In our second-grade general education classroom we use Class Dojo as a means for communication with our families. We are able to message all parents, individual parents, post photos to our “class story,” share your student’s work in his/her “portfolio”, manage classroom behavior, and so much more.
“A child’s social, emotional, cognitive, and academic development is strengthened when educators and families work together. When a child sees a positive relationship developing between educators and family, the child recognizes that the important people in his or her life are working together and trust each other, and he or she will do the same. This collaboration also provides a strong foundation for communication about children’s learning. To foster family involvement, interactions between educators and families should be positive, purposeful, reciprocal, and consistent” (Getting Families Involved). Staying connected and part of our classroom team is critical to your child’s success in our classroom and will enable us to strengthen our classroom community.
To help you get started please reference the parent information sheet and plan to join us at Back to School Night for help in setting up your account. Download the Class Dojo app in either the Play Store or the App store or access it on any device through https://www.classdojo.com/.
Class Dojo will help you receive real-time messages and quick access to our class and your student. You and your student can each log on to Class Dojo by clicking parent- or student. In “Class Stories,” I will share activities our class is doing as a whole group. I will include celebrations, concepts we are working on, videos to help with a variety of strategies.
Class Dojo will also help students be aware of their behavior through the “reports” feature. Parents and students can view their behavior at any time but a hard copy report will be sent home in Friday Folders.
Dojo “Messages” is communication privately between the teacher and the parent. No other parent can see these messages and your responses are private at all times.
“Portfolios” is where you will find your student’s work. Talk about their assignments with them and become involved in their daily activities by asking questions. Celebrate success with them. You will have the ability to “like” or comment on your student’s work.
Please refer to the parent invitation document and parent information letter.
We will interact with Mojo every week in our Monday Morning Meeting as we learn a skills that will help us become better learners. We will learn about growth mindset, setting goals, being kind, and so much more this year.
As always, if you would prefer a hard copy of teacher communication please let me know. However, my primary means for parent communication will be through Class Dojo. If you need help downloading or accessing Class Dojo please email or call me. It is possible to include more than one parent and even grandparents to your child’s account if you would like.
Class Dojo is a safe digital platform and complies with FERPA in regards to your child’s personal information. Additionally, to further increase safety and security, I have created a unique username and password that is in no way connected to any identifying state or district ID’s.
Students in my second-grade classroom will learn to use Class Dojo as a place to submit work to their teacher remotely through their student portfolio, manage classroom behavior, and learn important qualities of becoming a lifelong learner.
Class dojo is a free digital platform where students can submit their work and share with teachers and families. Students can submit their work from any device and as the teacher, I can review that work on any device. I can send assignments to which students respond. As a safety feature, I have to approve all posts before it will be shared and viewable by parents. Parents can then “like” or comment on the activity.
This video will demonstrate what parents will see when you log in to your student's portfolio.
To learn and introduce Class Dojo for submitting assignments, students will visit the San Diego Zoo on a virtual field trip. They will access the assignment through their portfolio assignments or from Google Drive. This teaching activity will prepare students for submitting work electronically during future remote learning. To facilitate this activity, students will need their own classroom device and log in as themselves to Class Dojo.
All students will require practice in accessing and submitting assignments to Class Dojo. I will be available to walk through those steps with students who may struggle, simplifying usernames and passwords is also an option for struggling students, this will be addressed on an individual basis.
There is so much to learn about Class Dojo! Don’t worry, we will tackle it all and have fun in the process.
To learn how students will be introduced to Class Dojo, here is a fun video!
References
ClassDojo. (n.d.). ClassDojo. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://www.classdojo.com/
Idaho State Department of Education (SDE). (n.d.). Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://www.sde.idaho.gov/academic/standards/
What is ClassDojo Portfolios and How Does it Work? (n.d.). Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://classdojo.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009884732-What-is-ClassDojo-Portfolios-and-How-Does-it-Work-
