February may be the shortest month of the year, but there are plenty of important days and celebrations packed into its 28 days. In addition to Presidents’ Day, Valentine’s Day, and Groundhog Day, every February we commemorate Black History Month by honoring the achievements of Black Americans in our nation’s history. As you discuss this important month in your classroom, we invite you to download these printable bookmarks featuring Maya Angelou and George Washington Carver and distribute them to your students!

New professional learning resources available

Visit the ELA Professional Learning Site to access new documentation! The Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) overview explains how this powerful tool assesses student writing for focus, use of evidence and conventions, and updated Student Writing Exemplars showcase sample student work with autoscores ranging from 1–4 for those three foundational skills.

Did you miss our virtual event with Science of Reading: The Podcast host Susan Lambert?

Watch the replay of her insightful and engaging 30-minute Q&A on our YouTube page. Susan dives into Structured Literacy, the Science of Reading in STEM classrooms, and decodables, among many other topics!

Attention teachers, coaches, and administrators!

We’re looking to speak with your math colleagues as we learn more about math instruction and build out our new math products. Our teams are hard at work—and we want input from K–12 math teachers! Complete this interest form and all participants who complete a session will receive a DonorsChoose gift card as a thank you.

Congratulations to our Little Free Library winners!

We’re thrilled to announce the four winners of our Little Free Libraries giveaway, as part of Amplify’s Thankful Thursday series to give back to amazing educators like you! Each of these educators will receive a Little Free Library kit and a book donation to jumpstart their community book exchange.

• Ginger, a 2nd grade teacher from Pinon, AZ
• April, a 7th–8th grade teacher from French Camp, CA
• Margaret, a 2nd grade teacher from Hounma, LA
• Molly, a literacy instructional coach from Heber City, UT

Response to this giveaway was tremendous, so if you weren’t selected as a winner, stay tuned for updates on the start.amplify.com Thankful Thursday calendar page. There just might be another Little Free Library giveaway in your future, wink wink.

Have you joined our Amplify ELA community on Facebook? It’s the best way to stay connected with other educators through group discussions, helpful tips, and surprise giveaways. We recently asked members to share their wins—big or small—and randomly selected educators JoDee, Allie, and Anne to receive some Amplify swag!