Standard 1—Welcoming All Families into the School Community
Families are active participants in the life of the school, and feel welcomed, valued, and connected to each other, to school staff, and to what students are learning and doing in class.
Goal 1: Creating a Welcoming Climate: When families walk into the building, do they feel the school is inviting and is a place where they “belong”?
❖Developing personal relationships
❖Creating a family-friendly atmosphere
❖Providing opportunities for volunteering
Goal 2: Building a Respectful, Inclusive School Community: Do the school’s policies and programs reflect, respect, and value the diversity of the families in the community?
❖Respecting all families
❖Removing economic obstacles to participation
❖Ensuring accessible programming
© 2008 PTA.All rights reserved.Printed in U.S.A. (9/08)
Welcoming every family begins with the introductory letter, but does not end there. Many families feel intimidated by the school environment/culture or work too much to be actively engaged in their student's education. That said, a family's involvement in their student's education is a leading indicator of that student's success. An effective teacher creates diverse and frequent opportunities for engaging families throughout the school year. Honing listening skills is also essential. Most people begin to feel comfortable when people are truly listening to them.
Opportunities for Welcoming Every Family
Introductory Letter
Send introductory letter to students before school starts.
Before the school year begins send an introductory letter to each student. This letter should be fun and informal and you may include pictures of your summer adventures or interests. This letter does not need to address any of your classroom procedures or curriculum.
Before the school year begins send an introductory letter to each student. This letter should be fun and informal and you may include pictures of your summer adventures or interests. This letter does not need to address any of your classroom procedures or curriculum.
Welcome Letter
Send welcome letter/brochure the first week of school.
The second contact should come in the form of a welcome letter, although some teachers use a brochure or newsletter format. Within our initial communication with caregivers, it is important that we use simple, welcoming language. When you are crafting your letter, make sure that you consider the bi-lingual and multilingual families in our district. Also, keep in mind that not all families consist of mom, dad and student. Use sensitive language such as caregiver or family, instead of parents. Lastly, make sure that the letter stands out. Families will be receiving a lot of paper in the first week of school so you want your letter to attract the most attention. The following templates highlight important content inclusions in this welcome letter:
Welcome Letter Template from Annikers
http://www.educationworld.com/tools_templates/welcome_letter.doc
Back To School Night
Take advantage of your school's back to school night and plan supplemental activities in your classroom. Take this opportunity to take pictures of families, get to know who's who in the family and ask them to fill out a questionnaire regarding their child's interests, skills, abilities, and challenges. Try not to make assumptions about family roles- listen and observe before assigning responsibility. Taking advantage of the back to school night is crucial because most families show up. In my experience, it is hard to get some families into the school so take advantage of every opportunity to gather information and speak with your students' families.
Phone Calls Home
Some teachers phone each student before school starts or during the first week of school to introduce themselves. Starting the year with positive phone calls can also help ease the pain of any negative calls later on. If you feel up to it, you can plan two more check-in phone calls throughout the school year (of course, some student's behavior may necessitate more frequent communication).
Home Visits
Discuss with your principal, but do not be afraid of home visits. I read many articles about the value of home visits. Although many service and pre-service teachers may think home visits are a relic from the past with no place in the current landscape, many educators still use them successfully. Use your judgement, but making contact outside the school environment can be very valuable. That contact could also be at a public place like a church barbeque or a sporting event.
Family Collaboration with Projects and Homework
Have families collaborate with students on family and cultural background projects such as family trees, class books, art projects, family coats of arms, etc. Doing these projects early in the year can give the teacher important background on students as well as information about family involvement and availability. Other ideas include dialogue journals between student and caregiver, reading check-offs, student-family interviews, etc.
Send a Weekly Newsletter
Use weekly newsletters for consistent communication. Update families on volunteer opportunities, upcoming projects/celebrations, homework and curriculum reminders. If you have time (ha ha), you could utilize both paper and email communication. Do not rely solely on emailed newsletters because many families do not have consistent access to the Internet.
Classroom Newsletter Templates:
Open Door Policy and Help with Hands-On Projects
Have an open door policy and ask for help with hands-on projects such as cooking, building and Science experiments with lots of materials and clean up. List volunteer opportunities in the newsletter as well as outside your classroom. Invite family members to speak about an area of expertise or interest as it correlates with the curriculum. If you have to, then MAKE the contribution fit the curriculum.
Organize Potlucks/Teas Twice a Year
Organize potlucks/family teas twice a year (the holidays are good occasions for these events)
Even though these potlucks may be minimally attended during the school day, the students look forward to these occasions and you might be surprised the number of families that do attend.
Article and other Resources
In the following article, Ashley Chu reviews a text written by a teacher with 31 years of experience creating partnerships with the families of her students. If you do not have time to read the actual book which I cited under additional resources, then this succinct review provides plenty of ideas for new teachers.Chu, Ashley (2011). Book Review: Inviting Families into the Classroom: Learning from a Life in Teaching Family Involvement Network of Educators (FINE) Newsletter. Retrieved December 5, 2011, from http://www.hfrp.org/family-involvement/publications-resources/book-review-inviting-families-into-the-classroom-learning-from-a-life-in-teaching.
Allen, J. (2007). Creating welcoming schools: A practical guide to home–school partnerships with diverse families. New York: Teachers College Press and International Reading Association.
Strieb, L. Y. (2010) Inviting Families into the Classroom: Learning from a Life in Teaching. New York: Teachers College Press.
New Teacher Information from Education World
