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Encouraging family members to visit the classroom
Here’s the dilemma, we want parents to take part in classroom events, but in most cases children are in our care because their parents are working – which means that they are not available to participate in activities. One way to make sure parents feel like they are a part of classroom events is to use technology to share photos and anecdotes – even when parents can’t be present, they will still feel like they know exactly what happened. Another creative solution is to encourage parents to share events with extended family members who may be able to attend. Grandparents might enjoy spending the afternoon with your class, and aunts,…
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Ideas for making conferences more meaningful
Have you started thinking about spring conferences yet? They tend to sneak up on us, we’re celebrating the new year and then we blink and it’s time for conferences and the end of the school year. Spring conferences are my favorite because by this point in the year, I knew my students and their families really well. I felt comfortable with them, but that often means that I didn’t prepare for conferences as much as I probably should have. Here are some ideas that can make conferences more helpful and meaningful for everyone: Be prepared to share easy activities that parents can do at home. Every child has something that…
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Friday Freebie – Game Night Printables
Happy Friday! Yesterday I shared a list of fun ideas for family engagement events, one of those ideas was to host a family board game night. Today’s freebie is full of printables that are designed for hosting a game night – these would make your job so easy! Go download your set and have a wonderful weekend!
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Unique ideas for family events
Do you ever get tired of the same old literacy nights and holiday parties? Here are some fun, different ideas that your families will want to participate in: Invite families to help with a community service project Take a large group family field trip Host a glow in the dark game night Plan an outdoor movie night for the warmer months Invite a local zoo or nature center to do a presentation Have a mommy and me spa day Plan a teddy bear picnic Set up a coffee bar and encourage parents to spend time with their children before heading to work Host a board game night Put together a…
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Today your child said…
Those four little words can strike fear into the hearts of parents everywhere, and they will quickly find themselves wondering what direction this conversation is going to go. I loved to share things that children said during the day, and I’ve certainly heard hilarious quotes from tiny little mouths, but I’ve also heard children say things that are incredibly insightful. When I share these quotes with parents they are always so happy to have that little window into their child’s day, and it does wonders to build relationships with those parents. They appreciate that I am paying enough attention to their child to remember what he or she said, and…
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Friday Freebie – Valentine Family Activity
Happy Friday! It was a long week – holiday weeks always feel long. Today’s freebie is one that you can stick away for next Valentine’s Day. This Valentine’s Day Family Project is from Teacher’s Breathing Space. I love the concept – send home a heart that the entire family can work together to decorate, and then display everyone’s project in the classroom. What a wonderful family engagement activity! Go download yours and have an amazing weekend!
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SALE!
I’m interrupting your Valentine’s Day celebration to bring you some big news – Teachers Pay Teachers is having a SALE! Whenever there is a sale a take some time to share what’s on my wish list, because if I’m spending money you should too! In keeping with my theme of Family February I tried to pick out items that are geared toward family communication, and I found some amazing things! Parent Handouts from Pocket of Preschool Family Bingo Game from Probably in Preschool How Do You Feel? Take Home Literacy and Activity Bag from Miss Vicki’s Bookkits And of course I always like to share some of my favorite items…
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Love Tree
There are a ton of ways that you could create a love tree. The basic idea is to take some kind of tree branch – or you could even decorate a small Christmas tree – and hang paper hearts from the branches, similar to a thankful tree that you might do for Thanksgiving, but in this case ask parents, family members and your students to write down the things or people that they love. It’s an easy enough way to create a visual of all the things and people that are important to us. I’ve got a little twist for you. Instead of just writing down the names of things…
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Family Valentine Station
Valentine’s Day is the perfect holiday for celebrating families because it is all about love. Focusing on the love between family members is also a great way to make Valentine’s Day relevant for our youngest learners. I always spent a lot of time helping my students understand that Valentine’s Day is a special day where we get to make sure the people that we love know how much we love them. We would make valentine’s for our family members, friends, and the special people in our lives. I recently thought of a way to extend this that I wish I would have done when I was in the classroom –…
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Friday Freebie – Family Engagement Calendar
Happy Friday! I have found the perfect Friday Freebie for Family February – say that five times fast! Check out this Family Engagement calendar from Designed by Miss G. Now, I know that this calendar is for September, but it is is such a great idea that I just had to share. She also has freebies for October and November. Stick them in your files for next year and you’ll be glad that your family engagement activities have already been planned come next fall!
