27 replies to this topic

[tricky7]

Hi

I am looking into how to get more of an idea from parents to support my observations towards the Profile points. I wonder if anyone has anything that they have designed that they have sent home to parents to get their comments. Thought I would ask before I design one myself.

I am thinking along the lines of a brief explanation for each of the areas and asking for parents comments from home and finding out if the children talk about what they have learnt

C.L.L - reading, writing at home
P.S.R.N - counting, +, -
C.D - roleplay imagination


I have parents evening coming up so would introduce it then. I feel it could be useful in finding out about the children at home.

Thanks

tricky

[tori81]

I just had parent evening (last night) and I just showed the parents each childs copy of the profile with the highlighted sections that I had collected evidence for.

All the parents were amazed to find out that I had to do this for each child!

I asked them to write me a quick note about anything that their child did that was particularly impressive and I would add it to their evidence.

What I didn't tell them is that I am going to put notes from parents at the back of the book that I collect the childrens evidence in, and then use that as a basis to seee if I can collect my own evidence in that area.

I am a little worried that the parents will get over enthusiastic about what their child can do!

That is this years trial - I will go for something a bit more impressive next year!

Hope that helps

Tori81

[tinkerbell]

Hi tricky 7

I have starte d my learning journals and after my initial parents evening i sent it home with parents with lots of photos etc of first half terms play/work I highlighted e-profile acheivements and wrote brief progress in each of the 6 areas with a comment box for parents.
At \christmas sent home again with observations and other bits in asked for parents comments ...nothing

I am serious only one (a reception teacher) put a couple of sheets of mark making her child had done

I had sent a letter and photocopied an article from TES which stated how parents communication with school was important and a CD with all the photos for the full half term.....quite generous really not over bearing or anything.

I too will need to think of how to encourage parents to have an imput into their childs journal.I have a student and \i think I will get her to take notes and we can stick parents comments in that way...My TA did my notes last time

Tinkerbellx

[Cait]

It's a tricky one if parent's don't want to get involved; and to be fair, it's a new concept for them. Perhaps it will 'bed in' after a while after we have spent a few months-worth of newsletters thanking them for their wonderful input and saying how wonderful the children's learning journeys are with all this rich information which will be a real treasure to look back on in years to come.

[Cait]

I have done this 'praising' bit with parents before, and found it has worked quite well. Worth a try?

[HappyMaz]

Cait, on Feb 6 2009, 21:28, said:

It's a tricky one if parent's don't want to get involved; and to be fair, it's a new concept for them.

I think we have to be careful about saying that parents don't want to get involved in their child's education. There are as many reasons for parents not engaging in this way as there are parents. Even the most confident businessman or woman can be reduced to a quivering wreck by the idea of talking to their child's teacher. Low self esteem and lack of confidence can be a powerful barrier to a parent valuing their own parenting skills and the knowledge they have about their child as a learner, let alone being able to share this with the professional.

I would probably have been one of the parents who would have been viewed as not wanting to be involved when my children were at pre-school (and junior and secondary, come to that).

As you say Cait, praise is a good thing so I think it is key to tell a parent individually that what they are telling you is interesting and how you will use that information to plan for their child. Bit by bit you'll hopefully be able to build up a good relationship with the parent so that they will see how they fit into the partnership, and feel they are taken seriously and have a lot to offer.

Sorry - I really am grumpy this morning aren't I?

Maz

[Beau]

And don't under estimate how busy parents are. What might seem a small thing to you may just be the thing to break the camels back! I know there have been times when even filling in a reply slip to a letter from school has been a major undertaking, let alone write anything in more depth.

[hali]

it is a tricky one but a you say with praise and encouragement we will get there. Tori the parents eve idea seems like a good one we will be having one in May so may try that!

You ok M?

[Rea]

When I speak to parents or need to send a note I always remember the one parent years ago who told me she hadnt been able to fill in the form completly because she didnt know what a setting was. And my own experience with my childrens homework. Its not always as simple as we think.

