Family Resources
Rethinking School Start Times
Simsbury Public Schools is conducting research on later start times for school. Please see our Rethinking School Start Times page.
Other Resources & Information
- Annual Notifications
- Brochures & Publications Used in the Simsbury Public Schools
- District-Wide Assessment Calendar
- Educational Online Services
- Google Classroom Email Summaries
- Learn to Type Program Information
- School Choice Options
- Student Data Privacy
- Web Resources for Parents
- Your Child's Growth & Development
Annual Notifications
Brochures & Publications Used in the Simsbury Public Schools
Elementary Report Card Handbook
Scientific Research Based Interventions (SRBI) in the Simsbury Public Schools (pdf brochure, updated August 2014)
Tips for Parents: When Your Child Is Reading to You (Brochure, September 2010)
District-Wide Assessment Calendar
Educational Online Services
Simsbury Public Schools utilizes many online applications and web-based tools to foster student learning through personalization, collaboration, and exploration. Online or "cloud" based applications and services extend student learning beyond the school day and building and provide accessibility to useful learning tools.
Considerations for approving an online service
We use educational accounts for most of our online services in order to have more control of settings and ease of classroom setup. Prior to recommending a service for classroom use, we review the service's privacy and security policies and inform teachers of best practices for using them responsibly. We do not approve providers who use personally identifiable information outside of Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) standards. After October 1, 2016, renewed or new online services that house student information, records and/or student work on their servers must also meet the minimum requirements of the new Connecticut Student Data Privacy Law; Public Act 16-189. See the Student Data Privacy resource tab for more information on the law and a complete listing of third party services utilized by the district for operational and educational purposes.
These services include G Suite for Education, which is used extensively by our students and teachers in grades 3 through 12 for classroom and homework assignments. In keeping with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and our licensing agreement with Google, if you as the parent/guardian of a student under the age of 13 is concerned about this usage and would want to discuss opting out please contact jlytwynec@simsbury.k12.ct.us for more information.
District-approved online educational services
Compiled below, by grade-level, are the most widely used online educational services presently recommended for classroom use that require students to log-in with a student account. For some of our online educational services we provide students with generic school log-ins that are not unique to a user and/or their directory information. For complete information on each app's terms of service, please click on the provided links below.
The Student Privacy Pledge has been signed by most of our partner companies: Google, Edmodo, Khan Academy, Brainpop, ClassDojo, Edpuzzle, LearnZillion, NewsELA, Noredink, Renaissance Learning, SeeSaw, TenMarks, texthelp (Read and Write for Google), Turnitin, Xtramath.
For questions about the district's use of online educational services, please contact Joncia Lytwynec, Director of Instructional Technology, at (860) 658-3898 ext. 835 or JLytwynec@simsbury.k12.ct.us
- Grades K-2
- Grades 3-4
- Grades 5-6
- Grades 7-8
- Grades 9-12
- G Suite for Education (formerly Google Apps)
Grades K-2
Each K-1 classroom is equipped with 7 student iPads. Most of the apps with these iPads are downloaded apps that do not require Internet access or student log-ins.
There are a few apps and online services that can be personalized for student learning, and these require a unique log-in.
Available apps that require a student log-in or username include:
Product and Website | Vendor Supplied Privacy Information |
 | Terms of Service/Privacy Policy |
 | Terms of Service/Privacy Policy |
 | Terms of Service/Privacy Policy |
 (Grades 1,2) | Terms of Service/Privacy Policy |
 (Grades 1,2) | Terms of Service/Privacy Policy |
 | Terms of Service/Privacy Policy |
| Terms of Service/Privacy Policy |
| Overview/ Terms of Service |
 | Terms of Service/Privacy Policy |
Grades 3-4
Starting in third grade, students participate in the online Smarter Balance Assessments. To help prepare students for this testing environment, they are given limited Google Apps accounts (there are no active email accounts for grades 3-8) to use at their teacher's discretion. Teachers may also choose to have students participate in group projects, e.g., online reading discussions, through the district Wikispaces Campus service. This is a teacher-moderated space used as an online extension of the classroom.
Available apps and online services that require a student log-in:
Grades 5-6
In grades 5 and 6, students continue to have the online services described in grades 3-4 available to them with the addition of Explore Learning concept simulations-GIZMOS. Teachers at this time may also explore the use of moderated blogging applications, which requires approval by the district and possibly parent sign-off.
Available apps and online services that require a student log-in:
Grades 7-8
At the middle school, some of the online services provided are aimed at giving students more help with managing their workload and obtaining online feedback from their teachers and peers. Teachers may have students use district-approved Chrome extensions/apps for class projects when using the Chromebooks. Students are expected to follow the HJ Way and the Responsible Use Policy when online as stated in the Student Handbook.
Available apps and online services that require a student log-in:
EDMODO
voicethreads
Newsela
Grades 9-12
At the high school, students rely heavily on online services, especially when working on Chromebooks. Teachers may have students also access Chrome extensions for video and audio production during some projects, using their Google Apps log-in. These extensions must meet FERPA requirements if assigned for use by the teacher. Whenever using any online services, students are expected to adhere to the principles of the Trojan Code and the Responsible Use Policy as stated in the Student Handbook.
