How do you stay on top of school events, activities, early dismissals and upcoming breaks? Do you rely on the pieces of paper that make their way home in the backpack (sometimes) and then sit on the kitchen counter taking up space until you get around to putting the dates on your calendar?

There is an easier way! Here are some tips for easily integrating key dates for the school year into your Cozi calendar, so you can stop tracking down flyers and emails to be in the know. 

1. Add the Cozi School Year Reminders Internet Calendar

Get dates that are important to all schools using our School Year Reminders Internet Calendar. You’ll see national dates like Teacher Appreciation Week and Family Volunteer Day, plus you’ll get back to school to do items (starting August 1st) to help you get ready for school, reminders about common classroom events, and ideas for classroom parties and teacher gifts.

To get these dates, reminders and ideas, click this link - School Year Reminders Internet Calendar - to add it directly to your Cozi calendar. If you are not a Cozi customer yet, you will be directed to the sign-up page - it's free!

2. Get your own school's Internet calendar

How do you find your own school's Internet calendar? Here are a couple spots to check: 

• Cozi's school calendar database

Cozi offers calendars for many schools that you can add right to your Cozi calendar. To find out if your school's calendar is available, go to your Cozi calendar page and from the Set up menu (at the top) choose Activity schedules / Internet calendars. At the bottom of the schedules and calendars page, click the link for online K-12 school calendars.

• Your school's website

To see if your school maintains a shareable calendar, go to your school’s website and look for the calendar. If you see “iCal feed” or “download calendar” or something similar, that’s good news!

You can add the feed to your own online calendar by clicking it, or copying the URL and adding it to your calendar as an iCal. In Cozi, go to Activity schedules / Internet calendars page found under the Set up menu, click on Add an Internet calendar and paste the URL in the box labled Calendar URL.

If your school has a website but no Internet calendar, ask your PTA if they can start to manage the calendar online so all parents can share it. That way, one person maintains a single calendar and all the families at school can benefit! 

A few notes about school Internet calendars:

• The kind of infomation in the a school's Internet calendar varies from school to school. You might see just the basic district calendar that covers first day, last day, breaks and holidays, or you might see full coverage of events at your particular school, like PTA events, school activities, and sports schedules.
• Unfortunately not every school will have an Internet calendar. Someone has to manage the entry of dates, so unless your school district, school administration, PTA or a parent takes on the responsibility, it won't be available.
• Finally, if you find out your school has no Internet calendar, you can enter the school schedule by hand using the Cozi Activity schedules / Internet calendars page found under the Set up menu. This is the place to enter all the dates you collect aroung the start of school.