“Where is everyone?” “Why can't I hear anything?” “How do I unmute?” “Why is my camera off?” “Why do I look like an alien? Everything is green” Sound familiar? Hopefully by now since we have been remote learning for a little over a month, for the most part, we've got the hang of Zooming but there are still a lot of users having trouble in the first ten minutes of most calls. Sometimes the tech trouble has nothing to do with the users. Unstable internet, too much bandwidth being used up at the same time, the wide variety of computers and devices that people are using to connect with are just some of the hurdles that we all have to get past in our online lives now. Speaking of using different devices if you're trying to connect to school and your house is low on computers, don't forget the school has available laptops that you can borrow which should make it easier for students rather than using tablets. Just call the front office to reserve one at “623-376-4300”. The options in zoom are in different locations on the screen and are limited based on what type of device or computer you use. There are so many different types of devices out there, so let's focus on how to manage Zoom options for computers. Here are some Zoom tips and tricks that everyone should know.

Attendee Tips

• When you join a meeting you need to first connect to the audio. A popup window will ask you if you want to connect to internet audio. Click on that.

• On the top left, there are buttons that change your formatting for where people are on your screen. “Speaker View” makes it so the person that's speaking is bigger on your screen. “Gallery View” makes it so every person on the screen is the same size.
• On the bottom middle, there are buttons allowing you to chat, record the meeting, and view the list of participants in the meeting.

Host tips

• You are able to share your screen by clicking on the green button that says “Share Screen”. You can share your computer screen, or files, or a whiteboard that you're able to draw on. To show a video, you need to share your computer sound by clicking the check-box on the bottom left.

• To control attendees’ audio and video hover the cursor over that person and use the three dots.
• To enable breakout rooms, go into your web browser and log in to your Zoom account. Under the “Personal” section click on settings and scroll down to the “In Meeting (Advanced)” header and turn on breakout rooms under that. When in a meeting, on the bottom middle of the screen click on “Breakout Rooms” and it will give you a set of options to choose from.

In a creative mood? Me too! So let's make art. Art can be anything. A paper full of scribbles can be your masterpiece. And there are so many different types of art forms, that it almost makes it easy to be creative and make something. Draw something you like. Make something that represents you or your mood. Use your imagination and create something never seen before. Go out and find inspiration. If you need help on what to draw, click the link below to access a speed drawing tutorial. Go out and have fun. Art is a safe space. Find peace with yourself.

https://youtu.be/xjPrFTAz9rw.

“Spoons”

Are you still bored sitting at home doing nothing? I see you over there, I have the perfect thing to make you and your family happy. Here are some board games and card games I know about. The first thing I have for you today is a card game, so get your cards and family and learn how to play. The game is called “Spoons”, say you have 5 people in your family you would grab only 4 spoons (if you can, grab clear spoons so it’s harder to see them). Now after you place the spoons in the middle of your circle you're going to give everyone 4 cards and put the rest next to the person you want to give out the cards. Your goal is to make four of the same numbers in your hand; so say my goal is to make all my cards represent the number 2. The dealer, which is the one who has the pile, will pass the cards down (and the person who is the last one in the circle is the trash pile)and if you see a 2 you will swap it out with a card you don’t need. You can only have 4 cards in your hand the whole time so say its been a few minutes and you have all four 2’s you will be try to be discrete and pick up one spoon. Hopefully nobody saw you and if they did they will quickly pick up a spoon too until there are no spoons left. Once all the spoons are gone there will be 1 person who doesn't have a spoon. The person who doesn't have the spoon loses. Then you would take 1 spoon out of the 4 spoons so now you have 3 spoons and 4 people playing. Keep going till someone wins! I enjoyed playing this with my friends and big groups before quarantine but it’s even better playing with family because you can have fun and maybe even the person who loses gets to do the dishes after!!

Board games

Still wanna have fun with family well here are some sublime games that I personally like that are also super fun. The first game is Twister. I would play this one with friends or siblings because it takes a lot of bending. But, you have to challenge your parents to play then it gets fun. In the game there is a mat and a spinner. The mat has different colored dots; someone spins the spinner and the spinner will say something like right hand on blue and you would put it there. Now the point of the game is to not fall down and if you do you're out.

Another favorite game of mine is Pictionary. You may already know this one. How you play is you get a whiteboard and there are cards with words on them. You have to draw what it is on the whiteboard and then your team has to figure out what it is. You only have 45 seconds or the other team can guess and get a point. Hopefully these games will get you out of your boredom.

Due to recent changes in meal program regulations, Deer Valley Unified School District will once again be able to offer free breakfast and lunch meals to ALL children ages 18 and under, at numerous locations.

• This is effective immediately and anticipated to continue thru December 2020.
• No pre-certification is necessary to receive meals for free.
• Meals are available for ALL children ages 18 and under, not limited to enrolled DVUSD students.
• Parents/Guardians may pick up meals for children. Verbal verification of child name(s) and date(s) of birth is required to assure meals are going to children.
• Free meals will continue to be available under all instructional options, including safe space participants, in-person learning, and distance learning.
• Curbside locations with a 10 AM-Noon pickup time have been extended to 1 PM, effective Tuesday, September 8.
• Curbside meal service schedule attached.
• Continue to monitor www.dvusd.org/food for more information regarding meal service hours and locations.

* This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

If you have any questions please call the Cafeteria Manager at 623-376-4314.