Most students are not at their articulate-best when answering general inquiries about their daily activities. So, unless parents volunteer in the classroom, they frequently end up with a cloudy picture of what their children are doing at school. Each edition explains exactly what his students are studying, lists their homework assignments and upcoming events, and always includes close-up photos of students taken that same day. Tom says parents really appreciate reading about their children's daily routine and seeing photos of them at work.
Families give the newsletter lots of positive feedback.
They also tape it to their refrigerators and send copies to relatives. Naturally the kids love the attention it brings them. Tom carries a small digital camera with him throughout the school day and snaps photos as opportunities arise. His Kodak DC 20 is an older model camera with fairly low resolution, but it meets Tom's needs. He crops and sharpens the photos using the Photo Flash software provided with the camera, then lays out the text and pictures in ClarisWorks.