Today I'm linking up with Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried it Tuesday!
I really can't take credit for this idea. I heard that one of my partners, Ms. Tarah, was doing something like this in her class, and I had to try it! (Thanks, Ms. Tarah!) Ms. Tarah uses her classroom computers to give students a chance to e-mail her, and she will e-mail them back.
So, for my Tried it Tuesday, I tried e-mailing with my students!
Here's how I set up my system:
1. Create an account with Gmail. You'll need to choose a username and password. Keep in mind, it will be used by students, so make it kid-friendly. I made mine without symbols and capital letters. You'll also have to enter your name, birthday, primary email, and a few other little things to complete the account.
I just introduced this yesterday, so we haven't had much practice with it. But I will update you as we work through the process! This will be a choice during our Daily 5 time; eventually they will be independent with e-mailing!
I really can't take credit for this idea. I heard that one of my partners, Ms. Tarah, was doing something like this in her class, and I had to try it! (Thanks, Ms. Tarah!) Ms. Tarah uses her classroom computers to give students a chance to e-mail her, and she will e-mail them back.
So, for my Tried it Tuesday, I tried e-mailing with my students!
Here's how I set up my system:
1. Create an account with Gmail. You'll need to choose a username and password. Keep in mind, it will be used by students, so make it kid-friendly. I made mine without symbols and capital letters. You'll also have to enter your name, birthday, primary email, and a few other little things to complete the account.
2. Once you get your account all set up, you need to create e-mail threads for each student. Click on the "Compose" button to start a new e-mail. Send it to yourself (your class Gmail username). In the subject line, enter a student's name.
3. In the body of the message, type a little something to your student! To start, I sent them directions of how to send me messages. Then click "Send" to finish it off.
Other ideas of what to e-mail your students:
- Questions about books they are reading
- Links to game websites
- Links to books they can listen to online
Other ideas of what to e-mail your students:
- Questions about books they are reading
- Links to game websites
- Links to books they can listen to online
4. Repeat steps 2-4, creating an e-mail thread for each student. Once you are all done, they will show up in your class' Inbox. You can see that all of the messages were sent from "me". Really, you are just sending messages to yourself. By creating them this way, you can keep all of your students' e-mails in one spot.
5. Then, students can start to e-mail you! They simply click on their own name from the Inbox page, and click "Reply". Once they are done typing, they click the "Send" button.
On the Inbox page, their new message will show up on the top and in bold. Then I can click on the new messages, and reply to my littles!
I just introduced this yesterday, so we haven't had much practice with it. But I will update you as we work through the process! This will be a choice during our Daily 5 time; eventually they will be independent with e-mailing!
What sort of technology do you use in your classroom?
Until next time,
-Miss Woodward
