School District Begins New Phase of Online Learning

The New Britain school district has begun “phase two” of its online learning program with instruction for how to use Google Classroom and other online resources.

“Today is the beginning of phase two learning during this extended school closure: Continued Educational Opportunities,” the Consolidated School District of New Britain said on Monday, March 30, 2020, discussing learning programs for students during the COVID-19 school closing.

New Britain schools Superintendent Nancy Sarra began the new online learning phase with a video for students, saying, “During this new period of continued educational opportunities, I’ll be sharing updates this way every Monday to start our week.”

The video appeared on the school district’s YouTube channel, and on its Facebook page.

The school district released a YouTube video, showing students how to use Google Classroom to get and turn in class assignments and communicate with their teachers. The video is also available in Spanish and Arabic.

“We know it can be challenging to figure out how to access Google Classroom, PowerSchool, and student Gmail,” the school district says. “Did you know you can use your Xbox or Playstation to access these resources as well?”

“Families who need additional support,” the school district says, “are invited to email [email protected] or communicate with their child’s teacher so we can help.”

The school district also has made available a “How-tos” web page with instruction on, “how to register for and use PowerSchool,” how to connect a district-provided ChromeBook to wi-fi and how to log into a student GMail account.

The web page also has information on the Prodigy learning website and the Code.org computer science learning site.

Sarra started her Monday video, noting that she was still learning online communication, herself, and concluded her comments, saying, “I am incredibly proud to be learning alongside you to ensure we are continuing to pursue excellence one student at a time.”