Parents/ families, you are important!

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Communicating with students and their families is so crucial when you are a teacher. When there is communication between both parties this creates parents who are supportive, understanding, and trusting of the teacher and the teacher's intentions with their student. Having parents/ families in the loop of things makes a teacher's job just so much easier because when miscommunication happens it can create just lots of tension between a parent and teacher. We always want the parents to know what is going on with their students in school, so we can set them up for success in the classroom.

(To the left) I  created a meet-the-teacher article that would go home either during the first week of school or before school even starts. I would give this letter to the parents/ families of my students to get to know who their students will be spending time with year-round. I want to make the parents as comfortable as possible, so I can build strong and positive relationships with each one of them. I also included in the letter of why I became a teacher and my goals for the school year. This article is a helpful way for parents to get to know a little about me and know how to contact me when needed. 

I think it is very important to keep parents/ families updated about what is going on in the classroom. Keeping parents updated with this type of information will cause less confusion and questions being asked. I want to make sure the parents understand what kind of experience their child is getting in my classroom. Also, by providing what they are learning academically in the classroom, they can even help reinforce these newly learned skills at home. My goal is to have the parents feel seen and heard and for them to know what is happening in the classroom.

I made this zip kit as a take-home homework assignment to help reinforce the skills we are learning in class at home with an adult. This is a fun opportunity for parents/ families to spend time together while playing an educational game. All of these materials that I laid out would be in a Ziploc bag that would have clear instructions for the parents to read with their students. This zip kit is an awesome opportunity for parents to see how their child is performing in class with what we are learning from the TEKS.