Mixbook in the classroom: Ways that educators can use Mixbook

Educators enjoy a unique role in students' lives — that of a witness to their progress in learning, creativity, and social skills. By making and sharing projects that celebrate achievements and memorable moments, educators can amplify their students' sense of pride and joy over their growth.

Mixbook photo books and calendars are a wonderful way to do that. If you're an educator, consider making a Mixbook product with or for your students. The design platform's versatility means there are endless ways for educators to use Mixbook with remarkable results.

Collections of yearbook and education photo book themes, including preschool, middle school, and high school designs, are only the beginning.

Celebrate with a school year memory book

Every year features moments worth remembering, and a school year memory book can help you preserve them forever. Unlike a typical yearbook, a memory book is just for your class. It has plenty of room to give special attention to each student and their shared memories.

• How about the day your class sang a song in front of the whole school?
• What about that time a budding baseball player declared he would hit a home run — and then did!
• Who could forget the chaos a frog caused by hopping into the classroom one rainy day?

Educators might make notes of key moments throughout the school year. Ask students to write about their best memories each semester and then compile them at the end of the school year.

Printed memory books are also useful during an open house. Use them to show parents what their children have achieved and enjoyed during the year. Show previous years' memory books to prospective new families for a glimpse into the day-to-day action in your classroom.

Teachers might display a large-scale memory book at a graduation event, print small softcover copies for each student, or keep one hardbound copy in your classroom library for anyone to borrow and browse.

The School Memory Book by Crayola theme for elementary ages and any year-in-review theme options would be perfect for a school year memory book.

Related: Crafting memories that last: Tips for creating memory photo books

Make a "grow with me" book

As the end of another school year approaches, educators reflect on how far their students have come since the first day. You think fondly about the quiet kid who found her voice, the shy student who took time to make friends, or the former math hater who finally mastered long division. A "grow with me" photo book will remind them of all their incredible achievements.

Another fun idea is to take a photo of each student on their first day of the school year and again near the end of the year. Put these next to each other to show how much they've changed and grown.

Educators who embrace the concept of a "growth mindset" can use it as the overall theme for a photo book. Consider dedicating a two-page spread to each student in your class with a "before" and "after" concept. The students could choose which achievements to write about or nominate other students for showing impressive growth. You can take photos, scan schoolwork, or ask students to draw pictures to illustrate their words.

Remember the fun of field trips

Field trips are among the most cherished parts of school, which makes a photo book dedicated to all that fun (and learning) a wonderful memento. Along with photos from the field trip, save worksheets, drawings, a museum flier, or other special objects. Scan or photograph these items to include in a photo book alongside student-written memories.

Tip: Use the free, easy-to-use Mixbook mobile app to save photos throughout the year. When you're ready to make a photo book, all the images will be waiting for you.

Field trip photo books are good display items for open houses and parent-teacher conference nights. They also make fun books for the classroom library.

Boost your school's teams and clubs

If you're a sports, dance, or cheerleading coach or an educator running a school club, use Mixbook to showcase the year's experiences and achievements. Dedicate one page to each team or club member for a personal profile, and include pictures and details of any trophies, medals, or other winning mementos. Commemorate smaller wins and the importance of positive participation as well. Ask the kids to share their key memories.

Mixbook has plenty of photo book themes you can customize for any team or club, including sports themes and specific themes like the Robotics Club Yearbook or High School Band Book. Along with capturing extracurriculars, these books are handy for educators as recruitment material for the following year.

Curate student work collections

A school year's worth of classwork and homework amounts to a lot of papers, books, binders, and miscellaneous art projects. What should students — and educators — do with it all?

Photo books allow you to scan and photograph classroom projects and transform them into neatly organized, eye-catching books. You and your students can flip through these books — a tangible representation of all their hard work — and later return the books to the classroom library shelf.

Perhaps you and your students made:

• Sticky marshmallow-toothpick monstrosities that boosted their construction skills
• A life-size construction paper palm tree
• An entire classroom wall of 100-day art

The real thing can go into the trash guilt-free because you've preserved the project forever on the pages of a photo book.

Tip: The My Kid's Art Portfolio Book is an excellent choice for this type of photo book.

Invite kids to become publishers

Mixbook offers a fast, easy, and inexpensive way for students to publish their own book. The prospect of becoming a published author, with a real book to prove it, is an exciting one for students of all ages and skill sets. The published books will become special, permanent additions to the classroom library, inspiring students year after year.

Younger kids can work on matching pictures with simple captions, while older ones might publish a short story or nonfiction book. They will work through the same process as professional writers, namely brainstorming, writing a draft, receiving feedback, and editing their work.

Students can use Mixbook Studio to develop design knowledge and learn photo editing skills. For example, they will decide about images and typography, choose colors and backgrounds, select the best layouts, and change size, format, and paper options.

Students' sense of pride when holding custom-designed published books is immeasurable. You might even have them autograph their copies. It's a proud moment for educators, too.

Show love to a special person

When a long-time teacher retires or leaves the classroom for another reason, a photo book makes a meaningful gift. You can collect notes, pictures, and special memories from colleagues and students past and present and put them together in a book.

This type of book can be a special gift for a student or colleague going through a difficult time. Photo books also make ideal gifts for other school personnel, such as office staff, custodians, librarians, and volunteers. A heartfelt gift shows you care about them.

Create a classroom calendar

As a fun end-of-year project, ask your students to collaborate on a classroom calendar for the new year. Before winter break, have students brainstorm some ideas. You could make a calendar featuring students' season- or holiday-themed artwork or nominate a student of the month. Customize the calendar with school-specific save-the-dates, events, and activities.

The Fun Times by Black Lamb Studio calendar theme and Kids Art Calendar by Crayola are excellent choices for this type of project. Order one copy of the calendar for the classroom or a whole batch to give to every student in the class.

Publish a professional portfolio

Educators can print photo books to use as a professional portfolio. Feature the best examples of students' work, project ideas you initiated, and enriching activities your students have enjoyed. A portfolio is handy for future job-seeking, other professional opportunities, or even your own sense of pride in your classroom and career.

Keep a copy of your portfolio on hand to share with school leaders, families you're meeting at back-to-school night, or new families joining your classroom mid-year.

Write letters from your old class to the new one

A new school year means a new teacher, new classroom, and often a new group of classmates. It's normal for incoming kids to feel nervous. How about offering them a special book the previous year's students wrote?

Near the end of the school year, you could ask each class to write letters to the new class. Some ideas for these letters include:

• Things they should know about Mrs. Smith
• What activities or projects they can look forward to in their class
• The most important rules of the classroom
• Tips for enjoying classroom routines and procedures

Students learn a lot from the beginning to the end of every school year, and not only in their education. These kinds of tips from older students can be helpful in learning necessary social and behavioral skills. Learning them from a book other kids in their school wrote is much more fun and can build upon the teacher's other instructions.

Create a "who's who at school" guide book

A school is more than a building for teachers and students; it's a whole community with many key roles. Help students, families, and visitors understand who's who at your school by creating a guide book.

Include photos of everyone who works or volunteers at the school on an ongoing basis. Write their names, explain their roles, and include some fun details – perhaps their favorite things, a quotation, or a message inviting students to get to know them. You can invite new students and their parents to look through the book at the start of the school year.

Let's hear from the educators

For the Mixbookers who are also educators — let us know if you use Mixbook in your classroom. Share your story with us and use #mymixbookstory on social media.