Each student in Kindergarten through Fourth Grade will be assigned an iPad that will remain at school each evening. Students in these grades participating in BDSRemote will have an iPad at home with them.

Minimum tech requirement for iPad for remote learning:

• iPad iOS 13.1 or later

• iPad Pro, iPad 5th generation, iPad Air 3rd generation, iPad Air 2, iPad Mini 4th generation or later

Each student in Fifth Grade will be assigned a Chromebook that will remain at school each evening. Students in this grade participating in BDSRemote will have a Chromebook at home with them.

Minimum tech requirement for Chromebook remote learning:

• Intel Celeron with 1.1GHz/4G RAM/32G HD (Zoom’s minimum system requirements call for 1GHZ processor and 4G RAM)

Prior to the week of offsite learning in September and prior to Thanksgiving break, students who are typically onsite will bring their assigned device home. For periods when a cohort is offsite for an unplanned, extended period of time, there will be an opportunity toward the beginning of this period for families to come to campus to pick up devices and other materials. Please arrange for device pick-up with your child’s teacher for other situations where your child is offsite.

A cable and charging block will be sent home with the device. However, if you should lose or damage the cable you can use any lightning power cable and charger (such as an iPhone) you have at home to charge an iPad during these extended periods of offsite learning.

5th graders will bring home a power adapter for their assigned Chromebook that can plug into a standard outlet. This power adapter should remain at home.

• A minimum download speed of 5.0MBPS (Zoom uses 3.0MBPS for HD audio and video)

• Google Chrome browser

• When wireless is being used, work as close as possible to the wireless router to maintain excellent signal strength (5 bars)

• Close out of unnecessary tabs and applications to free up memory and processing speeds

• If multiple family members are using the internet for school work at once, turn off other devices that are not being used like cell phones, televisions, and speakers to help with transmission rates and possible interference.

• If your signal is week in a certain room you might want to think about purchasing a wifi signal booster.

• Seesaw supports video files up to 250 MB in size. To reduce the size of your files before You Record: Go into the Settings app > Camera > Video Recording > Select 720p at 30 fps or lower.

First, please help your child to connect the iPad or Chromebook to your home Wifi. If you do not have reliable Wifi access at home, please reach out to your child's teacher. Also, please work with your child on how to properly carry, store and care for the school device. For example, in school we teach them to walk holding the device with both hands, not to place the device where somebody could accidently knock it off a desk, or leave it on a chair where someone could sit on it, or pick up the device by the monitor screen.

The Responsible Use Policy is in the Student Handbook and posted on the parent portal in Veracross. Please also refer to the COPPA notice and list of approved school applications.

Students in Kindergarten through Third Grade will access classwork via the SeeSaw app that is loaded on their iPads. Please note that this is the SeeSaw Class app. The SeeSaw Family app that you might have loaded on a device at home for parent access is different and cannot be used by students to access their class work. All students will be logged in to the SeeSaw Class app already on their school iPad and will remain logged in when their iPad comes home. If a student accidentally logs out, please contact your child’s homeroom teacher for a home access code.

Students in Fourth Grade will access Google Classroom via an app loaded on their iPads. Students in Fifth Grade will access Google Classroom via an app on their Chromebook.

Offsite work will be posted on these platforms including the offsite schedule. Some work will be asynchronous so screen time can be limited. Students who are onsite will practice using these platforms while at school and will have gained proficiency that will be helpful during periods of offsite learning.

Your child may use any of the apps that are installed on the device at your discretion. Installing additional apps is prohibited. As with any device connected to the internet, please make sure you are aware of how your children are using the device and that your children adhere to the expectations described in the school’s RUP, which is posted to the school’s Veracross Portal. You can also find the COPPA list on the Veracross Portal. If you would like information about managing your child’s screen time, parents have found this to be a useful resource.

It’s important to clean commonly touched surfaces like keyboards, computers, chromebooks, touch screens, iPads, phones, etc. Be sure to unplug all external power sources and cables when cleaning. All students should wash hands prior to using a device and make sure to carry the device with two hands. Please do not use hand sanitizer as this can leave streaks on the screen or keys. Please also do not put any stickers on the device or personalize the exterior. Please avoid eating or drinking at the same time as using a device, or make sure nearby beverage containers are covered tightly. Please try to keep the device out of the reach of other children and pets. We recommend charging the device in a parent’s room at night if possible, or developing a routine that makes sense for your family for device use and charging. We also recommend not using the device within the hour prior to going to sleep.

• Never spray cleaner directly on an item

• For screens use a lint-free or microfiber cloth, or a cleaning pad made specially for screens.

• For keyboards and outer surfaces use an alcohol wipe containing 70% alcohol

• Avoid excessive wiping and submerging item in the cleanser to avoid damage.

• Do not use aerosol sprays, bleach or abrasive cleaners.

• Ensure moisture does not get into any openings to avoid damage.

• Do not use bleach to disinfect electronics.

• Never spray cleaner directly on an item

• For screens use a lint-free or microfiber cloth, or a cleaning pad made specially for screens.

• For keyboards and outer surfaces use an alcohol wipe containing 70% alcohol

• Avoid excessive wiping and submerging item in the cleanser to avoid damage.

• Do not use aerosol sprays, bleach or abrasive cleaners.

• Ensure moisture does not get into any openings to avoid damage.

• Do not use bleach to disinfect electronics.

On an iPad, use AirPrint to print wirelessly both at home and school.

