With our continued use of Google Classroom, a common area of need tends to deal with parent communication. Google Classroom is an ever-growing tool that is intended as a student landing page, not really for parents. However, that doesn't mean there aren't ways for us to increase parent communication with Google Classroom. Below are two ideas that can increase parent communication with Google Classroom, as well as some other Google Classroom resources.

Guardian Email Summaries

As teachers, we can invite a guardian to receive email summaries about their student's work in your Google Classroom.

What’s included in an email summary?

• Missing work—Work not turned in when the summary was sent.
• Upcoming work—Work that’s due today and tomorrow (for daily emails) or that’s due in the upcoming week (for weekly emails).
• Class activity—Announcements, assignments, and questions recently posted by teachers.

Guardians who sign up for email summaries can’t see the Stream, Classwork, People, or Grades pages in Classroom. By default, email summaries for classes are turned off. Here are directions on how to turn email summaries on and how to invite a guardian.

Making Google Classroom Calendars Public for Parents

Google Classroom automatically creates a Google Calendar for each class that includes assignments and due dates. Sharing this calendar with parents would be a great option to communicate assignment due dates. For directions and a video on how to provide this option for parents, see this help page created by TeachingForward.

Just Starting with Google Classroom?

Are you new to Google Classroom or maybe looking for a refresher? The Google Teacher Center-Google Classroom page is full of resources to help you out. Here is the link.

Other Google Classroom Resources

10 Google Classroom Tips for Remote Learning- Shake Up Learning

10 ways to make good Google Classroom assignments better- Ditch That Textbook