Sunday, December 22, 2013

"SMORE" Communication

Happy Holidays! This will be my last post of 2013 and what a great year it has been! Prior to break on Friday, I was able to wrap up several of my School Success groups and will begin Study Club groups later in January in preparation for the spring EOGs.  We finally got our EOG scores back from the county so I will be looking at that data to create the fourth and fifth grade groups.

In communicating with teachers and parents about my groups, I have started using a great E-tool from the website smore.com.  My co-counselor learned about it at the NCSCA Conference courtesy of Andrea Burston (JYJoyner Counselor Blog), and I love it! The website allows you to make great looking E-flyers that you can share via email or embed on a webpage. I have always sent electronic or print updates to teachers and parents two or three times during my groups so they know what skills we are working on and how they can connect the group to home.  See a previous example here.  However, SMORE makes it so much easier.

The website is free and once you have your initial template, you can simply duplicate your flyer and update the information as you go through your group.  Here is the first School Success Group update I sent to teachers and parents.




 Here is the second update I sent, and I even included my post survey evaluation for parents with an embedded link at the bottom of the flyer. 



The link takes them to a three question Google form, which helps identify any habits they have improved upon since the start of the group.  I outlined how to make Google forms in a previous post here if you need additional information.
 


I have been emailing the flyers because I requested email addresses on my initial group permission form, but you could also print them and send them home if you have parents without access to email or do not have their email addresses. 

Best wishes for a great holiday to you and your families.  I am looking forward to an exciting 2014 full of fun, creativity, and joy in each day!
Happy Counseling! ~ Angela

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