What are some of the ways you plan to communicate with parents this year?
Seoptember 9, 2009 - In a WCPSS publication, Christy Barnett of WCPSS Communications asked several educators at Holly Grove Elementary:
What are some of the ways you plan to communicate with parents this year?
| Wiladean Thomas, Principal One of the keys to a successful learning community is open and honest communication. To that end, I use three primary methods of communicating to parents: school messenger, a monthly newsletter, and our school website. Each Friday, I send out a school message through the school messenger system to all parents to keep them abreast of the upcoming events for the upcoming week. A monthly newsletter is sent home with the PTA newsletter to parents that provide updates and information as to how parents can support their child. Our main form of communication with parents is our school website that is updated regularly. The website contains all sorts of information such as reminders to parents, information on the Early Dismissal Wednesdays, our handbook, lunch menus, calendars, grade level resources and contact information for all our teachers. |
 |
| Amanda West, Kindergarten Teacher As a kindergarten teacher, I realize this may be parents’ first experience in elementary school, so I try to really emphasize the positives. After the first week, I make a telephone call home as my first communication with that parent, telling them how wonderfully their child has adjusted to kindergarten and something they did exceptionally well this week. After that, I send home a weekly newsletter, either in their Tuesday folder or via e-mail. I also send home a daily communication folder. Since we are a PBS school, I put our kindergarten classroom matrix in a page protector inside that folder, so if I ever have to reference a behavior that we are working on, they can use the same language that I am using in the classroom. Any communication that needs to occur on a daily basis goes home in that folder, as well, such as information regarding lunch or our specials calendars. During conferences with parents, I use tools that communicate how their child is doing on assessments that reflect where they were previously and where they are now, so they can see their child’s growth. This year, I’m also working on a website where parents will be able to see what’s happening in the classroom, view newsletters and information about our curriculum and learn ways they can support their child at home. |
 |
| Chrystal Holland, Fourth-Grade Teacher My students have a “MOOSE” notebook. “MOOSE” stands for management of organizational skills everyday. Inside the folder, there are helpful reference forms for the students such as a multiplication table sheet, an EOG vocabulary form, and a CROPQV guide. The MOOSE also includes a newsletter folder, a homework folder, a communication folder in which the parents can write back and forth, and their agendas. In the agenda, I write comments based on student behavior throughout the day. Parents must sign the agenda each night. I also have a website that parents can visit any time. I place resources on the website, things that we are doing in the classroom and forms that parents can access and print out from home. The website allows parents to familiarize themselves with what’s being done in the classroom which allows them to work on skills at home. At our parent open house, I sent home a blue parent fourth-grade reference folder. The folder serves as a resource for parents, because I may sometimes refer to items located in the folder for parents to work with their children in specific subject areas of study. If there is something we are working on in class, I’ll indicate that they need to refer to their blue reference folders. They keep the folder throughout the year, and as I introduce new concepts, I’ll send reference forms home for them to place in the folder. Lastly, I send home a bi-weekly newsletter via e-mail or in Tuesday folders |
 |
| Collette Drake, K-2 Literacy Specialist and Literacy Coach I work with children from all tracks, so the way I communicate with parents is primarily through a reading newsletter that I send home with the children monthly. I incorporate what we are doing in the literacy groups when the children come to my room, and I also try to give them specific strategies for things they can do with their children at home. Twice a year – at mid-year and then at the end of the year – they get a narrative report from me about their child’s progress. I try to explain what the assessments are and give them specific strategies that they can use at home that address that specific area, so they understand both what was assessed and how they can continue to work on those different aspects of literacy at home. |
 |
-wcpss-