Take Home Parent Packs

I have many working parents who want to help in the classroom but can't volunteer to come in and they want to help.  So I developed take home packets.  I like to put them out at Back to School Nights or Parent Teacher Conferences so parents can sign up.  I also send them home with parents who request this.

One easy project to send home is the math manipulative pages that I tear out of the back of our Everyday Math Books.   Other things to send home: take apart Book Order forms, cut out lamination, call list for Market Day parent reminders, type up student stories for publishing and anything that you can think of.

I glue this sheet to the front of a manilla envelope.  I include all the supplies that the parent will need.  I try to make it as easy as possible.  Click on the page to download it in a word doc so you can adjust it to fit your needs.

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Special Letter to Parents - Freebie

On back to school night I like to make the students and the parents feel at ease.  Many, many years ago I found this idea about putting a cotton ball in an envelope and adding the little letter.  I've had parents later on tell me that they saved this letter and they were so happy that I was caring for their child like they would.

You can pick up your copy, here or the picture.

I made the same poem with a few different characters: monkey, lion, frog, owl, and fish.
Hope one of those themes will work for you.

Labels for the front of the envelopes.  

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Teacher Talk Tuesday!

Join the Linky Party at Blog Hoppin'

Wow ~~ What advice do I want to give to new teachers?  I have learned so much over the years! 

One of the things that made a huge impact on me was becoming a parent.  I learned what it was like to be on the other side of teaching.  Parenting is a lot of work and as a beginning teacher without children I guess I felt like, Why are they completing the homework, where's the lunch money?

As a parent I realize how much little time we have every night.  I make parent communication an important part of my teaching.  This starts at the beginning of the year with a parent handbook.  I collect information on all the students and I send home a weekly email/newsletter. 

I always make a positive phone call early in the year so when or if I have to make a negative call it's easier and the communication is clearer. 

 

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Parent Handbook Update!

I've touched up my parent handbook based on the comments.  Let me know what you think! 

I didn't put the milk cost in because it's going to change and we pass out a school handbook that includes the prices of everything.

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Parent Handbook

I'm working on my Parent Handbook that I pass out at Back to School Night.  What info do you include?  I'd love to get input on what to add, change or delete!  Click on the cover to see it.  I was trying to embed the whole document and it wouldn't work.  Ugh!

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