Welcome to Kindergarten Slides/Video

What I Did ✅:

To help prepare families and children for the start of the year we typically have sent out welcome letters with all the information. Now post- pandemic many educators have moved to creating video clips or Loom videos. In Alburtis, I am considered the "tech-savvy" teacher and created mine as a template for my colleagues and helped them in creating their own videos as well. The video covers many of the basics and is especially helpful for first-time parents as they prepare for public education.

What I Learned 🧠:

In creating my video I learned the value of simple visuals and keeping the information short and to the point with only the "need to know" information. I have found many parents can get overwhelmed with all of the start-up information at the beginning of the year and children also enter kindergarten with some anxieties. This welcome video is just the warm-up before they come into the building for orientation where we have them face to face to share other important information and they have an opportunity to ask questions. I also learned that setting this video as an example for my colleagues helps them to challenge themselves with the technology and I was sure to make myself available to help support them in any way.

How I Will Grow 🌱:

Creating videos that are viewable on smartphones or tablets has become the trend and has almost completely replaced the mounds of papers going home to families, which very often are not even read. I will continue to create informative and helpful videos for many aspects of my job both for young children and families because it brings a personal touch and is many times easier to get the information out to them. I have enjoyed exploring Doink videos with a green screen to add more complex and sophisticated background scenes.