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Bloomz: Community Begins in the Classroom - Updated!

7/14/2016

48 Comments

 
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Bloomz is a new, free tool designed to help teachers, parents, and PTA members share information and photos through real-time communication and coordination.  Built primarily for the K-8 environment, Bloomz is an excellent tool for helping create connections between parents and teachers.  It can even be used to help find classroom volunteers and schedule conferences! Let's take a look!

Designed for iOS, Android, and web browsers, Bloomz is accessible from every type of platform. But, before we jump into the complete review, let's take a quick look at the introductory video from the Bloomz team:

As you can see, Bloomz is designed to feel incredibly familiar, and as soon as you start using it, you'll recognize the familiarity to Facebook or other social media applications.  When a teacher first signs up, you'll have the opportunity to test out a demo class, where you can play around without fear of messing anything up or sending out any real notifications.  This is an excellent way to get familiar with the app and begin exploring the possibilities.

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On the home screen, for parents and teachers alike, is the main feed.  From here you can see what's been going on in class, including any shared photos, notifications, calendar updates, or announcements from the teacher.  


And, before we go any further, it's important to note that Bloomz was designed with privacy in mind. Only parents who have been approved by the classroom teacher, or other designated administrator, can have access to this feed.  Teachers can share photos and information knowing that it's private and only those adults who have been given express permission can see this information.

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In addition to the strict privacy settings and the ability to share classroom photos with parents, Bloomz can be used to easily post announcements, send messages to groups or individuals, create calendar events, request volunteers (for supplies or for people), and even schedule parent teacher conferences, all within an incredibly intuitive user interface.


Plus, Bloomz's messaging system makes it easy to reach out to a single parent, a group of parents, other teachers in your school, or anyone else you would like to within the system.  And, for those parents who chose to not install the free app, they will still receive email updates of everything that is sent, so they don't have to worry about missing out.

Teachers can also setup the basic information for their class to include a course syllabus, important documents, and the types of information that parents might need access to at various points in the year.  In short, any type of communication that could be necessary between parents and teachers, is possible through Bloomz.  


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​Two of my favorite features with Bloomz are the alert and the volunteer features.  With the alert, teachers can post an important announcement and not only will parents receive a push notification from the app, but they will also receive an email update as well.  With the volunteer feature, teachers can send out a request to parents for supplies or people to help with any upcoming activity.  And the user interface makes it simple for people to volunteer for part or all of the teacher's request.

Updates to Bloomz

In the year or so since my initial review of Bloomz, their team has added quite a few great new features, making them even more deserving of the 5-star rating the previously earned.  

Here are the highlights:
  • Support and translation for over 80 languages
  • SMS and text notifications
  • The ability to disable comments and schedule posts
  • Parent-to-parent communication and private replies
  • Improved scheduling for Parent-Teacher conferences
  • A few redesigns to the interface
  • See who has viewed posts and messages

Plus, they have a whole bunch of awesome new features that were just announced at this year's ISTE conference as well.  These include student timelines, behavior tracking, video support, and my personal favorite - making their current basic schoolwide communication product free for schools moving forward!
To wrap up, if you're interested in learning about the app in more detail, you can go to Bloomz, sign up for an account, and test it out!  It's incredibly easy to get started and to test out the app.

And, with all that being said, if you're looking for an app to help improve communication and collaboration at the K-8 level, an app that also happens to be free and incredibly well designed, I absolutely recommend giving Bloomz a try.  You can start out with a summer class before the school year starts and see what you think!
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The opinions expressed in this review are my own.
I was not compensated for writing this review.
48 Comments
Carolline link
7/7/2015 12:53:42 pm

That’s amazing! Thank you for sharing! Cannot wait to have a try!

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Mike
8/2/2015 11:25:01 pm

Thanks for reading Caroline and happy to hear you found it useful!

Mike

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Amanda
7/29/2015 01:35:11 pm

I love the idea of Bloomz, BUT am I reading correctly that parents can post themselves? Or can only the teacher post? And can parents send messages back and forth or contact each other? I know some parents are quite private.

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Mike
8/2/2015 11:24:42 pm

Hi Amanda, thanks for reading!

You are correct, parents can indeed post, and send messages, but parents don't have to be enrolled in the app, they can also elect to just receive emails if they would rather stay out of the messaging. Hope that helps!

Mike

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David lira
8/25/2015 02:16:02 pm

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Wanda
8/26/2015 01:16:18 pm

Can parents send private messages to the teacher?

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Mike Karlin
8/26/2015 10:07:05 pm

Hi Wanda, yes they can!

Thanks for reading,

Mike

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Karrie Beilfuss
9/8/2015 05:33:03 pm

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Jacek link
9/25/2015 11:49:01 pm

<3 " And, before we go any further, it's important to note that Bloomz was designed with privacy in mind. "

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Jessica
3/13/2016 09:12:16 am

Hi Michael, Great review! I have been using ClassTag.com in my class this year and it has been phenomenal - in addition to all the activities features they have very thoughtful features for teachers e.g., sending out beautifully designed weekly summary and tracking participation by family. Have you heard of them? What do you think?

