Tips from Teachers… for Parents!

For teachers, parents can sometimes be more frustrating than students. Discover how, as a parent, you can keep both your child and their teacher happy!

In honor of back to school, Good Housekeeping recently released an article geared toward parents entitled, “What Teachers Wish You Knew.”

While the article stresses parent involvement, here’s some highlights from the tips:

Don't Be A Stranger
Parents should talk to their child’s teacher early in the year… there’s no need to wait until “back-to-school night.” By connecting early, you can find out the best way to contact him/her in the future, and shed light on any family information, such as a recent death, that may be affecting schoolwork. Many teachers use e-mail, and some even use childcare management technology, so it’s easy to stay in touch! Volunteering for class events and field trip chaperoning is also a great way to connect.

Learning Doesn't Stop After School
Once your child gets home from school, encourage him/her to show you something they worked on that day, rather than simply asking, “what did you do today,” and getting the age-old “nothing” response. Showing rather than telling will create more of a link between school and home, and give your child the opportunity to show off a bit, building confidence. If it seems to be a light homework night, there’s a lot of afterschool activities you can do with your child to continue the learning process.

Mistakes Are Ok
Don't put too much pressure on your child to get every assignment perfectly right—teachers like students that try hard and grow through learning. It’s ok for kids to get some questions wrong, especially since teachers use this information to see what material needs to be covered again.

For larger assignments, a hands-off approach is best. Teachers do not want to see perfectly created posters that were clearly done by the hand of a parent. Allowing your child to do the work on his/her own creates a sense of ownership and responsibility.

Learn how to best help your child with homework here.

Stay Involved
As your child gets older, it’s expected that they will be taking more advanced classes, but just because you don’t know a subject that way, doesn’t mean you can’t support your child’s efforts. Moral support is still helpful, even if you did flunk physics. Teachers don’t expect parents to be an expert on every subject, just being involved and keeping students motivated is enough.

The Teacher's On Your Side
A lot of parents will get defensive if their child is behaving poorly. But, it’s important to recognize that the teacher is not trying to pick on your child. Parents need to get all the facts before they react and be partners rather than prosecutors. Even great teachers and principals sometimes leave the profession, despite their love of children, because of unruly parents.

Keep Your Child Organized
When it comes time to send permission slips and tests home, it’s important that parents help their children return it by staying organized. Rather than letting a signed document end up crumpled up, have your child empty his/her backpack each night and provide a place, such as a vibrant folder, for transporting signed papers to and from school. Also, make sure your child has all of the supplies needed to do their work at school.

Say Thank You
Going back to not being a stranger, if you feel a teacher is truly doing a good job and influencing your child for the better, take the time to say thanks! A quick phone call or e-mail is all it takes.

Teachers: What are some other tips for parents to best support you and their children in the classroom?

Parents: How do you plan on supporting your child throughout the school year?
Let us know by commenting below, or posting on our Facebook or twitter pages.

Back to School: So Close, Yet So Far for Some

Just as school was about to begin, some states were delayed due to Hurricane Irene

After the earthquake, the east coast was hit hard with Hurricane Irene. The hurricane caused a lot of power outages, delaying the first day of school for some areas in MD, RI, CT,

DE, VT and many other states along the east coast. Other schools that had already opened for the school year were also delayed and/or closed.

Once the school year does begin, and days are unexpectedly canceled due to weather or other conditions, it can be difficult for working parents to find the appropriate childcare. Here’s some tips for parents on how to handle the kids when school is cancelled:

Anticipate Bad Weather
Plan for a weather emergency by first discussing options with your employer. If you’re able to telecommute during weather emergencies, then bring work home whenever there’s a potentially threatening forecast.

If you are able to telecommute, make sure you have time-consuming activities that your kids can do independently, such as watching a movie, or a simple art project.

Ask for Help
If a close relative lives nearby and is able to watch your children occasionally, it’s ideal, but if weather is terrible, transportation can be a problem.

Swap Kids
Get a group of neighbors together who have children within your child’s age range and create a “kid swap” group. Whenever school is cancelled, take turns hosting the children, that way, each parent will only have to take off work on occasion, rather than each time.

Take a Vacation Day
While some employers would not take kindly to this option, most will be understanding of your situation. Enjoy a day off with your children… after all, shouldn’t family come first?

How have you dealt with last-minute school cancellations in the past? Let us know by commenting below, or on our Facebook or twitter pages.

Back to School Season is Upon Us

With school almost here, learn tips and tricks for parents and teacher to get the year off to a good start!

As the final days before kids go back to school approach, we’ve put together some tips for parents and teachers to make the 2011/2012 school year a success.

Tips for Parents

Create a Routine
After having the summer off, going back to school can be a big transition for children of any age, especially younger children who are transitioning from pre-school to kindergarten, or kindergarten to first grade. Before school starts, talk to your child about their new routine—meal times, after school activities, pickup times and bed time are all important daily markers for young children to anticipate.

