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Stay Connected In & Out of the Classroom

This week we feature a collection of resources to keep the lines of communication open--starting with tools to communicate with your students. 

Grades K-12

FreshGrade

Create eportfolios for all students that will easily capture, provide feedback, and share student work. With this tool you can post lessons, assignments, due dates, and grades. Students can share images, videos, and comments. Parents can also comment.

Grades K-12

Class Responder

Interact in real-time with your students. Assign lessons, create quizzes and activities, then view student responses on any device. Use in a 1:1 classroom for students to demonstrate understanding real-time or as exit slips to identify areas to review.

Grades K-12

polltogo

Connect with your students in many ways. Use this tool on any device to create polls for student response during a meeting or class time. Create a question and select the type of answers, how long the poll will last, password or not, and more options.

Keep Families in the Loop

Keep parents informed about what is happening in your classroom and with their student(s) using these handy, free tools.

Grades K-5

Casa Notes

Use this site to send notes home as reminders about field trips, conferences, student performance, and more. 12 templates are included for your use and customization.

Grades K-10

Seesaw

Invite parents (and students) to join Seesaw, a digital portfolio that is free and works on all devices. Students can share their work, videos, text, drawings, and images. Students can comment on other posts and get feedback from teachers and parents.

Grades 7-12

Class Pager

Send text messages, reminders, and polls to students and parents while maintaining privacy. Teachers only see student names (not phone numbers). Messages sent via ClassPager will go to all enrolled in the class.

Unique Communication Tools

Skim through these three helpful tools for communication in (and out) of your classroom. Find resources for all grade levels. 

Grades K-12

Duck Soup

Forget worksheets, upload any PDF or Word document to your account to quickly turn it into an e-sheet gradable activity. Receive feedback in real time as students complete work. Students can even "write" on documents as they would with pencil and paper!

Grades K-12

Skype

This is an oldie but a goodie for connecting your students with authors, other classes, and subject matter experts anywhere in the world. Many new features have been added, so if you haven't visited in a while - check it out!

Grades 2-6

Tocomail

Utilize this safe and simple email service for kids by first creating a parent email account and building a safe contact list for kids to use. Once the account is set up, younger students receive and send emails in a kid-friendly format.

This Week at TeachersFirst

Check out two upcoming opportunities to learn more about classroom communication tools. Join us this Thursday (1/16) for a Twitter chat on school to home communication, plus view a related post in our Infusing Technology Blog. And, don’t forget, registration for our Winter 2020 OK2Ask® Virtual Workshops is ongoing. Finally, in this week’s poll, tell us how you communicate with parents.