How I Use ClassDojo's Class Story to Communicate with Families

Class Story on ClassDojo is a powerful tool for communicating with your students' families.

Here are a few of the types of things I share on Class Story:

1. Important Notices and Reminders - things that are happening that parents need to know about

2. Scholastic Book Club Information

3. Photos of fun class activities

4. Photos of anchor charts and things we are learning in class

5. Links to helpful video tutorials and websites

https://www.khanacademy.org/join/F8FGKK

6. ClassDojo created Class Story Cards and videos

7. Info about my DonorsChoose.org projects (very sparingly)

Daily Reflections Using ClassDojo's Student Stories

I've been a ClassDojo user since it began, but 2017-2018 was my first year using the "Student Stories" feature. I used it for a daily reflection for my students at the end of each day. 

We started out the year with two sentence stems that they were required to write about:

1. One thing I am proud of today is...
2. One thing I could have done better today is...

Here is an example of a student reflection from the Fall:

Once they mastered that, I had them start adding "because" to their sentences. 

Eventually, I gave them more variety of sentence stems to use (with the requirement of choosing at least two per day):

My goals for this were:

1. to get my students to reflect on their learning and their behavior
2. to improve their keyboarding and writing skills
3. to involve parents more in our day to day learning/work - THIS was huge! These daily reflections gave parents a springboard for dinner table conversation! 

ClassDojo is implementing "Student Portfolios" in the coming school year - I can't wait to see what is new! 

PS - here are some of my favorite last day of school reflections:

Button Reward Lanyards - Student Motivational Tool

This a reward system I came up with a couple years ago that has worked very well for me. At the beginning of the year, I give each child a lanyard. (I use the one pictured below because our school mascot is the cougar, so it sort of fits. But any lanyard would work.)

I give out buttons for academics and behavior. The lanyards stay at school for the whole year. They can be worn in the classroom. At the end of the year, my students take their lanyards home! Parents love them!

More about how this system works:

Any time a student receives a 100% on a test or quiz, they get a button! This has been a GREAT motivator for some of my higher students (and all students, really) who don't put 100% effort into their work. Because they WANT that button, they take a little extra time and check things over. It can mean the difference between a C and an A for a lot of students!

I buy mini buttons in lots of different designs, so they can get "special" ones for different subject areas.

 .  . 

I also give out buttons for good behavior. At the end of every day, whichever student has the highest points in the class on ClassDojo gets a button. (Again, these are "special" behavior buttons.) I also occasionally give out "team work" buttons or other buttons specific to good behavior I see happening in the classroom.

I also give out buttons for holidays! 

    

I buy the buttons on Oriental Trading Company, Amazon, or at the Dollar Tree! 

Have fun trying out this reward system in your classroom!