[Cait]

Absolutely. And Maz, I didn't mean to imply that parents weren't interested in being involved in their child's learning, only that there are prabably as many reasons for them not feeling that they are able to be involved as there are parents!
I think some of it is down to the fact that it IS a new concept for them, to be asked for such a lot of input into their child's preschool/schooling. In the past they have been used to just dropping their children off with maybe a casual comment about what the child has been doing at the weekend. In the historic past - i.e. when I was going to school, there was a line by the playground gate over which parents could not cross, except by invitation, even with nursery class children. So, I believe that decades of apparent ennui cannot be undone in a few months. We have to chip away and show that we genuinely are interested and that this information is important to us, and probably, when parents have the completed learning journeys at the end of their child's time with us, they will be able to see the whole picture and truly understand what it is we are trying to do.

[glynnis eastwood]

I use a home links book where both parents and I write about thier child - Iput in WOW moments and thigs that may concern me or things that are happening and the parents put in this they have been doing at home - sometimes i get pictures from the children and photogrphs of special occaisions - I have to say 30 books is heavy going - but I don't chase - and only write in each one once a week , otherwise I would spend all my time na, na,na...

tricky7, on Feb 3 2009, 23:29, said:

Hi

I am looking into how to get more of an idea from parents to support my observations towards the Profile points. I wonder if anyone has anything that they have designed that they have sent home to parents to get their comments. Thought I would ask before I design one myself.

I am thinking along the lines of a brief explanation for each of the areas and asking for parents comments from home and finding out if the children talk about what they have learnt

C.L.L - reading, writing at home
P.S.R.N - counting, +, -
C.D - roleplay imagination


I have parents evening coming up so would introduce it then. I feel it could be useful in finding out about the children at home.

Thanks

tricky

[karenchick]

Hi all,
We use "speech bubbles" to encourage parents to contribute to their child's learning journey. They are introduced to parents during home visits. In our cloakroom area we have a bank of speech bubbles that may have a simple sentence starter printed on eg "At the weekend I....." "Just wanted to let you know....." etc At first lots of parents took this on board and we had some lovely contributions which were used as a basis to meet individual children's needs and through discussion provide next steps for learning. When the contributions began to dry up a little bit, we sent out "special occasion" bubbles eg "On bonfire night I....." etc This encourages a few more people to come on board again. Also, if a parent verbally volunteers some information about there child we would ask "Would you mind if I wrote that down on a speech bubble to put in your child's special book?" We have found that in doing this we have really begun to develop good, trusting partnerships with some of our parents. Also each half term, we have a loose theme which we have as a starting point for our mtp. We send out a newsletter with an attached parents comments sheet asking them if there are any aspects of this theme that their child is particularly interested in or any areas that they would like us to cover with their child. Their contributions are then added to the planning process along with the children's brainstorming session.

Hope this helps??? Will try to attach sample speech bubbles and initial letter used to introduce idea to parents.  fsf_parental_letter_about_profile_involvement.doc   30.5K   642 downloads

[HappyMaz]

karenchick, on Feb 9 2009, 21:54, said:

Hope this helps???

What a good idea - thanks for sharing this karenchick!

Welcome to the Forum - now that you've made your first posts, keep them coming. Especially if they're as useful as this one!

Maz

[rachelllps]

What a great idea, just what I need thanks for sharing

Rachel

[ExtraordinaryChicken]

Ooh I love this speech bubble idea!
At my setting all staff (including myself) are new to creating individual learning journeys as previously all the children's 'homework sheets' were simply collected together and put in a folder with their old skool tracking document (not the most personal or in depth to say the least). However after purchasing a digital camera and as a result of changes made to planning etc in line with EYFS the leader and myself have endeavoured to encourage staff to become more responsible for their own children. Now our staff are (sort of) comfortable with their important role of recording observation and planning, it is time to encourage our parents to become more involved too- we are drip feeding a few with parents storys (marvellous results with the 3 returned so far!) and are hoping to set up parents evening to enable parents and KP to share learning journey with more in-depth discussion so is ideal opportunity to explain how to get them more involved...
Anyway what I'm trying to say is that I love the pure simplicity of the speech bubbles as a way of gently encouraging the parents to share their 'wow' moments and this thread has arrived just in time as we have a staff meeting tomorrow- ooh I'm so excited to tell staff! Just hope the enthusiasm is infectious fingers crossed!