Parent communication is extremely important, essential ,time consuming and needs to be personalized to each and every parent in the classroom in order to meet their specific needs.
Some parents would like a minute by minute update of their child’s day in the classroom ( even though it’s not practically possible), some parents won’t even show up for the yearly parent-teacher conference and so forth.
So then how do you create a schedule for communication and maintain it ?
It’s not practical to do a daily report for some 20+ kids in the primary classroom, at the same time – twice a year conference seems too far apart.
Whatever approach you choose , let the parents know right at the start of the school year, so they know what kind of information to expect and how frequently to expect.
This is what I do – it has worked well for me so far .
When a new child comes into my classroom , I do a “weekly” detailed report of the child’s activity , lessons, eating,napping, playtime etc and send it in the folder on Friday for parents to review. I do this every Friday for the 1st month. Then I do a “monthly” report.
For all children , I do a month end summary report and send it in the Friday folder. This includes “ child’s favorite works”, “new lessons presented”, “area of focus” etc. Parents can return this back to teacher with their comments, if any, on Monday.
Apart from this , if a parent has any specific concerns / questions, I address it on a one-on -one basis. When a parent feels the need to schedule a meeting in addition to the conferences or monthly reports, I do so to meet their needs.
Parent teacher conference are held once each semester.
If a specific child has some behavior issues which is affecting their learning /safety of others in the classroom ,I document the details and notify Administration to call for a meeting with the parents. Based on the meeting, I either do a daily or weekly report for that child until we see change in the behavior pattern.
How do you keep your classroom parents informed ? Email / handwritten notes/text – daily/weekly/monthly ? Share in comments below.
MONTLE 
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