Use Google Forms to Email Updates to Parents

Wouldn't it be great if you could have a premade Google form, into which you could enter important progress information and have it immediately converted into an email for parents?

With a bit of setup, this is possible.

If you are tech-savvy, you can do this setup on your own by following this tutorial (the new Google Forms looks a bit different, but the information in the tutorial is still good):

How to Create Google Forms that Email Parents

The main difference between the new Google Forms and what you see in this video is when you are asked to click "View Responses" (at 1:21 in the video) it will actually look more like this, and require two clicks:

Click "Responses"

Then click this symbol to enter spreadsheet view:

If that setup seems a bit out of your league, I would be happy to come set this up for you.  Once set up, your form would look something like this (with the questions as specific or as general as you wish):

After clicking "Submit", the parent is immediately emailed.  (There is also the option to delay all emails until a pre-set time, giving you the chance to delete or edit them before they go out later.)

A parent would receive an email that looks like this:

Click here if you would like help getting this set up for your parents!

Who Reads Your Blog or Website?

Image from: news.sutterhealth.org

If you have taken the time to post to a blog or website, you likely hope that parents and students are reading it.  Are they?

If you use the blog feature of your Google Site or Blogger, you can notify parents/students and ask them to subscribe.  Here is a letter you can send home (make a copy of this in your Google Drive so that you can edit and insert your own information).  If parents send this back and want you to subscribe them, go to your blog, click "Subscribe" and type in their email address.  They will receive a confirmation email asking whether they want to subscribe.

Before doing this, you may want to send those parents an email letting them know that they should expect a confirmation email from "Feedburner".  This is important because many people will ignore or delete this if they are not expecting it.  Click here for a sample email you could send.

Remember that subscribers are only notified when you create a new post, not when you modify an old one!  Each time you want them to receive information, you need to create a new blog post.

After parents/students have been subscribed for a month or two, consider sending home a survey such as this to find out what kind of reach your blog has.  Make adjustments as needed!

Examples of teachers in our district using the blog feature on Google Sites (these are just a sampling - there are many more!):

Steve Fuchs

Tami Kolemainen

Eric Meyer

Amy Voigt

Examples of teachers in our district using Blogger (then automatically publishing it to their Google Site):

Stacie Schneider - see how the blog looks and how it looks embedded into Google Sites

Amy Kosloski - On Blogger and Google Sites

Tanya Malwitz - On Blogger and Google Sites

Adam Ronnenberg - On Blogger and Google Sites

For an exhaustive list of who is blogging at District 881, click here.

How to Easily Add All District and Building Events to Your Google Calendar

Image from play.emory.edu

When you are signed in to your Google Email, it is easy to get to Google Calendar by clicking on the "waffle" in the upper right corner.  It's okay if you have never used it - today's the day to try it out!

Click on "Calendar".

In the left column, you can view all calendars you have created, as well other people's calendars that you have added to your view.

In order to add a District or Building  calendar, click here.  Then click on the "+Google Calendar" in the lower right corner of the calendar.  Choose which calendars you would like to add.  (District-wide events are on the District Calendar only, so you will want to add the District calendar as well as your building.)

This will allow you to view all events from the District/Building Calendars within Google Calendar, whenever you open it.  The District/Building Calendars will be in a different color than the events you may have entered on "your" calendar.  When you add events to your own calendar, it does not change the District/Building Calendars - you are simply able to view the events posted, and any updates to the District/Building Calendars will be reflected in your view.

Once you have added all desired calendars, they should appear in your left column under "Other Calendars".  

All District/Building events automatically appear in your calendar view from now on.

How to Add a YouTube Video to Your Google Site

Our Maple Lake Public Schools YouTube channel publishes great videos about what is going on in our school.  Are you, your students and their parents viewing them so they can feel a part of the great story of our school?

First of all, are you aware when a new video gets published?   Click here to see our YouTube channel and then click "subscribe".

Once you have been notified about a new video, here's how to share it on your Google Site.

First, go to your Google Site.  Click on the "Edit" button, which looks like a pencil.

Click to put your cursor in the spot where you want the video to appear.

Once your cursor is flashing in the place where you want the video, go to the upper left corner and click "Insert".

Choose "YouTube".

Copy and paste the web address from the YouTube video.  Remember to add a title that will appear on your Google Site.

Click Save.

Click on the "YouTube" gadget that you just inserted, and use the buttons to make any changes you want.

Click "Save" in the upper right corner to finish publishing the video.  The video should now be part of your Google Site, allowing parents and students who visit to have an updated view of events and highlights from our school.