BSO Tips and Tricks

Welcome to Branson School Online! We are so excited to have you with us for the 2020-2021 school year. We know that many of you are new to online learning, so we have complied a list of tips and tricks that we hope will help ease the transition for you and your family. 

Veteran BSO families, please add your thoughts, ideas and suggestions to the comments to help all of our new families.

We are all working and learning from our homes, but we are a dynamic, supportive community and we are all here to help you!

                                               

• If you don't already have one, create a spreadsheet to organize usernames and password so they are easily accessible.

• Create a daily schedule. Allow 1 hour per class per day. Work not completed during the hour is “homework.” Alternatively, some students benefit from completing all the work for the week in one class each day. We call this a block schedule. Build breaks into the schedule, based on the individual needs of your student(s). Remember that you can always change the schedule if it’s not working. Ask your teacher about a modified block schedule if a full block schedule is not the right fit or your student(s). 

• Parents of multiple elementary students who need lots of support, consider splitting the day in half and focus on helping one child separately during each half of the day, until everyone is comfortable, routines and established and students become slightly more independent. 

• Use daily checklists so students know exactly what needs to be completed in each class each day.

• Attend all DI classes live, whenever possible. Set alarms to help remember the schedule. Students get a LOT more out of the live classes than out of the recordings. This is also an opportunity to interact with teachers and classmates. 

• Encourage your student(s) to read ALL directions in blackboard and other websites. Explain to your student(s) that they would not leave a classroom while a teacher is giving directions and then come back in and try to complete an assignment. Typed directions are equivalent to teachers giving directions in a classroom. 

• Encourage your student(s) to ask teachers for help as much as possible. Students have email addresses and phone numbers for each teacher and are strongly encouraged to use them as frequently as needed.

• Figure out how to use any new websites BEFORE you sit down to show them to your student(s). We all know these are stressful days, and parents and kids tend to butt heads on the least stressful day. Figure everything out before you sit down with your student so you are not trying to manage their behavior AND figure out new technology at the same time.

• Set small, daily rewards for work completion and a larger reward at the end of the week if daily goals are met. Video game time is ideal for rewards, if your kids like them. Find the "currency" that is most motivating for your student(s).

• Break up the days and weeks, when possible, by taking advantage of fun activities such as online cooking classes for kids, museum tours, live online art classes, online exercise classes, etc.

• Be flexible, calm and patient.

• Contact teachers for help when you get frustrated. While working from home, it’s easy to feel like it’s just you and the computer. Remember that real people exist and they are always here to help you.

• Spend 5 minutes trying to solve a problem. If you can't solve it, ask for help. Don't waste time and energy trying to fix a problem on your own when there is always someone to help you.

• Give it time. Don’t expect perfection immediately. It takes a while to settle into the groove of online school.

• If it helps you to focus and feel awake and normal, get ready for school every day, just like you would for a classroom. Save PJ days for a special treat!

• Not moving around enough? Losing focus? Try working on the computer from a standing position. You don't need a fancy desk, just stack books on a table or use a shoe box and place your laptop on top. Make sure your work station is stable and your computer is not at risk of falling. 

• Take vision breaks from the screen frequently and look all the way to the horizon (or as far as you can see) for a few minutes.

• Get plenty of sunlight. Try working outside as a special treat!

• Get exercise EVERY day. 

• When appropriate and approved by parents or guardians, let students connect with friends over facetime, zoom, or skype. Parents: You can feel isolated too!  Make sure you are connecting with other adults during the day.

• When possible and appropriate, allow your student to move and fidget while learning. 

• Designate work time and space and designate home/family time and space.

Tips and Tricks

BSO parent Stacie S. has a great idea she'd like to share!









This is a picture of our touch math chart. I taped this on the corner of my student's desk and it saves us time, because instead of pulling out the blocks, we just look at the chart. It works for counting on and counting back. For us, it's very useful and over time, he'll memorize the dot placement. To be honest, I learned this in 2nd grade and I still use it!

Thanks for the awesome idea Stacie! 

If you have a tip or suggestion you'd like to share with other BSO families, please email cherith@bransonschoolonline.com . 

Tips and Tricks

Interested in ideas from successful Branson students? Click on the links below to read some of the tips and tricks submitted by our NHS students.

Tools for Online Students

Useful Tools You Already Have

New in Education

Test Taking Strategies and Test Anxiety

When you think about taking tests, do you clam up and have a hard time focusing? 

