Beginning of the Year Parent Notes and Info

     As a new teacher, I remember feeling like the statement, "You do the best with what you know at the time" was so true.  Fortunately, I had a fabulous first grade partner teacher to help fill me in on things that I otherwise might not have thought about on my own.  One of those things was the details of what/how much information to share with parents and to get from them at the start of the school year.  Today I'd like to share with you what I send home in addition to the general information that every parent gets school-wide.  Even though some of the information I ask them for is repetitive for them to fill in, it's helpful for me to be able to have it all in one place and not have to go to the office or to look it up online when I need something.

    We have an open house night before school starts when students come and drop off their supplies, meet us, and get to check out their new classroom.  There's a lot going on and in an effort to not totally overwhelm parents, I only give them notes to read and wait until the first day of school to send home the two sheets I ask them to fill out.

    So, at open house, they will get the following notes from me.  The first one below is like a cover sheet.  I usually copy it on colored paper and staple it to the front of the packet.  Click on the picture to open the pdf that includes a cover sheet for kindergarten - fifth grade.  You just have to write in your school phone, email, and sign it before making copies.

     The next two forms I send home are specific to my classroom but I thought it might be helpful for you to see the type of information I share with parents right away at the beginning of the school year. You will need to re-create these two sheets to fit your own classroom and school.

    Finally, on the first day of school, I send home the following two forms for parents to fill out and return by the end of the first week.  I usually copy these 2-sided on colored paper so it's just one piece of paper to send home.  You can click on the pictures to download and use each of these.

    I know this post has a lot of text, but I hope that you are able to use the forms I provided and take some ideas to use from the others.