Olivia Johnson
FRMS is happy to announce that we will be holding a virtual Costume Contest this year. Students are welcome to take pictures of themselves in their costumes and email them to Callie Johnson at cjohnson@fernridge.k12.or.us by 2:00 PM on Monday, October 26th. Pictures will be shared through Google Classroom so by sending a picture in, families are consenting to their student’s name and picture being shared. Students will then get to vote on their favorite Halloween costumes. There will be a prize given for Best Homemade Costume, Best Store Bought Costume, and Most Creative. Trophies and a bag of treats will be delivered to the winners.
Costumes must meet FRMS dress code standards. Costumes cannot promote drug or alcohol use. FRMS staff reserve the right to not include in the contest pictures of costumes that do not meet dress code standards or that promote negative stereotypes.
Jacob Newman, FRMS’s P.E. Teacher, has put together a series of short videos explaining different aspects of Google Classroom for parents. Links to each video are below.
Google Classroom: How to check assignments/grades/work completion-Presented by Mr. Newman
Google Classroom: How to Submit work in Google Classroom-Presented by Mr. Newman
Google Classroom: What is the Classroom Tab-Presented by Mr. Newman
Google Classroom: What is the stream on Google Classroom-Present by Mr. Newman
Click Here for a list of additional training videos on Google Classroom and Zoom for families.
Fern Ridge Middle School is looking for a few parent volunteers for the following committees:
FRMS ESSA/Leadership Team- Meets monthly to discuss issues specific to FRMS. Generally meets 2:45 to 3:45 Meetings will be by Zoom at this time. (2 Volunteers needed)
District Facility Assessment and Planning Committee: District wide committee that will meet to review facilities across the district and create a Long Range Facility Plan. Tentatively scheduled to meet 11/3, 11/17, and 12/15. Will meet in person in a large space with masks and social distancing. (2 Volunteers Needed)
If you are interested in participating in any of these committees email Olivia Johnson at ojohnson@fernridge.k12.or.us
As always, thank you for your support.
Rob Lee, a teacher at EHS, has put together a video for parents on navigating Zoom.
Here is the link:
Hot meals are available in the Elmira High School cafeteria each weekday from 11:00-12:30.
The district has added four additional pick-up sites throughout the community for families to get sack lunches each weekday from 12:00-12:30.
The meals will be picked up and delivered by our bus/transportation staff to the following locations:
- Noti Market Parking Lot
- DS Mart/Farm Store Parking Lot
- Fern Ridge Child Development Center parking lot, located at 25391 Jeans Rd.
- 5th & Woodland Ave. in Veneta
All you need to do is show up at one of these locations between 12:00 and 12:30, give a last name, and you will receive both a breakfast and lunch sack lunch for any child 0-18. A REMINDER THAT ALL MEALS ARE FREE.
Our counselor, Ryan Chambers, found this great online article with tips and suggestions for parents on how to help their child with distance learning at home. We hope all of our families will take a few minutes to read it. And don’t forget, we are here to help if you have any questions or concerns about how distance learning is going in your household.
Here is the link:
Parent Tips and Tricks for Distance Learning
We’ve had multiple reports this morning of students having difficulty signing into their Google Account. Our IT department is checking into it, but it appears that it is an issue within Google itself. Watch this space for updates. As soon as we know something, we will update this post and send out a remind.com text.
As always, thank you for your patience.
FRMS Staff
Update: 10:00
We are back! Google seems to be back to itself.
To help serve our students without internet access and those who, for whatever reason, can’t access the Zoom meetings live, teachers are recording Zoom meetings.
These recordings are then posted to the teacher’s unlisted/private You Tube account and then linked in the Google Classroom. Only students with FRSD Google Accounts (accessible with an FRSD ID and Password) can access our Google Classrooms to view these videos. Teachers are not publicly posting videos. It is important that we post these videos so that students who were not able to attend the Live Meeting, can still participate in the class by watching the video. This means that if a student’s internet crashes or their computer freezes or some conflict occurs, they don’t miss class because they have the videos. It also means that our students who have to travel to a “hot spot” for internet access, don’t have to sit at that “hot spot” all day waiting for each period to happen. Essentially posting the videos allows us to ensure equal access to our distance learning classes.
While equity is a important to us, student privacy is as well. While videos are only posted to the Google Classroom that only students can access, we realize that some families may still have concerns. To that end, we have worked to reconfigure our Zoom settings to do the following:
- Eliminate all names from the recorded video. Names will still appear in the Live Zoom meetings but they will not appear on the recordings.
- When the teacher is “sharing their screen” to present a slideshow or a video or a document, the camera stays on the screen.
- No “gallery views” are included in the Zoom recordings.
- During class discussions where the teacher is not sharing their screen, the camera does shift to a student when they “unmute” their microphone to ask or answer a question or contribute to the discussion. The camera stays on them only until they stop talking and “mute” their microphone. If your student does not want to appear on the video or you don’t want them to appear, then before they “unmute” they simply need to turn off their video. The class and the teacher will still be able to hear your student. When they are done speaking and have muted their microphone again, they can turn their video back on. This is the only time students are “on camera” during their Zoom classes with our new settings. Teachers will remind students to turn videos off before they “unmute” if they don’t want to be on camera, but families should also encourage students to use this simple strategy if they have concerns
It’s also important to note that not every class is being recorded. Teachers who teach just one subject/grade level, are picking one class a day to record.
Please feel free to contact either our principal, Olivia Johnson at ojohnson@fernridge.k12.or.us or our assistant principal Eric Carman at ecarman@fernridge.k12.or.us if you have any questions or concerns.
Thank you for your understanding and flexibility.
The start of the 20-21 school year is just days away and FRMS is excited to start the distance learning process with your child. To help get the year off to a great start on Tuesday, we ask that our families do the following:
1. Set up an area in your house that your student can use as their “classroom” during distance learning. This should be a space where they can be online for all 5 classes throughout the day. Set up their space with their school supplies (list posted on the website) and their planners will help them stay organized.
2. Print out a copy of our Distance Learning Bell Schedule for your child and put that in their work space so they know what time each period begins.
3. Make sure that your child has their current Google ID and Password. Passwords for all students were reset on 9/14, so if you have not called or picked up your new password please do so. You can just call the school or stop by. Your child’s Google Email/User ID is their initials, their lunch number and @student.oregonk–12.com. For example John Doe would be JD12345@student.oregonk-12.com
Zoom Live Meeting Practice: FRMS teachers will be hosting a Google/Zoom practice class on Monday, September 21st. Teachers will host a “drop in” Zoom meeting for students from 10:00 to 10:50. To access that Zoom meeting, students will need to sign in to Google with their school email and password, open up the Google Classroom App, and then link to the live Zoom meeting for that class. Teachers will be on to say hi. Students can practice ‘dropping in” to one class or all of their classes. We strongly encourage students and families to take advantage of this time to practice getting into Google, into Google Classroom, and then linking to the Zoom live meetings.
By practicing on Monday, students will be better prepared for the first day of classes on Tuesday, September 22nd.