Create & Connect

October is here and with it comes one of the most meaningful moments of the school year: the chance for students to show what they know, share their growth, and take ownership of their learning. This month's issue is packed with resources to help you prepare for conferences, support balanced technology use, and keep student voice at the center of everything you do.

Survey closes: Friday, October 23rd at 4:00 PM

When IXL or Epic! is the right tool for the learning goal, a few intentional settings make all the difference. These quick-reference guides help you get the most out of both so screen time is purposeful, not just present. 🥔

👉 IXL Setting Tips

A few small settings go a long way. From tracking student progress with weekly email summaries to hiding games during intervention time, the IXL Teaching Settings guide walks you through the adjustments that make the biggest difference for your students.

👉 Epic! Management Tips

Epic! works best when students read with a purpose. The Epic! Management Tips guide shares simple ways to set up teacher-directed reading experiences, keep students focused, and connect digital reading to meaningful responses 🥔.

When students choose how to show their learning, engagement goes up and ownership follows. Canva's interactive Choice Board Spinner lets students spin and choose a format that fits how they think and create best.

👉 Canva Choice Board Spinner

Whether on screen or off, the goal is the same: student thinking made visible.

• Draw it, sketch it, or build it by hand
• Design an infographic, comic strip, or zine in Canva
• Record a video or voice explanation in Seesaw
• Map it out with sticky notes or a visual organizer

Want to Build Your Own? Try Canva Code ✨

Canva Code lets you create your own interactive spinning wheels and choice boards using a simple text prompt. No coding required.

Sample Prompt: "Create a spinning choice wheel with 6 options for students to demonstrate their learning: draw it, write it, record it, build it, present it, or teach it."

👉 Watch: Canva Code for Classroom Activities

Have an idea for a custom wheel or choice board? Reach out to us and we can explore the possibilities together.

The Portrait of a Graduate competency of Communication is built in the small moments throughout the school year when students explain their thinking, share their learning, and reflect on their growth.

Three simple ways to build Communication this month:

• Seesaw Voice Recordings: Ask students to record a short voice note explaining why they chose a piece of work for their portfolio. One sentence is enough to start.
• Teach It Back: No device needed. After a lesson, ask students to turn and explain the concept to a partner in their own words. Students who can teach it back truly own it.
• Student Video Introductions: Before conference season, invite students to record a short video introduction sharing their name, something they are proud of, and one goal they are working toward.

Communication + Choice + Goal Setting

When students choose how to share their learning, whether through a voice recording, a Canva presentation, a video, or a hand-drawn illustration, they are making a decision about how to communicate most effectively for their audience. Add a goal and suddenly the conversation shifts from “here is my work” to “here is my work, here is what it shows, and here is where I am headed next.”

Together, choice and goal setting make communication more purposeful, helping students share not just what they learned, but what it means and where they are headed next.

The best evidence of student learning does not always live in a gradebook. Portfolios tell the fuller story of growth over time and give students something meaningful to share when conference season arrives. Research shows that when students have a voice in their learning, engagement rises, motivation increases, and academic outcomes improve. When students curate their own work, they build healthy reflection and goal-setting routines that prepare them to lead their own conference conversations.

👉 Student-Led Conferences: Giving Kids a Voice | Education World

There is no one right way to collect evidence. Use what works best for your students and your classroom:

• In Seesaw: Students curate work samples, record voice reflections, and build a digital portfolio that families can view and celebrate in real time. Use the Highlights Collection to assign a ready-to-use Fall Portfolio for your grade level, or set up content-area folders so students can organize their work by subject.
• Teacher Guide for Student-Led Conferences
• Student Guide for Student-Led Conferences
• Assign the Fall Portfolio in Seesaw
• Watch: Seesaw Highlights Video

• In Canva: Students design portfolio pages, goal-setting templates, and creative presentations that showcase their learning visually. Canva portfolios work especially well for grades 3-5 and departmentalized classrooms where students move between multiple teachers and content areas.

• On Paper: A simple folder, composition notebook, or collection of work samples is just as powerful. Evidence does not have to be digital to be meaningful. A hand-written reflection attached to a piece of work tells a story no score ever could.

Now is a good time to make sure your gradebook is set up correctly before the Trimester ends on December 1.

Quick Tip: Before entering grades, double-check that you are working in the correct grading period. In the top right corner of your gradebook, verify that T1 is selected.

Important reminder for Grades 3-5: The PTPro gradebook does not automatically sync with Schoology. Make sure your categories are set up and your Schoology gradebook is mapped to PTPro before the end of the Trimester. Once it is set up it is good for the year.

• Schoology Gradebook Setup
• Schoology to PowerSchool Gradebook Mapping
• Printable Gradebook Standards by Grade Level

Need a refresher on creating or grading assignments? All tutorials are still available on the ITC Webpage. These resources are designed to help you manage grading workflows efficiently so you can focus on supporting student learning and monitoring progress.

New year. New structures. New tools. Just like Dorothy stepping into a world full of surprises, the 2026-27 school year is bringing some exciting changes worth knowing about.

Incident IQ: Thank you for continuing to submit your technology support requests through Incident IQ! Your submissions are helping us streamline support and connect you with the right resources. Please continue to use Incident IQ when you need technology assistance, and remember that your building tech can help with submitting requests or checking the progress of a ticket. Our Technology Department continues to refine the process as we go, and we appreciate your patience and partnership!

• Find the Incident IQ tile on MyApps
• Follow the step-by-step tutorial to submit your first ticket
• Favorite your devices for quicker access next time

Linewize: This week marks an important step in our transition to Linewize filtering on our district iPads. Thank you for your patience as we make the switch and continue to verify that students are being properly filtered. We appreciate your flexibility as we work through this transition.

• As a reminder, elementary students can no longer access YouTube videos on their iPads, including videos embedded in Schoology or Seesaw and videos shared using YouTube no-cookie links.

Canva: Are You in the Right Team?

Having trouble finding a Canva design or school content? You may simply be in the wrong team. Use the Team Switcher in the lower left corner to switch to your school team, and remember to check your team before starting a new design. If you need to share content with someone on another team, use Copy to another team or follow the guide below to transfer multiple designs.

• Canva Education Login and Team Guide

Missed a past issue of Create & Connect? All Create & Connect newsletters are archived and available anytime on the ITC website: Past Issues of Create & Connect

Learning does not stop at school, and neither does our support for families. Share these resources with parents to help them access district tools, stay connected to classroom learning, and support learning at home.

Elementary Tech Handbook
A one-stop guide to WCASD technology tools, resources, and support for families.

👉 Explore the Elementary Tech Handbook

Parent Portal
Parents can complete back-to-school forms, update contact information, view schedules, and access important student information.

👉 Getting Started with Parent Portal

Logging Into Clever from Home
While students cannot take their devices home, this is often a request from parents. Students can access many of their digital learning resources through Clever using their Clever Badge or district username and password.

👉 Logging Into Clever from Home

Connect to Your Child's Learning in Seesaw
Seesaw gives families a window into classroom learning by allowing them to view student work, celebrate accomplishments, and stay connected to learning throughout the year.

👉 Getting Started with Seesaw (English) 👉 Primeros Pasos con Seesaw (Español)