Create & Connect

Each issue is packed with fresh ideas for bringing our district priorities—student learning experiences, Portrait of a Graduate, evidence of learning, and continuous improvement—into your daily teaching. Whether you’re looking to spark curiosity, amplify student voice, or make the most of your classroom iPads, Create & Connect is here to help you turn tech tools into learning powerhouses.

Canva Code is a powerful Canva feature that allows educators to create interactive, student-centered learning experiences, no coding required. These activities support formative assessment, engagement, and curriculum review across grade levels, helping students actively interact with content.

Best of all, students do NOT need to log in to access Canva Code activities. Teachers can seamlessly use these interactive experiences within presentations, websites, digital whiteboards, or documents, making them flexible for any instructional setting.

With Canva Code, teachers can create:

• Formative assessments (quick checks, exit tickets, quizzes)

• Engaging activities (clickable tasks, choice-based interactions)

• Curriculum review tools (games, vocabulary practice, concept checks)

• Interactive learning experiences (guided and self-paced)

👉 If you’re interested in learning more, reach out to your Elementary ITC Team to explore, brainstorm, and create meaningful activities that enhance student learning. Explore a few activity ideas below to see Canva Code in action.

Typing Agent makes keyboarding meaningful, fun, and easy to integrate into your classroom. Students in grades 3–5 can jump right in through Clever, and the program offers engaging ways to connect typing to real classroom tasks, celebrate progress, and keep motivation high.

Connect Typing to Real-Life Skills and Classroom Projects

Help students see the “why” behind typing:

• Link Typing Agent to upcoming writing assignments, coding lessons, or research projects where keyboarding speed and accuracy will help them succeed.
• Share examples like, “Strong typing skills will make your science project report faster and easier to finish!”

Track Progress Visibly with a Classroom Typing Board

Create a visual progress tracker in your classroom or virtual space:

• Use stars, stickers, or digital badges to represent lesson milestones or typing streaks.
• Celebrate progress publicly with a “Typing Leaderboard” (emphasizing growth, not just speed). Teachers may review their Leaderboard report and note the top three students from each grade level. Give them a special shout-out in the school's announcements or assembly.

Offer Typing Agent as a Choice Activity or Brain Break

Allow students to use Typing Agent as:

• A meaningful choice during tech rotations or free time.
• A productive "brain break" after completing an assignment.

👉 Typing Agent is a simple, high‑impact tool that helps students grow confident, accurate, and excited about typing.

Looking to boost student engagement and spark creativity? Your district iPad includes two powerful augmented reality tools, AR Makr and Sandbox AR, that let students step inside their learning. Both tools make abstract concepts tangible—and invite students to become creators, not just consumers, of digital content. Give them a try and watch your classroom come alive!

👉 Both Sandbox AR and AR Makr can be found in Self-Service for all students and staff!

Sandbox AR offers students a chance to build worlds they can walk through. From constructing immersive ecosystems to designing ancient civilizations, Sandbox AR helps learners visualize complex ideas and demonstrate understanding in hands-on, imaginative ways.

AR Makr empowers students to design, create, and animate their own 3D scenes right in the classroom—and it’s incredibly easy for them to bring in their own artwork or photos from the camera roll, as well as images they’ve created in Canva, to add originality and creativity. Whether they’re illustrating a story, modeling a scientific concept, or reimagining a historical setting, AR Makr turns their ideas into interactive AR experiences they can explore from every angle.

Conference season is officially underway, and this year two lucky teachers joined the ITCs at FETC—the Future of Education Technology Conference in Orlando, FL. Cassie & Casey wanted to share some of their biggest takeaways from this energizing and impactful experience!

What was the most impactful session you attended and what made it stand out?

The Keynote Speaker, Alanna Winnick, brought three of her past students to participate in her keynote and a few of the sessions she was running. The students, aged 9-11, did a fantastic job presenting in the keynote and sharing about their experiences with AI. They later ran a session explaining the most impactful ways they have used AI in the classroom. The kids wanted their teachers to know that AI can challenge them and be a creative outlet for them. AI is the future, so it is important that kids learn how to use it ethically and responsibly, and that everyone gets a chance to learn in their classrooms.

What is one practical tool you learned and how do you plan to use it with students?

