Tips on cell phones for kids

I had the opportunity to speak with Amanda from AT&T this last week to get some tips on buying cell phones for kids. Now, my kids have been begging for a cell phone since they were in kindergarten and since they are still in elementary school I still don’t think they need their own phone, but the time isn’t far away. There are lots of families that might have kids in elementary and high school. What about those with kids in college. Each family has their own needs. So how will I know they are ready and what does a parent look for in a phone or a service contract? Amanda had some great tips. First start with an assessment of how and where the phone will be used. Will your kids be calling from school to tell you where they are going or from sports practice when they need a ride? Check for coverage areas where the phone will be used. Next, while I still think of phones primarily for talking, kids these days use texting as their primary form of communicating. Additionally, give some thought to a data plan. Do they need web access for doing homework or email a professor an assignment or will they want to update their Facebook page? Maybe you need to check emails from work. Often families will add all the phones onto one contract that may include shared voice minutes but unlimited text. I really liked some of the Smart Limits that are offered that I was unaware of. These days parents can set limits to how many minutes their kids can talk, set the times that the phone can be used so that it’s unavailable during school hours or at night. Restrictions can be placed on outbound calling, web browsing or texting. I also liked the Family Map that shows the phones GPS location. You can also schedule text alerts to your phone notifying you when the childs phone moves to a geographic location (so you know when they've arrived home after school). There are even road side assistance plans that will follow your child and their phone rather than a driver so if they are carpooling with friends often, you can still help make sure they are safe if the driver runs out of gas or gets a flat tire. I was unaware of many of the special features and although they are add on’s, they can be added just to one or two phones. They don’t have to be purchased for all the phones on your family plan. It’s nice to know there are all these options available, I’ll probably need them sooner than I hoped.

Volunteers

Canyons School District has procedures in place to adhere to Utah law requiring districts to screen prospective volunteers. A volunteer is anyone who works directly either individually or in small groups with students under supervision of a District employee or a chaperone of a school sponsored field trip. There is a form to fill out, which must be done annually so if you did it last year you'll need to do it again (and already know how easy it was :)

You can go to http://www.canyonsdistrict.org/ then the community tab and choose "volunteers" and click on "complete volunteer application", fill it out, and then click submit.

this link should also take you directly to the form:

https://volunteer.canyonsdistrict.org/volunteer/

Class rosters

Just a quick note to let you know the class rosters for the up coming school year are posted on the main doors to the school.

Back to School information

Yes, it's getting to be that time!

Registration packets can will be available at the school on 16th 9am-12pm and the 17the 1pm-4pm. You will be asked to fill out all the paperwork there and hand it all in.

Back to school night is Aug 18th from 6- 7:3.0 We will meet in the cafeteria and then separate to the children's classrooms.

If you plan on volunteering again this year you will need to complete the form from the districts website for a back ground check (For more information, here is a link to the post from last year)/

http://canyonviewpta.blogspot.com/2010/08/volunteers.html

Please pass this information on to those that you know are at our school