Why I Do What I Do {Families Are Important in School Success}

It's another "Why I Do What I Do"!

Today I'm sharing about my belief that families are important in school success.  Of course you believe that too, but the purpose of "Why I Do..." posts is to help me (and you too, I hope!) think about how my beliefs govern the practices I have in my classroom.

Two ways that I facilitate home/school communication so busy parents can stay informed and help support their child in school are...

1- FALCON folders!  FALCON stands for Families And Learning Communicating & Organizing Nightly.  Students take homework sheets, graded work, and notes home in their FALCON and are expected to return their FALCONs each day.  I LOVE naming these type of folders.  Giving it a name helps us quickly identify it and also endears it to students, in some odd way!  I love these Nicky folders because they are super durable and the folders inside are clearly labeled for things to keep at home and things to return at school.  Students keep homework sheets in the outside cover and we put things like spelling words and monthly speller's choice pages in the clear pocket on the back.

2- SUPER quick and easy newsletters!  I send one home every Monday inside FALCON folders.  I run them on colored paper so parents can find them quickly.  These are super easy to fill in using Powerpoint.  It literally takes me about 5 minutes every Friday afternoon.  I run my copies and then put them out with the other papers students must collect on Monday morning.  You can check out the 20 templates in my TpT store by clicking on the pic above, if you're interested!

How do you help parents stay involved?  Feel free to share in the comments below!

Getting Organized with a New & Improved Classroom Newsletter!

Last year was the first year EVER in my teaching career that I did not send home classroom newsletters.  I don't know why I didn't send them.  I wanted to!  I even started to at the beginning of the year but, after the first two, none ever went home again!  One of my goals this year is to send them home regularly.  In the past, I've done bi-weekly newsletters... the front had classroom news and the back had classroom pictures.  I'll be honest... they were pretty labor intensive and I always had to make sure to take new pics so every edition had new faces on the back.

But, this year, I've got a new newsletter template that is quick and easy!

It looks like this...

I love it!  It took me about 5 minutes to type all my info in at school this week and I already sent it home at Open House night on Wednesday!

I put together a set with 2 different "monthly themed" templates and plan to send them home each week since it seriously took me less than 10 minutes to type and print them all.  I know I can easily get it done during my lunch or planning time on Mondays!

The pack, which as 20 different newsletters that are editable in Powerpoint, is available on TpT for $5 and, even better... I'll give one away too!  Just leave a comment and I'll have hubby pick a winner tomorrow!

Find it on TpT!

Newelstter... Reminder!

Snow day... how I love thee... especially when you make my Mid-Winter break SIX fabulous days long!  :) 

As soon as I publish this, I'm actually going to work out (WHAT?!) for the THIRD DAY IN A ROW... (WHAT?!  WHAT?!  Where is Christina and who hijacked this blog?!).

Then I'm going to read, relax, try to stay off the computer!  And get ready to go see "HAIR" tonight with the hubby!

Just a quick reminder that, if you would like to get my newsletter tomorrow... you've gotta sign up!

You can subscribe to it by looking to the right... find where it says "Subscribe to my Newsletter", type your e-mail address in the box, and hit the button that says "Subscribe".  Easy!

I'm adding one more regular segment to my newsletter...

You can learn tomorrow about an upcoming giveaway starting on Monday in the newsletter tomorrow!

Thanks friends!  Check that e-mail tomorrow at 10am!

Do You Like EXCLUSIVE Freebies?

Because I do!  And I like sharing them!

That's why I've added two to my new monthly newsletter!

You can sign up on the right (the 3rd thing down) where it says "Subscribe to My Newsletter".

My first newsletter will go out on Friday, March 1st... here's a sneak peek at some of the things that will be inside...

I'll be sharing a little more about a popular blog post from the month before!

I'll be introducing my subscribers to a new blogger or one with less than 500 followers!  You can even suggest I include you if you'd like... click HERE to do that!  This month's person doesn't know I'm featuring them!  :)

There will also be TWO freebies each month!  One will be a PAID item that has an active free link for subscribers only for one week.  After a week I will disable the link... and there will be a subscriber exclusive freebie with a link that won't expire... but I won't share that freebie anywhere else!

Here's a sneak peek (that doesn't really show you anything!) for the upcoming Subscriber Exclusive Freebie...

Yay!  I'm super excited about being able to connect with you all in another way!  :)

I hope you'll sign up... and be checking your e-mail on Friday!!!!

Classroom Involvement Linky Party

Ok- THIS is the last blog post! I just couldn't resist joining this linky party to showcase how I keep parents involved in my classroom. Thank you, Bee's KinderGarden, for hosting this! Head on over and share how you keep parents up to date on your classroom happenings!

I use my website to keep parents up to date.

I also send home a bi-weekly newsletter!


Ok! That's it! Head over to Bee's KinderGarden to link up too!

See ya next week... for real this time!