S’more Stitches
Have you ever heard of a site called “S’more“? Let me explain. S’more is a brilliantly simple site that allows you to create illustrative, effective, and engaging newsletters and makes sharing them even easier. I’m not going to pretend that I am an expert on the site as I just picked it up a couple of hours before writing this post, but I can say confidently that anyone can use this site to its full capacity.
When you first open up the site, you’re greeted by a number of templates to choose from for you to start your newsletter. These templates include a weekly update, principal’s notes, event invitations, and more. Once you’ve chosen a template, you’re then taken to the workspace.
From here, you can see all the different sections that your newsletter can include and plan out what you want yours to look like. On the right-hand side of the workspace is a menu that allows you to change different aspects of the piece including the background, fonts, embedding videos, and adding hyperlinks.
After you’re happy with your newsletter and have published it, you’re offered a plethora of ways to share what you’ve made; moreover, you can also how many people have viewed your newsletter.
In the context of the classroom, more specifically regarding the SAMR model (Puentedura, 2012), I could see an educator simply substituting a poster or brochure creation assignment for a newsletter through S’more. To reach the standard of augmentation, students would have to make effective use of the features specific to S’more such as embedding videos or hyperlinking. If an educator wanted to significantly modify the task at hand, they would encourage students to share their work with each other and make active changes to their work based on peer feedback. Finally, to completely redefine the task, a teacher could position the task towards social justice and ask students to share their work in spaces beyond the classroom. These are just a few ways that I thought that S’more could be used within the classroom, but the list of possibilities is endless.
To demonstrate the effectiveness of S’more, I created my weekly learning project post in S’more as a newsletter! Please click here to see the final product and leave a comment about how I can improve my work or think of using S’more in the classroom.
References Listed
Puentedura, R. (2012). The SAMR model: Six exemplars. Retrieved August, 14, 2012.
7 Comments
Bernice Hauck · September 30, 2023 at 1:34 pm
I’ve been crocheting since I was probably 12. I can appreciate the struggle of finding the correct tension. Your project looks great so far! I’d be interested to know if you feel you’d be capable of tackling something large, like making a blanket, or something more complicated, like making a sweater by the end of this semester!
Bernice
Jerico · October 3, 2023 at 8:38 pm
Hey, Bernice! I am so happy that you think my work looks great because I’ve been somewhat negative about my progress. But now I know that I’m doing great in the opinion of a professional. At first, I wasn’t confident in making anything like a sweater or blanket, but I’m seeing now that it’s not as unachievable as I thought. Stay tuned for a potential project soon!
Maria Lehmann Morales · September 30, 2023 at 1:43 pm
Wow, Jerico. I liked reading your post. I liked how you explained the app and added pictures so we can know what you mean. I’ve never heard of this app but it sounds like it has a lot of tools we can use in the education field.
Hailey · September 30, 2023 at 4:46 pm
I think using this as a substitute for brochures and posters would be a great idea, especially since many jobs require using online programs over paper and pencil. Great way to get them working on their tech skills! I can’t wait to see what you are able to make by the end of the semester!
Sarah Fradette · October 2, 2023 at 4:41 pm
How have I never heard of S’More before!? What a great tool for communicating with families! As a principal and teacher, I’m already thinking of lots of ways this could be used: weekly communications, newsletters, sharing data, etc. Thanks so much for sharing!
Ashley Kormos · October 21, 2023 at 11:43 pm
Hiya,
This sounds so much like a professional ad for this site, it’s very well-written.
Did you enjoy S’more, or would you have preferred a site you are more familiar with? Is this site user-friendly or were there aspects of it that tripped you up?
Your learning project is progressing by leaps and bounds!
Cheers,
Austin.
Miranda Ratt · October 22, 2023 at 10:14 pm
Wow! Learning to crochet, that sounds like so much fun! Thank you for sharing the details on how to start using S’more. I feel like I want to give this a go for my next learning project post. I think with more practice your knitting will be killer and it is a good skill to have that you can pass onto your learners. Thanks for the read.