Available apps and online services that require a student log-in:
Blogger
G Suite for Education (formerly Google Apps)
In 2011, we became a G Suite for Education (previously known as Google Apps for Education) district in order to take advantage of the online productivity suite similar to Microsoft Office. Teachers and students have since found the collaborative nature and mobility of a cloud drive to be extremely helpful with work flow.
G Suite for Education is one example of an educational online service account that allows the district to have more control over settings based on grade level and security concerns. Students in grades 3-12 have individual log-ins to G Suite in order to access Chromebooks and the G Suite apps. Only grades 9-12 have active school gmail accounts. For grades 9-10 these accounts are limited to our school domains: simsbury.k12.ct.us and simsburyschools.com. For grades 11-12 students can also access .edu domains for college applications. Students cannot receive or send emails outside these domains except for receiving emails from other school-provided services for password resets, etc.
These accounts are for school related work and activities only and are not to be used as "personal, private" accounts.
In keeping with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and our licensing agreement with GAFE, if you as the parent/guardian of a student under the age of 13 is concerned about this usage and would want to discuss opting out please contact jlytwynec@simsbury.k12.ct.us for more information.
Answers to many top questions about privacy and security appear on Google for Education Trust page.
G Suite for Education Privacy Statement describes how Google products and services collect and use information when used with G Suite for Education accounts.
Information about the legal commitments Google makes for G Suite for Education Core and Additional Services is available in their Help Center.
Information about how Google’s products work to protect privacy is available in the Product Privacy Guide.
Google Classroom Email Summaries
In 2016, Google added the option for parent/guardians to receive weekly or daily email summaries of assignments/ announcements/ questions posted through teacher Classrooms. The Youtube video below is an overview of this feature.
Click on the image below for written directions on how to receive notifications and how to manage settings. You can also click on the link for FAQ's to help you with how to opt back in if you opt out at some point.
You will need a Google Account to change settings for email summaries. You can create this account with your current email address-you do not need a gmail account. See the link below to set up a Google Account.
Learn to Type Program Information
We are happy to announce the switch to Typing Club, a completely online keyboarding program. Students in grades one through six have had accounts created for their use and teachers have given them their log-in credentials-these will also be shared at Open House.
Tips for Typists
Please consider the following tips to help your child learn how to be an efficient typist:
- Make sure they are looking at the screen and not their fingers (you can tape a sheet of paper to the top of the keyboard and have your child place their hands underneath).
- All eight fingers should rest lightly on the “home row” (grey keys below) with both thumbs above the space bar at all times. The “F” and “J” keys have raised lines on them to help position hands.
- Set aside 15 to 30 minutes for a minimum of 3 times a week to encourage muscle memory. Try to limit distractions during this time.
Keyboarding and the Common Core
Computer literacy has become a core element of K-12 education, with students now expected to master keyboarding skills before college. In fact, several of the Common Core Standards require keyboarding.
TypingClub School Edition is designed to help your students meet and exceed the Common Core Standards within a semester’s worth of time. Our test templates are deeply customizable so you can alter settings to best prepare your students. Once your students learn proper keyboarding technique, they can practice to increase typing speed, improve accuracy, and develop stamina for typing.
Grade | Common Core Requirements in Keyboarding |
3 | “Use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others.” |
4 | “Type ONE page in a single sitting." (Approximately 11 WPM)* |
5 | “Type TWO pages in a single sitting." (Approximately 22 WPM)* |
6 | “Type THREE pages in a single sitting.” (Approximately 33 WPM)* |
7 | “Interact and collaborate with others.” Fluently communicating with others via the internet, especially when instant messaging, requires keyboarding proficiency. |
8 | “Gather relevant information...and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.” Academic integrity is one of the most important values we can instill in young students. Keyboarding lessens the physical burden of typing, thus making students less likely to copy-and-paste entire paragraphs. |
College Readiness | “Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two).” The only way to increase stamina is to practice typing passages of varying lengths. Our Typing Tests provide an excellent resource for this kind of practice. |
*This calculation was made by assuming that a single sitting equals 30 minutes of continuous typing. The Common Core website is vague in its definition of “a single sitting,” so these benchmarks are estimates made by TypingClub. Tags: College Prep, Common Core
How the rating (score) is determined
The score system is optimized to value accuracy over speed. It accounts for student corrections by calculating the true-accuracy of each attempt, which reduces a student's score each time he or she uses backspace to correct an error. Then, the student's word per minute (WPM) speed is factored into the score. When a student finishes each lesson, these statistics are sent to our calculation engine which produces an overall score.
Students can improve their score by keeping the following objectives in mind:
- Focus on accuracy before attempting speed. There is a double-penalty in the score's accounting for every error
- Although you may be able to use backspace to correct your mistakes, there is a small penalty applied to your score if the error is made in the first place
- Once you have a handle on the accuracy, the only way to increase your score is to work on your speed.
