Monday, November 16, 2020

Updates and Learning With Chromebooks--Google Drive: Storage and Productivity in the Cloud

News and Notes from Around the District


Hello, Team Remote Families! This week's blog includes information about Remote Elementary Fine Arts, important dates from around the district, and  another tip for "Learning With Chromebooks."

Remote Fine Arts

The Fine Arts department has assembled general music kits for all elementary students! Families of remote students in grades K-4 can pick up their music kits on 11/23 from 12:00 - 3:00 at your "home" building. Teachers are in the process of putting together more asynchronous lessons for K-4 students to pursue independently. Be on the lookout for more choice boards and virtual lessons with new activities for both music and art after the new year.

Important Dates

November 18
  • Remote Material Pick Up for WGHS
    • The next remote material pick-up day will be November 18. There will be two time frames. The first will be from 9:00-11:00 a.m. and the second will be from 12:30-3:00 p.m. Items can be picked up on the atrium side of the school. Please use the Applebees entrance from West Genesee Street. Future pick-up days will be as follows:
      • December 16
      • January 13 
      • February 10 
    • Future pick-up days will be scheduled beyond February as needed.
  • Remote Materials Pick up for CMS
    • Remote teachers have directly contacted families who may need to pick up learning materials (i.e. families who may not have a printer at home). Pick up for those families will be on 11/18 from 8:00 - 3:00 at the CMS lobby. Please note that this materials pick up is NOT for all 7-8 remote students, but solely for families who have been contacted by their child's teacher.
    • If you will be coming to CMS to pick up materials on 11/18, please consider ordering a book or two from our library! Mrs. Bush has made it easy for you to browse and shop and all book orders will be ready for pick up in the main entrance.

November 23
  • K-4 Parent Teacher Conferences (Half-Day for K-4 students)
  • Remote students in grades 2-4 can pick up their literacy supplies for the next couple of units as well as music kits between noon and 3:00 p.m. at your "home" building
  • WGHS - CMS - WGMS Schedule
    • Monday/Tuesday cohort: synchronous classes on Monday only and asynchronous on Tuesday 
November 24
  • K-4 Parent Teacher Conferences Cont'd. (Half-Day for K-4 students)
  • WGHS - CMS - WGMS Schedule
    • Thursday/Friday cohort: synchronous classes on Tuesday and asynchronous on Monday
November 25 - 27 
  • Thanksgiving Break--No School

Learning With Chromebooks: Google Drive for Storage and Productivity in the Cloud


At the dawn of the 21st century, I was teaching social studies at WGHS. Like many teachers (this may be unique to the profession), I had a system for saving documents and files that I might potentially use in my day-to-day teaching: When I found something from a colleague or on the Internet that was useful, I would be sure to email it to myself! That way, I could continue to work on my curriculum from home. As a matter of convenience, I decided to try saving instructional materials on a flash drive. I can still recall my excitement when I scored an 8G flash drive from Staples for just $50. 

Fast forward to today where Google Drive provides anyone who is part of our "@westgenesee.org" domain INFINITE storage for free! I no longer have to email myself or buy extra hardware to access my files. I can simply upload them to Google Drive, log in to my "@westgenesee.org" account, and access my files on my phone, my work computer, my Chromebook, or any device that is connected to the Internet. 

But wait...there's more. Google Drive isn't just useful for storing files. It also includes a productivity suite to create files for free. There is no need to install expensive software like Microsoft Office. Google has an answer for each of Microsoft's productivity platforms. Google Docs is comparable to Microsoft Word for basic word processing. Google Sheets is comparable to Excel for creating spreadsheets and sorting data. And Google Slides is similar to PowerPoint for creating presentations. 

Check out the video tutorials below to learn how to upload files and folders to store them on Google Drive as well as how to create Docs, Sheets, Slides, and more.

Two Minute Drill: Google Drive--Upload Files and Folders




Two Minute Drill: Google Drive--Create Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and More




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