This is the fifth and final blog of a five part series that provides you with tips that I have learned about teaching kindergarten. These tips have helped me as I prepare for student teaching this January in yes…Kindergarten! If you work with kinders or are interested in learning about supporting the needs of the whole child in an early learning setting, I hope this blog series helps you too!
Tip #5: Know Your Students and Their Families
In Kindergarten, building strong bonds with each child can help you have more effective talks with their parents and other family members. When you try to create a collaborative plan of support during parent-teacher conferences, the more knowledgeable you are about each student’s levels of academic performance and behavioral issues, the more persuasive you may be. Marzano, Marzano, and Pickering (2003) discovered that over the course of a year, teachers who had built strong bonds with their students families saw 31% fewer discipline issues and other related problems. As you may already be aware, learning increases when discipline issues in the classroom are decreased.
I intend to send home a “get to know me” flyer during my student teaching experience and describe my position in the classroom. I’m hoping that by doing this, families will feel as though they know me better and that this will make me more approachable once I’m free to teach full days.
Did you know that research shows that strong family involvement increases student achievement?
By having more contact with families, teachers can learn more about students’ needs and home environments. Having this information enhances the ability to better meet those needs. Family members who are involved tend to have a more positive view of teachers, which results in a collaborative effort to support student success.
Here are some great resources to help us better communicate and engage families during the kindergarten school year.
Building Positive Family-School Relationships (from Kaplan)
Spanning Classrooms to Living Rooms with Parent Engagement (from Kaplan)
The Welcoming Classroom: Building Strong Home-to-School Connections for Early Learning (from Kaplan)
Family Engagement Activities (from Project Appleseed)
Happy Teaching!