Stars are awarded based on a student's performance in each lesson. They are used to control whether the student can move on to the next lesson, or must retry for a better score. Each lesson has a pre-established minimum star amount required to pass, but the teacher can modify that requirement to customize the difficulty of each lesson.
School Choice Options
Bloomfield Magnet Schools
Global Experience Magnet School (GEMS)
The mission of the Global Experience Magnet School in Bloomfield is to create a learning community dedicated to educating one student at a time. This is accomplished by designing a personalized learning plan for each student, providing real-world opportunities to connect students to their learning, and expecting them to find authentic, meaningful ways to show what they have learned.
Capitol Region Education Council (CREC)
If you're interested in giving your child an extraordinary education, consider one of CREC's award-winning magnet schools. CREC magnet schools allow students to focus on specific talents or interests while studying a challenging core curriculum in a diverse environment.
Vocational/Technical Schools:
page updated 3/23/18
Student Data Privacy
Student Data Privacy Law
Effective October 1, 2016
The Connecticut Student Data Privacy Law was enacted to provide transparency to the school community on the sharing of student data with third party service providers and to put in place minimum contractual requirements to safeguard student privacy (See Shipman and Goodwin Overview of Law for synopsis). This law does not apply to services that the district houses on our internal servers such as Powerschool and Destiny, or on district devices (computers/iPads) which includes many of our educational software and iPad apps. Also, this law only applies to services contracted after September 30, 2016. Services contracted before this date were reviewed to ensure compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). District prerequisite(s) for using these services safely with students are published for teachers to reference on our faculty portal.
School district requirements set forth in this law include providing parents/guardians:
- notice within 5 days of any new online services that collect/store student information;
- via our district website, a list of third party services that collects/maintains or uses student information with their contract/terms of service/ privacy policy; and the dates of the contract/ terms of service/privacy policy; how the service is used; information that may be collected by service;
- notice of a breach within 48 hours of notification from provider of service and what student information may have been involved. This notification will also be posted on the district website.
- Educational Online Services: General Classroom/ ESS
- Operational Online Services
Parent Breach Notifications
Edmodo
May 18, 2017
Dear Parents/Guardians,
We were notified on May 17th that Edmodo, an online classroom management tool used by a few of our high school teachers, had a security breach whereupon an unauthorized third party obtained:
- Usernames
- Email addresses
- Hashed (encrypted) passwords
The passwords were encrypted and were also “salted” which adds a second layer of security. As of 6:19 AM EST, Edmodo stated that they had no indications that any passwords had been compromised (their email notification is included below.) We will update you with any further information as Edmodo continues their investigation.
The initial outcome of this breach could be an uptick in phishing and spam emails to the affected email addresses. If you have an Edmodo account we would highly recommend you change your password, and if you use the same log in credentials with other accounts that you change these as a security precaution.
A notification email has been sent to students’ and teachers’ school email accounts alerting them to this breach and steps to take if they have Edmodo accounts. An announcement will also be made to inform students and staff over the next week.
We regret that this incident has taken place and welcome any questions or concerns you may have.
EDMODO CORRESPONDENCE
Hello,
Safeguarding the trust and security of our users is of the utmost importance to Edmodo. We are reaching out to you because Edmodo recently learned about a security incident potentially affecting the accounts of Edmodo users. We promptly retained leading information security experts to investigate this incident and reported the incident to law enforcement.
Our investigation has now confirmed that user names, email addresses, and hashed passwords were acquired by an unauthorized third party. The passwords were “hashed” (or encrypted) using the strong and robust bcrypt algorithm, and they were also “salted,” which adds an additional layer of security.
We have no indication at this time that any user passwords have been compromised, but we strongly recommend that all users reset their passwords as soon as possible.
To reset your password:
1. Go to the Edmodo website and log in to your account.
2. Click on the “Password Reset” link in the notice at the top of the page.
3. Enter your current password, and then create a new password.
If you used the same password on any other site, we encourage you to change your password there as well.
Thank you for your understanding as we work through this issue together. Protecting the security of our users is critical to Edmodo, and we are committed to providing a safe and secure experience for our users. Please know that we are taking additional steps to increase the security of our platform.
If you have any questions or need assistance resetting your password, please visit the Edmodo website and go to our Support Help Center.
Thanks again for making Edmodo such an amazing community and resource to help all of us on our common goal: Helping all learners reach their full potential.
Sincerely,
The Edmodo Team
Web Resources for Parents
www.familyeducation.com An excellent resource with extensive links
www.familygo.com A driving sponsored site. Thousands of ideas on things for your child and family to do. Activities arranged by season, age group, materials, parent to parent advice as well.
www.pta.org National PTA site. A story by one of the nation’s leading advocate for children.
www.positivecoach.org This site is the center of a national movement to encourage positive and supportive parent participation in youth sports.
www.jbocallaghan.com Dr. Brien O’Callaghan provides an overview of Home/School Collaboration approach. Offers insights into children’s behavior and common sense approach for parents.
www.positivediscipline.com Dr. Jane Nelson offers a wealth of resources for parents and teachers. Questions of the week provide strategies for dealing with common problems experienced by parents.