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Mike
3/13/2016 09:22:11 am

Hi Jessica,

Thanks for reading! I haven't heard of them, I'll have to check them out!

Mike

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Laura link
7/15/2016 05:17:12 pm

Greetings,
In Bloomz, Parent-to-Parent communication is an option that a teacher can turn on or off, making it a teacher decision. There are also new features coming in August for Student Timelines (portfolios of work), video support, and Behavior Tracking. #Allin1App

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Stephanie
7/21/2016 09:08:45 pm

I've had a weebly web page and last year set up shutterfly. I like the ease of set up from weebly and liked they parent message board and other aspects of shutterfly but am wondering how bloomz compare in that way. With weebly I could end a year and reset to get ready for a new year - not able to do that with shutterfly. Also do you have to be one with an iPhone ? thanks for your review and response

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Mike
7/22/2016 06:00:39 am

Hi Stephanie,

Thanks for reading and for the comment! With Weebly and Shutterfly, everything you post would be public on the web - unless you have password protected the site/galleries. With Bloomz, everything you share out with parents would be private to just them, plus you can send out notifications, messages, and things like that as well and parents can get updates on their phone. Both have their advantages.

And nope, you don't have to have an iPhone, you can message through SMS, Android, or just a plan old computer as well. Thanks again for reading,

Mike

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Darlene link
7/26/2016 05:56:56 am

I have a question. Do I have to download the app to each device I would like access from? I use a Mac laptop, an ipad, an android phone, and we have 1:1 chromebooks.

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Mike
7/26/2016 06:51:40 am

Hi Darlene,

You can also sign in from their website: https://www.bloomz.net/

So you don't necessarily need the app on every single device you plan on using. For mobile devices though, the app experience would probably be better quality than accessing the web version through a mobile device. Thanks for reading!

Mike

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Luisa
8/13/2016 09:21:05 am

Do parents need to download Bloomz in order to send or receive the messages?

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Mike
8/13/2016 02:16:38 pm

Hi Luisa,

Nope, you can get update through SMS texts as well. Here's some more information on the parent's side:

https://www.bloomz.net/parents/

Thanks for reading!

Mike

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DeeAnn link
8/20/2016 05:18:58 pm

If you are a gym teacher with 400 students does this program work well? Is there a way to import class lists for creating class parental contacts for gym? Or does each student family need to be entered one by one? Thanks

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Mike
8/23/2016 07:10:11 am

Hi DeeAnn,

Apologies for the delay, just got the official answer back on this from the Bloomz team:

For your first question, yes, 400 would be fine: You can create one class for all 400, or split them by grade or something else, if there was any need for specific communication. Otherwise it would work well.

For the second question, Yes, you can import all contacts - if you have everything in a spreadsheet already, it's as easy as copy/paste into the email tool in the app.

Hope that helps!

Mike

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Gayle
8/24/2016 05:31:42 am

Last year, I used Class Dojo for some communication, but was frustrated because it only allowed me to upload one photo per post, and it took forever to upload. With Bloomz, am I able to upload a bunch of photos all at once, like facebook, or does it still only allow you to upload one photo at a time?
Thank you!

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Mike
8/24/2016 07:08:25 am

Hi Gayle,

Thanks for reading! With Bloomz you can indeed create photo albums and add multiple photos to a single post. Here's a little more:

https://bloomz.desk.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1657056-posting-updates-and-sharing-photos-files-with-my-class

and

https://bloomz.desk.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2109314-adding-photos-to-the-album

Hope that helps and let me know if you have any other questions!

Mike

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Stacy
9/17/2016 01:35:14 pm

How do parents download pics from Bloomz app to phones?

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Mike
9/17/2016 05:03:27 pm

Hi Stacy,

You could do a screenshot of the image or you could also try holding down your finger on the image and then seeing if the "Save Photo" message pops up. Thanks for reading!

Mike

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Ellen Dwyer
3/9/2017 10:18:58 am

Hello, I have wanted to better understand the difference between "classes" and "groups." I teach second grade and there is one other second grade class at my school. I want to be able to share things with both classes sometimes, and at other times just the parents of my own class. Not sure if I should make a "class" for each....or a group. Thanks!

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Mike
3/9/2017 10:31:48 am

Hi Ellen,

Classes and Groups are both top-level groupings, so they're the biggest collection of people. But within each group you can create sub groups - here's more information on that:

https://bloomz.desk.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1649726-creating-sub-groups-

So that might be helpful for what you're trying to do! Thanks for reading,

Mike

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Serena
3/31/2017 02:22:03 pm

Hi, is there a way of sending whole-school messages via Bloomz?

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Mike
3/31/2017 03:10:30 pm

Hi Serena,

If all school members were part of a school group, you definitely could!

