Technology Starters for Families
Dear Families,
With an eye toward our newer SPS community members, below is some basic information about accessing our online resources from home. So much of our teaching and learning requires successfully accessing these tools, and we have many students whose first classroom experience with SPS will be a virtual one.
Wishing everyone a great year,
Michael R. OBrien
Director of Technology
Sudbury Public Schools
Account Information
For signing into their Google account, your child may need to add "@sudburystudents.org" to the username if they are not on an SPS-managed Chromebook.
Whether engaged in remote learning from home or a daycare location, this name and password is going to be the key to accessing our resources.
Please contact your school's front office if you are having trouble accessing your family account in Follett Aspen.
Getting Started
When a student logs into a Chromebook managed by the Sudbury Public Schools, their account is ready to access the standard educational tools that Google provides (Classroom, Drive, Meet, etc.) with no extra steps. Your homepage is automatically sudburystudents.org.
As a reminder, all students in grades 2 to 8 will have a Chromebook provided by the school. Students in preschool to grade 1 will use primarily family-owned devices, with an opportunity to request a loaner Chromebook.
If you are using personal equipment, here are a few tips for making sure you are accessing our resources using the correct Google account:
If you are on a computer, make sure you are using the Google Chrome web browser, and that you are logged into the student’s Google account rather than a parent account. Here is a screencast showing how to add your child’s account to Google Chrome on a computer running Windows, Mac, or Linux. On a Chromebook they would simply log into the device. Once added, that account will have sudburystudents.org as its homepage.
If you are on an Apple iPad or Android tablet, you probably will be accessing our learning platforms from an app rather than a web browser. Those apps are available here:
Seesaw
Google Classroom
Schoology
Google Meet
Different grade bands will be using different platforms for their learning management: preschool to grade 1 will be using Seesaw, grades 2 to 5 will be using Google Classroom, and grades 6 to 8 will be using Schoology.
Google Meet
We are using Google Meet as our online video conferencing solution. For students to join, your child should click on the link provided by their teacher.
If they are in their school account on an SPS Chromebook, they will be logged in automatically and may click "Ask to Join" to request entry into the session.
If they are on a personal device, they will have to log into their SPS Google account with the full username including "@sudburystudents.org" before being able to "Ask to Join" the session. Adult assistance will likely be required for our younger students.
For families of students in Preschool to Grade 1, please watch this screencast by Sudbury kindergarten teacher, Rebecca Amaral, for a complete guide to joining Google Meet sessions.
Support
September 21 @ 7:00 PM - Google Classroom with Howard Wolke
September 23 @ 9:00 AM - Schoology with Liz Kerrigan
September 23 @ 7:00 PM - Schoology with Liz Kerrigan
Also visit sudburystudents.org for our new support section