Welcome Letters

Welcome Letters & Back to School Info for your new class.

Use my letters/templates for ideas and save time!

Below are the documents I sent home in my Welcome Packet.

I always put my Welcome Letter on paper with a cute/fun border and then copied my other letters on different colored papers to coordinate and match the cover letter.

A few notes:

Suggested Supply List - check with your administrator/principal and other teachers before sending your suggested supply list home. All schools do this differently. Sometimes we had supply drives, sometimes parents made donations, one of my schools had a PTA (Foundation) that organized supplies for the whole school. Also, always be aware that some families may struggle financially and may not be able to provide or donate - we need to be sensitive to those students and how this may make them feel. In addition to supplies I bought for my whole class, I always bought at least 10 extra sets of individual supplies for students in my class who might need them.
Parent/Guardian Letter to the Teacher - This was one of my FAVORITES! It's a request for parents/guardians to write a letter to you telling you about their child. It is such a great way to get to know your students at the start of the year from someone who knows them best.
Homework Policy & Volunteer Sign up/info - again, check with your admin and other teachers before you send homework info home to parents. Your school may have a certain perspective on homework. At LdV we only allowed 10 min x the grade level - so when I was teaching 4th grade, the estimated amount of time for homework was 40 minutes. Lots of schools have strict policies regarding parent volunteers for safety purposes. Ours had to be fingerprinted and have a cleared TB test.
Calendar - this is a great tool for communication. It gives parents/guardians an overview of the month and is something they can put on their fridge or keep on their phone or in their email. You can post it on your class website and I always had a paper copy posted just inside the door on our "Important Info" board. (** more about class websites later**)
Healthy Snacks - We were a Health Sciences Charter School, so healthy snacks were a big thing. Parents only had to worry about sending a snack for their child once a month. And in holiday months, like October & February, they got SO creative. It was really fun. I'll make a page of photos of some of our creative snacks and other's I've found that are easy & cute.
Hugs from Home - This stemmed from my first school where I was teaching during the terrorist attacks on 9/11/01. It was so crazy driving to school that day knowing I had to put on a brave face to help my students feel safe. We had always had safety drills and yearly whole school disaster drills, but this took it to another level. Our PTA decided to have parents send Hugs from Home at the beginning of each year so that kids would have something to comfort them in case there was an event that kept them at school for a few days. **Check with your administration, but we were required to stay on site with our students in the event of a disaster. I had extra clothes, toothbrush, contact lens solution, meds, etc. and a plan for someone to feed my pets if I couldn't get home. Just something to think about and be prepared for as you take on the responsibility of caring for your students.
Late Starters Paperwork Note - I always kept a folder called "Late Starters" and put everything in there I thought a parent would need/want to know if their child joined the class later in the year. I attached this note to that packet of papers.