Do you often feel confident going into tests but end up being surprised that you didn’t score as high as you were expecting?  

Most students experience some level of test anxiety when taking tests.  Click on the link below to learn valuable strategies for performing well on tests and for alleviating the stress that comes along with preparing for tests.   

There is special section devoted to parents/guardians who would like more information on how to help their child perform at their best.

Test Taking Strategies and Test Anxiety

BSO Email Tip

Welcome to 2nd Semester!

Are you looking for an easy way to keep track of your student's work and communication with teachers? Would you like to be more informed and involved in their day to day interactions?

Today's tip comes from a veteran BSO parent. Follow the directions below to set up your BSO student's email account to send you a copy of every email they receive.

1.  Sign into the student's email account.

2.  Click on the gear (Settings) at the top right of the screen, then click on Settings.

3.  Click on the "Filters and Blocked Addresses" tab at the top. 

4.  Click on "Create a New Filter."

5.  In the "From" box in the pop up window, enter the email address you would like to receive copies from.

6.  At the bottom of that pop up window, click on "Create a Filter With This Search."

7.  In the next screen, check the box by "Forward it to:", then click on "Add Address."

8.  In the next screen, you will be able to enter your email address. Be sure to check the button next to the "Forward a Copy of Incoming Mail to" as well as choose "Keep Branson School District RE-82 Mail's Copy in the Inbox" in the drop down box.

9.  Scroll down and save changes.

You should now receive a copy of every email your student receives. 

Money Matters

Have you ever wondered how to take some of the topics taught in our math classes and make them more relevant to your student's every day life?

Our incredible BSO math teachers have put together the following list of activity ideas. You will find suggestions for all grade levels. Some of the activities will definitely work for multiple ages, so make sure to read through them all. Practicing these skills not only reinforces learning and teaches essential life skills, it also provides parents and guardians the opportunity to spend quality one on one time with students.

The upcoming winter break is a great time to practice money skills and apply learning from your student's math class!

Kindergarten and 1st Grade

Play Grocery Store
 Choose items from your pantry and label each with money amounts that will cost less than $1. Take turns with a sibling or parent to be the shopper and the clerk. Be sure to pay with real coins.

2nd and 3rd Grade

Grocery Store Estimation

Students should round the price of items to the nearest dollar and estimate a total. Start small 2-3 items,  and as they progress, have them choose more items.  Once they master this, give them a budget to make a recipe. Students can choose items needed for a recipe without going over the limit.  For extra fun, make the recipe when you get home.

4th Grade
Grocery Store Multi-Step Problems
Go to the grocery store and pick out several items for purchase. Calculate the change you should receive if you paid with a $20 bill, a $50 bill, etc. This reinforces solving multi-step problems, a skill frequently practiced in the 4th grade curriculum. 

5th Grade

Money Activity 1

1.    Write your weekly grocery list, leaving space next to each item for a dollar amount to be written.

2.    Ask your child to look over the list, think about what each item probably costs, and “guess” a total price for all of the groceries.

3.    Head to the grocery store with your child. On the way, explain that she will be rounding, adding and estimating the total cost of the groceries as you shop. Surprise him/her by telling them that they will get a prize if the estimate comes within $10.00 of the actual total.

4.    As you begin shopping, hand over the shopping list to your child. Every time an item goes into the cart, they should write the actual price and then round it to the nearest dollar (e.g. peas: $2.89 = $3.00). When you finish shopping, ask your child to add up the list of rounded amounts and get an estimated total (bring a calculator or help her do mental math). Compare the estimated total with their “guess” from home.

5.    After checking out and paying for your groceries, give the receipt to your child and have them compare the estimated total with the actual total. If it is within $10.00, offer a small prize. If they don't “win”, offer a “participation prize” to keep them motivated.

Follow-up questions for the ride home are a great way to focus in on what was learned. Try these: What items were least/most expensive? What patterns do you see in pricing? What types of food are more expensive? How can rounding and estimating help you as a shopper?

Money Activity 2

1.    Take out some old take-out menus for food choices your child enjoys. Prices are listed for each food item.

2.    Now tell your child that you will take turns “playing restaurant”, switching off roles of being the customer and the server. You and your child may wish to decide upon different names for yourselves during the role play.

3.    You should start out in the role of server, so you can model the procedure first for your child.

4.    Make sure your child has ample money to pay for items on the menu. Maybe they should even make a trip to the "bank" before going out on the town. When the "customer" arrives, they should be seated at the table and you should take down their order on a notepad.

