Student Exploration Sheets scaffold the students' experience through a Gizmo from exploring and making simple observations to developing deeper understanding. With multiple activities in each Exploration Guide, they also make differentiation of classroom activities much simpler. And because they are available as editable documents, teachers can customize them to meet the specific learning objectives that are needed.

So as you browse for Gizmos, don’t neglect the treasure maps that go with them – the Lesson Materials. Your students will come away with Ah-hah moments of their own, and be richer for the experience.

Educator of the Month: Beverly Roy

Beverly Roy has been teaching in the Miami-Dade County Public School System for nine years, and is currently a special education teacher at Gulfstream Elementary. She is a graduate of Florida International University and is currently pursuing a M.A. in Teaching with a specialization in Educational Technology. Ms. Roy is a member of the Golden Key Honor Society and the president elect of Alpha Delta Kappa Lambda, an altruistic sorority for educators. Ms. Roy has been using Gizmos for five years.

With her special education students, Ms. Roy generally introduces Gizmos on a SMART board. Once students have gained knowledge and experience with the concepts, they can manipulate Gizmos on classroom computers or in centers. Ms. Roy appreciates how Gizmos allow students to manipulate variables and provide immediate feedback. She reports that “manipulating variables encourages cause-and-effect critical thinking, and students are able to mentally organize, categorize, and verbalize their findings.” The animations provide clear visualization of abstract concepts and are especially helpful for students with processing deficits who struggle with text.

Ms. Roy utilizes all of the Lesson Materials that are provided with Gizmos. The Vocabulary Sheets are a very helpful resource because students can cut and paste the terms right into their science journals! The Teacher Guides help her structure her lessons and provide meaningful pre-Gizmo activities that encourage concept formation and critical thinking skills.

Some of Beverly’s favorite Gizmos are the Pond Ecosystem and Forest Ecosystem Gizmos, both of which provided excellent background material for a field trip to the Everglades. “When students are able to see the consequences of depleted plant and animal life, they are able to make connections to the importance of the different ecosystems and the interconnectivity of the Everglades. This in turn leads to a better understanding of food chains and food webs across environments.”

Ms. Roy appreciates how the Gizmos and Lesson Materials work together to foster student engagement and enthusiasm for science. “Gizmos enable my students to be active participants in the scientific inquiry process.”

Gizmos and Reflex win EDDIE Awards

We are pleased to announce that The ComputED Gazette has awarded both ExploreLearning products Educational Software Review Awards (EDDIEs). Reflex won an EDDIE in the Upper Elementary School category, and Gizmos won in the Multi-level category. These awards are great validation of how well both of our products help students achieve more in math and science.

The EDDIEs target content-rich and innovative programs and websites that augment classroom curriculum and improve the productivity of teachers. Winning products provide teachers and parents alike with technology that fosters educational excellence and are chosen from titles submitted by publishers worldwide.

We’re very pleased to have Reflex and Gizmos recognized for these awards.

Get the Facts with the New Reflex Counter

Millions of students are now using Reflex all over the world, and they are solving unbelievable numbers of math facts in their regular practice sessions. Have you ever wondered just how many facts that might be? Now you can have an up-to-the-minute answer. Just go to reflexmath.com and check out our live Facts Answered and Facts Mastered counters to literally watch the learning in real time.

We can’t wait to reach a billion facts answered! We’re already more than half way there…

For more Reflex success stories, check out the case studies on our website.

The Reflex Educator Grant Program

The Reflex Educator Grant Program reaches out to exceptional math educators in schools across North America who want to make a difference for students with math fact fluency. We now have grantees using Reflex in hundreds of elementary and middle school classrooms, in 46 U.S. states and in eight Canadian provinces!

We’ve been getting wonderful early feedback from grantees already:

“Students are rushing through their assignments just to get to Reflex” says a teacher in Cape Cod Elementary School in Maine.

In Los Angeles, a teacher at Walter Reed Middle School says, “My students all have special needs. This is the first program in 17 years that they can't wait to work with… and they enjoy their success….”

“I started my kids on it today and they LOVE it. I'm not exaggerating!” says a teacher in Waynesboro Public Schools in Virginia. “They kept saying how fun it was, wanted to do it at home, etc. I can't wait to see the results at the end of the year.”

We look forward to seeing continued great results from students in classrooms with Reflex grants! More teacher grants will be available in mid-October. Check reflexmath.com for more information.

Stay in Touch

If you want to comment on any of the information in this newsletter, be sociable and post your insights on the Facebook pages for Gizmos and Reflex.

And as always, if you have a question or comment about Gizmos or Reflex, don't hesitate to contact our Customer Support team using the support form for either Gizmos or Reflex. We would love to hear from you.

For information on bringing Gizmos and Reflex to schools in your area, contact your ExploreLearning Account Representative:

866-882-4141, Option 2 sales@explorelearning.com