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Building a positive relationship with the parents of your students is one of the most important things you can do this year! The benefits of a strong school-home connection extend well into overall student success, so investing in this area is worth your time and effort. Sharing positive notes and pictures is a wonderful way to increase school-home connection with families all year long!
Positive teacher-to-parent communication is essential for positive school-home relationships and a vital piece of student success— and positive notes and pictures are a fun and effective way to accomplish this!
There is a direct connection between student success and strong school-home partnerships. Hanover Research reports improvements in the following areas when parents are involved in their child’s educational experience:
Sharing notes and pictures with families can be SIMPLE and QUICK!
Be mindful to focus on positive reports to set an upbeat and encouraging tone for families. The ways you choose to communicate and interact with your students’ parents play a huge part in the level of involvement parents choose to invest in their child’s learning.
Take pictures throughout the day and send them to parents. Kids love holding these fun photo signs, but any type of picture works!
When parents receive photos, they can see their child having fun and learning in a positive environment. Opening photos is fun, so families will be more likely to check your communication app in the future. You set a pattern for positive teacher-to-parent communication and instantly build better a school-home connection.
Always send pictures of your students through a secure classroom app like Class Dojo.
These 20+ done-for-you photo signs include options to last you all year long!
After you’ve printed these photo signs, laminate them for longer use. Keep your signs in a designated basket so they’re less likely to get misplaced.
*Your school district or individual school may have rules on sharing pictures so please reference your handbook to be sure this is an option for you!
Positive notes can be sent home through students’ Take Home Folders. Send them as often as you’d like, but try to send one per child at least once every month to increase the school-home connection all year long!
Get your own copy of free Positive Notes for All Year as soon as today!
Once you’ve downloaded your positive notes, print them out for the entire month. Print new notes at the beginning of each month for the remainder of the school year.
Consider personalizing one note per student at the beginning of each month. This allows you to distribute them throughout the month without missing anyone!
*If you’re super Type A, you can go ahead and prepare enough notes for the entire year.
Foster a positive parent-home connection with families by creating a memorable Back-to-School Night using a slideshow and stations.
Another way to invest in these relationships is by ensuring all families have access to the same resources by sending home a Fridge Friend. This tool makes teacher-to-parent communication easy while also including a variety of needed references to make homework easier for everyone!
You can also build positive parent-home connections by having families complete this FREE Back to School Parent Survey at the beginning of the year to help you learn more about the children in your class.
Finally, ask parents to write a short, personalized Pencil Box Note and add it to their child’s pencil box. These notes are an easy way for parents to feel included in the classroom even when they can’t be there!
Investing a little extra time and effort to send positive pictures and notes to families is a great way to increase school-home connection all year long. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much these small gestures mean to your students and their parents!
Don’t forget to download your free copy of Positive Notes for All Year!
I’m a teacher who believes in creating a classroom kids love and activities that keep them engaged all day!
©2019 Polka Dots Please. All Rights Reserved. Designed by Ashley Hughes.
8 Responses
Thanks so much for the adorable pie notes! 🙂
You're so very welcome! Thanks for stopping by my blog.Happy Thanksgiving 🙂
Emily
I saw your Popcorn Parents notes in Instagram. Do you have those available somewhere?
It's going to be part of a Popcorn Reading pack that I am still finishing up. If you follow me on instagram at polka.dots.please or on facebook at Polka Dots Please, I will send out an announcement when it's ready to go (probably this week!) Thanks for stopping by my blog 🙂
Emily
Thank you for sharing!! I"m attaching these to apple pie flavored gum and giving them to my team : )
That's such a grea idea! Thank you for sharing 🙂 Happy Thanksgiving!
Emily
What an adorable freebie! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
You're welcome Melissa! I am always looking for cute little gift tags for the holidays. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! 🙂
Emilu