I hope you are enjoying your Monday off from school, teachers! I decided that for today's post, I would share a "share" site. The popular photo web service, Shutterfly, isn't just for uploading and ordering prints. As an educational tool, Shutterfly's share site feature is an easy-to-use, FREE way to create a classroom website that parents and students can access to review their school year.
Let me stress that it is incredibly easy to create a Shutterfly share site for your classroom. Absolutely no knowledge in "html" mumbo jumbo is necessary. You can upload an unlimited amount of pictures to your share site to feature your students engaging in classroom activities or field trips. Up to 10 videos can be uploaded to your site, however...remember my previous post on Animoto? On your Shutterfly share site, you are able to add different features to personalize your site (more on that in a minute). One of the things you can add is a "widget," which means you can embed code from other websites...such as the Animoto videos you create for your class! So, if you are using Animoto, you can technically add as many videos as you want as well!
Back to the other features Shutterfly lets you add on your share site. You can add a calendar to post classroom events and messages for upcoming events. In addition to Animoto videos, there are countless other widgets you can include to give your students access to things you may have viewed online in class - just copy and paste the code from another website. You can add the weather and a Google Map to post locations to places you have "visited" in your classroom. In addition to pictures and video, you can also upload files. I have found this to be very helpful in giving my students access to organizers and documents we use routinely in class. I've also been able to upload games created in PowerPoint so that students can review with them at home.
Last but not least...you have to create a Shuterfly account in order to upload pictures and create a site (which is free). You have the capability to password protect your site, so only students, parents, and their families are able to view the content you post. If you have your parent's e-mail addresses, you can add them as members of the site and directly send them the link and password. They can receive weekly (or monthly) updates that you make to your site to keep updated.
It takes a little time to play around with the features and layouts, but I have found my Shutterfly share site to be a fun and functional way to keep my students and their families connected to the classroom. Take a little time on this holiday weekend to check it out!
http://www.shutterfly.com/sites/create/welcome.sfly;jsessionid=14FC5F4A566C719493ECA31A61AF4B5B?fid=4d40f90688ac21fa
Let me stress that it is incredibly easy to create a Shutterfly share site for your classroom. Absolutely no knowledge in "html" mumbo jumbo is necessary. You can upload an unlimited amount of pictures to your share site to feature your students engaging in classroom activities or field trips. Up to 10 videos can be uploaded to your site, however...remember my previous post on Animoto? On your Shutterfly share site, you are able to add different features to personalize your site (more on that in a minute). One of the things you can add is a "widget," which means you can embed code from other websites...such as the Animoto videos you create for your class! So, if you are using Animoto, you can technically add as many videos as you want as well!
Back to the other features Shutterfly lets you add on your share site. You can add a calendar to post classroom events and messages for upcoming events. In addition to Animoto videos, there are countless other widgets you can include to give your students access to things you may have viewed online in class - just copy and paste the code from another website. You can add the weather and a Google Map to post locations to places you have "visited" in your classroom. In addition to pictures and video, you can also upload files. I have found this to be very helpful in giving my students access to organizers and documents we use routinely in class. I've also been able to upload games created in PowerPoint so that students can review with them at home.
Last but not least...you have to create a Shuterfly account in order to upload pictures and create a site (which is free). You have the capability to password protect your site, so only students, parents, and their families are able to view the content you post. If you have your parent's e-mail addresses, you can add them as members of the site and directly send them the link and password. They can receive weekly (or monthly) updates that you make to your site to keep updated.
It takes a little time to play around with the features and layouts, but I have found my Shutterfly share site to be a fun and functional way to keep my students and their families connected to the classroom. Take a little time on this holiday weekend to check it out!
http://www.shutterfly.com/sites/create/welcome.sfly;jsessionid=14FC5F4A566C719493ECA31A61AF4B5B?fid=4d40f90688ac21fa
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