Readers Build a Kinder World
Wantagh Elementary PARP 2018, Issue 1
Welcome to PARP 2018!
This week in PARP
Friday, March 2: Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! Many literacy activities will take place in the classrooms today. There will also be a Brown Bag Seminar on Yoga and Mindfulness for Grades 1 and 3.
What Are You Reading? Leave a video message!
One of our goals for PARP is to grow as a community of readers. One way to do that is to share book recommendations with each other. Flipgrid is a site that allows you to leave a video message. Only people with the link can access the Flipgrid. The PARP committee is moderating all videos and will only post appropriate content. Comments are turned off so students and families will not be able to leave a comment on another person’s video.
The link to the Flipgrid is https://flipgrid.com/995f2c. Here are the directions for leaving a video:
Go to the above link. You should see “What are you reading?” at the top of the page.
Click on the green button with the plus sign. You may have to select “allow camera” and “allow microphone” if that pops up.
Click the red video camera. It will count down 3, 2, 1 then the recording will start. You can press pause and delete at any time if you don’t like the video.
Share a book recommendation. Talk about a book you have enjoyed. Maybe hold up the cover. Think about who else would like a book like this. Speak clearly and sit still while you leave your video message.
Press the pause button when you are finished with your video. If you think you like it, press the green arrow pointing to the right to watch the video. If you don’t like it, press the red garbage can and try again.
After watching the video, if you are happy with it, press the green button. You will smile for a selfie. Look towards your computer camera, then press the red camera button. You can decorate your picture with stickers if you like.
Finally, you will be asked your name. You can write your first name and put an initial for the last name. No need to leave your email address. Just press the green button to finish.
Videos are being moderated so you won’t see your video pop up until the PARP committee approves it.
You can leave a video anytime during PARP and you can leave more than one video! Flipgrid Friday will be March 9th. On this day, we encourage you to watch the videos posted so far and jump in and leave a video if you haven’t yet. We hope the book videos will help our school community learn many new book titles to check out!
Post on our PARP Padlet
PARP PADLET
Padlet is a digital tool where a community can collaborate on one virtual bulletin board. We have created a Padlet for PARP: https://padlet.com/ksokolowski1/parppadletwes18. The PARP Committee is moderating posts so they will be approved before they are posted. Students will not be able to comment on any other post.
What should you post on the Padlet?
Here are some ideas to get you started:
Share a picture of yourself reading.
Share a picture of the cover of the book you are reading.
Share a picture of yourself dressed up as your favorite book character and write why you chose that character.
Share a picture of your favorite place to read at home.
Share a picture of yourself at any of the PARP events: book fair, game night, PJ day, Dr. Seuss day, at the library.
Write about a way you have shown kindness.
Write about your favorite book.
Use your imagination! How else can you share your love of reading or acts of kindness?
When should you post on the Padlet?
The Padlet will be open and accessible all throughout PARP, beginning on March 1 and ending on March 14th. March 14th is PARP Padlet day where we invite everyone to come back to the Padlet to see what has been posted. We hope you will take the time to share how your family is celebrating reading and kindness during PARP.
Do I need to post pictures?
We know some parents prefer not to post pictures of their children online. You do not need to post children’s pictures to participate in the Padlet. You can write your ideas without adding a picture. You can also take pictures of book covers or other objects instead of a child’s picture if that is more comfortable for you.
How do I post to the Padlet?
Click on the pink circle in the right bottom corner.
A box will pop up like this::
Under title, you can write your child’s name and grade (Example: Alex S., 1st grade). Where it says “Write something” is where you type your message. (Example: My family read The Book With No Pictures tonight. We love this silly book!) Underneath, you see icons. The up arrow means to upload something. The link would be to link to a website you want to share. The next icon is to search the web for something you want to look up to add. The camera feature will allow you to upload a picture you have saved already on your computer or to take a photo with your webcam. The three dots will show even more options, including recording your voice with the Padlet.
When you are done, you just click off the box onto anywhere else on the screen. There is no button to save it. Since posts are being moderated before they appear, you might not see your post appear until it is approved. Check back later in the day. If you have any technical problems, feel free to contact Kathleen Sokolowski at mrs.sokolowski@gmail.com.