Using Remind for Summer Learning and Engagement

You made it! Summer is finally here. But even though school might be out, it’s still critical to stay connected with students and families. Many students will continue learning over the summer, and meaningful engagement during this time will set the foundation for a successful fall.

Here are some tips for using Remind to support summer learning and engagement across your community.

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1. Keep families informed even when students aren’t in the classroom.

Text messages have a 99% open rate, and 90% of texts are opened within 3 minutes—which lets you reach stakeholders instantly and virtually guarantee that they’ll see your outreach.

No app is required to receive or reply to messages, so Remind is accessible to students and families without a smartphone or data plan.

• What Remind texts look like
• How do I retrieve message history?

[.c-grey-box]TIP: Keep families informed about learning opportunities over the summer—especially events or programs with a deadline—by scheduling sign-up forms and reminders ahead of time.[.c-grey-box]

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2. Share instructional resources for summer learning.

Send documents, images, and other files directly to your community by adding an attachment to any message you compose—like weekly summer learning packets to support learning recovery and enrichment.

• Add an attachment

You can also streamline sharing by connecting your Remind account to Google Classroom, Google Drive, or Microsoft OneDrive. This lets you browse your files right from Remind, and any content you share will be delivered directly to where students are most likely to see it: their cell phones.

[.c-grey-box]TIP: Teachers can share summer learning assignments from Google Classroom and follow up with any questions in the same text message thread.[.c-grey-box]

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3. Open a line of communication for individual support.

Mobile messaging is a quick and simple way to strengthen connections with students and families over the summer. With Remind, you can enable two-way messaging for any device without revealing personal contact information.

Over the summer, staff members can provide academic and emotional support directly to students, or maintain an ongoing dialogue with families. Maintaining an open line of communication also makes it easier for students and families to reach out with any questions they might have.

[.c-grey-box]TIP: You can reach multilingual families by translating messages into 90+ languages before sending. Or, if your organization has the Remind plan, messages can automatically be translated into the recipient's preferred language—even via text.[.c-grey-box]

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4. Get your community ready for a successful start to the year.

Schools and districts across the country use Remind for year-round communication, and we’ve collected some of the strategies they use to prepare their communities for the first day of school:

• Share information about the upcoming school year, including the school calendar
• Provide a forum for stakeholders to ask questions
• Send registration documents and details like transportation requests, lunch forms, and before/after school care
• Schedule invitations and reminders for important back-to-school events like Meet the Teacher nights, sporting events, and registration days

And one final tip from administrators: communication doesn’t just have to be informative! Use Remind to let students and families know that you care about how they’re doing this summer—and that you’re looking forward to seeing them when they’re back this fall.

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More resources

For more strategies and best practices for using Remind, check out our library of guides and resources here.