5.    Total the items on the notepad for your child to see, state the price, and give your child the check. Make change if necessary (no tip required!).

6.    You can repeat this game as many times as you want, switching roles each time. Use a different menu to keep things fresh, or have your child create her own menu.

7.    When you've played a few rounds, your child is ready to graduate to another important, family-centered activity. Tell him that you'd like to arrange takeout for your family, but you need his help. Have him make an "order list" by copying down dish names and dollar amounts, and then calculating dollars for you.​

6th Grade
Cooking Fun

1. Help with cooking a recipe and try to convert the fractions on standard measuring cups into decimals. 

2. Using a recipe, make a double or half batch by adding/ dividing the fractions of the measurements. 

3. At the store (or with any money) try to covert the decimal of the cents into the equivalent fraction using the place value as a guide. 

4. Measure the amount of gift wrap you will need to wrap a present by measuring one of the sides, then add them together. Make sure not to measure to an even inch. You can measure in fractions or decimals. 

5. With the weather getting colder, try to relate the temperature to the equivalent integer when it is negative outside (basically just take the absolute value). This will help reinforce that all numbers, positive and negative, have a value on the number line. 

Middle School
Grocery Card Estimation

1. Have students estimate the price of the grocery cart; try to be within 10%.

2. When dining out challenge the kids with the game who can give the best estimate for the bill. Then have them calculate the tip.

High School
Interest and Principal

1. Practice a scenario where you make a large purchase with a high interest rate credit card and have to calculate the total cost with interest, if you make the minimum payment vs. paying extra towards the principal. 

Making a Living

2. The following is a webquest designed to simulate a student who has graduated from high school, moving out on their own and must create a budget to manage their money. There are links to help find average job starting salaries, rent calculators for varying areas of Colorado, utilities estimators, gas and car expenses, and of course... fun money. After finding income and expense values, it includes an Excel template to create a budget showing whether a surplus or deficit has been achieved. 

http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=296214

Let's Get Moving!

Did you know that exercise is Miracle Gro for the brain?  That's right! There is a family of proteins called factors in the brain that are responsible for building and maintaining the cell connections between neurons.  The “big kahuna” of these factors is called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).  While that is a mouthful to say, the important thing to know is that this stuff is released during exercise and it causes growth in the area of the brain called the hippocampus. The hippocampus is in charge of long-term memory.  While completing the New York Times crossword puzzle or getting a dose of Lumosity are both excellent mental workouts, you and your brain will derive much more benefit if you get your heart beating hard for about an hour beforehand.  With your brain swimming in its very own special fertilizer, you are much more likely to remember the material in that Compass or Pearson lesson.  It is the "single most powerful tool you have to optimize your brain," according to Dr. John Ratey, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.  In his book SPARK:  The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (Little, Brown, 2008), Ratey states that "the benefit of physical activity (for the brain) is far more important---and fascinating---than it is for the body".  

In his book, Ratey talks about a school district outside of Chicago that implemented an optional before-school PE program that sky-rocketed 19,000 students into a fitness and smartness league of their own.  The district tracked the growth of the students who participated in the program versus those who chose to sleep in and take a regular PE class.  Divergent paths were immediately discerned.  After seventeen years of operation, the students in the "Zero Hour PE" program scored sixth in math and first in science IN THE WORLD on the TIMSS, a test designed to compare knowledge levels of students across different countries.  Put simply, it works!  Exercise makes kids fitter and smarter!  Remember, though, that exercise alone will not do the trick.  Neuronal connections that are not used are quickly pruned away and lost, so follow that exercise with learning something new!  Is anyone up for a run?

There's an app for that!

Need a quick and easy way to check your grades or your student's grades at any time from any location? 

There's an app for that!

Follow the steps below to download and use the Parent Portal app to your smart phone.


1. Download  Infinite Campus Mobile Portal mobile from Google play or the Apple store.

2. After it has downloaded, you will need to enter the district ID: BYZXRS

3. Enter your username and password for Parent Portal.

4. The app will load assignments and grades from your Parent Portal account.

5. Click on the icon with three white lines to toggle between students, if needed, and to view overall grades, assignment grades and attendance.

6. From time to time, tap the refresh arrow so that you are viewing the most updated information for your student.

Are you a BSO parent/guardian, student or teacher with tips and tricks you would like to share? E-mail your ideas to cherith@bransonschoolonline.com or avanhaitsma@bransonschoolonline.com. Your tips and tricks may be featured on a future blog post!