Monday, July 14, 2014

Classroom Newsletters Delivered in a Digital Way....

One of the four core beliefs of NISD involves the relationship between school, home and community. For our work to be impactful and transformational, we must continually build relationships with our students and their families. One way of doing this is to send out weekly newsletters to parents as a way to keep them informed about what's happening in the classroom. Ms. Logue's students wanted to add ʺstudent voiceʺ and generate increased parent interest! Students are writing and producing their own weekly video newsletters which are sent out weekly to parents through email.

Each week, four or five students choose a topic from class that is featured in the news (Math, Science, Social Studies, Language Arts). Students are responsible for writing up a brief recap of what they are learning in that subject and any special activities related to the learning.  They may also gather a document or visual to include in their report. They are then recorded reading their ʺsegmentʺ (much like a newscaster). Another student job is to take the segments and smash them together to create the 3-4 minute video newsletter, which Ms. Logue then emails to parents.


Responsibility and digital creativity are showcased with this type of activity.  Classroom jobs now include creating a segment for the weekly news and producing weekly V-Newscasts.  Students think about their segment throughout the week, decide what they want to say, and what evidence they need to gather to create a thoughtful segment. Another positive of V-Newletters is that it has strengthened student voice and ownership in this Mrs. Logue's 4th grade classroom. Soon, students will be able to train students in other classes and hopefully produce a grade level newscast. 

Announcements, Communication, iPad, Netbooks, Newscast, Newsletters, Relationships, Student Voice, Video, Writing, 3-5


4th Grade Video Newsletters @ Justin Elementary
by Traci Logue and Rene' Egle

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