Open communication with parents is important to running a successful classroom. There are many ways in which I establish positive, open communication with the parent of the students in my room.
- I set up my Seesaw classroom and work to ensure that all of my parents understand how to join it. It is something that I would go through on curriculum night, and then catch any parents that might not have joined by our fall conferences. Through Seesaw, I can send messages to all of my parents, and they can send messages to me. It functions as my classroom blog. Parents are also connected to their child’s work and what he or she is learning, as they can see all of their child’s posts on Seesaw
- At the beginning of the year, I make sure to send an email to the parents of every student in my room, complimenting their child. This serves two purposes: I can make sure that every email address that I have for parents works and I ensure that my first contact with a parent is a positive one. I like to continue the practice of sending out positive notes for the rest of the year, so that communication from me does not automatically mean that there is a problem.
- Another beginning of the year tradition for me is to send home a questionnaire for parents to fill out about their child. This lets me know more about the children, as well as their parents concerns.