family communication
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Thanksgiving Day Photo Challenge
I am so ready for Thanksgiving! This year my goal is to take as many pictures as possible, so I created a little photo challenge for myself. I thought I would share it because it would be so fun to print and send home with all of your families – wouldn’t you love to see pictures from their celebrations?! Download a printable version here – and have a wonderful holiday!
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Friday Freebie – Communication Sheet
Happy Friday, and happy long weekend – finally! The freebie that I have for you today is a great way to make sure you are communicating with all of your parents, even when you don’t have time for a conversation with each of them. This daily communication sheet can be quickly filled out and sent home with each child so that parents know what their child has been up to all day, and if there is anything that you need from them. Download your copy and enjoy your weekend!
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Sharing Assessment Results with 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 assessment results help…
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First day of School gift for parents and children
One of my all-time favorite ideas is a little gift that I put together for my preschoolers on their first day of kindergarten. It includes two little felt hearts, one for the parent and one for the child to keep with them on the first day, as well as some kleenex and Hershey’s Hugs for a little added comfort. This would also be a great gift to share with your new preschool families on meet the teacher night, or at your open house, so that they can use it on their first day of school. The tags that go with the set and explain the gift to parents are available…
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Friday Freebie – Parent Communication
Happy Friday! I don’t know about you but I consider the end of July the end of summer – at least the carefree, fun part of summer. Somehow we’ve made it to the end of July already and I’m not happy about it. So whether we like it or not, it’s time to think about getting ready for the new school year, and today’s freebie is perfect for that. This parent communication set from Teaching Treasure Box includes daily sheets, weekly summaries, first aid reports, field trip information, and a parent survey. It has everything that you need to keep parents informed. enjoy your last July weekend and make sure…
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Family Photo Albums for the Classroom
An easy way to help welcome families at the beginning of the year is to encourage them to share a little information about themselves. Using photo albums is popular because the albums also serve to help children separate from their parents a little easier in the morning. I’ve heard many teachers say that they’ve tried to create albums for the children but they haven’t been successful because families will not provide the photos that they need. This easy printable activity is something that you can send home with each student that might help combat this issue. I created this easy little paper bag album that you can send home for families to…
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Tips for welcoming new families
Whether you work for a year-round program or a program that follows a traditional school calendar there is a good chance that you will be welcoming some families that are new to your program in the fall. I am a huge believer in the importance of building relationships with parents, and those relationships start with first impressions. There are a few simple things that you can do to welcome families and make a positive impression that will lead to stronger relationships. Share information about yourself. It is common practice to share info about your program and classroom practices, but parents really want to know who you are. Consider sending home…
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Ideas for sharing newsletters
It’s a fairly common problem, you print a copy of the classroom newsletter for each child and stick it in their mailbox, and then at the end of the year you clean out their mailboxes only to find all of those newsletters still in there. It’s no wonder the parents had no idea what was happening all year long! This frustrating problem is made even worse by knowing just how much time you spent writing each of those newsletters! I’ve sen this scenario play out time and time again – in my own classroom, and with a number of teachers that I work with, so unfortunately you are not alone.…
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Newsletter ideas!
I spend way too much time putting together monthly newsletters – partly because I enjoy designing something new each month, and partly because I can’t ever think of what I want to say. And it never fails, the day after I send home the newsletter, I think of something that I really should have included. I know there are a ton of newsletter templates available, but that’s not really what I’ve always needed – I need the actual content. So I put together a great big list of potential newsletter topics, this way I can scan my list and choose a few that seem especially relevant and timely. I’ve organized…
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Skills to practice before kindergarten
The most popular question that I used to get asked as a preschool teacher was “How can I make sure that my child is ready for kindergarten?” Of course there is not one thing that parents can work on with their preschooler, but they usually ask me this question when they don’t actually have time for a long conversation. So I created this workbook to share with parents. It includes simple activities that are easy for families to do and don’t require a ton of materials. This set includes 10 weeks worth of daily activities, one activity for each week day, which can be completed during the weeks between the…
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