Mike

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Dawne
5/3/2017 04:32:37 pm

In another app I currently use for communication, I am able to back up my communication via my email. In the event I needed to have documentation of a communication strand with a parent I could get that emailed to me. Is that type of record possible with this app?

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Mike
5/5/2017 06:00:37 am

Hi Dawne,

Here's the official answer from the Bloomz team (so looks like you could!)

Yes, you can print all your messaging conversations in Bloomz, and by using the print function, you can also save them as a PDF. Hope this makes sense, but let me know if any additional questions.

Thanks for reading!
Mike

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Deste
6/17/2017 11:12:48 am

I am a teacher using a private Shutterfly website right now. From what i gather, parents can take photos from the site and post on Facebook and to other social media sites. Can this be done with Bloomz

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Mike
6/17/2017 12:10:46 pm

Hi Deste,

Thanks for reading! Unfortunately, anyone who can see a photo anywhere online can always take a screenshot of it and share it wherever they'd like to. So with Bloomz (and any other service), if someone is able to access a photo, then yes, they could technically save it and share it out.

Mike

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Deste
6/17/2017 02:09:42 pm

Would you safe the site itself is more secure than others?

Mike
6/17/2017 02:29:38 pm

I would say it's more secure than a lot of resources, especially since it's invitation only. So everything shared on Bloomz is protected in that, only people/parents invited to access it, can access it. You can also read more about that here:

https://bloomz.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/2104760-is-bloomz-secure-how-does-bloomz-safeguard-information-

and here:

https://www.bloomz.net/privacypolicy/

Hope that helps! Thanks again for reading Deste!

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Deste
6/19/2017 05:43:25 pm

Thanks Mike!

Anneliese Bopp
6/30/2017 12:28:12 pm

I am concerned about the possibility to parents posting inappropriate comments. Are there any safe guards for that?

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Mike
7/11/2017 06:23:32 am

Hi Anneliese,

Sorry for the delay! Here's the official answer from the Bloomz team:

In Bloomz, teachers are always in control. They can block comments on posts, delete any posts by the parents, mute a parent if they are being disruptive for the classroom, or completely block parents from posting altogether in the classroom, and only allow for them to communicate directly with the teacher.

Hope that helps and thanks for reading!

Mike

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sophie hanrahan link
7/10/2017 12:51:45 pm

Hi there- We are looking for something better than shutterfly for sour 800+ elementary school. We need something that can:
1) Send school-wide messages from the administration
2) Connect students and teachers grade-wide, with messages able to come from the school administration OR from parents
3) Connect students and teachers at the class level with messages able to come from teachers OR parents
4) The ability for parents to communication among each other WITHOUT the teacher being a part of the discussion (annual collections for teachers gifts are tricky!)

Would your app do this? How complex is it to set up and what is the learning curve like?

tx!

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Mike
7/10/2017 01:02:47 pm

Hi Sophie,

Thanks for reading! I'd recommend getting in touch with the Bloomz team directly. I believe they can handle these things, but they'll be able to give you more information, set up demos, etc. Here's more information:

https://bloomz.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/1656987-contact-us-

And they're really responsive! Let me know if you have any other questions,

Mike

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Dawn
8/11/2017 11:07:36 am

Love the idea of this, especially since I will have multiple languages spoken within the classroom. I wanted to know if my co-teacher and I could both set up one account for us to manage, since we share the same students. Thanks.

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Mike
8/11/2017 11:36:28 am

Hi Dawn,

Thanks for reading and happy to hear you're seeing some potential uses! And yep, you can setup co-teachers for the same classroom. Here's more information on that:

https://bloomz.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/2106414-inviting-co-teachers-to-my-class

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Mike

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jen
11/29/2017 01:00:13 am

whos the inventor of this app?

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Mike
11/29/2017 06:59:00 am

Hi Jen,

You can read more about their team here:

https://www.bloomz.net/about/

Chaks Appalabattula is the founder and CEO.

Thanks for reading!

Mike

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Heather
10/24/2018 04:06:58 pm

Hi everyone, I teach at a public elementary school and we decided to try the free ClassTag.com instead of Remind, Bloomz, or Dojo this year. Our parents are loving how easy it is and there are some great features that are not on Dojo and Remind. Super easy and fun to send announcements, messages and plan activities. Also helps you get free class supplies from their Rewards page. Highly recommend you check it out

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Lauren
8/10/2019 06:55:58 am

Hello, I sent out invitations to parents at the beginning of the year, but my principal does not want us to add step-parents (school district policy). I am wondering how to undo an invitation sent

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Mike
9/10/2019 05:41:17 pm

Hi Lauren - sorry for the delay, I'm not sure on that one, but the Bloomz support center is here: https://bloomz.desk.com/

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Demi
9/10/2019 04:01:37 pm

How do I view downloaded file on bloomz. I have the app installed on my phone.

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Mike
9/10/2019 05:40:17 pm

Hi Demi - It should be under your "Media" tab, more info is here:

https://bloomz.desk.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1649876-sharing-faqs-documents-and-important-resources-with-my-class-

Reply



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