New Stride Games!

Have your students tried out the new Stride games yet?  We’ve added three new games available for all grade levels!

1-3-9

As the numbers 1, 3 and 9 appear in the queue, decide where to place them next to matching numbers. Three in a row (or more) of a number will cause them to add up to a larger number! …1+1+1=3, 3+3+3=9, 9+9+9=27, and so on! As you play, learn to become more strategic about where you place numbers, so you can add up to larger numbers and boost your score!  Available for all grades.

Crowded Tower

Climb the Crowded Tower to the very top floor — but beware of dangerous obstacles and creepy things that go bump in the night! Tap 1 time for a short jump. Tap 2 times for a high jump. See how high you can  make it up the Crowded Tower! Available for all grades.

Quad 

Catch the falling blocks before they hit the floor — but you must catch them with a diamond of the same color! Click and hold to move all of the the colored diamonds horizontally at the same time. Release to move them back to their starting places on the sidelines. How many falling blocks can you “catch” to rack up points and move to the next level? Available for all grades.

Honor for Stride

Dear Friends, As another year closes, we are reminded how grateful we are for you, our Stride partners! Because of your dedication, your students are well-positioned to make #MonumentalAchievements in 2016!

We are also humbled to announce that this month, LTS Education Systems has been honored among 300 edtech companies as one of the “20 Most Promising K12 Technology Solution Providers” by CIO Review. CIO Review analyzed over 300 companies providing K12 solutions to select the top 20 at the forefront of tackling customer challenges. As leaders of digital learning in your school, you can relate: “Digital learning implementation takes time, investment, effort and planning. No matter what piece of digital learning schools use, it will fail or succeed based on how serious of a commitment administrators are willing to make. Also there should be an effort to help students use the new tools in thoughtful ways,” said CIO Review Managing Editor Jeevan George. Thank YOU for making the commitment to Stride and following through for your students!

The CIO Review K12 special edition highlights LTS and Stride for our merit in “Improving Student Achievement through Game-Based Learning.” We hope you will take the time to read and share with your colleagues this spotlight on LTS and Stride from our Founder and CEO, Brian Shulman’s, point-of-view. Click here to download the PDF.

Thank you for another great year! Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Sincerely, The LTS Education Systems & Stride Team

Stride Alabama December e-News As we close the final month of another year in our 9-year partnership with Alabama schools, we are so thankful for the gift of working with you! We wish every Stride administrator, teacher, student and parent a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Remember to encourage usage of Stride over the Winter Break with Holiday Stride Contests! (Here's how.) "Top Thinkers" at A.M. Windham Elementary  Congratulations to the winners of the "Thanksgiving Thinking" contest at A.M. Windham Elementary (Daleville City Schools).  These two Super-Star Second Graders, pictured below with their official Stride certificates, are from Mrs. Barbara Webb's math class and together earned a combined 57,272 Star Points during Thanksgiving vacation! Principal Chris Mitten, Mrs. Webb, your CLAS Academic Specialist Gina Price, and the entire crew here at LTS are SO PROUD of you! Keep setting an amazing example for your classmates! Litzy Diego is Dreaming BIG with Stride!Eighth grader Litzy Diego has dedicated herself to using Stride consistently after school. What's her motivation?  Litzy aspires to be a doctor one day! She chooses to focus her Stride skills practice mostly on Science content. Over Thanksgiving Break, Litzy correctly answered over 1,000 questions and accumulated over 3 million Star Points! We think her diligence and drive is going to prepare her well for the long hours of learning and helping others one day as a future MD!   Pictured below: Keisha Ragland (teacher), Litzy Diego, Rhonda Lewis (CLAS Academic Specialist)  Litzy attends Zora Ellis Middle School (Talladega City Schools). She says Stride is making a difference in her life by helping her learn more and make real-life connections to her school assignments. Her favorite game is Pigskin Passer. Litzy was awarded a Walmart gift card from CLAS Academic Specialist Rhonda Lewis for her success. Way to go, Litzy! Your dream is within your reach! Let's Talk Turkey at C.L. Salter Elementary! (Talladega City Schools) Stride Coordinator Linda Varnedore organized C.L. Salter's first Thanksgiving Stride Contest over the break (titled "Let's Talk Turkey!"). "Students really enjoyed it and asked me to please do another contest. What was funny is most of the students went back on Stride when given a chance to do any program!" said Mrs. Varnedore. Pictured below with Mrs. Varnedore are the Top Winners, having earned the most Star Points during the contest. Congratulations to: 1st Place Winner -  4th Grader Harmony Webb with 39,945 Star Points.  2nd Place Winner - 2nd Grader Corneilous James with 34,644 Star Points. DIY: Create a Stride Informational Video for Your School Website! Here's a great idea to communicate on your school website how Stride works and how parents and community members can support program use -- Create your own podcast or informational video! Media/Technology Specialist Jana Moon at Highland Elementary (Etowah County Schools) shared her own podcast with us as a great model that you can mirror for your own video. Make it a goal for second semester to storyboard, film and produce a Stride video of your own that your school can be proud of! Your students and teachers will love being a part of the production! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and we will see you in 2016! Amy Frith, editorStride Alabama e-news afrith@LTSed.com

End of Progress Monitoring Assessment 2

Just a reminder that the window for Progress Monitoring Assessment 2 closes December 5. Since the 5th is a Saturday, the last date students will be able to take PMA is December 4.

These Alabama schools are thankful for...

