ClassDojo has been a staple in my classroom for a few years now. It has worked wonderfully to communicate behavior with the parents. The ClassDojo team has done an outstanding job of enhancing the program to be all encompassing with individual/group/whole class points, parent messaging, class story, growth mindset videos, and (I’m most excited about) student-led portfolios (coming in late July)! It’s really turning into a one-stop-shop for parent communication.
I’ve used ClassDojo in a range of ways over the years, with just individual students who need extra support to the whole class being on ClassDojo.
This past year I tried something new with ClassDojo, communicating student progress on standards.
I set up a few different classes for each subject. In first grade, the most important subjects for me to communicate with the parents ALL the time are Math and Reading (parents are able to connect to all the different classes). These are demo classes, not real student data.
I keep separate classes because I like to be very specific. Parents are able to know exactly which standard their child is struggling with. Here is an example of what my “math class” would look like (they are really just subjects).
In my “math class”, the “points” are each math standard. If one of my students was working on a test, quiz, math center, activity (anything that you may grade or even a teacher observation), he/she would receive a positive/negative point depending on his/her progress.
These categories do not have to actually give points if you do not want. They can all be listed as “0” and the parents will still get a notification. I do like the points though because then it gives a total percentage for each day/week/month and parents can see an overall estimate for their child’s grade.
I do the exact same thing for my “Reading Class”. I love how effectively and immediately this communicates with the parents. I am able to quickly scan the room, see who’s making it work and who’s not, and send the points. I can also go in and add notes to be even more specific if needed.
It also makes it easy for me to give out grades on report cards. I can use the notifications I’ve sent as report card comments and to help guide me as I give out grades OR I can use the overall percentage depending on how my school does grades (overall subjects or by standard). You can download reports to help. It’s *kind of* like a grade book online, but parents are getting IMMEDIATE results.
The app is amazing too (iPhone/Android)! It’s even easier on the app to send little notes after each point.
If all of this is mumbo jumbo, here’s a video I hope helps you understand a bit more!
If you are looking for more ways to get communicate with parents, you may like my Pinterest board.
Leave a Reply