In my opinion and experience, one of the most important jobs that I have as an educator is to create what I call the “3 P’s”: Positive Parent Partnerships. You have to show parents that you are on the same side and that if you work together as a team, then everyone ultimately benefits. And, as far as I’m concerned, it’s the little things that help accomplish this goal. Below are some of the ways that we used to establish those positive partnerships.
We created a Google Classroom which was operational right from the very beginning of the year. Here we would post resources and extra activities that they could do with their child, as well as our monthly Newsletter and Calendars. We also set up a play-doh club where parents could sign up to bring in playdough for the class. In addition, we created a wonderful Welcome to Kindergarten slideshow which we sent out to the parents prior to school starting so that they could know a little bit more about the program, the educators, our daily schedule, and what to expect.
One of our most useful ways of establishing and continuing those positive partnerships was through our monthly calendar and newsletter
Another way of helping parents to feel like they were a part of the classroom family was to have activities that they could take part in which we brought into the classroom. Below are some examples of home-school connection activities that our students and families loved!
Our crowning glory of parent communication came in the form of our Google Drive folders. We created a folder for each child in our classroom which was then shared with the parents. Inside this folder, we would put all of the pictures that we had taken of their child at school so that they could see for themselves what their child was up to at school.
