Hi friends,
How are you today? I hope you are well. I know you must be tired of Covid and looking for new ways to save time and still be the teacher you want to be. An important part of that is parent/teacher communication. So, how do you keep in touch with parents now? How often do you let parents know how their child is doing? When I taught kindergarten, I sent home communication every day as to how each child was doing. Sometimes it was difficult to find the time to send home a communication for each child every day. Sometimes I would do it during nap time, sometimes during specials, and sometimes I would do it during lunch. Sometimes it was just when I found a few minutes here or there, I would fill out the form that went home for communication. For kindergarten class, often a communication home would consist of a star, smiley face, sad face, or straight-line face. Sometimes, a student might get an angry face going home as well. This would quickly tell parents how their child was doing. There were days, when I was busy and the face or star was the only communication. Although, when a child received a sad face or angry face, there was always an accompanying explanation. On days when I had a little more time, I liked to include a note of praise, especially during times of success after extreme difficulty. I also wrote reminders on days before a field trip, inclement weather, or something out of the ordinary. The daily communication was in addition to a monthly newsletter that was sent home. The monthly newsletter was more general though. It let parents know the kinds of things that their children would be doing as well as any upcoming events for the month. 
This is a daily communication sheet that I recreated from memory of what I sent home daily with students. They liked to see how they were doing by looking at the child friendly communication sheet. The parents enjoyed getting a little idea of how their child was doing each day. I enjoyed it, because I could tell a parent so much with just a face or quick sentence or two in a note.
Feel free to download this sample and use it yourself. I would be happy to hear how you, your students, and your parents like it. The good thing about a form like this, it can be easily transformed so you can add other features for quick communication. I may do that at some point. I may create some other daily communication sheets for parent/teacher communication. What do you think? If you need a daily communication sheet to fit your needs, please feel free to contact me. Thank you. Thank you for being here. I hope you are enjoying and finding value in the Education Blog by DUO Inspirations. If you do find value in the Education Blog by DUO Inspirations, please share it with friends, family, and coworkers. Also, if you haven't already, please consider signing up below to receive the Education Blog by DUO Inspirations and other education content in your inbox.
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Hi friends, How are you? Last week, I gave a shout out to educators. I know from experience that teachers put in more time, energy, and care into teaching their students than most people know. This week, I am giving a shout out to parents and particularly homeschooling parents. Many parents also put a great deal of time, energy, and care into educating their children. Some of them aren’t schooled or experienced in teaching. Yet, love and circumstance prevails. So, this week, I give a great big shout out to parents and particularly homeschooling parents! You are doing great! Keep up the great work! I homeschooled for a while and value what you are doing! I know that many people don’t understand homeschoolers or why they choose to homeschool. However, parents choose to homeschool for many reasons. Some parents choose to homeschool so their child will get more attention and experience educational things that a public or private school can’t provide. Other parents may choose to homeschool because of their schedule, their child’s abilities or needs, for the joy of it, or for religious reasons. Some people don’t take homeschoolers seriously. Those who don’t homeschool may think that homeschoolers just stay home, skip school, and fool around all day. Yet that isn’t the case. (Yes, I am not so naïve that I don’t think there are some who do similar in the name of homeschooling. However, that is not usually the case.) Even if you don’t see a book, paper and pencil, or a computer anywhere in sight, doesn’t mean that homeschoolers aren’t teaching and learning. Often homeschoolers do hands on activities, take nature walks, go to museums, or even have assignments in shopping and other daily living skills. Yes, they learn most of the same skills as students in the public and private schools learn, yet most go above and beyond those skills. People may hear that homeschoolers don’t spend as much time during the day on schoolwork. Sometimes, that is not always true, because often a homeschooler is learning no matter what he or she is doing. Although, in all reality, it may be true for many days, because it just isn’t necessary. Things take longer to teach in a school setting, because you have many students for which to plan, to address, to quiet down, and to transition from one activity to another, and for which to care. When, you are trying to teach one, two, or even a few children, it doesn’t take nearly as long. When I homeschooled, there weren’t nearly as many resources as there are today for homeschoolers. Today, there are online schools, online homeschooling groups, and local homeschooling groups, as well as educational materials, local classes, and other activities marketed with homeschoolers in mind. DUO Inspirations even creates and sells educational resources and welcomes homeschoolers getting in touch to request specific materials to meet their needs. So, if you meet a homeschooler, instead of looking disdainfully and questioning what he or she may be doing, give an encouraging word. Ask if there is anything he or she may need? It isn’t just homeschooling parents that I want to commend. All parents who care about and put effort in encouraging a good education for his or her child should be commended. Knowledge opens so many doors and is key to obtaining many things in life, sometimes in life itself. All who encourage it and help their children learn in anyway possible is to be commended. So, today, DUO Inspirations gives a great big shout out to homeschoolers and all parents who encourage and help their children learn. Yay you! Keep it up! Now, it is your turn. Are you a homeschooler? Are you a parent? Are you an educator? No matter who you are, I am interested in your thoughts. Please, leave a comment below. If you are finding value in what I write, please share it with friends and family. Also, if you haven't already, you may consider signing up to receive the Education Blog by DUO Inspirations and other educational content in your inbox. If you have any requests, please feel free to contact me. Thank you. 
Hi friends. How are you today? I wanted to tell you that DUO Inspirations had a group on social media. It is called DUO Inspirations’ Education Chat. And, you can find it with the hashtag #DUOEdChat.
It will be a group where educators and parents can get together and speak about teaching and learning topics, such as lesson plans, teaching tips, resources, activities, struggles, successes, curricula, as well as educational products and services. I want it to be a place that allows parents and teachers and all those who value education to come together and learn from one another. I want it to be a place where people can get answers and give advice. Knowledge is important and people need a place where they can go with questions and answers. It seems like teachers and parents are overwhelmed with education right now. The pandemic doesn’t make teaching and learning any easier. Some teachers are finding it difficult to plan for both online learning and in class learning. Some parents question whether they should send their children to school and if they would be any good at homeschooling. I remember when I was teaching, there were times that I would think, “I wish there was an activity that would help me teach this topic to my students.” I knew what I wanted, but didn’t have time to create it. Teachers don’t always have the time to do everything they want to do. Parents may not know of resources that are out there to help them or their children, whether it is in support of homeschooling or public education. They may also want teaching and learning activities that would help their children. Or, maybe their children are struggling in learning one skill in one subject or many skills. DUO Inspirations’ Education Chat would be a place to share these struggles. We don’t want to forget the successes though. After all, it is everyone’s goal to have successes. Sometimes, we get so excited that we just want to share our successes with everyone and it is a bonus when our successes can help others reach their successes. Consider yourself invited. I am looking forward to you joining the conversation in DUO Inspirations’ Education Chat. I value you and what you have to share about education. ***Note: DUO Inspirations' Education Chat is a group ran by the DUO Inspirations Facebook page. (If you haven't "liked" the DUO Inspirations Facebook page, please feel free to do so.) #DUOEdChat is a hashtag used in Twitter and other social media conversations. Now, it is your turn. I would like to hear your thoughts. What would you like to see either here on the Education Blog by DUO Inspirations or in the DUO Inspirations' Education Chat? What are your education ideas, struggles, or successes? Also, if you are finding value in my posts, please consider sharing them with friends and family, as well as signing up to receive them in your inbox. Thank you. |
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