Community/ Family Involvement

I introduced myself to the students and parents with a letter the first week
of school. I let the parents know I was excited to teach their children and if they
had any questions to please feel free to ask. I am thankful to have plenty of
parent volunteers in the classroom. I have mothers that come in during our
language block in the morning. They help with fluency testing and sight words.
Sometimes I just let the kids read to them so they get extra practice reading. I also
have mothers that volunteer during math. I have them work at the rotation
Math with Someone. At this rotation students are working with partners and
playing some sort of math game. It helps to have the parents work with the
students while I pull back the struggling students.
During Math Night, parents came to our classroom and learned about
different ways they can help their children with math at home. Parents were
coming in and out of the classroom for an hour. We gave them the names of
some math websites, math games, and provided materials for a make-and-take
number line. For Halloween, I stayed after school for Trunk or Treating. My
cooperating teacher and I dressed up and handed out candy from our car trunks.
It was a great turnout and the kids had so much fun.
I have also talked with parents about their students grades. Some parents
were concerned about their childrens math grades. I let them know that the
standards are meant to be mastered at the end of the year and we will continue
to work with them. I explained to them about our reteach basket. Any student
who needs extra help is pulled back for extra help during math rotations.
One of my favorite things I was able to do this semester was attend the
Daily 5 and CAF conference with many other teachers from Fay Galloway. The
Sisters who are the founders of the Daily 5 structure were amazing to see and I
learned so much. They will actually be coming to our school next year to help
teachers implement the Daily 5 structure.