![]() These goals will be revisited throughout the year and during spring conferences. At this conference we will develop reading, math and social-emotional goals for your child. You could photocopy work, or have students work on computer pieces, book reviews, etc.Goal setting conferences are critical to your child's success in second grade. Since you're putting together your letter once a month or so, it'd be really nice if you could include some student work. What is perimeter? Your options with the questions are really endless. or- You used M&M's to work on permimeter, tell me how you figured out the problem. For example: "You heard a story called 'Whiff, Sniff, Nibble and Chew.' How was this story different from the other Gingerbread Boy stories you heard? Tell me about it. I end with a section of questions which i title "Questions to ask your child." This is a GREAT way to give your parents open-ended questions so they can 'talk school' with their child without their child saying 'I don't know.' I include around 5-7 questions which might cover reading, math, special activities, etc. This is also a good place to ask for supplies, discuss upcoming fieldtrips, ask for volunteers, whatever.Ĥ. I bullet important upcoming dates, holidays, etc. Next i include an 'Announcements & Reminders' section. This is a lot of info, so you can be very precise.ģ. ![]() I try to key parents in to what we're doing during Guided REading groups, phonics work, math concepts, etc. Guided reading work, math, read alouds, songs, etc. Next i move to bulleted points, with the sub-title 'Other Activities Included:' Here i bullet the following areas. This takes up 1/2 of a page in my letter.Ģ. Include some of the main things you've worked on in writing workshop, projects, etc. I start with 'A Peek at the Week.' (In your case, a Peek at the Month.) I write a brief synopsis of our 'theme', usually tied to our reading series or a particular holiday. however, yours would be longer than mine.) I keep my letter to 1 page, front and back. (especially for you if you only have to do it once each month. I send home a weekly newsletter to my parents, and have found that once you have your 'format' in place, it's very easy. I was surprised how many parents responded! ![]() and cut off and return to me.that makes the communication more two-way. I also put a response form at the bottom of the newsletter that the parents can write comments, questions, remarks, etc. I don't have time to do it every week-that is why i liked doing it by theme. Last year was my first year to do the newsletter, but because of the great commments from parents, I plan on doing it again. I listed web sites and had a wish list of supplies that we needed for this unit. I also listed writing topics (related to spiders), that the students could work on at home. (I had typed the sentences on the newsletter, and all the kids had to do was cut and seperate.) I got alot of great feedback from parents. For example, during our spider unit, I introduced fact and opinion and in the newsletter I had an activity where the students seperated sentences into two stacks: fact or opinion. I also try to put some different activities that the students can do with their parents (or alone, or with another peer or older brother/sister). I titles my newsletter:Spider Spectualar! I listed what we would be doing, voc., different skills we would be studying,etc. For example, when I do a big unit on Spiders for the month of Oct. I tend to do a newsletter for each theme. If I don't have much information, I just add pictures, or lmake the type REALLY BIG to take up lots of space.:o) I know other teachers who actually shrink down their students work and include that, but that is just too much work for me.Īs for the different languages in your room, I'm lucky, I just have Spanish speaking parents, but I have had my students translate the newsletter as a part of their daily work( I have to get stuff ready earlier for this, but it's learning for them too.) With so many languages, it would be difficult to make sure the kids are actually writing what you wrote though, how about adult translaters, or upper grade volunteers (from your local highschool?) I live in a tiny town, and we have high school kids come down for stuff like that. Then I go and make a table with two columns, and just write in those. I just use our word program, and put CLASSROOM NEWS on the top, and the date below. I have gotten super feedback from parents, and it only takes a few minutes of my time. I also make up stuff to make sure that everyone gets there name in the leetter once a month or so. I send home a newsletter each week, I include students who get 100% on their spelling, and kids who have no missing assignments/straight A's.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |