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Tool Description - Pebble-GO is a great tool for students to use to discover different subjects such as animals, science, biographies, social studies, and even health. I love the font size and how big it is for students to see clearly.

There is also a Spanish text available, which you can see above. I wish there was more languages available for more students such as French or Chinese. I love how many different topics and things there are to do to discover a certain subject.

UDL Connection - I think that this resource could be more accessible for students. I wish that there was more languages available. For early learners, I think it is great to help them discover more complex language but I think kindergarten might a little complex. But for 1st graders and 2nd graders language is great. I think that this source does model exploration and evaulation and gives different avenues for students to explore certain subjects.

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Different topics to explore about Empathy 

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Tool Description - I love that PebbleGo has different topics to explore about empathy such as exploring empathy at home, at school, and in sports or even why empathy is important and the definition of empathy as well! It even has an activity and a video which is so in depth to explore different emotions.

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Tool Description - I love that with Epic, it genuinely feels like a student could be reading a book. You have full screen options, reading buddies, and reading badges to acquire. I think that the extra encouragements with the reading buddies and reading badges is a great incentive for students to want to read. There is videos, audiobooks, and comics for kids to explore as well. There is also different language options for kids to explore as well such as Spanish, Chinese, and French! Epic has over 2,500 Spanish, 700 French Books, and hundreds of Chinese books.

UDL Connection - I think that this resource overall is pretty good for students. I think the accessibility options should be more obvious for students because it wasn't too obvious to me where the accessibility options were and I had to look it up. Epic has speech to text, read to me books, and audiobooks. For Apple Users, there are tools such as VoiceOver, Seeing AI, and Be My Eyes and these are all tools to help the visual impairment to interact with the app. I do think that Epic meets the identification, exploration, and evaluation because it gives students a chance to do all of these options through picking their books on Epic.

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Tool Description - I used Safari to read this article about Winter in Seattle. For Safari, you can have text read to you when you right click on it. There's also a "show in finder", where you can see the definitions of certain words.

UDL Connection - Safari needs better accesibility access for its users. I don't believe it passes the ISTE standard for accessibility as it doesn't really advance or shape a shared vision for empowered learning with technology and it doesn't advocate for equitable access to educational technology to meet the diverse needs of all students. Safari needs to work on adding tools such as immersive reader as I did see it had "reader mode" but there is no great way of adding this to your browser easily and it doesn't seem accessible.

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How to Seattle

The sun doesn't rise at all and temperatures typically peak in the 20s during mid-January in Tromsø, Norway. Still, crowds of people gather outside around a large movie screen each year, bundled up in warm jackets for the town's International Film Festival outdoor showings.

Even in the below-freezing air, with the right attitude and gear, "you can be out for an hour or two and then you go home and you drink hot chocolate and you feel really cozy," said health psychologist Kari Leibowitz.

It's one example of "friluftsliv," a concept Leibowitz experienced firsthand while studying winter mindsets and well-being in Norway, and the subject of her upcoming virtual workshop at Seattle's National Nordic Museum on Jan. 30.

The word, pronounced "free-loofts-leev," translates to "open air life" and captures the sense of freedom found in connecting with nature regularly and all year, whatever the weather.

While Tromsø is cast in darkness through much of the winter, 4,000 miles away in Seattle - a city with deep Scandinavian roots and plenty of overcast winter days - many locals lean on similar ideas to stave off the lethargy winter can bring. During the Emerald City's "Big Dark," from approximately November to March, the sun sets before 5 p.m. and rain-free days become uncommon.

When we asked readers what friluftsliv looks like for them this time of year, examples poured in, from daily walks around the block to cold plunges, skiing and whitewater rafting. One Issaquah resident, TJ Ginther, rides bikes with a group of friends "in all sorts of weather" - and they even had custom jerseys made with the word "friluftsliv" embroidered into the fabric.

Western Washington's rainy season often gets written off as miserable, but Leibowitz's research suggests our attitudes about winter can have a big impact on our experience and well-being. Luckily, Emerald City residents have no shortage of ideas for staying connected to nature through the colder months.

Don't "mind" the cold: A mindset for winter

You might expect that in a city like Tromsø, more than 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, dark winters are marked with lethargy and low moods.

But a University of Tromsø study found that citizens' well-being hardly changed throughout the year, with no increase of mental distress during the winter. Leibowitz's research indicates that residents in Norway and the Arctic island of Svalbard who have more positive perceptions of winter have greater life satisfaction and overall mental health. The further north they live, the more likely they are to have such attitudes.

It seems our mindsets about winter - including the cultural norm of friluftsliv, which encourages people to embrace all sorts of weather - can do wonders for our well-being.

Of course, tangible barriers beyond our control can make it harder to enjoy winters outdoors, from the cost of good gear to accessing outdoors education and nature. But our beliefs about the season can often change when we become aware of them.

Things may shift when you realize "that 'winters in Seattle are unpleasant' is a subjective interpretation of cold and dark and rain," Leibowitz said, which "can be positive things if we look at them differently."

Think, for example, of romantic candlelight dinners or backyard bonfires that turn the darkness into coziness, crisp morning air waking you up during a walk or the smell of petrichor from the rain hitting the earth.

"It doesn't mean that there aren't also unpleasant aspects of winter," Leibowitz said. "But it means that how we look at it and our mindset about it actually has a much larger impact on how we feel than the objective qualities of the winter we're living through."

"Friluftsliv" around Seattle

Temperatures during Seattle's cold snap this month dipped well below freezing, but here's one thing that wasn't iced over: Daven Rajesh's heart.

"In fact, it's warm and when I focus on that, everything else seems a bit warmer as well," Rajesh said. "I practice 'friluftsliv' - love the word by the way - by running around Green Lake and just leaning into the cold weather."

Meanwhile, for Annie deBruynkops, doing yoga and taking cold plunges at Golden Gardens Beach year round, "helps me to fall in love with Seattle through every season and is my friluftsliv."

When we put out the call, Rajesh, deBruynkops and more than 100 other readers shared how they embrace the chilly season around the Puget Sound area. Here are just some of their pointers.
Staying simple
The most frequently shared outdoors habit was simple: walking. But the benefits described were many, from more creativity to lowered stress.

Elizabeth I. finds that bundling up and walking 10,000 steps a day "no matter what the weather [is]" has a "profound effect on my mental health" and leads to better focus.

If you're wondering where to walk, several readers simplified further: Walk in the same place every day, week or season. It may sound boring to some, but "it's special to see the changes in the environment throughout the day and the year," said Katy Sharp, who takes the same route, rain or shine, every lunch break.

Those most passionate about their daily walks often described slowing down to notice their surroundings.

For Dawn W., it's paying attention to things like "water droplets clinging to bare branches, the stark beauty of bare branches against the winter sky... [the] pattering of rain on the umbrella or the occasional bird chirping." Deborah Thomases described listening to the "chick-a-dees cheeping, squirrels chattering, geese honking and trees whispering in the wind."

So, "no headphones for us," Thomases said.
Finding the good
In the middle of a cold spell, it may be hard to imagine what you'll miss about January in July - but some goods things only come in the winter, readers said.

Some outdoors activities just work best this time of year, even beyond skiing and snowboarding.

"Western Washington is blessed with some of the world's most spectacular whitewater resources, with well over 100 different runs within a day's drive, most of which come to life with the first autumn rains," Thomas O'Keefe said.

Jonathan Deex looks forward to fishing steelhead trout every year from December through March, a hobby that often requires "standing in 40-degree water in the rain."

"Even if you don't catch fish, you will be in some of the most beautiful places in Western Washington," Deex said, including along rivers on the Olympic Peninsula.

If strolls through the park are more your speed, you may still be able to find some winter gems.

For one, "there's a special ambience in the quiet months, a meditative quality that makes us forget we're still in the city," said Chana Meddin about venturing through Carkeek Park.

