Beginning the Year

Welcome Letter

Send a welcome letter to your parents and guardians either right before the school year begins or on the first day of school.  Reaching out at the beginning of the school year welcomes students and families to your classroom and sets the tone for a partnership between your students' families and you.

Think about how to set up your welcome letter:

• What do you want parents to know about you?  

• What do you want parents to know about your class?  

• What resources do you want to direct them to go?

• What supplies should all students have for your class?

• Your welcome letter can be thorough but does not need to be excessively long.  Parents and guardians may be receiving many welcome letters from other teachers, too.

Parent Surveys

Reach out to parents asking them about their child.  This is a good way for you to get to know your students more quickly at the beginning of the school year.  Parents may be able to you valuable information about their child such as learning difficulties, medical issues, personality challenges, etc.  If you are clever, you can even gain some insight into your students' learning preferences when asking questions to your parents and guardians about their child.  I have also found that parents and guardians are very appreciative when I send out the parent survey at the beginning of the year.

Using a Google Form is a convenient way to collect and organize this information.  You may, at other times in the school year, go back to this information and use it to help motivate or connect with a struggling student.  Gathering feedback at the end of the year allows a teacher to assess the effectiveness of his classes.  Soliciting feedback from parents at the end of the school year offers a positive way to finalize the class and find other perspectives of their experience with you.

Collect Contact Information

Reach out to parents and guardians asking for their most up-to-date contact information.  Your school likely has contact information in its student information system, but sometimes phone numbers and emails change before being updated in the system.  Parents and guardians will appreciate you reaching out to them for this information.  Using another Google Form will help to collect and organize this information for you.