4th Day of 4th Grade Celebration Back to School Activities
Have you heard about the 4th day of 4th grade celebration?!?! The first week of school is all about setting the tone for the year,
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Teaching forces us to be a jack of all trades. Not only do we have to plan meaningful lessons, teach (as well as manage a classroom full of kids), and make sure to enrich or remediate to meet all of their needs, but we also have to build a strong parent teacher relationship.
In fact, building strong relationships and creating a “let’s work together” connection is vital for a successful school year.
So, how do we strengthen those connections? I do it purposefully in these six ways:
Whether you have a Back to School Night or a Meet the Teacher time, this first connection point is an important one.
I make sure to take this opportunity to greet each parent with a smile while trying to connect names and faces. I also stress in my Back to School letter, as well as in my Back to School Night presentation, that I really want to work together as a team, for the benefit of each child.
Kids are notorious for saying that they did “nothing” when parents ask what they learned in school each day. This kills me!
We know good and well that each day, we’re encouraging those little devils to learn and grow while trying to fill their heads with knowledge. Since kids don’t always share what we’re really doing, a class newsletter, whether it’s a hard copy or online, is an effective way to let parents know what we’re studying on a regular basis.
Rather than waiting to inform parents of any major behavioral or learning difficulty, it’s always better to reach out to parents to share what you’re seeing in the classroom, to ask for their help if possible, and to work on finding solutions together.
When we can work as partners rather than as adversaries, we’re much more effective at building a strong parent teacher relationship that’s beneficial to the student.
Any time you can send a parent a quick note or an email or make a phone call about something wonderful that their child has done or something that you appreciate in him/her, you are definitely making a parent’s day!
When your kids’ parents feel that you value and truly care about their child, they will often give you their full support. Giving this kind of positive feedback can go a long way towards strengthening bonds and building the parent teacher relationship.
Whenever possible, I like to invite parents to help in the classroom so they can see what is going on, and of course, getting a bit of extra adult help is nice too.
In addition to having parents work with small groups or one-on-one with a struggling student, I love for them to come when we’re doing something extra interesting or fun, like a science experiment, Math or English Olympics, or special art projects.
The wire art in the picture above is a great project, but I can’t imagine doing it all by myself. Lots of moms (and a few dads) showed up to help, and not only was it great to have the extra hands, but it also served as a meaningful connection point that worked to strengthen the parent teacher relationship.
When you mention PR, it’s usually connected to the corporate world, but I believe that it is a little spoken of, but extremely important, tool that teachers should think about using.
When we plan events that highlight what we’re doing in the classroom and the positive things that our students are doing, we are creating positive connections and memories associated with us as teachers and with school in general. I love to plan events that showcase and celebrate student learning, such as the wax museum, a poetry café, and our class play in the spring.
Parents love it when we take the extra time and effort to set up these special events.
An Open House near the end of the year is another opportunity to show what your kids have done throughout the year.
This is not a time to simply open your door and have the parents walk around type of event, but it is one that takes lots of planning and saving of student work so we can really show off our kids and the awesome things we’ve been doing throughout the year.
If you’ve taught any length of time, then you know that there are all sorts of parents, from the helicopter types who hover, to the overly ambitious, to the ones we wish would get more involved. But no matter what types of parents you are given to deal with, by establishing and nurturing positive relationships with them, we strengthen the very important home-school connection, and that’s good for everyone, especially for your students.
Here’s a freebie I’ve created for you called Parent Communication Forms. These five different forms can help you organize and keep track of parent communication, which goes a long way to build strong parent teacher relationships.
I’m Jenn Larson, and I am a mom of two kids. I’ve been an elementary teacher for 20 years, spending most of that time in 2nd grade and 4th/5th. I love creating teaching resources at TpT as The Teacher Next Door, and I truly enjoy connecting with other teachers. You can find me here: TpT, my website and blog, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook.
Now, let’s shift focus a bit to hear from Kristin Jason, who offers her own unique perspective and tips on fostering parent-teacher relationships. While Jenn and Kristin share many similar strategies, Kristin’s approach includes some specific practices that can further enhance our connection with parents and make them feel an integral part of their child’s education.
You can visit me at my Teachers Pay Teachers store by clicking HERE.