I found an impactful and fun way to start my morning! Check out EdTomorrow's First Five for daily morning greetings, questions and brain games! They are organized by grade level and created by teachers for teachers! I have already started using them in my daily morning meeting, and it takes one more thing off my plate to plan each day!

What is your favorite memory from FETC?

There is always so much information to take in at a big conference like this, but my favorite part was getting to explore it with new people and make new friendships with some of the other teachers and administrators! And also...hanging out with Moby from BrainPop!

What was the most impactful session that you attended and what made it stand out?

The most impactful session I attended was called “Lead From Where You Are” with Joe Sanfelippo. He emphasized starting each day with joy, building culture in small moments, and recognizing and sharing great work. He shared several things that made the session impactful for me, including “don’t walk past the already great things happening, be proud of that,” and the idea that everyone’s child deserves to be celebrated, even as an adult. This session was a reminder for me that meaningful work is already happening in our classrooms, and it’s important to pause and celebrate our students and ourselves for the work we do each day!

What is one practical tool you learned about and how do you plan to use it with students?

One tool I learned about was Canva Code, which offers a wide range of possibilities. I recently used it to create an interactive digital math game board for students as a center activity. In my classroom, students scan a QR code to access the game, and it generates new problems each time they open it.

Another strategy I learned was turning writing assignments into projects as a way to increase engagement. As part of our informational writing unit, my students will be completing research and then turning it into an educational podcast. Podcast Planning Sheet & Podcast Seesaw

What is your favorite memory from FETC 2026?

Alana Winnick’s opening keynote was one of my favorite memories from FETC. Being in a room with hundreds of educators was energizing, and hearing her students speak made the experience especially memorable. Her students shared that their projects felt like doing something bigger, which served as a powerful reminder of why this work matters and the lasting impact classroom experiences can have!

As part of our AI pilot, the ITC Team has been collaborating and brainstorming with classroom teachers to customize instructional tools and student learning spaces that align with instructional goals—a great demonstration of our district competency of Continuous Improvement. We are excited to continue this work as we transition from MagicSchool AI to our SchoolAI pilot in February, expanding opportunities for thoughtful and purposeful AI integration.

In classrooms that have expressed interest, the ITC team has been co-teaching AI Literacy lessons before students use any AI tools. These lessons focus on helping students understand safe, responsible, and intentional AI use, while positioning AI as a tool that supports learning in the digital world.

If you are interested in co-teaching AI Literacy lessons or exploring ways to embed AI into your curriculum, a unit, or a project, please reach out!

Continuous improvement means trying, reflecting, and refining—and that’s exactly what’s happening in our K–5 AI Pilot. A team of educators across grade levels and subject areas has been exploring Magic School AI and helping us gather real classroom feedback to guide what comes next. We’re nearing the finish line for the first half of the Magic School AI pilot, and we’ll soon shift gears to begin our work with School AI. Thank you to all of our pilot teachers for sharing examples, ideas, and honest feedback—your input is shaping this work in meaningful ways. This month, we’re excited to celebrate one of those educators in our Educator Spotlight!

Supporting learning doesn’t stop at school! We’ve got tutorials you can share directly with parents, plus the Elementary Tech Handbook, a one-stop guide to everything WCASD technology. From navigating apps to understanding digital tools, these resources help parents stay informed, support their children’s learning at home, and feel confident with district technology. From navigating apps to understanding digital tools, these resources help parents stay informed, support their children’s learning at home, and feel confident with district technology—including instructions for logging into Clever from home, so accessing apps like IXL and Happy Numbers is simple for both parents and students.

👉 Parent Portal Resources - Standards-Based Grading Edition

Take the stress out of standards-based grading! We’ve put together a handy collection of quick start guides and step-by-step tutorials to help you master grading in PowerSchool and Schoology. You’ll find:

• Printable gradebook standards by grade level

• Guides for creating and grading assignments

• Creating an Assignment

• Grading an Assignment

• Delete old categories in PS

These resources make it simple to track student progress, keep accurate records, and showcase meaningful evidence of learning—so you can focus on what matters most: helping students grow.

Did you know every teacher in the county gets a $10 monthly allowance to use at the CCIU Teacher Resource Center? From lamination to classroom materials, this service helps you save time and stretch your resources. You can even design posters in Canva and send them to the CCIU for full-size poster printing—check out these great examples from Hillsdale’s Design Lab! It’s absolutely worth exploring to see how they can support your classroom.