Written by Melissa Smith

Take a visual tour through the tools your 5th grader is using via this screencast:


PDS is excited to share with parents the learning environments where your child will grow, learn, and develop throughout the school year.

The role of technology in education has broken down the walls of the regular classroom where time is no longer a constraint. Children are connecting and learning with each other in ways that we never dreamed. They own their education by becoming active, responsible participants in their own learning.

PDS wants to extend the parent-teacher relationship by giving you an understanding of some of the tools that your child is using as part of his daily education.  

Students use many different web-based tools, accessing them with their own username and password. PDS helps students manage these accounts by doing our best to keep usernames and passwords the same for the different online sites. Most usernames follow this scheme: first name + last name’s first letter + a 3 digit number.  Some sites require the username to be an email address; therefore, the student adds @crusaders.me to his username. Passwords are kept simple: small word + a number + small word.

This document will help you understand what tools your child will be using at school and possibly at home. Most links to the sites are found on the PDS class site, learning links, or the teacher’s own website.


Quia   http://www.quia.com/web
Quia is a great tool for students and teachers. Teachers can create online tests, quizzes, and practice activities to help students refine their new skills. Students log into their accounts to access their specific classes. Once they are on a teacher’s class page, students can see the different practice learning games or tests/quizzes that the teacher has posted to help your child. Using an account also helps the teacher track students’ practice time, activities, and assess their tests.

Google Apps for Education http://www.google.com
Google Apps for Education is also called crusaders.me at PDS. Each student (4th - 6th grade) has his own Gmail account and other Google applications that we have approved such as Documents (word processing, PowerPoint, spreadsheets) and Sites (the ability to create web pages for class projects or for a web-based writing journal). We manage this domain keeping chatting and video posting blocked, as well as blocking the ability to add other 3rd party applications like Joke of the Day, Cartoon of the Day, etc.

Edmodo  http://www.edmodo.com
Edmodo is a web-based platform for students under the age of 13 to use as an online discussion site.This site was designed by a husband and wife (a 2nd grade teacher) team. It is very similar to Facebook or Twitter, but it is private and controlled by the teacher. Students are only allowed to “write” or post comments on pages originated by the teacher. The teacher sees and reviews all posts. PDS uses this site to continue classroom discussions at night, post questions, student reflections, etc.

Haiku  https://pdsmemphis.haikulearning.com
Haiku is a learning management system used in some grade levels. Teachers can organize their curriculum online by posting videos, web-links, assignments, discussion, etc. It provides one place for students to access all their curriculum materials. Haiku is private. Each student has his own password. Parents are also given a username and password to access this site and its materials. (Information about parent logins will be sent home with students using Haiku at a later date.)

Glogster  http://edu.glogster.com
Glogster is an online bulletin board or poster board. Students and teachers can create a board that houses images, videos, text, and links to display information such as a book report or science fair experiments/projects. Because this site is used by a variety of children as well as adults, the company created an education-only site, which is a safe place for students to build their glogs. Many PDS teachers and students in grades 2 through 6 use this tool.

IXL  https://www.ixl.com/signin/pds
Our math curriculum is enhanced through the IXL website. Students log in with their own account to practice math facts and receive supplemental instruction on concepts in an interactive style that is appealing to children. Teachers can manage and track student progress and view an assortment of reports.

Voicethread  http://ed.voicethread.com
Voicethread allows teachers or students to put images or videos in a slideshow-like website. These slideshows are then shared publicly or privately with others to foster a place to build conversations, which can be recorded via microphone, web cam, or text boxes. PDS uses an education version of the Voicethread website.