Janet Park: I just love First Grade because they come with so many stories. They love school and learning. They're just so teachable. You can have a student start out the year not knowing how to read or write. By the end of the year, they're writing books. They're reading chapter books. It's really an amazing growth process. 

Canvas: Canvas is awesome according to my students. They just love Canvas. The Canvas app is there with the touch of a button. They're able to navigate through the whole site. It's almost like their own little place where they can go and find their community. It can be pictures of their friends, projects that they made and a place for them to see their work. They can show it to their parents and friends. It's been a huge hit with parents. They love Canvas. The children say, "Hey Mom! Look at my Canvas site!" They're showing it to the parents. The parents love the wealth of information they can find in one place. 

Discussion Board: We recently had a discussion board where we read the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? and the students responded to the book by thinking of ways that they could fill someone else's bucket. They thought of kind deeds or saying a kind word to a student. They went on their iPads on the Canvas app and recorded a video of themselves replying about how they could fill a bucket. It was really neat to see the students respond to one another. It's a really good way for students to engage in a classroom community. 

Closing: My name is Janet Park. I teach First Grade at Elmwood School. Canvas has been transformational. It really have been like a window to the classroom.