Prior to being issued a Chromebook and a Google account, students will all sign a district AUP form (AUP in Russian) (AUP in Spanish). They will also need to follow the district technology use guidelines which are summarized on that form. A more detailed version is available below.

KSD Technology Use Guidelines.

Kelso is a GSuite District. 

To know more about this program and how we are using it in Kelso, refer to this document.  For more information on Google’s policies please refer to this website: https://www.google.com/edu/trust

Other Webtools

In addition to Google Tools and adopted curriculum, Kelso teachers might also use the following tools. Click the links to view their privacy policies.

Class Dojo
Edpuzzle
Formative
Flipgrid
Kami
Khan Academy
Newsela
Peardeck
Read and Write for Google
ReadTheory
Readworks
Padlet
Screencastify
Seesaw

Tech Documents

✨Distance Learning Self Study✨

Staff Technology Documents

Kelso Tech eBoard

Professional Social Media Form

Parent/Community Social Media Form

Tech Integration eBoard

Website Worth Sharing Blog

Tech Support (Tech Request Site)

Discovery Streaming

Parent’s Guide to 21st CenturyLearning

Common Sense Media Parent Tips

Family Online Safety Institute: Digital Parenting

Connect Safely: Parent Guides

The Smart Talk: Setting Smartphone ground rules

Microsoft Brochures and Flyers

Click here to read an article published by Common Sense Media about Safety, Security and Privacy.

As part of the district’s “Career, College, and Community Ready” goal, our students will be utilizing Google Drive accounts that allow them to produce, share, and easily access assignments, documents and projects using online tools.

Google Drive provides free word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software that students can use to create documents from any computer that has Internet access.  The district has its own Google Drive portal that allows for the creation of accounts for our students. These are not to be treated as private accounts, but are provided for the purpose of school related work and communications. The benefit of Google Drive is that students will have access to their documents both at home and school on any computer that has access to the Internet. In addition to familiar tools like Google Drive, Classroom, Keep, and Sites, Kelso High students will also have active Gmail accounts that can be used for school related purposes. We are using a monitoring tool called Bark that alerts us to inappropriate or dangerous content. Flagged activity will be reviewed and followed up on if needed. We encourage you to discuss with your child how he/she is using Google Drive in school.

Check out this article at Common Sense Media. It highlights some great tools the you can use to monitor and control cell phone use. This site also has good information on apps to look out for on children's phones.

Interested in reading more about screen time with kids? Check out these articles-

• Media and Children – American Academy of

• Mobile screens: Do they really turn your kids’ brains to mush? –

• Blame Society, Not the Screen Time – NY Times

• Pediatricians call for limits on kids’ screen time – Reuters

• How much screen time is ok for my kids – Common Sense Media

• Screen time and Children – US National Library of Medicine

• Kids And Screen Time: What Does The Research Say? – NPR

Do you have a hard time getting kids to put down the screens and go outside? How about a compromise. This article on showcases apps that help kids get out into the great outdoors.

Apps that Inspire Kids to Go Outside

Parenting today’s tech savvy kids can seem overwhelming. But you can do it! Take these seven simple, though still challenging steps, to becoming a digital parent.

7 Steps to Good Digital Parenting

Many students have their own Smart-phones or tablets and are often ahead of their parents in the use of the most current apps. Some apps are educational, fun, or helpful, but you should be watchful for apps that set students up for bullying or secretive uses. This article shares about 6 apps that you should watch out for including 2 that appear to be simple could be hiding sensitive images.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/04/19/underground-apps-students/?all

Do you sometimes feel that your teens a foreign language? Keep up with the latest Digital Lingo by checking out the Digital Glossary provided by Common Sense Media.

If you are  for inexpensive Internet access for your family, you might want to check out Comcast’s Internet Essentials program which provides Internet access for some families for as low as $9.99 a month.

Century Link’s Internet Basics is a similar program that’s available for $9.95.

For more information about low cost technology , check out the Communities Connect Network for Washington State.

In Kelso School District, the active and appropriate use of technology permeates the learning, teaching, managing, and support environments.

As the students and staff of Kelso Public Schools effectively use technology, our students emerge as:

• Discriminating selectors of technology tools

  • Information navigators

• Critical thinkers and analyzers

• Effective communicators

• Better citizens, workers, learners, community members, and family members

From the Kelso Public Schools2013-16 Technology Plan.

Technology Integration Specialist
Brenda Sargent