The Evolution of the Classroom Newsletter

For 20 years the evolution of the classroom newsletter has changed from a packet to four pages and now down to a maximum of two. I read a guest blog post by Cult of Pedagogy’s Jennifer Gonzalez where she explains why no one is reading your classroom newsletter. I began to wonder if this was me! I recycled content with the occasional rewrites. I had clip art and used a Word template from 2000. So last year I decided to shorten my four page newsletters down to two pages.

The method of delivery changed as well. I used to photocopy the packets and staple them, sending them home. Then we went green, so I decided to email home a PDF. A few years ago I created a parent portal in Google Sites and embedded the newsletter on a webpage and sent home a hyperlink.

I believe we need to reach parents in many ways, and a classroom newsletter had been engrained in my brain as one of the myriad of options to do this. However I realized after #ISTE19 I needed to do a major makeover of my newsletters. Thanks to tips from Wanda Terral I discovered I could create a more interactive newsletter using Google Slides.

All I had to do was change the page set up! I went to file>page set up>custom and created an 8.5x 11 Google Slide. Then I made colored boxes to be used as bins for text or video. I added a few bitmojis, saying goodbye to clip art. Using the new Flipgrid Camera I took a risk and filmed myself sharing some information, bringing the text alive to parents. The video was then downloaded and uploaded to an unlisted YouTube video where I could pull it right into the newsletter. Remember to turn the closed caption on your videos if your setting is not automatic. 

Though it is still a work in progress I have figured out a way to reach parents through image, text, and video on one page! This will be shared on our Parent Portal. I just wish Google provided a view counter on Slides, so I would know how many times it got read. Anyone know if there is an extension for that?