Week Four Update with Reading Notes and Parent Involvement!

Hey friends! So this week kicked off the 4th week of school for my district and I have to say that I am really lovin' my new group this year with their spunky personalities!! This year has really made me appreciate just how responsible little nine years old really can be. At the end of each year we have created such a well oiled machine that things go on without a hitch (usually). So trying to slowly move my way back to that well oiled machine has been somewhat of a painful difficult task for the first couple of weeks. However, now we are all more familiar with each other, we know the routines (for the most part), we are moving into the curriculum, and it has been going great!!!

This is the first year I have taught using the Daily 5 model and I am still trying to get a feel for it. It is so difficult trying to fit Daily 5 in with our current reading curriculum, which is Wonders by McGraw-Hill, since there is just so much to cover with such little time. Also, with having so many bilingual students we really take it at a slower pace which makes small group very beneficial, but again finding the time to fit it all in =  a challenge! Next week, I plan on letting the students choose their rounds of Daily 5 for the first time and I am hoping they will do alright. If they don't, I guess that means I didn't model and scaffold it enough and we need to go back through it! However, so far they have done a wonderful job following the expectations we have gone over together. They're building their stamina, becoming better readers and writers, and loving the independence.

I also have to show my Reading Notebook where I will keep notes on students' current reading abilities. I wanted to use a composition book, but able to use it quickly to keep the time moving. So I created my DIY tabs for the notebook and I am really happy with it!

For the tabs I simply created a table in word that was 4 rows by 6 columns. I put the names in the 1st and 3rd rows and then left rows 2 and 4 blank. Then I cut them out so that every name had a blank cell underneath it. I left this extra cell so I could tape it to the back of the page.... like so 

I know it's hard to see but this is the back side of one of the tabs. I lined it up along the paper and put one strip of tape over the blank cell and left the cell with the name hanging out (like a tab). I'm sure those directions were a bit confusing so hopefully the pictures help!

So far it is working really well. Each student has 4 blank pages to start for me to record notes and if I need to I can always make a 2nd notebook once this one is full. Oh I also laminated the table before I cut it out so the tabs were a bit more durable.

Now, on to what I originally came to blog about was parent involvement. At my school it is somewhat of  a struggle to get parents involved into their child's learning and one of the main reasons that is would be because of the language barrier. I hardly speak any Spanish and hardly any of parents speak English so I am always trying to find ways to pull the parents in. This year I decided to modify our grade level's "Thursday folders". Over the past 4 years my team and I have used "Thursday folders" as a form of communication between the parents and the teacher. Throughout the week, graded papers and flyers will go into the students' mailboxes and on Thursday the students will collect the materials in their mail box, which also includes a weekly newsletter from me, and house those papers in their Thursday folder. Thursday nights they take it home, they are supposed to go through the papers with their parents, and return the folder signed the next day. If I or the child's parents have comments they can either leave me a note on the right side of the folder or leave a quick note on the day they signed. 

Well this was all good and grand, but I got the feeling that the papers were coming out of the folder and going into the trash. I understand that everyone is busy and our schedules become hectic and crazy, but I wanted to know that my parents were taking the time to see how their child was doing and what was going on at our school. Therefore, I decided to give those Thursday folders an facelift!!!!!

Front of folder with label and student's number

                         

Now instead of just signing the folder the parents fill out a quick check box that tells me their feelings about their child's graded work. I included a happy face, an "okay" face, and a sad face. Then, next to the sad face, I wrote "I need to work at home on ______________ with my child." The check boxes with the faces allow it to be understood by any language and the quick statement next to the sad face makes the parent reflect on what they can do at home to help their child. So far it has been wonderful! My parents are being honest, cooperative, and I have been written more side comments this year than any year before. I feel like it's a great way for the parent(s) and I to stay on the same page and work together! I am hoping the rest of the year goes as well as this and it keeps the line of communication open between us.

Blank copy of the new face lift with signature, comments, and reflection.

Parent's signature and response! =)

I have quite a few more ideas that I will be trying out this year to continue improving parent involvement, but for now this is the first one I've implemented that is new(ish). At the end of September I will be going with a team from my  building to the Teach to Lead conference in Washington. One of our goals while we are there is to try and find ways to increase parental involvement. This means (hopefully) after the conference I will have plenty more ideas to implement and share with all of you! So tell me.... What do you do in your classroom to keep the communication open and the parental involvement up?