I received this email today:

GOBBLE, GOBBLE, GOBBLE! It's time to do a trot... And to give a little THANKS For all that you have got! GOBBLE, GOBBLE, GOBBLE! We simply want to say... Stuff yourself with FUN & FOOD And have a HAPPY TURKEY DAY! Happy Thanksgiving from Stride & LTS! Thankful in Alabama! We are so grateful for the outpouring of support we received for our "Stride Thankfulness" campaignthis month! We asked Alabama students and educators to tell us why they're thankful for the Stride programthis year. Here are some of the great responses we received! B.B. COMER MEMORIAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (Talladega County) We could not believe our eyes when Jami Danford, Technology Specialist for B.B. Comer Elementary, sent us this video she produced! Check it out:  Teachers at B.B. Comer highlight students with the top usage of Stride through two exciting contests: Stride "Super Stars" (classes with the top academic badges) and "Star Point Millionaires" (students with 1 million + Star points). Congrats to the November leaders in each contest (listed below) – You are truly #MonumentalAchievers! B.B. COMER MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL (Talladega County) Just down the road at the high school campus, teacher Jack Jackson shares, "Most of my students were hooked on Stride by day one. I have one student with over 3 million star points this first month of using Stride, and two with 2 million! The most points and the most badges by Christmas break win a pizza party." This is definitely something to look forward to! T.R. SIMMONS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (Jasper City) Principal  Jonathan Allen at T.R. Simmons shared why he is thankful for Stride at his school: "Instructional leaders are inundated with programs and materials that all claim to support student learning.  When I first learned our district was approved to receive the Motivated Data/Stride grant, I was very skeptical.  Consequently, since Mrs. McLemore has implemented the Stride program school-wide, I could not be more pleased.  Teachers and students alike have commented about the learning and games they have experienced through Stride.  As the second window of progress monitoring opens, teachers are discussing how the testing data will inform instruction and document individual student growth.  Moreover, a few teachers have already begun using the individual student reports for student conferences and goal setting.  Many of our students have already earned over a million star points with as much as 10% of student usage occurring at home.  I am very pleased with how this program has engaged our students in their personal educational growth.  We have just begun touching the surface on how this will impact our instruction."  Thank you for your kind words, Principal Allen! PINECREST ELEMENTARY (Sylacauga City) Kristy Harmon at Pinecrest shared, "We are thankful for Stride because we enjoy having a program that helps our students practice the necessary skills they must have in order to progress to their greatest learning potential.  Our students enjoy the challenges provided by Stride, as well as the coin rewards they achieve.  Our school providesscheduled time for Stride each week and recognizes students with the highest percentage of improvement at the end of the nine-weeks.  They are also rewarded with additional coins." Keep up the good work, Pinecrest! CONSTANTINE ELEMENTARY (Anniston City) Amy Hurst at Constantine Elementary wrote, "We are thankful to have a program like Stride. Stride is encouraging and fun to our students, and we have the best support around by our CLAS Academic Specialist, Gay Adams!"  Thank you to all of the Alabama schools who sent in their expressions of thankfulness! Your teachers and students are the reason we continue to work hard to deliver fun and learning through the Stride program! And a special THANK YOU to all of our CLAS Academic Specialists for the incredible work you do supporting our Alabama schools. Happy Thanksgiving from the Stride & LTS Team! Amy Frith, editor Alabama Stride e-News afrith@LTSed.com 866.552.9192, ext. 1011 What is it that you are thankful for?

Video on Technology Enhanced Items

Stride is developing questions which go beyond multiple choice. These additional items, referred to as "Technology-Enhanced Items" are demonstrated in this short video

Here is the link to that video.

Progress Monitoring Ending October 9

Form 1 of the Progress Monitoring Assessment is available now to your students in grades K-8 in Math and Reading, and grades 3-8 in Science. The PMA provides four parallel assessments throughout the school year, helping to periodically diagnose students' skill gaps, provide differentiated intervention, continuously monitor progress and modify classroom instruction accordingly. Most students have probably competed their PMA. Here is a list of the PMA windows for this school year: Form 1: 09/01/15 - 10/9/15  Form 2: 11/2/15 - 12/5/15 Form 3: 1/11/16 - 02/5/16 Form 4: 2/17/16 - 4/1/16 Upon your students' completion of each PMA: Stride automatically assigns differentiated online curriculum and intervention to remediate specific skills as needed.  A Customized Printable Lesson is automatically generated for each student performing below mastery with printable skills practice worksheets targeting areas of weakness. Real-time data reporting is available in easy to understand, visual progress reports at the class, school and district levels. The PMA reports show percentage of students performing below, at or above mastery or proficiency, and map improvement from one assessment to the next. Reports include detail on specific skills and standards mastered or not mastered by individual students. Visit the Reports tab in the Admin and Teacher Control panels to access these reports.  Implementation trainings are a success across the state!  After receiving training on Stride, teachers at Ohatchee Elementary School in Ohatchee, AL successfully began using the program in their classrooms that same day!  Second graders are already having fun logging on to Stride and look forward to using the program at home on their laptops and tablets. Stride prepares students for ACT Aspire!  "The high level of critical thinking questions found in Stride pushed my students to get ready for the Aspire!" - Jane Hayes, 4th grade teacher at Nathaniel H. Stephens Elementary School in Alexander City Alabama Contest Corner Recognizing Stride "Jean"iuses, White Plains Elementary in Anniston, AL posts the top three high scores for each grade in Stride weekly outside the computer lab for all to see.  Munford Elementary School in Munford, AL hosted a Stride Summer Contest recognizing the boy and girl student from each grade with the most star points. The winners received pizza with the Principal! . Want your school to be featured in next month's e-newsletter? Contact: Cate Powell Customer Experience Specialist cpowell@LTSed.com 866.552.9192, ext. 1025