Remind - remind.com

Remind gives you the ability to compose a one-way mass text via their website and/or app while keeping your personal information private. It's very easy to use and parents can subscribe to receive text updates from you. It will not come from your personal phone number. 

Smore - smore.com

A user-friendly, FREE online newsletter in which parents can subscribe to receive email notifications when you update it with new information. Several schools have purchased a subscription to this service so check with your principal or office manager to see if the paid subscription is an option. Good for any grade level.

Twitter, a micro-blogging social media tool, is a must for establishing an online presence for your school, connecting with your community, sharing, collaborating, and learning from others. 

Contact any one of us on the Digital Learning Team to help you brainstorm what email to use to create the account, what the name and handle should be, the profile and cover images, the bio, and a hashtag. 

Check out these model examples!

• Otto Middle School - https://twitter.com/ottobobcats
• Shepton High School - https://twitter.com/SheptonStallion
• Huffman Elementary PACE - https://twitter.com/HuffmanPACE
• Art Teacher - https://twitter.com/Wy_ArtisLife
• And see who we follow on our @pisdtech account at https://twitter.com/pisdtech!

Here is a link to Kathy Schrock's extensive list of Twitter resources, Twitter for Teachers, including this helpful Twitter Cheat Sheet (for Twitter beginners). Note: The Twitter Cheat Sheet says that the character limit is 140, but that has since increased to 280 characters.