families
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Exploring Families with Preschoolers.
My favorite topic to explore during the month of November is always families. This is the perfect time to help children understand concepts related to relationships because they will probably get to see their families over the holiday season. This is also a wonderful time to explore diversity within family structures and traditions because children will undoubtedly have different family experiences to share with each other. This can be a sensitive subject for parents because they are acutely aware that not all families look the same, but children find this fascinating and can learn a lot about acceptance from each other. It’s always a good idea to send a note…
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Engaging families in community service projects
This week I’ve been sharing ideas for starting a community service project in the preschool classroom. For any school community service project to be successful you have to engage families and get them excited about the project. This is not always an easy feat, so here are some of the ways that I’ve encouraged parent participation – and actually gotten it! Get the children excited about the project – when you’re working with preschoolers you can use their enthusiasm to your advantage. If the children are excited about your project then they will not stop talking about it, they will let their parents in on every single detail, and they’ll…
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Explaining assessment to families
Assessment in preschool is definitely a thing – it’s a huge part of what early childhood educators do every day, but most casual observers would never know that. This is because it’s not obvious. As teachers it important to be able to explain this unique assessment process to parents and family members so that they have a clear understanding of how we know what skills and concepts their child has mastered. There are two things that make preschool assessments just a little different; First, preschool assessments should be formative assessments. This simply means that you are using the results of any assessment to plan further activities and learning experiences. These…
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Helping your child get ready for preschool
As a preschool teacher I spend a ton of time making sure that children are prepared to start kindergarten, but I don’t always think about helping children prepare for preschool. Maybe that’s because there’s so much that I can do to help once they start, but I don’t often get to work with families before they start attending. If you know any children who will be starting preschool this fall, whether they’re your own children, new students that will be in your class, or even just friends’ children, here are a few things that parents can do to help little ones prepare for those first few days: Talk about it…
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Great app to share with families
I am a self-proclaimed family engagement queen, I tend to collect ideas and resources for sharing with families and not have enough opportunities to share all of them! This one must be shared with all of you because it is amazing!!! Go check out Vroom – do it right now! This site is all about building parents up and reminding them that they have what it takes to help their child’s brain grow and develop. From the videos and information on the site itself, to the great materials that families can download, to the free app that gives them daily activities personalized for their child’s age, this site is an…
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Using Sign Up Genius for your Class party
In my Party Planning Tips post yesterday, I mentioned a site that is new to me (so probably old news at this point… ha!) it’s call Sign Up Genius. While I was checking out the site I came across their blog post that talks about how to use Sign Up Genius as you plan a class party, and it made me laugh out loud because it is spot on! You can read it here. The idea behind Sign Up Genius is that you log on, create your sign up sheet (it can be for anything – conference time slots, party treats, field trip chaperones, soccer game snacks, carpool, you name…
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Friday Freebie – Parent Letter about Holiday Celebrations
It's a little early for this particular freebie, but it fits really well with this week's parent communication theme, so you can download it and file it away for later in the year. This is the letter that I send out every year before winter holidays (usually the beginning of November so I have plenty of time to get it out, get it back, and start planning). It lets parents know why I like to include holiday activities on my lesson plans and gives them the opportunity to share what their preferences are when it comes to discussing holidays in the classroom.This is a great way to make sure that…
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Family Photo Paper Bag Albums
When I was in the classroom, family photos were a huge part of our classroom decor. I wanted my students to be able to share them with each other, and use them to help transition in the morning. I also love that they make the children feel like their families are always a part of the classroom, and are welcome at school anytime. This is an easy (and economical) photo album project that you can send home at the beginning of the year. Each family can help their child put the album together and then you can do a special show and tell so that the children can share them with…
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Building Relationships with your Students Families
Communicating with parents and families is always easier when you've built a relationship with those families. This can be really hard if you rarely. See them - whether you have student who ride the bus to and from school every day, or you aren't the teacher in charge when your students are dropped off or picked up, there are a million reasons that you might not get as much time with parents as you would like.You can still build relationships with families that will make them feel like they are involved in the activities and events that take place in the classroom. Here are some ideas: Invite parents to participate.…
