Parent Teacher Conferences

You might be reading this and say- How on earth can you be having these already!!!  We just finished our 25th day of school and I have now completed all my parent teacher conferences.  The rest of our school waits until November, but as a kindergarten teacher, I feel November is much too late.  We are the foundation.  we need to start strong and build up.  I don't want to wait 3 months to tell a parent that their child started kindergarten and is already behind.  So many of students did not go to pre-school or Head-Start.  The majority of my students enter kindergarten knowing less than 5 letters and many can't even write their name or count to 10.

Having these early conferences helps us to inform the parents of what their child knows and what they are expected to know by the end of the first grading period.  For many parents, this is their first realization that they need to spend time interacting with their child, reading stories, practicing counting and talking about letters and shapes.

Do these parent teacher conference guarantee a parent will all of a sudden take an academic interest in their child? No, not always.  For others however, this may be their first child and they weren't aware of the increased academics in kindergarten.  It is my job to educated the parents on ways they can help their child be successful and encourage them to become involved in the classroom and the school.

I take a quick assessment a day or two before the parent conference so that I have current data to refer to.  I've included my assessment page below just click to download a copy.

Our conferences our quick- we have 20 minutes, which isn't really enough time to tell the parents what their child already knows and what they will be expected to know by the end of the school year.  I then show them strategies to use at home with their child.  I always make sure to say a few positive remarks about their child, discuss any concerns I may have and leave time for parents to ask questions.  The majority of their questions revolve around homework, school lunch and wanting to know how their child behaves at school.  I also make sure to have any school forms they might still need, like lunch applications and Remind101 information.

Hope this helps, and good luck to you when you hold your conferences.