Humor

Hi, Team Remote Families! This week's Positivity Project character strength is Humor. Humor is a sense of playfulness and lightness. It is a way of looking at and describing the world that brings laughter to people. A person with the strength of humor is skilled at seeing at the funny side of things, bringing smiles and laughter to others, and identifying and communicating the absurdities in life. People with this strength don’t specifically need to be joke tellers, although many are. Read more about humor here.

Check out the video clip below as the late, great Robin Williams portrays real-life Dr. "Patch" Adams using the character strength of humor to lift the spirits of hospitalized children.

Changes to Social Distancing Guidelines

With the recently announced changes to social distancing requirements from 6 feet to 3 feet, there may be some changes to our in-person learning modality, specifically at the secondary level (grades 5-12). However, our remote platform will remain as-is with the designated schedule that is in place. Our remote teachers have worked tirelessly to build relationships with students. Wednesdays are typically set aside for teachers to meet with students for remediation and enrichment,  provide feedback on assigned work, collaborate and plan with colleagues, and contact parents/families with student concerns. We will continue to innovate and provide opportunities for students to learn, socialize, and grow. 

Student Spotlight: Love of Learning

Caught in the Act of Learning: Brian Short

Shout out to remote CMS 8th grader Brian Short. Brian loves taking apart old computers to see how they work. He's also a whiz at fixing computers and has been a fabulous IT department for his mom while working from home!

Caught in the Act of Learning: Hadley Ollis

What better way to demonstrate a love of learning than to work at your own desk? Shout out to remote 4th grader Hadley Ollis and her family for taking advantage of the generous offer for a free desk from our partners at Operation Northern Comfort!

Leprechaun Traps!

Check out the ingenuity and creativity among Mrs. Forsyth's remote 1st grade students who built their own Leprechaun Traps! 

Resource for Remote Music: Family Sing Along 

Looking for some fun activities to do during Spring Break? Check out the link below from Carnegie Hall's at-home sing-along series for families and caretakers with children ages 2 - 5. Thanks to Mrs. Ta for sharing this resource!

Sing with Carnegie Hall

Instructional Technology: Is Your Chromebook Up to Date?

When colleagues and students contact me with a technology issue, I typically ask some basic questions to help troubleshoot:

1. Have you tried turning it off and on again?
2. Are you sure that it's plugged in?
3. Is the browser up to date?

The first two questions are a running joke on the 2006 British sitcom, The IT Crowd (available on Netflix). The third question requires a little more technical expertise. Keeping a browser up to date helps ensure that your computer is safe and secure, protecting you from identity theft, phishing attacks, viruses, trojans, spyware, adware, and other sorts of malware. One of the nice things about Chromebooks is that Google handles all of the security updates in the cloud with no software for the end user to install and run. See below to learn how to manually update your school-issued Chromebook (for reference, I am currently running Version 89.0.4389.90).

Check for updates Yourself

1. Turn on your Chromebook.
2. Connect your Chromebook to Wi-Fi.
3. At the bottom right, select the time.
4. Select Settings .
5. At the bottom of the left panel, select About Chrome OS.
6. Under "Google Chrome OS," you'll find which version of the Chrome operating system your Chromebook uses.
7. Select Check for updates.
8. If your Chromebook finds a software update, it will start to download automatically.

Click the animated image below for an interactive tutorial.

District Updates

Important Dates

• March 22nd: WGMS Progress Reports available on SchoolTool
• March 27th: Elementary Report Cards available on SchoolTool
• March 29th - April 5th: Spring Break

Be sure to check out the various Principal blogs (links on the right of this page) for more building-specific information.