On the first day of school (or before the year starts, if your school allows!), send a letter home with the students introducing yourself, giving some generic background information about you and your class expectations. I like to include the number of years I’ve been teaching, my degrees and the schools I graduated from, and the fact that I’m a wife and mom with two young sons. I find that giving parents a little bit of information about you (not too much!) will help them feel connected.
I also tell the major goals I have for the students this year, like building their reading ability and learning strategies to become stronger readers, mastering multiplication and division, as well as fractions, and writing and publishing stories. I mention my social goals, as well, like making new friends and learning to accept and respond to views that are different from their own.
There are some great sample letters online, but writing your own letter in your own voice is important. If you do use a sample letter, make sure to change the wording. I’ve actually seen multiple teachers use the same letter, and if a parent has read that letter before, it will then seem impersonal rather than helpful, which doesn’t help build a strong teacher parent relationship.
A very important tip is to make sure your first contact with parents about their child is a positive one! This will help them feel comfortable with you, and as a result, they’ll be much more likely to feel comfortable coming into your classroom. During the first two weeks, send a short note or email home about something special the child did or said during the week.
Class Dojo is a great way for quick and easy communication with parents. You can send messages and post general information like class parties, news, and updates on the class page without giving out your personal phone number or information. Another bonus is that all communications are recorded, in case you need a record or verification of attempts to contact parents to show your administrator if problems arise.
Back to school night is a wonderful way to meet parents and talk about your plan for the school year. Keep it positive, and don’t have conferences about a child that night! If a parent wants to talk about his or her child, then set up a meeting for a later date. I give parents a quick overview of each subject area and the expectations for what students should master this year, and we discuss field trips, class parties, and projects.
I also let parents know of any upcoming dates for trips, parent project days, and class parties. If they don’t have enough time to prepare, then parents may have trouble taking off from work or finding a family member who would like to attend, like Grandma or Uncle Bob. Finally, you may want to discuss parents signing up for a once-a-week time to spend 45 minutes in the classroom running a math center for fact mastery.
Let’s talk about that math center idea! If your school allows for parent visits during class time, it’s a wonderful idea to ask parents to sign up for a once-a-week slot to come in and do flash card fact practice with your students. Many schools have a volunteer form, which I have available on back to school night. If each student’s family member signs up for a time slot, you have a great fact review center.
Parents are usually thrilled to sign up or to ask Grandma to help out, and it is an easy way to get them into the classroom with an activity that anyone can do. Flash cards are great for fact mastery, and students can rotate through the center in small groups. If you want parents in for reading, then you can have them do task cards, like these free Oceans of Fun fact and opinion task cards. Family-led centers are a great way for parents to see how you are working toward classroom goals.
Another way to promote parent involvement is to have project days. Instead of having students do dioramas or poster projects at home, invite parents into the classroom to make the project with the students! You can do habitat dioramas for science, where students use craft materials like construction paper, felt, plastic animals, fake snow, etc. to represent an ecosystem, if that ties into your curriculum.
You can build a diorama to show a scene from a book as part of a book report, or make a poster or a comic strip for the report. For social studies, students can make a poster or a diorama to represent a historical event, such as the first Thanksgiving, a battle, or a presidential speech like the Gettysburg Address.
I usually send home a note about one month before the date telling parents about the project day and requesting supplies, like a shoe box or poster board, plastic figures, felt, stickers, etc. I’ve found that parents love to come in for these days, and the time that parents and students spend together is priceless! If a student doesn’t have a family member to come in, then you can invite a special person in school, like a guidance counselor, or some parents are willing to help their own child plus other students, too. I love helping, and I always get involved in the projects, too. These days are some of my favorite school days of the year.
Are you looking for a fun and festive way to invite families into your class during the holiday season? Class parties are fun, but it is great to have activities that involve parents and build learning. A “Holidays around the World” celebration is a perfect activity for building family involvement or a cross-curricular culminating activity for a holiday unit during December.
I like to run my “Holidays around the World” celebration in centers. Some parents may sign up to run a center, but I like to set the centers up to be successful if the students are there without a guide, too. Before sending students and their family members to the centers, I give a quick overview of the activities. You can have them play dreidel for Hanukkah, make a Christmas ornament or craft, weave a construction paper Kwanzaa mat, or sculpt a clay candle holder for Diwali.
I hope these ideas help you to get your classroom parents involved and feel comfortable in your classroom! I wish everyone a very happy and successful school year!
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