parents
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Tips for Traveling with Preschoolers
If you’re like me, you get all kinds of questions from parents about tips for daily life with preschoolers. Our family is planning a road trip, and since we’ve gotten pretty good at traveling this way over the last few years I thought I’d share some tips that I’ve picked up along the way. Here are my top tips for traveling with preschoolers: Road trips can be a great way to travel with little ones because you can bring EVERYTHING with you, and they make getting there part of the adventure – with a little planning and grace.
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Easy way to share favorite preschool songs
I distinctly remember having a conferences with a parent who’s only request was the words to all of the songs that we sang in the classroom – she wanted to sing them with her son, but she couldn’t understand the words he was singing well enough to figure out what the songs were! I finally had a chance to put together a quick an easy resource that I could have shared with her, and I’m sharing it with you too. There are so many ways that this collection of common preschool songs can be used! There are two different pieces to this set. The ribbons all have a name of…
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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 – Character Education Parent Letters
Happy Friday! This week I’ve reflected on my resolution to choose joy and how the idea can be used in the classroom. Today’s freebie will be super helpful as you consider other character traits and emotions that you want to explore in the classroom. My favorite thing about these Character Trait Parent Letters is that they offer simple activities that families can do to work on these traits at home. Go download your set from Counselor Chelsey and have a great weekend!
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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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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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Ideas for streamlining parent communication
One of the teaching tasks that I dread is parent communication. I go overboard trying to get parents’ attention. I share messages in every possible way that I can, hoping that one of them will make it’s mark. Nothing seems to work, and I know I’m not alone in this because I work with teachers everyday, and they all tell me the same thing. But, I’ve had a thought – an epiphany if you will. I’ve been thinking a lot about routines lately (see yesterday’s post), specifically, how routines are just as important for adults as they are for children. If I develop a routine for communicating with parents, not only…
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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.…
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The Best Way to Communicate with Parents
That’s a pretty intriguing title isn’t it – what is the best way to communicate with parents? Unfortunately, you’re probably not going to like my answer; there isn’t one best way to communicate with parents. What worked for you last year might not work this year and that’s because each group of parents is very different. That doesn't mean that you have to use your precious time covering all of the possible means of communication. When I realized how much time I was spending on parent communication (newsletters, notes home, emails, phone calls, and posted messages in the classroom) I started something that made my job a million times easier…
