Take Summer Learning Out of the Classroom with Virtual Field Trips

Summer is here, and for many students, this can mean a big potential for learning loss. This is the perfect opportunity for teachers to introduce new ways to keep students engaged and learning all year long, and what better way than taking students on virtual field trips? Explore new sights and experiences from anywhere and make learning something your students never miss out on.  

What is a Virtual Field Trip?  

Field trips are something every teacher is familiar with. It can be both fun and educational to bring together your whole class and explore museums, exhibits, or unique locations around your area. However, for some students and staff, it can be inconvenient or impossible to get together in person.  

With virtual field trips, teachers can bring their class together anytime and almost anywhere to gain experience and explore without the constraints of a physical meeting location. Field trips have long been a way to get students out of the classroom while still gaining valuable learning opportunities and this online option can be the solution to prevent learning loss or students forgetting material they may have learned over the school year.  

Virtual Field Trip Destinations 

Going virtual doesn’t mean you have to limit yourself when it comes to the experiences you can enjoy with your students. From museums to attractions around the world, there are almost no limits to the things your students can experience with virtual field trips.  

Many popular museums such as the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History offer virtual tours, allowing your group to navigate various rooms and exhibits on your own time. Get a close-up view of unique artifacts and learn more about them with in-depth descriptions minus the crowds and distractions you may expect on an in-person field trip.  

Museums aren’t the only virtual experiences you can bring your students to either. Explore other unique virtual destinations, like a digital trip to national parks or video tours in cities around the world. 

Keeping Kids Active in the Digital World 

Over the summer, you probably expect your students to spend more time playing and less time learning, but with virtual field trips, you can perfectly meet them in the middle. Adding these experiences to your summer learning plan can both combat learning loss and reinforce the things your students are learning in every lesson. Bring your students on a virtual trip to the Louvre and combine it with a thoughtful lesson in classical art. The options for keeping students engaged and entertained all summer long are almost limitless. 

Summer learning and fun can go hand-in-hand. FACTS values making it easy for you to challenge your students all summer while still staying prepared, organized, and supported, letting you enjoy the fun too.  Learn more about FACTS education services to discover how you can leverage these tools to make learning fun and engaging for your students all year round.  

For both parents and schools, the well-being of children is the top priority. No matter how hard we try to create safe environments, accidents can happen. From playground falls to sports injuries and car accidents, the potential for unexpected incidents is a reality that can come with hefty medical bills. So, what is the best way to reduce anxiety and keep families financially protected? Consider student accident insurance. Keep reading to see the unexpected benefits of this coverage.

 

Understanding Student Accident Insurance

Student accident insurance may be used for expenses that arise from accidents in sports and on playgrounds and covers accidents incurred off school grounds, too. This cost-effective supplemental insurance pays a benefit due to a covered accident or sports injury, ensuring that parents are not burdened by out-of-pocket medical costs.

 

The Unexpected Benefits

With rising medical costs, it makes sense that the financial protection of student accident insurance is the most obvious draw of this supplemental coverage. While this is incredibly important, there are many more reasons why student accident insurance can benefit both families and schools – and help them feel confident both on and off campus. Here are just a few of these many benefits.

Decreases Parental Stress 

When a child is injured, it can be a stressful time for parents, and getting the care they need is the top priority. Having student accident insurance allows families to focus more on their children rather than the additional costs associated with injuries during this stressful time.

Supports Academic Performance

Even though most parents strive to keep their children away from the stresses of daily life, the financial burden of an unexpected sports injury can affect the entire family. With student accident insurance in place, families can remove a possible disruption to their student’s academic focus. This financial security provides the stability necessary for maintaining academic performance and educational continuity.

Backs Evolving Interests

Students are constantly discovering new activities and interests both on and off school grounds. While families can’t predict what’s next, they can be prepared with student accident insurance covering any injuries from a covered accident without interruption.

Protection from Costly Common Injuries

It’s not uncommon for young students to get into accidents. Falling, mishaps with items like scissors, or being struck by a ball in P.E. are all injuries most people expect, but even these small accidents can end up being costly instances that insurance can help make more manageable.