Amelia Zeve, who likes to walk in the afternoons ("which means dusk for Seattle"), points out: "A boon of wintertime is that the moon rises perfectly over the eastern rise of Leschi in February, so I always enjoy seeing the beautiful blue colors and full moon rising over the area. It's so different from summertime walks."

Saltwater lovers might be inspired to know that Aleah Valley's family enjoys winter days at the beach (particularly at Birch Bay), even in "bad weather."

"After a good stormy night, being the first ones on the sand all bundled up often means finding washed ashore buoy treasures," Valley said. "The landscape, transformed by the seasons, looks just as stunning in the winter months... [there's] nothing like watching winter storms dance across the water and waves thundering while layered up safely on shore."

And when there is a pocket of sunshine, readers said, latch onto it!

"Despite the temperature, if the skies are blue and the sun is out, a long walk in any Seattle park is absolutely enchanting," Liliana Miller said.
What else helps? Gear, hot beverages and dogs
Mindsets aside, there are tangible things - warm shoes, a rainproof jacket, a toasty beverage in your hand - that can take an winter outing from miserable to joyful, readers said.

Outdoorsy Seattleites seem to agree that good gear is pivotal. Jen Rae recommends bundling up "as warm as you possibly can - almost to the point of ridiculousness." And don't be afraid to use "the frowned upon umbrella on really drenching days" as Katy Sharp does.

When Libby Chapman set a goal to start walking every day a few years ago, "the first thing I purchased was some rain pants. It's the item that allows me to get out even in a downpour!"

If you're still struggling to get out the front door, several readers said it's their dog(s) who makes it happen.

"My rescue dog loves Carkeek Park, and we've discovered how lovely it is in winter," Chana Meddin said. "Few people hiking along creek trails and fewer dogs, Lucky discovers scents he never enjoys on city walks which inspires us to explore the area as if for the first time, every time, with ebullient wonder." (Lucky also heads out in a warm jacket, by the way.)

Whatever outdoor activity you choose, revel in the knowledge that practicing friluftsliv is likely to boost your well-being and mood this winter. Indeed, says Dawn. W: "It's almost a better post-walk feeling than walking in 'good' weather."

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The Norwegian concept that helps some Seattleites get through winter

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In a city with deep Scandinavian roots and plenty of overcast winter days, here's how locals practice "friluftsliv" to stay healthy and happy through the rainy season.

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Right Clicking for Browser Support with Safari

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The start speaking is one of the only tools available for the visual impaired that I could find.

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Tool Description - Voice - Typing on Google Chrome worked a lot better than I expected. It got my voice fast or slow and it didn't use the exclamation marks as much as I thought it would.

UDL Connection - I think that this follows the standard for making sure that it has equitable access to educational technology as it does a good job overall of having voice to text.

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Translation of Story from English to Spanish 

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Tool Description - I love this story and how the student was able to communicate with their class and that they were also able to grow their English skills as well.

UDL Connection - I believe that this tool does a good job of advocating for equitable access because it does help students get access to their language fast and quick.

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Highlighting the nouns from the "Media Mentors" text with Immersive Reader 

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Tool Description - Immersive Reader has a lot of excellent features for OneNote. One of the features that it has is to highlight different parts of speech, text preferences, line focus (helps you specifically focus on certain lines when you're reading). Also, Immersive reader has reading coach which allows students to see their reading score which shows their accuracy, words to practice, and time spent reading. There is also a ton of different languages that a reader/student can choose from.

UDL Connection - Immersive Reader has all the standards mastered. It encourages readers to have a vision for empowered learning with technology, it advocates for equitable access to educational technology, and models the exploration/tools for new learning.

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Ways to Incorporate Technology in the Classroom in Turkish with Immersive Reader

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Tool Description - With the read mode on, I would say that this article was easier to digest. Without the ads, I was less distracted and was easier for me to pay attention to the article and just the article.

UDL Connection - With the ad blocker, this met the standard to meet the diverse needs for students because some students could struggle with ADHD and having ads could be distracting to some students.