Google Apps

Parent Communication For Classes using google apps for education

Click on the link to see the latest letter about Google Apps - LINK

For those interested in buying Chromebooks

If you want to purchase online we have received a special deal from Cyclone - Go to www.cyclone.co.nz , then click on shop,  then select St Mary's Catholic Schools from school list - Login: STM2014

Also see the Noel Lemming colour flier that went out with the children today.

Chromebooks can be purchased from a range of sources but are often not on display in retail stores.

The Noel Leeming Rotorua store will have a special reopening time this Wednesday 11 June, 6.30-7.30pm, for St Mary’s Middle School families interested in seeing or purchasing a Chromebook. If you have friends who want to purchase one it is fine to invite them along too. 

The store does not usually have Chromebooks out on display as they are stocked for sale to education institutions. On Wednesday evening Noel Leemings will have a number of different models of Chromebooks on display - the  Acer Touch Screen Chromebook, Samsung Chromebook and Hewlett Packard 14 inch Chromebook.  We do not mind what model Chromebook parents purchase. We were expecting to have a flier from Noel Leemings early last week to distribute to parents outlining some of the specs of the different models Noel Leeming can supply. We hope we will have this, which also details pricing, to send home on Monday.

There is another model of Chromebook (very robust and can survive being dropped) that Noel Leeming have been trying to access for us - but unfortunately it has gone end of line and the new model is currently not yet available. Those interested might prefer to wait for the new Lenovo Chromebook.

All the models have different end of life dates. You can read more about end of life and what it means on the following link http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/eol.html Although you may not be aware of it, many devices have end of life dates. This doesn’t mean they won’t work after this date  - but the end of life date indicates that the Chromebook will support automatic updates up until at least the end of life date.

There will be a number of Noel Leeming staff available on Wednesday evening  - including their Central North Island Senior Commercial Manager. Anne Cato and Lynley Schofield will also attend in case you have any questions you wish to ask them about the Chromebooks. We have not seen the Acer Touch Screen model but have used the Samsung and HP Chromebooks.

Cyclone Computers, are also able to offer our parents an option to purchase a Hewlett Packard Chromebook package online.  We will provide you with the login details for their online shop, accessed from their website, https://www.cyclone.co.nz/ as soon as they make this available to us.

Students in the Middle School who have a Chromebook are now allowed to bring it to school if their parents allow them to. There is a Chromebook User Agreement, available from the class teacher, which needs to be signed and returned to the class teacher, before we will put the device on the school network. If you have any questions please feel free to see or email Anne Cato annec@stmarys.rotorua.school.nz

Chromebooks 101

Help! My children know more than I do?

We thought we would offer some parent learning sessions.

If you would like some help to manage your child’s Chromebook or learn more about using Google Apps then maybe we can help.

This week we will have Chromebooks 101.

Ideal for those people who have a Chromebook at home and want to learn

some basics.      We will start with:-

• Chromebook Basics
• Accessing Settings
• Adding and deleting bookmarks, history.
• Question and answer session.

It will be an informal session - I will try and answer any questions you may have.

When- Thursday 3.00-4.00 May 15th Room 14

-- 

Lynley Schofield

Dear Parents

All our Year 3 and 4 students are being issued with a Google Apps for Education account login. Over the next few weeks classes will be being introduced to their Google Apps account and will be starting to use this account for some learning activities. Details of your child’s login details are attached.

About google apps for education

St Mary’s Catholic School has been issued with a Google Apps for Education account. As a result we are able to provide students and teachers with access to Google Apps via our school account. Access is provided for learning purposes only and we will be stressing to students that anything they do using this account needs to be for learning purposes. The school also has a Hapara Teacher Dashboard account, which allows teachers to view all of the files in the student’s account – even those which have been deleted.

Google Apps is provided to educational institutions at no charge and the Hapara Teacher Dashboard costs the school $4 per student per year.

What does this mean for students?

Students are legally allowed a Mail, Blog and Google Drive account through the school domain, even though they are under 13 years of age. Teachers are able to view everything a child does under their login.

Files are saved automatically, in the cloud, which means that they can be accessed anywhere, anytime, from any device that goes on the internet.

A student is able to access work they have done at school from home, share what they have been doing with their parents and family, and access files that the teacher or other students share with them.

Students are able to work collaboratively with others on learning tasks – they might work with others in their classroom, with other students at school, or other students in NZ schools or overseas.

Students will be introduced to tools that can assist them with their learning eg research tools, and will be taught skills to assist them to become responsible digital citizens.

Each student is provided with 30GB free storage.

How do I login?

You can login to the Google Apps for Education account on any device that connects to the internet.

Go to  drive.google.com

1.       Enter your username:

2.       And password:

WHAT IF STUDENTS FORGET their password?

Please see the class teacher who will be able to assist the student.

HOW DO PARENTS ACCESS THEIR CHILD’S ACCOUNT?

At this stage, please use your child’s login. There is a parent portal, which we may make available at a later date, but probably not until 2015.

HOW CAN I FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WHAT MY CHILD WILL BE DOING?

At this stage we are just introducing the children to their Google Apps for Education account. Room 14 is the first class to get underway and we will start introducing the account to the children in other rooms between now and the end of the term. Extra support is being provided in Middle School classrooms as this project gets underway. It is important that students become competent at some basic skills initially. These include:

o        Being able to log in and out of their account

o        Creating a document, a presentation and a spreadsheet

o        Being able to use the Google Draw app and Research tools

o        Adding text and images to a document

o        Sharing a document

o        Accessing files shared by their teacher

Once students have mastered these basics we will progressively make greater use of Google Apps for some learning activities in Reading, Writing, Maths and Concept Curriculum.

Towards the end of this term we will be opening up Room 14 for any parents to come and view a lesson where students are using their Google Apps for Education account. We will also hold an evening meeting(s) for parents of Middle School students so that we can share examples of how we are using our Google Apps for Education account to assist students with their learning.

WHERE CAN I FIND MORE INFORMATION?

Check out the school website. Go to the Elearning page which can be found in the Community area of our website. We will provide more details and information soon regarding our class open session and parent meeting(s) time.