Parent Notifications - Security System

Press Release that some of us thought you might be interested in hearing about.  Does your district use something like this?  

ParentLink® Releases iPhone® App for K-12 Administrators

School district administrators can now use the new ParentLink Admin iPhone application to quickly and easily create, send and track messages.

Provo, Utah, June 7, 2011 — ParentLink® today announced the release of a new iPhone application for administrative users of the ParentLink notification service. Called ParentLink Admin, the new application was recently approved by Apple and is now available for download from the iPhone App Store.

With a single touch, ParentLink users can now quickly create and send messages to their entire school or district community or to targeted contact lists. This new app makes it even easier for ParentLink administrators to immediately respond to the urgent communication needs of their school or district, regardless of their current location. In a matter of seconds, a message can be created and sent either via phone call (land line or mobile), email, or SMS text—or all three.

The ParentLink notification service is used by thousands of schools and hundreds of districts, including 5 of the 10 largest districts in the country. The ParentLink Admin app brings the convenience of the iPhone to administrators who are already sending millions of messages every day through the ParentLink system. Once the app is installed, users simply log in with their existing ParentLink account and decide whether they want to create a new message or send a saved message. Users can also use the Message Tracking option in order to view message delivery status in real time.

The ParentLink Admin app is free and available immediately from the iPhone App Store. For more information about all of the solutions from ParentLink, please visit: http://www.parentlink.net.

About ParentLink®
ParentLink is the complete communication solution for education, providing the tools to link schools, parents, students, and the community in one common objective—to improve the educational process. Exclusively serving the K-12 market for over 20 years, ParentLink provides administrators with a communication platform that will keep parents engaged and students achieving. ParentLink is the central communications hub for all of a district’s various information systems, allowing educators to communicate the right information in the right way and at the right time. Every week, thousands of schools use ParentLink to securely send millions of messages to students, parents, and the community, in the form of phone calls, emails, SMS text messages, Facebook and Twitter posts, printed letters, and fax messages, or via the web. ParentLink is the all-in-one communication solution, helping educators improve parental outreach efforts and enjoy the benefits of increased student achievement.

Rain Go Away ABC's by Applicable2U

Appbrella Inc.

“It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring, he bumped his head and went to bed and he couldn’t get up until the morning.” No matter what time of year, this song will always come into a child’s head when they wake up on a rainy day.  What do parents think?  What should we do today, since playing outside is not an option. Appbrella Inc. has come to save the day!  Coming from the stand point of a parent for this review, Applicable2U was not sure if Rain Go Away ABC’s was really applicable.  Do we really need another application that reinforces the letters of the alphabet?  Our answer, YES!!  This educational app at first glance appears to be just an interactive alphabet in the form of flashcards, but it’s also a parents dream come true!!!

Appbrella Inc. is one of the many developers that are apart of the educational app recently launched Moms With Apps.  If you happen to have a young one of your own, are a nanny or even your school teacher, this application will definitely come in handy.  Once in the hands of a child, students can navigate through the app in two ways.  First, they can select a letter from the list in any order.  Within each flashcard there are a number of interactive pieces.  For example, the letter is announced when pressed.  Next, a users vocabulary begins to build once they click the image that begin with that letter.  Finally, with a shake of the iPad or iTouch objects will come alive.  My favorite is the letter “D”.  The more you shake, the more interactive that object will become.   The second way that a user can navigate through is by scrolling the alphabet in order.  If you happen to choose this method with your student/child, ask them if they noticed anything different on the cards each time.

Appbrella Inc. has taken into consideration that parents can have a part in a young child’s mobile learning experience in multiple ways.  The most obvious is that as the adult, you can witness your child/student beginning to recognize letters of the alphabet.  Together you can be surprised and share times of laughter at the interactive pieces.  As the child becomes more comfortable with the letters, it can also open up doors of prediction. Lets predict what other objects begin with a particular letter and what would it look like as an interactive flashcard.  However, what really sets this educational app apart from any other that we have seen is the TIPS.  These are not tips for children, they are tips for parents.  Tips of how you and your child can pass the rainy day away.  On a sticky like notepad, Appbrella offers ideas of non-technical things that you can do that relate to each letter of the alphabet.  SAMPLE – Letter N’s tip is to use uncooked spaghetti to make noodle pictures on paper.  Dye the noodles with food coloring for sensational squiggles! Just brilliant!  In the next version of Rain Go Away ABC’s, I think it would be interesting if parents could  share some of their ideas/tips with Appbrella.  In return, building a larger resource for parents on those rainy, cold, not so fun days.

Applicable2U gives this a definite thumbs up!  I am so happy that this is a part of our library.  If you would like to learn more about Appbrella Inc, be sure to visit their website.  Already know that this is a winning application for your family or classroom? Then go right to your iTunes library here and begin your download today!

Reviewers website: www.applicable2u.wordpress.com