Facilitates Future Planning

24/7 student accident insurance can help make families’ future goals possible by shielding them from unexpected expenses that can completely disrupt a planned budget. This allows families to better plan for future financial needs, including education costs and other long-term goals.

Student accident insurance is an act of foresight. By offering families this coverage, schools demonstrate their commitment to the complete care of their students. At the same time, families that sign up gain confidence, a sense of financial security, and so much more.

 

To learn more about how easy and beneficial student accident insurance can be for your school and its families, explore Assurity’s reliable and comprehensive coverage.

 

Does your school have an active website? Has it been updated recently? A school website is an important part of maintaining a presence online and bringing potential families offline with more enrollment and better community engagement.

So, how do you leverage your school website to get your school in front of more parents? Here, we will discuss why your school website is a crucial part of your school’s identity and how you can take advantage of it to highlight your school’s individual personality and connect with parents and families that resonate with you.

Why Your School Website Matters

For many families, the first way they meet potential schools is through a school website. This is your chance to make a statement and show who you are. On top of showing off your amazing school, your website is the place where you can directly engage with potential families, familiarize them with your values, and create a trustworthy reputation with current and future parents.

Creating a professional online presence is a key part of maintaining a successful school persona, enhancing your school’s reputation, and leading to better enrollment. Stay on top of your school website and update it at least every two to three years to take advantage of current SEO guidelines, giving you the best chance to rank higher with the Google algorithm and meet potential families.

The Importance of SEO Best Practices for K-12 School Websites

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is how your website will gain traffic on search engines. Leveraging SEO in your favor gains you more visibility as prospective families research school options for their students and can make your school’s content easy to find and engage with for current community members or stakeholders. Good SEO practices can also make your school more credible and enhance your reputation as it ranks higher on search engines and holds more authority.

Here are some tips you can use to better take advantage of SEO tools.

• Identify relevant keywords for schools. The right keywords can help your school website reach parents by showing how your site matches up with what parents are looking for. There are plenty of free tools to help generate the right keyword tags for your website. Keywords can be tricky, though. Avoid “keyword stuffing,” or using an excessive number of keywords on the page, as this can have a negative effect on your website’s SEO and make your page seem spammy.
• Make your mark with a relevant title tag and meta description. Start with a good title tag between 50 and 60 characters and a meta description not much longer than 155 characters. The title tag is the title of your webpage, and the meta description appears in the search results right underneath the title tag, giving visitors an idea of what they’ll find once they click.
• Boost SEO with relevant tags. Add alt (alternative) tags for better rankings, greater visibility online, and, ultimately, more clicks. Alt tags are HTML tags that add more textual information to the images on your site. On top of being a great accessibility tool, they create a perfect opportunity to add more SEO keywords to the page. Search engines like Google or Bing have bots called search engine crawlers that can use these tags to index your website and make it available on search engines for potential visitors to find.
• Use a clear and straightforward URL structure. Keep it short, include keywords, and ensure your URL clearly shows that it’s about you. How else will potential families remember your website?
• Take advantage of social media and customer reviews. Word of mouth has always been the best promotion. Use social media and reviews from members of your community to lead new people to your website and boost traffic organically.
• Update website content regularly. Keeping the content on your website fresh and accurate can aid not only your community but your SEO rankings, too, especially if you’re updating keywords and tags in a timely manner.

Trends in Website Design for Schools

While maximizing SEO tools to get your website out there is important, you also need to ensure you have an inviting and engaging design to keep people engaged while online. There are plenty of trendy designs and layouts to consider, but here are some of the ways you can create a website that’s best for your school.

• A mobile-friendly and responsive design. Families crave convenience, especially the new wave of Gen Z parents enrolling their students in school. Make it possible for them to access school information from their phone or tablet anywhere and at any time.
• Use a user-friendly layout and easy navigation for website visitors. As you design your website, consider various visitors and how your space can cater to everyone. Put the important information your visitors need front and center, making it possible for them to get where they’re going without frustration or confusion, and be thoughtful about what other accessibility features you can include on your site, like contrasting colors or larger text.
• Incorporate more multimedia elements. Liven up your website with images, videos, or even virtual tours at your school. This is a great way to show more of your school’s personality while also giving website visitors and potential families a chance to see more of what life is like for your community.

