My parent communication is so good. Before I used this app there would be miscommunications occasionally with parents. Students would forget homework or tell their parents they didn't have any. I used to do a parent newsletter that took quite a bit of time each week and I don't think anyone read. Now it is all on Bloomz. Scheduling parent-teacher conferences is a breeze. I have higher attendance and don't have a mess of papers to contend with and chase down. I post pictures of all the things we do in class and this gives a window into the classroom for the parents. I know this sounds a little odd. But I think parents like me better because I have so many positive interactions before any problems arise. So when one does we work together as a team. I think by providing so much information and being there to answer questions it just builds good relationships. I am a parent as well and my children have a couple of teachers that use another app similar but it just isn't as user-friendly. I wish my kid's teachers used Bloomz. It has saved me so much time and brought me teacher street cred with the parents. That's a win-win!

Bloomz takes the multiple things we juggle as teachers and puts them in one wonderful place. I used to keep a paper file to document all my parent communication. Not to mention the multitude of notes that I had to keep track of. This app helps parents and teachers. I can communicate with parents on their time and not have to worry about a note getting home to them. Parents have access to homework that may not make it home in the backpack. I could go on and on!

Not only can I communicate with parents, I can send them pictures of their child and their work as well as study guides and important papers. Overall a FANTASTIC way to open lines of communication with parents!

I love the ease and privacy to be able to communicate with all the parents of my students. It is easy to send and receive messages without giving away my own number.

The only downfall is trying to get parents to sign up for the app. Figuring out how to quickly and efficiently send messages and set up different classes does take some time and effort.

It really does focus on building a community through communication and allows you to create classrooms and track attendance.

In comparing Brightwheel and Bloomz, I found that Bloomz focuses more on building a community within classrooms for parents. The app seems to be designed to bring parents together to get to know one another and share information.

The functionality to track students and move them to various through transitions to different classrooms throughout the day wasn't quite there. Our school decided to go with Brightwheel based on customer service and application design. Getting our questions answered took a few days because our rep was traveling to India and we found that the overall demo of the product didn't wow us. In terms of it's functionality, it should probably be a free app until they have an app truly serves school needs besides building a community. Essentially, it's an for parent communication but not much else.

After comparing many parent communication apps, I have found Bloomz to be the most effective for all my needs as a classroom teacher. I am able to share photos and videos of our daily activities with parents so they can take part in our day. Using one-to-one and one-to-many messaging, I am able to keep close contact with parents. They can also private message me as well just like a text within the app and they do not need my phone number. Parents really like getting reminders from the calendar on which I post class and school events. It is really easy to create a volunteer sign-up schedule as well as a sign-up for needed supplies for the classroom. One of my favorite features is the parent-teacher conference scheduler. My parents have never signed up so fast and no notes got lost in the backpacks. My students love adding work samples to their individual timelines. I approve and add comments and then the item posts and parents can view and comment. My students also love the behavior management feature where they are able to grow their flowers for earning points for accomplishing behavior and classroom goals. I had 14 different languages in my classroom last year and parents really liked being able to choose their preferred language for translation as the app would translate my posts into over 80 languages. The ease of use and Facebook-like interface continues to make Bloomz the most effective app for parent communication and stduent digital portfilios. Bloomz is the All in One App as everything I need can be found in Bloomz! Using Bloomz saves me so much time and effort. It has helped me with assessment as I can review student work on their timeline with their photos, videos, or annotations. Bloomz also helps me have more instructional time in the classroom as students can record assessment items rather than being called over to my table to do the assessment individually. Student love practicing reading sight words and practicing skip counting as they record. These are just a few items for which I sue Bloomz for assessment. Parents are able to see what students are working on and help them review if needed. This keeping in close contact with the parents is very easy and is a pleasure to do as using Bloomz helps me, my students and my parents. Students work harder and put more effort into their work and projects when they know we will be adding them to their digital portfolios. Bloomz has helped my class become a real community that works together!

I really like the ease of use when scheduling parent teacher conferences and supply requests. Parents sign up immediately and there is no need for papers to go home.

Several new features are in development and I am eagerly awaiting their release!

It is important to attend back to school night at the beginning of the year to understand the teacher's expectations as well as school-wide programs and policies. Parents can easily sign up for conferences right inside the Bloomz app. Sometimes parents aren't sure what to talk about with their children when it comes to school. Parents using Bloomz just check the Bloomz classroom page! Teachers post noteworthy happenings on the newsfeed every day. You might find flyers for upcoming events, curriculum updates, or photos of student artwork. These are all great conversation starters. When parents are inquisitive it motivates children to take their education seriously because they know it is important to their family. This three way communication (parent, teacher, student) nurtures a meaningful bond between school and family life.

One update I might like to see in Bloomz digital portfolios is subcategories for each subject within the portfolio feature. For example, math could be one subcategory. I would upload all math work samples in the math portfolio so that users can scroll down and see just the math progress.  Time will tell how these digital portfolios evolve. The tool helps keep parents aware of specific learning targets in my classroom. The communication is constantly flowing. I am excited to see where the technology leads and how it continues to change parent teacher communication and assessment.