Berkshire families,

As we continue with virtual learning and now prepare for in-person learning opportunities as well, we have come to recognize the need for parents to have some guidance on how to best support their children at home.  With everything going on these days and the relative stressors that are out there, we understand that time, patience and an understanding of how to help your student can be tough to come by.  As a result, we put together a list of ideas that will help any student be more successful not only during virtual learning, but throughout their education.  We hope that you can find some things here that can add to your parenting “toolbox.”   

Attendance - Ideas to help:

Is your student showing up?

• Check Power School attendance daily. 
• Contact Ms Borovsky in the front office if you need help with getting onto Power School: Wborovsky@birmingham.k12.mi.us Phone: 248-203-4811.
• Check a couple times during the school day to “catch” them in the act is best.
• Need Help getting Power School notifications? 
  

What to stress to your student:

• Being present in C3 is as important as their class.  C3 disseminates a variety of information.
• The importance of being in class on time. Classes are 45 minutes long and many teachers start class ASAP, crucial information and direction is expressed the first 10 minutes of class. 
• Try to keep your day as “normal” as possible.  Follow a routine. Get up, shower, eat breakfast and be ready to go.  Consistency is the key to success. 
• Print off a SCHEDULE so students can have it by their work area.  This way they know what time classes start each day.
  This is our current Live/Virtual schedule:
  

Nightly have your student walk you through Schoology 

• What are the assignments?
• What has been completed?
• What is left to do?
• Download the Schoology App using your student’s username and password. (See Directions below)
• Show me your work!  Have your student share their work with you so you can see their progress.
• Check in with their teachers to help your student be accountable for their learning.

As they meet expectations, you can gradually ease up on nightly check-ins and move towards every few days or once a week. Give and take goes a long way with middle schoolers.

Develop a calendar and a schedule for your student based off what you see in Schoology

• Record upcoming assessments and assignments.
• Schedule out work time per assignments/assessments - Not just the due dates.
• Update it every night and hold students accountable for the deadlines you set.
• Plan rewards for small and large successes: Middle schoolers collectively are very extrinsically motivated.
• Figure out what motivates them and set up a detailed system where the rewards are obtainable and happen within a short time frame (ex.  small weekly reward). Start small or maybe focus on one class at a time if the student is really struggling. BE CONSISTENT. 

Checking Grades:

• Check Power School as well. Different teachers rely more on PS than Schoology – Reach out to teachers to see which one is best.
• Check frequently to see your child’s grades and if they are turning assignments in, on time, and complete.
  *You can click the letter grade (or “i” if there is no grade yet for that class) to see all of the assignments for that class.

Go over zoom etiquette and your expectations

What are your expectations for their participation in class?

Questions to ask/consider:

• Is their camera on?
• Is their camera and microphone in good working condition? 
  (We are seeing many kids with tech issues, especially with their cameras and microphones).
• Does their camera show their face or just their forehead?
• How is their teacher supposed to know if they are engaged or what they are doing?
• Does their camera show their workspace for applicable classes?
• Are they sitting at a desk or table instead of lying or sitting in bed?

SLANT

SLANT is the best way to get ready to be engaged in class:

Sit up

Lean forward

Ask questions

Note Take

Technology Issues

If you have any issues with technology:

• Check the Q&A at the bottom of this page
• Contact Mrs. Garbutt with any issues you might have with technology- most issues can be resolved with a phone call or email
• Request a District laptop- (limited supply)
  • Please submit an email with your request for a laptop to lgarbutt@birmingham.k12.mi.us.
  • She will send you a form to fill out.
  • Once she recieves the form back from you, then the laptop will be processed.
  • You will be contacted when the laptop is ready

*If you are requesting an exchange due to a faulty laptop, please follow the same procedure stated above.

Contact Berkshire's Tech Support:

Ms. Garbutt: Lgarbutt@birmingham.k12.mi.us

Office #: 248-203-4735

School Supplies

Make sure school supplies they will need for each class is on their desk or work space: books, binders, pencils, pens (blue, black, red), paper, highlighters, etc. Once you establish your expectations with your student, check-in with their teachers to hold them accountable.

Encourage your students to:

• Reach out to their teacher through e-mail and/or Schoology. Teachers are human.  They understand not feeling good, needing extra time, forgetting to ask a crucial question. Communicating with teachers makes it easier to understand your student’s needs.
• Students should be encouraged to advocate for themselves and their issues.  Every student has the capability of composing an email or staying after class to ask questions or explain missing work.  Teachers want to help their students and are willing to work with them. Students learn valuable communication skills when advocating for themselves.

Get Academic Help:

VARC:

(Virtual Academic Resource Center) is a great place to get extra help with an assignment, reading comprehension, studying for an upcoming test, or reviewing a math concept.

We find that once a student comes to VARC once, they are happy to return – so encourage your middle schooler to stop by! We love giving one-on-one support to our wildcats.

Monday-Friday, from 11:05-11:45 am. Simply have your child join with this VARC zoom link.

We encourage you to fill out this VARC form. It gives us contact information for you and your child, so that we can follow up and make sure we’ve met their needs.

Saturday School:

Time: 9 – 11 am.

Dates: December: 19 - January: 9, 22, 30 - February: 6, 27 -March: 6, 13, 20 - April: 10, 17, 24 - May: 1, 8, 15, 22.

