How do you keep parents in the loop? There are teachers who send out weekly newsletters (either print or digital). I’m not that teacher! Mainly it’s because I enjoy my Friday afternoons tidying up the room and making sure I get home early! For me, I love to document school events and class memories by taking pictures. Raise your hand if you like Instagram better than Facebook! (p.s. - I DO!!) Technically speaking,Facebook has more worldwide users than Instagram, but its popularity definitely varies by age bracket.
CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE TO SEE HOW I ADD BITMOJI TO ANY GOOGLE SLIDE
Enter ClassDojo - the classroom connector with the look and feel of Instagram! After Amy Groesbeck blew up on Instagram documenting day 1-day 180, I decided to create a class Instagram account but it became too hard for me to manage between my personal IG handler and the school account. I wanted something that was it’s own separate entity with more classroom perks. ClassDojo was the answer, playing off Insta's look and feel with square images. Best of all, it's ABSOLUTELY FREE and you get to set "quiet hours" - which automatically notify parents that you may not reply until the following school day!
If you're new to ClassDojo, I would recommend playing with the demo class first so you’ll get an idea of how to setup your skills to award points before the school year actually begins. There are great tutorials & helpful ClassDojo videos online, and I really like this one which shows what families see (on ClassDojo).
Something I really enjoy using ClassDojo for is to make brief classroom announcements and reminders. This is what SOLVED that communication problem I mentioned earlier - I don't like to send weekly newsletters or daily emails. #Ain'tNobodyGotTimeForThat!
Aside from sharing pictures or video clips from our school day, I LOVE using Dojo to send quick reminders, invites to school events, and celebrating special milestones!
Although Dojo offers customizable images for events like school picture day or holidays, I prefer to use my own template to quickly send off these notifications. Also, I'm kind of obsessed with bitmoji too! To add customized images to my ClassDojo feed, I just upload my square image and type up my quick message to families. If you can't wait to add this time saving resource to your Google Drive, click the image below! As you can see, there are 3 headings with 3 border styles included. If you think you'd save time using my editable ClassDojo Announcements Template, then click the image below.
How do I know this form of communication works so well? My families shared how connected they feel to me and their child's classroom. When reflecting on the previous year's teacher, they shared, “I never felt like I really knew her.” Whereas, this year, through the consistent communication with ClassDojo they now gush, “I love checking in on my kid and keeping up with what they’re doing at school!”
Don't know what to post? Here are some ClassDojo Story Posts I Make Throughout the Year:
- field trip snapshots
- student celebrations/awards
- weekly adventures home of our class mascot
- special events in class (reading buddies)
- exciting activities (assemblies, science experiments, guest speaker visits)
- reminders for class party donations
- last minute changes to PE special (tennis shoe reminder)
Comment below with any other ways or questions you may have about using ClassDojo in your classroom!
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