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At the beginning of this new school year, we bring a bunch of ideas to introduce technology into your classroom and spice up your back-to-school activities with Cosmo.
In this issue, you will find:
💡 Strategies to adopt new technologies in the classroom
👥 Tips for creating an inclusive learning environment with technology
🏫 Back-to-school activities with Cosmo
📚 World Literacy Day resources
🎥 Live chat with @communication_connections about Cosmo and language development
🎙 Accessible storytelling
📅 AAC webinar with Cboard
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Inspiration for the new year
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Three Strategies to Adopt New Technologies in the Classroom
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It’s not news that technology plays an important role in inclusive classrooms. Fair enough, but how do you actually introduce new technologies to make classrooms as accessible as possible? To get you started, here are three strategies to introduce new technologies to the classroom. [Read more...].
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How to Increase Technology Adoption at School?
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You bought 20 new iPads for your teachers… You spent money which, most probably, wasn’t easy to find. Now, the teachers are finally able to bring the 21st-century EdTech into their classrooms. However, two months in and the iPads are still locked away, waiting for the right time… [Read more]
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Tips for Creating an Inclusive Learning Environment with Technology
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Inclusivity is a crucial element in all learning environments. It is especially important to make sure learning environments are inclusive for those with special needs, international students, or those who just learn differently... [Read more]
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How to Approach Inclusion in the Classroom?
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What comes to mind when you think of “inclusion”? Respect? Diversity? Maybe: empathy, tolerance, or open-mindedness? All these are fair guesses. But the question remains, are inclusive behaviours naturally programmed in our brains or do we learn them? Or perhaps we lose them as we become older? [Read more]
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Inclusive Play: Here and Now
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It’s hard to argue with a statement that diversity makes the world more exciting and interesting. We learn by thriving on each others’ experiences and ideas, starting at a very early age. Through inclusive play, we develop acceptance and... [Read more]
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Back to school with Cosmo
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A new school year means a new beginning and at Cosmo, it calls for new activities ideas and content! Are you ready to try some “Back to school” activities with Cosmo?
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Challenge your peers to play Tap Dash. Take turns to see who scores the highest.
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Who would you like to be when you grow up? Meet Papori, who wants to be an engineer when she grows up. Enjoy a sensory storytelling session with our new release: When I grow up in the Storytelling activity. This story is a great precursor to thinking about career choices.
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Divide the class into teams and get ready for Showdown. Create a scoreboard and track the scores across the first term for each team, which team wins?
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Set up an obstacle course and place Cosmoids at the end of each obstacle. Open All the Same and challenge your learners to finish the obstacle course as fast as they can. Press all the Cosmoids such that they all light up in the same colour.
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Post your new year activity with Cosmo on Instagram tagging us with @cosmo_filisia.
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Since 1967, every year, World Literacy Day established by UNESCO celebrates the importance of nurturing literacy skills and improving the quality and well-being of individual lives and society.
Reading stories is one of the simplest and easiest ways to bring peers together. Through stories, you open a window to the world of imagination. They give the opportunity to learn new concepts, develop language skills and teach valuable life lessons.
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Add a twist to those reading sessions with Cosmo’s very own Storytelling activity. Each story includes sounds which represent what's happening in the story. Encourage each learner to hold a Cosmoid and participate in this activity. When you read aloud the story, you will notice Cosmoids lighting up to indicate whose turn it is to press and play the sound.
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Have a giggle and be innovative. Open “My Voice” and record some words or sounds and play them back by pressing the Cosmoids. What can you hear? This is a fantastic activity to encourage vocalisation by adding an extra layer of fun to literacy lessons and speech therapy.
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If you want to get inspired for World Literacy Day, join us for a live Instagram session with Ceanna MacGregor, a principal teacher in a special needs school in Scotland. Ceanna has a strong passion for all things communication and language and shares a lot of ideas on using Cosmo and other technologies on her Instagram profile @communication_connections
Join us this Wednesday at 12:30 pm!
👉 Follow us to get live updates.
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Did you know that you can also use your Cosmoid as an external controller to access your AAC apps? Cosmoids are Bluetooth devices that wirelessly connect with many AAC apps, such as Proloquo2Go, Grid, TD Snap, Cboard and more. Connect Cosmo to your AAC app and enable everyone to take part in the classroom storytelling time.
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To connect your Cosmoid to your AAC app, first, download the Cosmo Switch Setup app for your Android or iPhone. The app will allow you to customise the settings of your switch (colour, brightness, responsiveness etc.) and connect it to a 3rd-party app.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to get in touch at hello@filisia.com.
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If you're new to Cosmo and would like to explore the basics, sign up for this 30-minute demo session, where we will present the Cosmo Training app and the ways you can use it in the classroom, in therapy and at home.
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Do you have a friend or a colleague who would like to learn more about Cosmo? Make sure to hit Forward and invite them along.
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Get ahead and register for our autumn AAC webinar co-hosted with Cboard.
When: 4th October
Time: 4 PM BST
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At this event, we're coming together with CENMAC to talk about Cosmo's use at school.
When: 17th November
Time: 3:30 PM BST
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