All posts by Valerie Buck

Valerie is an Instructional Technology Specialist in a public-school system with 10 years of teaching experience in elementary and middle school classrooms. Teaching middle school math earned her Washington State PTA Outstanding Educator in 2014. Today she provides professional development to teachers with an emphasis on ISTE EdTech standards, digital citizenship, and computational thinking that is integrated into core curriculum. Contact her at buckv@issaquah.wednet.edu

Brain Pop: Make-a-Movie and Draw About It

A few weeks ago, we shared that BrainPOP is now available on Clever accounts for K-5 teachers and students. If you missed this news, check out the details here! With the new access through Clever, we have additional features for students to show what they know about the vast content available on BrainPOP and BrainPOP ...

A Question About BrainPOP

Dear Instructional Technology TOSAs, I love BrainPOP, but I feel like my kids are just consuming more and more video content these days. Do you have a suggestion for me to engage them in a way that encourages them to create vs just consume media?   Thanks, A Very Techie Teacher   Dear Techie Teacher, ...

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Did you know you have a KCLS Teacher Account?

KCLS provides accounts for Issaquah School District staff! Enjoy access to all of KCLS' online information and tools without needing a physical card. The teacher account number is the Issaquah School District's three digit number 411 followed by the letter t (lowercase) and each staff member's Skyward login (uppercase). The Pin number is the last ...

STEM Learning Opportunity: DESMOS

ISSAQUAH SCHOOL DISTRICT TEACHING AND LEARNING  Present's  FOR BEGINNING AND INTERMEDIATE USERS In-person sessions on April 16 & May 30, 4:00- 5:00 pm at Issaquah Valley Elementary, Portable 6. AND Online learning via Actively Learn Earn 8 STEM clock hours and technology compensation! Learn how to use the online calculator, find and use teacher-created activities ...

Queen Debuts Her First Instagram Post

Educators use Twitter as a professional learning community to engage with others around topics important to them. Today Twitter is a buzz with news that Queen Elizabeth II made her first Instagram post from London's Science Museum. The Queen is a long time supporter of digital communication tools and made her first Tweet in 2014 ...

Women’s History Month

March is Women's History Month!   Many of the technologies we use today are because of women in tech. Carol Shaw made retro gaming awesome (before it was retro), Apple computers are so intuitive because of Susan Kare, from the very first computer programmer Ada Lovelace to Joan Ball who basically invented online dating, we've ...

Thinking about STEM

Today seems to be all about STEM and we couldn't be happier! STEMposium is happening this evening at Issaquah High School from 5:30-7:30 pm. Come explore student led booths that showcase STEM learning in our classrooms and after school clubs, participate in one of our activity booths, or see how STEM is used from one ...

Teacher Feature: Breakout with Kristi Hafferty

Some of you may already know about our Ed Tech Library's  kit for Breakout Edu. Breakout EDU is a collection of locks, boxes, and materials that can be used to play an immersive learning game. Breakout brings alive the four C's, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. We have four kits available, they come to your ...

Ed Tech Library: BreakoutEDU

Breakout EDU takes the idea of an escape room into the classroom! Students solve clues to unlock physical locks from a case to "breakout." Our Ed Tech Library has four games this year to choose from. The Breakout EDU kits available in February and March from our Ed Tech Library feature a growth mindset game called ...

Save the Date: STEMposium is February 7th

You are invited to attend the second annual Issaquah School District’s STEMposium! Join us for a showcase of STEM learning hosted by teachers and students from the Issaquah School District. Teachers with their students are invited to share how they teach and learn STEM skills with classroom projects, after-school clubs, and student competitions. In addition ...