Heather Schaaf's 20% Project

     Parent communication is very important to me.  In the past, I have communicated through notes home, phone calls, emails.  Many of the questions parents have for me are procedural and easy to answer, but they take me away from my classroom duties. If I have more than 2 or 3 communications to address in a day, the time dedicated to this becomes substantial. Therefore I thought it would be wonderful to create a classroom website.
     A classroom website seemed a daunting task when I first declared this my 20% project. I generally call in the experts when I begin something technological, so that was my first step.  One of our district technology specialists joined me in the classroom for a half hour power website making session before school and I was off. She gave me some basic tips and showed how to link and copy information into my site. We went through the basics of editing a page, and I found it was very similar to Word. The Insert tab makes adding things to my website very easy. I have used Insert Image and Insert Link almost exclusively, but will continue to add gadgets and Google links like "calendar" to enhance usability. Finally, there are many great "help" sites and links that answered my questions when I would become stuck with what I should do next.
     To help me envision my final product, I used examples of websites provided by our instructor.  I also looked at some of the Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose websites. I settled on the following theme, format, and pages:
Mrs. Schaaf's Classroom Website

     My intention for this website is to provide up-to-date information to my fourth graders and their parents. In addition, I would like for my students to be able to use the sidebar to gain access to appropriate websites to practice and enhance their reading, writing, and math skills. I have opened my website up as public if connected through the Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose website, as well as anyone who has the link.  I have decided to dedicate part of my Friday prep time each week to updating my site.  Having a scheduled time to accomplish this will help my to keep my website fresh and relevant.