This week, I wanted to share this app that is spreading like wildflowers across the district among elementary teachers! It's called Seesaw. It's an easy way for students to document their learning and share with their parents in "real time" using digital tools! Think of Seesaw as a journal for what your students learn at school. Students can keep things like stories they wrote, math problems they solved or art projects they made.

Think of Seesaw as an alternative to Edmodo and one that is FAR easier for primary students to use. Instead of using traditional usernames/passwords, student log-in by scanning a QR code that the app creates for you. All a student has to do is point the iPad at the QR code and select their name!

At Crestwood Elementary, kindergarten teachers have just started using the app to track what students are doing in literacy centers while the teachers are working with guided reading groups.

Check out the videos and examples below of how Seesaw is being used in primary and intermediate elementary classrooms.

How are you using Seesaw in your class?
We use Seesaw in a variety of ways. This app enables my students to document their learning, makes it easy to share student work with parents, and serves as a digital portfolio—all with just a few simple steps. Best of all, students can share their work with their parents in 'real time'.

What is an activity you've done recently that turned out well?
My students regularly use Shadow Puppet Edu (Another great FREE app) to 'show what they know'—and this works seamlessly with Seesaw.

During a recent first grade lesson on 'Goods and Services', students used paper bags to create a large scale '1C Town'. Students were so excited about creating this huge project! Seesaw allowed them to share their experience with their parents at home.

• English Language Arts
  Take a photo of a book you read this week. Use the voice recorder to describe your favorite character in the story.

• Math
  Post a math problem on the board (such as a part-part-whole grid) and have students take a picture & use the drawing tool to fill in their answer. For extra credit, have them record an explanation of how they came up with their answer.
• Art
  Identify different colors, forms, textures or patterns around your classroom or school. Use the camera to document what you find and use the voice recorder to compare and contrast them.

Click on the link below to browse through some teacher-tested uses of Seesaw in action!

http://help.seesaw.me/hc/en-us/categories/200277525-Activity-Ideas

A great benefit to using Seesaw is that they provide everything you need to get started using it....presentations, handouts for parents on how they can see their children's work; how to introduce Seesaw to students in class; how to set-up and get started using it as a teacher and much more!

Students (as young as 5!) can independently create, capture, and store artifacts of learning in their private learning journal.

• Simple QR code log-in, a student-friendly camera, and teacher approval of new items makes it safe for students to use Seesaw independently.

• Students can add text and voice recordings to journal items to reflect, explain, and develop their academic voice.

• Students can use our built-in suite of tools or import from many popular apps to illustrate their learning creatively.

Parents get notified of new items, giving them a glimpse of their child’s day and an opportunity to support learning at home.

• Invite parents by sending home a personalized handout that only gives access to their child’s journal - no parent emails required.

• Student-driven updates give parents information between conferences and reduce the need for lengthy newsletters.

• Short, visual updates actually get seen, and cross language and technology barriers. Seesaw supports SMS, Email, iPhone and Android parent notifications.

• Teachers are ALWAYS in control.

• Nothing is automatically shared without your approval.

Even if you have just a single device in your class, Seesaw seamlessly organizes digital and physical work in one place.

• Teacher accounts are FREE!

• Keep journals for all of your students. Add an unlimited number of items

• Access to all students' work added in your class

• Engage parents with real-time notifications

• Journals are private, secure, and never shared with third parties