Best Practices for K-12 Websites

Now that you know what you need to make your perfect school website, keep a few best practices in mind to maximize efficiency and your online presence’s effect on website visitors.

• Ensure your website is WCAG and ADA compliant. Accessibility is a priority for every website, including yours. With these guidelines, you can be sure everyone who visits your website can find what they’re looking for.
• Keep school information current and make it easy to contact you. Provide current news and updated blog posts on your website, so families can always be up to date on current happenings at your school. If they have questions or need to talk to someone, having contact information and call-to-action buttons readily available will make them feel even more at home on your website.
• Engage with the community on social media. We already talked about how social media can help with your website’s SEO rankings, but it’s also the perfect place to meet new community members, build connections, and attract people to your school.

Are you ready to build your perfect website? With the right tools and resources, you can have a school website that is efficient, effective, and inviting for everyone at your school and new families coming to meet you.

Don’t take on the task of building your website alone. With FACTS School Site, you have a specialized design partner that’s ready to do the heavy lifting. Drag and drop to make your unique design, start with a themed template, and easily update content, alt tags, or other SEO information.

Learn more about Website Services or explore our templates now.

At FACTS, we know that even the best educators can’t perform to their highest potential when they’re held back by inefficient, clunky software. That’s why our team of former teachers and educators have poured their years of experience into FACTS SIS, helping create a powerful platform that caters to the unique needs of everyone in your school community: teachers, administrators, admissions staff, families, and students.

Keep reading to discover top features for each FACTS SIS user group and how this solution can revolutionize your school’s management and create a cohesive educational environment for everyone involved.

Top Features for Teachers

Teachers play a pivotal role in shaping the educational experience. FACTS SIS offers an array of features tailored to support teachers in their daily tasks:

Unified Platform: Take classroom attendance, create assignments, calculate grades, record comments, and take behavior notes—all in one place.

Data Analytics: Easily summarize grading data, identify classroom trends using analytics, and load student grades, behavior notes, and attendance.

Lesson Planning: Efficiently document daily class goals, instructions, and procedures, structure learning content, and save for future use.

Communication Tools: Make announcements, start discussions on your Class Wall, use Chat to communicate with students, and update your class calendar with events.

Top Features for SIS Admins

School administrators require robust tools to manage a myriad of tasks. FACTS SIS empowers administrators with features that enhance efficiency and communication:

Health Management: Manage medical events, immunizations, and medication administration.

Scheduling and Enrollment: Schedule and enroll students into classes and maintain communication with students, staff, and parents via email.

Demographic Management: Easily manage addresses, relationships, and other demographic information.

Financial Management: Quickly and conveniently manage financial accounts and cafeteria items for lunch ordering.

Top Features for Admissions Staff

Admissions staff are at the forefront of welcoming new families to the school community. FACTS SIS provides features that simplify the process:

Integrated Parent Platform: Enjoy easy-to-configure inquiry, application, and enrollment processes for parents.

Comprehensive Dashboards: Access detailed overviews of dashboards, queues, and reporting.

Seamless Payment Integration: View a seamless integration with payment plans.

COMING SOON: Email Series Manager will allow users to create automated emails, reducing the burden on Admissions teams.

Top Features for Families

A strong school community includes informed and engaged families. FACTS SIS offers features that keep families connected and informed:

Lunch Management: Browse lunch menus, pay for lunches in advance, or reload students’ balances.

Financial Management: View account balances, make payments, access the Financial Management hub, and see tax statements.

Online Forms: Submit enrollment, re-enrollment, or other required school forms through the online portal.

Academic Reports: Easily access student academic reports to stay up to date on grades, attendance, and more.

Top Features for Students

Students thrive in an organized and supportive environment. FACTS SIS offers features that help students manage their academic responsibilities:

Assignment Management: Quickly see currently assigned or future homework and classroom assignments.

Progress Tracking: View daily, weekly, or monthly academic progress at their convenience.

