Final Project

I believe learning happens when connections are made.  It has always been important to me as a teacher to include parents in their children's learning. As an early childhood educator I understand that the early years of a child's life are crucial to helping children develop the lifelong learning skills they will need not just in school, but into their adulthood. When students are engaged and connected in the classroom as a preschooler they have the opportunity to connect those feelings and memories to what takes place as they work their way through their K-12 education. I also believe that parents are a child's first, and most important teacher. As such they should be part of their child's education within the school setting. When children see their parents and teacher engaging together it gives them the message that school is a secure place to be. This belief has led me to complete this change project around parent involvement. 

 Over the course of my career this has occurred in a variety of ways from bringing parents into the classroom to sending books and projects home for families to complete activities together. Many of the activities I have used have been met with mixed success.

Ways I have incorporated parent involvement:

• Take home book bags with activities to be completed as a family. Some families completed them, some did not. Not all materials were returned to school. Some families asked that they not be sent home again. 
• Parent activities in the classroom. I have invited families into the classroom for a variety of activities. These activities have included: parent breakfasts, parents snacks, math activity day, literacy activity day, art shows, meet the teacher, goodbye parties etc. Some children each year had at least one parent show up to each event. Often the same child had no one show up. The school day is hard to work around for working parents, even if they want to attend.
• Parent questionnaires. I send home a parent questionnaire at the start of the school year every year. I ask the parents questions about their child, what types of activities they like to do, what types of activities they like to do as a family. IAs an  ask them if they have any interests that they would like to share with the classroom at some point during the school year. 
• Playdough club. At the beginning of the school year I send home a sheet asking parents if they would like to sign up for our classroom playdough club. When the parents return the sheet agreeing I send home a note that tells them when their assigned month is for them to make playdough as a family and send it in to school for the kids to use. I also send home a variety of fun playdough recipes, everything from edible playdough to Kool Aid playdough to simple ingredient and no cook playdough.
• Kinvo. I use Kinvo to send messages to parents in the language of their choosing. I type my message in English. Kinvo then translates the message into the language the parents have said the family speaks at home on their paperwork. When  the parents respond they type their message in whatever language they speak and Kinvo translates it for me into English.
• I use Class Dojo to share pictures and blurbs about our day in the classroom. Dojo allows parents to comment on what I post. Not every parent signs up.
• Teaching Strategies Gold I use TSG to document student learning. It allows me to save pictures and captions that can be shared with parents. It aligns with the curriculum that is used in the classroom. I can send home digital activities for the families to complete at home that are connected to the curriculum we use in the classroom. 

On one hand I feel like I try a variety of different things to bring families into the classroom. On another I feel like it still isn't enough. Now I am going to try something new. I am going to create a classroom podcast. I want to try to bring parents into my classroom. I want them to have a feel for the environment that their children spend the day in. I want the parents of my students to hear their children's voices as they engage in activities. A podcast will allow parents to glimpse a small window of a variety of activities that take place within the classroom. It will let them listen in and hear their child respond to curriculum that is presented. My hope is that they will then ask their children about the activities, causing them to strengthen their relationships at home. 

Things I need to do/think about:

• Tighten my belief statement
• Develop my idea of utilizing a podcast to include parents in the classroom
• Sign up for and attend a 7 session podcast class at the library. Done
• Get permission from Dr. Bagley for this to be a reality (principal)
• Create a permission slip for parents.
• How often would I want to do this? Monthly probably
• What would I include in it? I would want to include a variety of learning activities so that parents could get an over all sense of what the classroom is like. I would want to do a morning meeting, math lesson, literacy lesson, story time, free play activities, meet the principal segment etc.