Please visit the BPS Saturday School webpage to learn more and we hope to see you in this year’s virtual setting!  https://www.birmingham.k12.mi.us/domain/839

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2047672482?pwd=T3pVU1REUXZTN09NM1MvSSsrVTJiZz09

Teacher “Office Hours”

Every teacher is open for one on one help from 11-11:40 am Monday, Tuesday & Thursday every week.

Reach out for Social/Emotional Help:

Counselors:

Last Names A-L = Ms. Hardeman: 248-203-4714

Rhardeman@birmingham.k12.mi.us

Last Name M-Z = Ms. Battle: 248-203-4711

Abattle@birmingham.k12.mi.us

Daily check-in question stems – Instead of asking “How was school?” try these questions to gain more information about how your child is doing in school.

What was the best part about your school day?

What was the hardest thing you had to do today?

Did any of your classmates do anything funny?

Tell me about what you read in class.

Do you think math [or any subject] is too easy or too hard?

What did you do for lunch?

Did you join any clubs?

Can you show me something you learned (or did) today?

Virtual Learning Frequently asked questions:

***NOTE: (Both the Schoology and ClassLink App  can only be used with student accounts at this time)

Q. Can I download the schoology App on my phone or tablet?

A. Yes you can-

• Find the App in your app Store and  download it to your device
• Open the App
  
  
• 
• In the search bar type in Birmingham Public Schools- Beverly Hills MI (Searching for Berkshire does not work because the Schoology account is associated with Birmingham Public Schools)
• Select it - This should take you to the logon Window
• Put in your computer credentials to login to Schoology
• You should now be connected to your Schoology App!

Q. Can I download the Classlink App on my phone or tablet?

A. Yes you can-

• Find the App in your app Store and  download it to your device
• Open the App
• Click Allow to find your School District
• Select Michigan Birmingham Public SD
• Use your logon credentials to login to ClassLink
• You should now be connected to your ClassLink App!

Q. I am trying to login to Zoom but it says my account is invalid or I get an error message...

A. This usually happens if you get disconnected from Zoom- It may show you still as logged in but your account is no longer connected.

     Try this:

• Go to Zoom.us
• Click Sign In (if you are signed in - sign out)
• Don't sign in at the first login Screen, but scroll down until you see Sign in with Google
• Follow the onscreen prompts
• Once logged in verify you are using a Birmingham Account:
  • Click your picture or icon in the top right corner of your screen
  • It should have you logged in with your Google account and it should say licensed above that.
  • If it has Basic instead of Licensed, please contact Mrs. Garbutt immediately!
  • lgarbutt@birmingham.k12.mi.us

When I go to Schoology, I can't find my school-

If you are going to Schoology.com you have to find your District (Not School) before logging on. An easier way is to go to ClassLink and then open Schoology from there. You are encouraged to always use ClassLink for all your school needs.  ClassLink is the quickest, easiest way to navigate through Virtual Learning.

In the event that ClassLink is unavailable please go directly to Schoology: Schoology

Q. I can't log in-

A.  To best assist you with this problem, we need to know what you can't log in to. Possibly you are using the wrong account information for a site that you need to login to. Remember, if you are using ClassLink, your username and password information are collected and stored in ClassLink so You don't have to log on every time you need it. 

	Here are places you would need credentials:
	Computer logon -(district devices only)  This is your username and password (Birmingham Account)
	ClassLink logon - This is your username and password (Birmingham Account)
	Office 365 logon-Use your Birmingham Account.  Make sure to set up in ClassLink
	Outlook Email - Use your (Birmingham Account) @birmingham.k12.mi.us credentials. Make sure to set up in ClassLink.
	Powerschool - Use your Birmingham username and your password  given to you from the district. Send an email to wborovsky@birmingham.k12.mi.us if you need it reset.
	Gmail - Use your @bps-schools.com  credentials.  Email Mrs. Garbutt at lgarbutt@birmingham.k12.mi.us if  you need your password reset. Make sure to set up in ClassLink.
	Google Drive - Use your @bps-schools.com  credentials. Email Mrs. Garbutt at lgarbutt@birmingham.k12.mi.us if you need your password reset Make sure to set up in ClassLink.

Q. I log on to Schoology, but I can’t upload my assignments from Google Drive-

A.  There are three reasons this may happen:

Reason one: - The Schoology Extension did not load properly. Reinstall if you are having issues.

Reason two: - You did not use ClassLink to access Schoology. Close the browser, then reopen it and navigate to ClassLink to open Schoology.

Reason three- You did not connect your Google Resource Drive in Schoology. Make sure to download the Google Resource app while in Schoology and then put in your Google credentials to connect them to your assignments.The next time you use Google Resource, it will automatically log you on as long as you have logged on through ClassLink.

Submitting Google Drive Resources to an Assignment

If your teacher has assigned a Google Drive Assignment to you, you can use the Google Drive Assignments App to submit your assignment.

1. Open the assignment from Course Materials.
2. Click Submit Assignment.
3. Within the Upload window, select Resources.
4. Click Apps, and then Google Drive.
5. Search for your document using the search bar.
6. Check the box to the left of the item you wish to upload to the assignment.
7. Select Import > Import File.
8. The Google Drive item will be submitted directly to the Assignment for your instructor's review.