Category: Student Support

Linda Krystek has been an educator for over 20 years, serving as an elementary teacher, Director of Home Study, and currently the Director of Innovation in Teaching and Learning for iLEAD Schools on the iCA Maker Team. She holds both a California Multiple-Subject and Administrative Services credential. She is a dedicated, innovative, and results-oriented education professional with proven leadership skills, expertise in curriculum, and a strong commitment to unleashing the potential in each facilitator and learner. A teacher’s teacher, Linda believes firmly that high expectations and building strong relationships among the school’s facilitators, children, parents, and administration is the key to a successful school culture and community that nurtures academic and social-emotional growth for all learners.

Fun Fact:
Who was your most unique pet?
I have had several unique class pets over the course of my tenure as an elementary teacher, including a pair of hamsters named Chip and Dale, Scotty Scorpion (found in the boys’ bathroom upstairs), Speedy the turtle, Blueberry (a blue belly lizard missing his tail that one of my learners rescued), an anole, a pair of walking sticks, a Jerusalem beetle we found during lunch outside, and the overall favorite, Honey Bunny.

Linda’s Bio

Below is a list of resources around STEM and SEL that will benefit you and your learners!

• Future U offers a variety of STEM resources, including virtual field trips and STEM career information for learners grade 6-12. It is meant to inspire and equip future STEM professionals in aerospace.
• Virtual Field Trips
• TGR EDU  assists with exploring personal interests and facilitating family discussions, as well as provides STEM videos, and Design Challenges.
• Social-Emotional Learning Strategies for Parents

Hi, I’m Jacqui Washington. I am currently a Care Team member at iLEAD Exploration. I enjoy supporting kids and teens and have worked in the education field for more than 8 years. I earned a Bachelor’s in Family & Child Development (2016) and a Master’s in Human Service Counseling (2019) from Liberty University. More recently, I have been honing my skills and passion with Executive Functioning support. My passion for this stemmed from overcoming my own personal and academic challenges which then caught the attention of my friends and family members who began asking for support with their children and their challenges too. I saw the growing need for extra support in this area in both my personal and professional life. I am passionate about using real-life, daily challenges as springboards to support our learners who struggle with these necessary life skills to succeed in home, school, and social environments. Aside from my time as a Care Team member, I love spending time with my family and friends, going to the beach or lake, cooking, journaling, and going on walks.

Fun Facts:
I am an Auntie of 4. I love expressing my creativity through makeup. I have a double-jointed finger.

Mark your calendars for these upcoming webinars hosted by iLEAD staff. We hope to see you there!

Anxiety in Children – February 25, 9:30-10:30

Many children have fears and worries and may often feel overwhelmed and hopeless. Those fears and worries can interfere with school, home, and play activities. How can we help? Participants will gain knowledge of signs of anxiety in children, strategies to help cope, and ideas for prevention.

Enroll Here!

We are working on finalizing our topics for the upcoming March webinars, but we have the following dates locked in:
March 11
March 25
Upcoming Webinars

Now that we’re in the New Year, it’s a good time to grab the kiddos and have some fun setting resolutions and goals! Goal setting is an important skill that can help kids get set up for their future success. This article tackles different, fun and engaging, ways that you can teach your child how to set goals. Enjoy!

http://www.kiddiematters.com/teaching-children-how-to-set-goals-and-use-a-vision-board/

Your child’s IEP (Individualized Education Plan) contains overwhelming amounts of information and there’s a reason we have a team working together to fully develop and understand it.

IEP goals are the specific details in your child’s plan that describe what they should accomplish during the school year; additionally, the goals are to provide a roadmap for educating your child.

Writing goals can be one of the hardest parts of developing an IEP. One reason for this is because goals can cover so many different areas. Depending upon your child’s needs, some goals may target areas of the general education curriculum. Other goals may target learning developmental or functional skills—for example, teaching your child how to eat independently, to use public transportation, or to read Braille. Still another area for goal-setting might be your child’s social or emotional needs. These don’t come under a typical “academic” curriculum. But if your child has social or emotional needs, then goals to meet those needs would be written into the IEP.

A well-written goal should (a) be positive, and (b) describe a skill that can be seen and measured. It answers the questions:

“Who?. . . will achieve?

What?. . . skill or behavior?

How?. . . in what manner or at what level?

Where?. . . in what setting or under what conditions?

When?. . . by what time? an ending date?”

Constructing effective IEP goals can be daunting for all involved, but together, no matter what type of disability a child struggles with, it is important to understand that IEP goals drive everything.

Our iLEAD staff will be hosting a few upcoming webinars. We’d love to see you there!
       January 28, 2022: Behavior Basics – Tips for Success in and out of the classroom
       February 11, 2022:  My Learner Needs Coping Skills-What Can I Do?
       February 25, 2022: Anxiety in Children

Links for the listed webinars will be sent out via email to all staff and iLEAD Student Support families.

Bookshare is a great resource that iLEAD offers for your 504 and IEP learners that makes reading easier. Bookshare gives you access to a large library of books virtually. You can search for any book title, as well as by grade level, and add them to your online bookshelf. The reading experience can be customized to suit any learning style to support learners with dyslexia, blindness, cerebral palsy, and other reading barriers. Check your email for your Bookshare information to set up your own login. If you do not have access to Bookshare, please email StudentSupport@ileadexploration.org.

You can check out the Bookshare website here.