Student-Created Newsletters

I used to write a monthly newsletter the length of an article in the Washington Post, including each and every detail of our month. Sending it off to the printer, I was excited about how neat and pretty it was with cute fonts, and of course a lengthy list of upcoming events. I dreamed of parents hanging it on the fridge to look at and reread with delight throughout the next month.

Then I became a parent. (Need I say more?) I have so much paperwork coming through this house from doctors and daycare and events...our fridge space is valuable. I'm much more likely to hang a picture of my kid's scribbled, one-eyed Thanksgiving turkey than I am a newsletter. 

So it dawned on me. Why hadn't I thought of this before? What if the newsletter was written by the KID? Not a group of kids for the whole class, but a different newsletter for each kid. They could outline the special events from the month and even include upcoming events when necessary.

A reflection on the month, created by the own individual kid with their own unique take on the look and feel of the newsletter. BINGO!

I also wanted to double dip and add an element of technology. Enter Student-Created Newsletters. These templates double as tech tutorials to Google Drawing, which is very similar to Google Slides but only has one page instead of several. They're simple enough to complete in a short period of time, and kids can create the newsletter just by reading through the template and playing around with the tech. 

Each month, I sit the 5th graders down and go through the template with them. We go over which parts should stay, and which ones they should read, delete, and fill in with their own information. Then I send them off to create their personalized newsletter!

The best part is the kids are SO excited to bring home their own report about school. They always put a unique spin on the newsletter that I never would've thought of myself, adjusting fonts and adding clipart. They always are an adorable topper to our Friday Papers. (I'll explain more in a later post...organizing Friday Papers is my FAVORITE time-saving strategy.)

You can find the Student-Created Newsletters here, including all the instructions for adding them to Google Classroom for your students so they're available each month if you're like me and forget to do the newsletter until January 31st rolls around. 

Hope I saved you lots of naptimes or preptimes creating those lengthy monthly newsletters! Giving ownership back to the kids frees up our valuable time and gives them the opportunity to reflect and set goals. The parents will love it too...I promise!

Happy napping!

Alissa