On a Chromebook, use Google Cloud Print to print to your home printer. To know if you have a “Cloud Print Ready” printer, see your printer manual or check on this page. View this video if your printer is “Cloud Print Ready.” If you have an older “classic” printer, view this video. For more detailed, step by step instructions, visit the Google page for Connecting Your Printers to Cloud Print.

Your first point of contact should be your child’s homeroom teacher. Their teacher will collaborate with you to problem solve. It is important for you to know the teachers are the administrators and owners of their online classroom accounts, so troubleshooting an issue oftentimes requires a coordinated effort between the teacher and a member of the tech staff to resolve issues. This is why it is important that you let the teacher know of any issues before contacting the tech office. By doing so the teacher is alerted to the possibility that a student may not fully understand the instructions or will miss part of the assignment, as well as allow the teacher to utilize the tricks and tips the tech office has shared with them to quickly fix some of the more minor tech stumbling blocks.

• Students in Grades 4-5 use GSuite Enterprise for Education with unlimited storage in Google Drive

• GSuite also includes Google docs, spreadsheets, calendar, slides and Classroom.

Seesaw for Schools is a lower school, age appropriate version of a learning management system that fosters collaboration, learning and communication between teachers, students and families.

• Unlimited storage is available in Seesaw for all Belmont Day School students in grades PK-3.

• Students show learning through built in annotation tools that captures what they know through a digital portfolio.

• Through digital portfolios teachers gain insight and understanding into a students thinking and progress. Seesaw journals can follow students from PK to 3.

• Families connect and gain a window into their student's learning and can engage with school happenings.

• Introduction to Seesaw for families.

• What platforms, browsers, and operating systems does Seesaw support?

Teachers have already logged your child into Seesaw on their school-issued device. Once your child has been signed in, they will stay logged in for 1 year or until they log out. If you log out of Seesaw by mistake you will need to contact your child's teacher and have them send you a Home Learning Code.

• What are Home Learning Codes: Home learning codes are a 12-digit text code or QR code that allow students to sign in to the Seesaw CLASS app from home while protecting their privacy. This means students can add posts to their journal, respond to activities, view announcements, and comment on their own work. Students cannot see or comment on other students’ work.

• Where do I get my child’s Home Learning Code? Your child’s teacher or the tech department will send home a 12-digit text code or a PDF with a text and QR code. You may receive it as a printed PDF, in an email, as a Seesaw announcement/message, or through another channel your school uses to communicate with you.

• Do Home Learning Codes expire? Home Learning Codes expire after 90 days. Once your child signs in with a Home Learning Code, they will stay logged in for 1 year or until they log out.

The information in Google Apps for Education is private and secure and is not used or sold in any way http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/education/benefits.html

The school uses a combination of mobile device management and web filtering software to prepare, manage, and monitor school-issued devices. Each grade's devices have a device tag (i.e. K, 1, 2) so that settings and apps can be customized for each grade. Although each device is assigned to a specific student, settings and apps are set to the device tags and are therefore applied to all the devices with that tag.

The school does not actively ‘watch’ students but, instead, utilizes software to prevent access to inappropriate online content, assist in recovery of a lost or stolen device, ensure devices are running the latest software versions, and to assist with troubleshooting. All activity on any school device is recorded and searchable if needed by the tech office.

The iPads and Chromebooks will include Internet filters to block inappropriate websites when connected to any WiFi network, at school or at home. This also provides for tracking missing devices and reporting on student activities to check for responsible use. While the software filter protects students in most cases, the best filter is adult supervision and students making good choices, and being responsible digital citizens. If you would like to restrict access to certain websites at home that have not been blocked by the school, please refer your internet service provider's information on parental controls for home internet.

If a Chromebook is lost or stolen, the family should notify the technology office at techgroup@belmontday.org

The family should notify the technology office at techgroup@belmontday.org and the device should be brought to the IT drop box outside Mr. Smith’s office in the Barn.

There are many situations that can lead to "no sound". Below are some things we need you to try before contacting your teacher or the tech office.

• Internal hardware issue that can be fixed with an EC Hard Reset - do that now - it won't hurt anything.

• Extension interference that can be fixed by doing a Chrome Browser Reset

• Cache problems that can be fixed by clearing the cache

• Sound was switched to a Bluetooth or other device that is no longer active or plugged in.

• Wrong output device selected - go to Status menu > click on the arrow next to the volume slider > click on internal speaker output or headphone or other device. NOTE: The active audio node depends on previous selection you've made, and the status (active/inactive) when previously unplugged. Thus if you unplug the headphone jack at time you listen to the Internal speaker(being selected manually from the audio menu), next time you plug the headphone jack you'll still hear the internal speaker, till you manually switch to Headphone.

• For Bluetooth devices - try resetting the Bluetooth device to factory default and pairing again.

• Not powering off regularly - simply closing the lid doesn't count. Try it now - do a “Shut Down” by clicking on the Shut Down button on the status menu, or press the power button for a second, and then click on “Power off”. Then power up again and log in.

• Accidentally pressing the mute key, or turning down the volume on the Chromebook

• Selecting mute or turning down the volume on specific websites. Note that Youtube and other websites with embedded content, will have audio controls that are in addition to the ChromeOS system controls. You must enable sound in both places.

• Headphones defective, not fully plugged or incompatible with the Chromebook

• Using an HDMI connection to a TV or monitor and not switching back to Chromebook speakers after unplugging