Keeping in touch with parents in the community is very critical to every child's success within the school. Newsletters are a great way to keep in touch. I think that a bi-monthly school newsletter and a monthly classroom newsletter is a great way to do this.
Word and Microsoft publisher have great templates to help you create these newsletters. Templates provide an easy way to have an end product that is tailored to your needs but also gives you a "jumping off" point. It gives you ideas within the templates of what information might be helpful in each section. They also give you the layout ideas for each item.
I think templates are a great way to start creating something new that is very complex and that you need a guide for to help you organize your thoughts. Newletters are a great example of templates.
Do you think that templates, newsletters in particular, are a great thing to use and can be a useful tool in keeping in touch with parents?
Yes, I think newsletters are a great way to keep parents/families informed of the goings-on in the classroom. I send a weekly newsletter home with my students detailing the things we will be focusing on that week, our words of the week, and reminders to students and parents!
ReplyDeleteKeeping parents/families "in the know" is very important. I sent only a weekly update to let families know what we are studying and any classroom/school news. Using a template makes the process go much quicker.
ReplyDeleteNewsletters are a very good communication tool to use in classrooms. I send home a weekly homework sheet including announcements for that week. Parents appreciate the dates and times for happenings going on that week.
ReplyDeleteI think Newsletters are wonderful. As a parent of a preschooler, I look forward to all correspondance from her teacher on the class activiites. As a sped teacher, I have not yet been able to figure out the best way and what information will be most useful to my parents. :)
ReplyDeleteI also send home a weekly homework sheet. I have seen some templates that can have pictures inserted in them. I haven't thought of that, the students would love to see themselves on the homework sheet.
ReplyDeleteI love the templates that are in Microsoft Office. I use them all the time. I do think a newsletter is a good idea. The possibilities are endless with templates.
ReplyDeletePlease respond to my post:
http://chrbowman.blogspot.com/
Thanks
I agree about the newsletter. I teacher 1st grade and I send home a weekly newsletter that has test dates, upcoming events, spelling and vocabulary words for the week, SOL's covered for the week. The parents LOVE it.
ReplyDeletePlease respond to my blog.
http://edel626blog.blogspot.com/2010/02/scary-times.html
Thanks!!!!