I have always felt that it is important to set up those early lines of communication. I call the parents of each of the students in my classroom to introduce myself and ask the parents if they have any questions or important information they would like to discuss before the start of the school year. It gives me a chance to learn a little about each student as well as get information such as any nicknames and email address for further correspondence.
I also have a website where parents have access to what is going on at school each month. It is updated with newsletters, detailed schedule with stories, songs and centers for each day, parent helper schedules, words to the songs and fingerplays we will be learning and other pertinent information.
Because kids are not always willing to open up about what is going on in the classroom, I email the class each day about what we did, stories we read, jobs students performed, the letter we worked on and centers we completed. I also provide a brief description on the purpose of each center such as fine motor skills, number recognition, rhyming words, etc. I will even add ways to extend the skill at home.
Each day I recognize a student's outstanding accomplishments by awarding them a STAR award where I write what they did to stand out that day.
I also respond to notes, emails and phone calls promptly.
.JPG)