The end of the school year is a challenge for both students and teachers - both are counting down the days until summer break. I try to keep the structure of the day the same, but introduce some new things to keep everyone interested. My colleague, who teaches the math and science block, had the kids do an inquiry investigation making an impact-proof container for a raw egg, and then conducted the launches the last couple days of school. Anyway, we were chatting one day and I was telling her that I was feeling the need to encourage our students to keep reading over the summer, and that I had read about a teacher who used Instagram to connect with her students. My colleague, who has a child in fourth grade, said that many of the kids in fourth and fifth grade were already on Instagram, and that might be a great way to reach out to them.
I did a little checking on our technology policies, and found that it was okay to start an account, but we needed to commit to regularly updating it so that parents and students would find it helpful. We were willing to try that. I would do the reading and writing posts, and she and our other colleague would do some math and science posts.
The other thing we did is send out a letter to parents of our outgoing fifth graders and also to the upcoming fifth graders letting them know about our idea. We set it up so we have to approve anyone who wants to follow us, so not anyone can see our posts. My colleague also suggested that we create a Facebook page that is linked to our Instagram account, since more parents are on Facebook than on Instagram.
After sending out our letter, we were surprised and delighted to see how many parents signed up to follow us! We started this the last two weeks of school (which helped keep us engaged during that time), and we started taking pictures of student work and of course, the progress of the egg launch. I posted pictures of shared stories, social studies projects, and recommendations written for the incoming fifth graders by the current fifth graders. The kids seemed to really like seeing their work on Instagram, and would often comment on the pictures.
We've been out of school for a little over a week now, and it's been very easy to post a picture of a book every day. I go to the library often, and every time I'm there, I take about 5-7 pictures of book covers that I can use each day. I'm trying to remember to include different genres and multicultural books, both current titles, and ones that I loved as a child.
I'm also trying to include a journal idea each day. I have no idea if any students will do any writing over the summer, but since many parents are following us on Facebook, it may encourage some of them to help their kids give it a try.
The real test of this will be in the fall, when we start to get to know the new group of fifth graders. I'm very interested to know how many tried the book or journaling suggestions, or tried the real life math and science ideas my colleagues are posting. We're hoping this added connection will give both parents and students a bigger picture of what goes on in our fifth grade classes, and in turn, this will make our school community stronger.
