Class Dojo

ClassDojo is a digital classroom management app with all kinds of bells and whistles! It’s customizable. Allows for parent communication. Will translate posts into other languages. Requires a code to join as a privacy feature. And is completely FREE! Watch the video to find out more.

Corie Kaminski

Not a day goes by that you won’t find Robert Wilson Elementary first grade teacher,Corie Kaminski integrating technology in her lessons. She’s spent 4 of 5 years teaching first grade.

Following in her mother Penny’s footsteps, Corie became a teacher to inspire her students to love reading and grow both academically and socially. She attributes everything she knows about being a great teacher to her mom.

Great teachers have great classroom management skills. Corie uses Classdojo, our App of the Month, to help her manage her classroom and communicate with parents. We asked Miss Kaminski to tell us about how she uses Classdojo in her first grade classroom. This is what she had to say.

The benefits of using ClassDojo are fast and easy texting with your parents-WITHOUT having to give your personal cell phone number. The parents are able to ask questions about behavior points, homework, upcoming events, and more. I am also able to send out reminders to all the parents at one time or only to certain parents.

Another great benefit to this app is INSTANT behavior notifications. The parents are notified when their student earns or loses a classroom dojo point. Finally, I am able to share pictures of what is going on in our classroom via the Classroom Story. Only our parents are able to see these pictures! They love being able to see many activities that we are doing in the classroom.

Even better, the class’s behavior, as a whole, has been mostly positive since the downloading and implementing of the Classdojo app. The parent communication has also increased due to the fast response and the ability for parents to ask right when they need an answer.

I recommend Classdojo because it is the perfect go-to app for parent communication, classroom behavior management, and sharing pictures with just our parents. The number of positive responses I have gotten from parents is overwhelming. Parents love this app as much as I do.

Corie goes on to explain that technology is all around us! It is always being updated and closing the technological gap with her students is awesome. They not only are learning from the technology they use, but they are engaged and immersed in the lessons.

Miss Kaminski’s class uses iPads for guided reading and center groups. Her first graders play educational games on the SMARTboard and really enjoy Plickers activities she prepares for them to review their learning.

Dr. Olivia Ballesteros, principal at Crockett elementary, has decided to “liven” up the Campus Handbook. Dr. Ballesteros attended the 2015 ASCD Ignite Conference where she learned how to create livebinders. She took the information that she learned during her session and applied it to the campus handbook to make the information readily accessible, easy to modify, and share with her staff. Dr. Ballesteros is an excellent example of applying what you learn right away to increase awareness of all the cool WEB 2.0 application teachers and principals can be using. When asked how your teachers are responding to the new Live Binder handbook Ballesteros said, “teachers and staff use the binder to access the Crockett Handbook electronically. Since the Live Binder is updated as items change, such as schedules.. the teachers and staff always have the most current version.” She also stated that she would recommend using a Live Binder because she can bookmark for easy access to update as needed.