Put on annually by EdTech Digest, the 2022 EdTech Cool Tool Award Finalists and Winners have been announced, and we're pleased to share that VariQuest® was selected as a finalist in three of its categories! In its 12th year of existence, the US-based program is the world's largest program for recognizing education technology, featuring the biggest names in edtech – and those who soon will be. The 2022 EdTech Awards honored companies and individuals in 3 areas: the Cool Tool Awards, the Leadership Awards, and the Trendsetter Awards, featuring industry products, leaders, and innovators respectively. Entered in the Cool Tool Awards, VariQuest was honored among this year's finalists ranging in everything from data dashboards to artificial intelligence to interactive coding tools.

Spring has recently sprung, which means some very important events are fast approaching! We want to make sure you are equipped with the tools you need to make preparations a breeze, which is why we are providing VariQuest® customers with a collection of all-new customizable templates for the upcoming prom and graduation seasons! Whether you need graduation banners, prom posters or personalized invitations, we’ve got you covered with all that and more in our Engage Every Learner® 2022 Prom & Graduation Expansion Pack!

There are plenty of reasons and ways to recognize students. Doing so promotes self-confidence, determination, a positive attitude, and overall social-emotional wellbeing! In the age of cell phones, social media influencers, and YouTube stars, the word "selfie" has become commonly used in our vocabularies, and the concept is foreign to no one. Alongside displaying student artwork in your school hallways and classrooms, allow students to showcase work they're especially proud of, and infuse parental involvement in a modern way with this fun and easy selfie station in your classroom!

Traveling from classroom to classroom, assisting students, completing necessary documentation, and on top of their vital instruction and planning, these are the challenges that middle and high school special education teachers face every day. Creating schedules to meet varying needs and keeping well-organized notes and records is of the utmost importance, to avoid becoming overwhelmed. We've joined with Cathy Henry, founder and partner of The Curriculum Corner and Free Word Work and with a Master's Degree in Special Education, to bring you this toolkit complete with printable charts, posters, handouts, and more to assist you in organizing and managing your important workload.

We tend to think of visual cues as supportive tools for students with special needs or for English language learners, but sets of visual prompts can also be helpful to students outside of these groups, and especially important for classroom management. This concept might relate to a direction in the classroom, a recognition of desired behavior, or a redirection.

VariQuest® is your source for the various tools and ideas you need to improve the classroom experience for teachers and students. We offer an exceptional array of learning tools and devices including learning tools for visual learners you can combine with your curriculum to transform the way your students are taught and how they learn.

Earlier this year, we launched a contest on our hashtag-loving social channels, challenging our valued VariQuest customers to post pictures of their fantastic creations, made with the help of the VariQuest Suite. What we found was the affirmation that your creativity knows no bounds, and the ideas you come up with are making your school a better place. The contest, which ended in September, produced three wonderful winners, and we'd like to show you what they've been up to!

Reading broadens the imagination, exercises your brain, and is one of the best tools to build learning and understanding of vocabulary. As educators, we aspire to inspire a generation of students who love to read. And as you retain more information when you read, then discuss, then teach others - your reading comprehension exercises are working to do just that. We've once again partnered with Cathy Henry from Free Word Work and The Curriculum Corner to put together a lesson plan that works great for distance or hybrid learning, and helps students in 1st-3rd grade work on identifying parts of a story, or summarizing what they've read. Introducing - our Rainbow Summary Lesson Plan.

We won! We won! And we couldn't have done it without you, our nation's best educators. The VariQuest® Visual and Kinesthetic Learning Suite was recently awarded with a 2021 Best Primary Tools for Back to School Award by the publication Tech & Learning. The Best Tools for Back to School Awards annually honor leading-edge products that help students, teachers, and families succeed in categories for primary, secondary, and higher education. This year's winners included everything from distance learning cameras to online curriculum programs and of course, the VariQuest Visual and Kinesthetic Learning Suite.

In the fall, the leaves change, and so does our content! We just released our VariQuest® Design Software version 9.0 - packed with brand new and updated Engage Every Learner® Content, and we know you'll love all the latest additions around social-emotional wellbeing, health & safety, movement, and more. Along with new functionality adding our new Perfecta® 2400PRO Poster Design System, and shortcuts and options to make using our tools even easier, you'll love having over 22,000 templates, graphics, fonts, collections, cutouts, sensory paths and more to use in your classrooms, hallways, and throughout your learning community.