Beyond the teacher introduction letter to parents, I want to share 15 ways to build parent teacher communication. Because, after all, good communication helps the student, parents, and teachers achieve goals.
1. Daily/Weekly Behavior Chart: A behavior contract is a great method of documenting goals and communicating with parents. More specifically, if there is a behavior concern that families are wanting to correct at home, this traveling folder allows the parents to see the child's efforts at school. In turn, parents can reward, intervene, and write messages for the teacher to see. The teacher then has a better understanding of strategies being implemented at home. This will show the student that both the teacher and his/her parents are working together to help him achieve his goals.
2. Weekly newsletter: When writing a classroom newsletter, include standards you are working on in class, tips to practice at home, homework, and upcoming events. While weekly newsletters are a great method to build parent teacher communication, I strongly suggest keeping your information bulleted or formatted into small sections. Parents simply don't have the time to sit down and read a full page of long, detailed, paragraphs.
3. Parent Communication Log - Parent communication logs are an excellent strategy to build parent-teacher relationships. Print a parent communication log for each student at the start of the school year, and keep it in a binder or folder on your desk. Grab the parent communication log, mark the date and time, and quickly jot down notes.
As you communicate with parents throughout the year, you can quickly refer back to previous conversations kept on the log - showing parents you care and respect the information they share with you. Print a FREE parent communication log from Mrs. Shipley's Classroom, HERE.
4. School work: At the start of the year, remind parents to truly take a moment to look over the their child's work. If their child's work is marked wrong, that is a method of communicating the child is having difficulty with that skill. I know it sounds silly, but this is the most used form of teacher communication that parents often overlook.
5. Quarterly progress reports: Progress reports can either be found online or sent home from the school.
6. Report cards: Many schools are now using report card software, such as Progress Book, to communicate students grades, missing work, homework, etc. If so, parents should have a username and password to access this form of parent teacher communication.
Report cards are often a keep-sake.Whether hand-written or completed online, take the time to write detailed comments. As a parent, I admit the report card comments are often more valuable than the grades themselves. You can read more about report card comments, HERE.
Report cards are often a keep-sake.Whether hand-written or completed online, take the time to write detailed comments. As a parent, I admit the report card comments are often more valuable than the grades themselves. You can read more about report card comments, HERE.
7. Photos: A photo is worth a thousand words. Send parents photos in emails, on post them to an app on your phone. Sharing photos are a great way to share achievements, as well as indisputable behavior moments.
8. Phone Calls: Sometimes a phone call is the best way to assure there is no misunderstanding from an email/letter/etc. Use the parent communication log mentioned above to document your conversations.
9. Conferences: Conferences don't have to be limited to the designated conference nights on the school calendar. Both you and the parents are busy. Respect one another, and find a short block of time that works for both of you. Invite the parents in to discuss progress, highlights, and concerns. Sometimes, a sit-down, face-to-face, conference is the best method of parent teacher communication.
10. Email: Send a quick email right from your phone or school computer. If working, they often can't answer phone calls or find time to come in for a conference. An email allows parents to read your message on their own time. Hopefully, they will respond ;)
11. Traveling class books: Traveling class books are perfect for elementary classrooms. Usually based around a theme or a favorite children's book, the kids write and illustrate a page, which will be compiled into a class book. The class book is then rotated to go home with each child and be returned to school.
The kids LOVE sharing class books with their families. They are an excellent way for parents to compare their child's work to others. To save you time, I have created a traveling class book parent letter.
12. Apps: Remind and Class Dojo are my favorite apps to increase parent teacher communication. After downloading these teacher apps to your phone, it will be much easier to stay in contact with your families. They will appreciate the short notifications and reminders.
13. Parent letters: Sometimes the emails and apps can get overlooked. Year after year, I found myself scrambling to jot a quick parent letter to send home. I would rush as the students were getting packed up, or as I was trying to find time to eat my lunch.
To solve that problem, I created these wonderful parent letters to keep in my files, and simply send home if needed. They are a HUGE time saver! You can check them out, HERE.
14. Parent Volunteers: Invite parents to volunteer at the school. They can be a birthday reader to help celebrate birthdays at school, or get volunteers in the classroom on a regular basis. This will give them an opportunity to see how their child is interacting in the classroom.
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| Parent Volunteers in the Classroom |
15. Host a Skills Night: Invite families to come and learn more about reading, science, math, etc. Share strategies to practice at home, inform them of your practices in the classroom, and offer opportunities for the families to engage in activities. This will give parents an opportunity to learn best practices to help their child succeed.
You no longer have to hear a parent say the teacher never calls or emails, they don’t get parent letters, and that they are left in the dark about their child's progress? The communication only goes as far as it can be sent. In other words, if parents are not actively looking for the information, then it’s not going to magically appear.
Keep being an awesome teacher doing amazing things!