As the summer moves along and some of us get closer and closer to the start of school, I always start thinking about “Back to School Night”, “Meet the Teacher” or whatever it is your school calls it. And this year, in particular, I’m realizing… “Oh yeah! That can be digital!” In this post, I am going to give you some ideas for using a digital back to school flipbook for all your important information!
Pin to save for later!
Disclosure: Some links in this post may be affiliate links to products I use and love. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a commission from qualifying purchases if you choose to use the link to purchase. This is at no additional cost to you.
A few years ago I designed a flipbook for meet the teacher night that I used when I taught 3rd grade. Every year, I would type it all up and add my cute fonts, print it onto colorful astrobrights paper, and get to town assembling it. My partner teacher and I would sit down together and fold, and fold, and fold, and fold, then staple over 50 of those babies! They were really cute. And if you’re a printed colorful flipbook person, you rock. Check out my adorable flipbook from elementary below, then go no further.
However, if you really want to be that cute font, adorable little folded flipbook person but in your heart, you’re like… nah… I have some really great news! You can do that same digital back to school flipbook (and maybe even BETTER) and then share it in less than 30 seconds. No printing, cutting, stapling.
Once you create or purchase said digital flipbook, edit to your heart’s desire! Most of the digital flipbooks I have seen are on Google Slides, one of my very favorite Google Apps. Why we call it a flipbook is because on the first slide, it looks like a real flipbook, and when in present mode, the “tabs” on the front page are clickable!
There are TONS of ideas for the tabs/pages. Here are some general ideas for both elementary and secondary grades:
- About the Teacher! – (definitely add this one!)
- School Information- hours, specific school-wide behavior expectations, admin names/and contact information, office phone number
- Transportation information
- Grading Policy
- Homework Requirements
- Classroom Management- this looks different for elementary and secondary. In elementary, I used to write about our whole grade-level classroom economy system
- Curriculum covered throughout the year
- Supplies Needed for the Classroom (add direct links here to Amazon wishlists!)
- Honesty Policy
- And so much more!
I teach 7th grade now, so this year I’m going to transform my syllabus and use the digital flipbook instead. (This post was written in summer 2020, and we’re not going back to school until at least September 8th due to COVID-19, so I really needed a fun digital option anyways!) Don’t forget you can use active links because IT IS DIGITAL! Hello, amazon wishlist. Add a photo or two of your classroom and you or your family!
If there’s one thing I can thank my teaching from home experience for, it would be seeing just how much we can do digitally. I hope as time goes by I realize more that can be digital. It really saves so much time, energy, and supplies!
If you’re looking for something else you can go digital with, check out my post on digital newsletters!
Let me know in the comments if you’re a paper lover, or trying to transform your school things to be digital this year! PS- you can still splurge on the Astrobrights for something else 🙂
Kara
Leave a Reply