Homework Upload: Conveniently upload homework directly to the online portal for classes.

Calendar View: View homework assignments and class events in a convenient calendar layout.

Ready to give everyone at your school the tools for success? Learn more about how you can implement FACTS SIS at your school here.

Embarking on a journey of growth and development is a noble pursuit, whether in the realm of education or the world of sports. Just as educators and school administrators engage in professional learning to enhance their skills and knowledge in the classroom, Olympians dedicate themselves to rigorous training to prepare for the ultimate competition. Either way, the effort is inspiring. While you may not think of educators as Olympians, the similarities in their paths to excellence are more aligned than not. Here’s how:

Setting Goals

Just as Olympic athletes set their sights on medals and personal bests, educators establish objectives to improve student outcomes and refine their teaching or leadership strategies. For Olympians, this might mean improving their time in the 100-meter dash. For educators, it could involve adopting new pedagogical techniques or integrating technology into their classrooms. Both processes begin with setting clear, measurable goals that provide direction and motivation.

Continuous Training and Learning

Professional development, when approached with an Olympian mindset, becomes a task of discipline and focus. For educators, this means setting high standards for personal achievement and continuously seeking knowledge and skills that will translate into better teaching.

Olympians spend years training to compete at the highest levels. They undergo daily routines that involve physical training, nutritional plans, and mental conditioning. Similarly, educators must dedicate time to ongoing professional development to keep up with the latest educational research, teaching methodologies, classroom management techniques and administrative practices. This might include attending workshops, participating in webinars, or pursuing advanced degrees. Continuous learning is crucial in both fields to stay at the top of their game.

Coaching and Mentorship

Athletes work closely with coaches who provide feedback, devise training plans, and offer emotional support. In education, certified instructional coaches can play a vital role by recognizing a teacher’s strengths and focusing on their identified areas of improvement. Professional learning communities within schools often serve similar purposes, providing platforms for sharing knowledge and collaborative problem-solving. These relationships help both athletes and educators to refine their techniques and overcome challenges.

Assessment and Feedback

Just as Olympians use video analysis to review their performance and identify areas for improvement, educators can benefit from self-reflection on a recorded lesson to refine their approach and enhance their classroom delivery. This cycle of learning, applying, and reflecting is crucial for educators to evolve and succeed in their roles, ultimately leading to the winning outcomes they seek for their students.

For athletes, feedback comes from races and competitions, which indicate areas of strength and those needing improvement. Similarly, educators receive feedback through student assessments, peer reviews, and administrative evaluations. This feedback is essential for growth, allowing both groups to make informed adjustments to their strategies and techniques.

Addressing summer learning loss requires a comprehensive approach that extends beyond traditional classroom instruction. By incorporating academic interventions, enrichment activities, and family engagement, summer school programs can not only prevent the slide but also enhance the educational experiences ensuring students return in the fall ready to learn and succeed.

Resilience and Adaptability

Olympic athletes often face setbacks, such as injuries or defeats. However, their success largely depends on their ability to bounce back and adapt their strategies. Educators, too, encounter challenges such as changing curriculum standards, diverse student needs, and shifts in technology.

Like athletes, educators can practice visualization, picturing successful teaching scenarios and positive student interactions to enhance their performance. Emphasizing the importance of a growth mindset, teachers can learn to embrace challenges and view failures as opportunities for growth, much like athletes do after a loss or setback.

Peak Performance

Ultimately, the goal for both Olympians and educators is to achieve peak performance. For Olympians, this is about winning medals and setting records. For educators, it’s about maximizing student engagement, learning, and success. Achieving these high levels of performance requires not only individual excellence but also an environment that supports such growth—through infrastructure, resources, and community support.

Conclusion

The journey to excellence, whether on the track or in the classroom, is marked by dedication, ongoing training, and the relentless pursuit of improvement. By drawing parallels between the preparation of Olympians and the professional development of educators, we gain a deeper appreciation of the commitment required in both realms. As we continue to support and celebrate the achievements of our athletes, let’s also champion the vital work of our teachers and school administrators whose efforts are equally worthy of gold-medal recognition.