Parent Communication / Assessment

                       
                   What is Remind?

It is a safe, classroom-friendly communication website and app where teachers can send messages, en masse or targeted, to individuals or groups without disclosure of anyone's personal contact information. Messages can also be translated into over 70 languages. While Remind used to be a one-way messaging app, new features allow parents and students to respond as well, but users can independently decide to disable this feature. Teachers can share text, audio, or video messages as well as links, files, and images. Users can even collect funds for fundraisers, supplies, or events (with a small fee per transaction).

Remind is a well-designed, highly effective messaging tool has the potential to keep students and families connected with their schools.  

Sign-up is easy: Simply add members by sharing a link, having them text a class code to a five-digit number, or sending them a PDF with written instructions.  After a confirmation text, they'll begin receiving all messages through either SMS or email.

Teachers can manage up to 10 classes with an unlimited number of subscribers per class. While Remind is great for sending reminders about homework and assignments, other options for productivity allow teachers to set office hours, create collaborative groups, add co-teachers, get read-receipts, and schedule messages.

Pros: With over 70 languages and options to share files and links, it's easy to keep students and parents informed and involved.

Cons: Not everyone has access to a smart phone and hope that your device is fully charged.

This app I am currently using as a parent.  I have not actually used this app as teacher.  Both of my children's teacher use this app to keep us up to date on everything that is happening within the classroom.  They REMIND us of upcoming events, changes in the lunch, activities that are happening at the school, etc.  This app has really kept my mom game up.  If it were not for those alerts I know I would have forgotten it was Patriots day, or wear your favorite color day, etc.  And let's be honest.  Our phones are attached at our hips.  It is more likely for us to read a message on remind that we are being alerted for then we would read a paper being sent home from school (I am still one of those parents that read and go through my boy's folders every day the second they come home), but those little reminders from the phone really stick with me.

This app has really kept me up to date with what is happening in my children's classroom.

Another parent communication app that I love is Class Dojo. 

As I mentioned in a previous Blog about scribing and tracking students progress, this app is a great way for teachers to communicate with parents.  You can easily send and receive messages from your smart device.  Reminders can be sent out and pictures of classroom activities can be posted so parents can see what is taking place in the classroom.  

Students as Global Communicators

Student as Global Communicators : 

www.empatico.org

Teaching children to become aware of their surrounding cities, states, and countries is important.  Teaching young children to learn, respect, and celebrate the differences in all people is also important.  With that being said I feel like Empatico is a wonderful way for global communication.  This is where the children can interact with other children around the world and see how people differ from themselves.

Empatico is a free tool that can connect classrooms around the world.  All you need is internet connection and a computer, a tablet, or a smart phone that has a camera to create global communication.  Although this is geared toward ages 6-11, I still feel as though it is something that I could use to teach my preschool students about children around the world.  The best part about this website is that it will always be free to educators everywhere.

I found this website to be very easy to navigate through.   It is very straight forward and it is extremely helpful in making sure we get the best experience out of each interaction.  It gives lesson plans and activities on many different topics of interst.

What I also loved about this website was that it gave tips on how to be a respectful communicator.  Teaching the students how to be an active listener and to communicate respectfully will help make the experience more meaningful.  

One problem that may occur with this app is that if internet connection gets lost you will not be able to communicate.  

Check out their own blog by clicking this link:  https://blog.empatico.org

Student as Researcher

Let's Research!

The best way for preschool students to be researchers is for them to use non-fiction books or simply do their own investigations! 

This week we had a blast talking about pumpkins.  We started off my making a KWL chart.

What we know

What we want to know

What we learned

The children did their own investigations by using 4/5 of their senses.  We did not do the tasting part, but we activated their background knowledge by asking if they have ever eaten anything that was pumpkin flavored.

Our library was filled with non-fiction pumpkin books.



After we completed our research, the children as a class made a pumpkin book.  They loved doing this because they were the authors and the illustrators.


Reflection:  I feel as though anything that is hands on is going to have a much greater impact on the children than just being lectured.  I know we didn't use much technology for this activity, but the students are activity involved in their investigations.  We currently do not have access to do online research like we would want to, but the students created their own non-fiction book.  This book is called "A Pumpkin is..."  It is based off of their real experiences with experimenting on a pumpkin.