Communicate with the School
Ensure that the school, and any after-school activities associated with it, have contact information for both parents in case of emergency or last-minute schedule changes. If you’re a single or separated parent, make sure teachers are aware and that both parties would like to be involved and informed.

Offer Help and Support when Needed
If your child is having difficulty with their homework, offer help and support, but do not do their work for them. Children need to learn to grow, so simply doing their work will not help them. Rather, sit with them and help them work through the question.

Follow the Dress Code
Make sure your child knows and understands the school’s dress code—regardless of whether or not they wear a uniform. To save time, help your child pick out an outfit for the next day every night before he/she goes to bed as a part of their routine.

Pack Healthy Lunches
Don’t let childhood obesity happen to your kid. Take the time to pack a nutritious and delicious lunch each and every day!

Get more tips here.

Tips for Teachers

View the Year as a Fresh Start
If you had some problem students last year, don’t take it out on this year’s students! For a successful year, each group of children is unique and different and should be viewed with an open mind.

Make a Good First Impression
On the first day of school, most teachers want to be liked by their students, but it’s also important to set the standard for the year. Be sure to go over all classroom rules, procedures and expectations. When calling role, do your best to get nicknames and pronounce names correctly, writing down phonetic spellings of any names you were corrected on. Of course, tell students about yourself and get them excited for an exciting year ahead!

Have Supply Lists Ready
Make sure you have your supply list ready to hand out on the first day of school, or, if you really want to impress parents, mail the list a few weeks before! Keep lists down to necessities, especially if you teach in a low-income area.

Look the Part
Regardless of age, always make it a point to look professional, not sloppy and avoid any provocative clothing.

Stay Positive
Even if you’re having a horrible day—it’s raining, you just got dumped, your car has a flat tire, etc. —try to remain as positive as possible. Your mood will affect the moods of your students.

Be Organized
With ever increasing class sizes, it’s hard for teachers to stay organized. So, why not use technology to your advantage to help track attendance, reports, allergy information and parent contacts?

Size Matters: How Student Teacher Ratios Can Change Lives

With school districts and childcare providers considering budget cuts, classroom size is a major issue for teachers, students and parents

Potentially Huge Classroom Sizes
As the date of going back to school quickly approaches, there’s still a lot of concern about classroom size.

In Cleveland, the school district and teachers are still debating wages and staffing, with the teachers’ union concerned that class sizes could get to 50 or 60 students unless more teachers are hired. Last year, class sizes averaged approximately 35, and with approximately 300 positions still open, it’s no wonder that the union is concerned about upcoming student teacher ratios. Teachers are also worried about overly large classes that would not fit well into classrooms, making their jobs more about “crowd control” rather than teaching and ultimately affecting students’ ability to learn.

Dangerously Low Student Teacher Ratios
It’s not just public schools that are feeling the pressure due to understaffing. Earlier this summer, 3-year-old Naseir Janas Ponders nearly drowned at the Otter Creek Water Park in Greenville, SC. The boy was on a field trip with the teachers of the YMCA of Judson’s Community Center, but he was found floating face down in the water and had to be resuscitated by a passerby at the park. Once saved, sources say it was approximately 45 minutes before the staff from the YMCA had realized. When staff was asked what happened, they stated that they were trying to round up all of the children, and Ponders took off running… but what was done?

Only two YMCA supervisors accompanied approximately 11 children on the field trip, which, according to the S.C Department of Social Services, should have been a 3-to-1 child-to-teacher ratio. While his family is grateful that their little boy is still alive, they blame his near-death on negligence, “Accidents happen. This was not an accident. …it was negligence that nobody was supervising him.”

Prevention
Thankfully, Ponders is ok, but the whole scenario, including an investigation from the Department of Social Services, could have been avoided with better childcare management. It’s important for childcare directors to manage their staffing levels, and realize an appropriate student teacher ratio, especially for field trips. Now, the Tadpoles Pro app offers increased functionality to help childcare directors manage the amount of staff they need. In addition to seeing attendance based upon data, there’s a new feature for future expected attendance. By using student schedules, enrollment dates, graduation dates and return dates, the Tadpoles Pro app calculates expected student levels, for dates far into the future… all for free!

If you work at a school or childcare provider, do you anticipate your classroom sizes expanding this fall? If so, how do you plan to cope? Let us know by commenting below, or on our Facebook or twitter pages.

Keeping Cool in the Classroom

As temperatures continue to rise, learn how to keep your cool in the classroom.

As a heat wave sweeps across the country, it’s about that time in the summer where parents, children and teachers are all thinking about the same thing—back to school! However, with temperatures throughout the country at record highs, and countless schools without air conditioning, managing a classroom, particularly with younger kindergarten aged students, will be tough.

Some tips for keeping cool (and keeping your cool) in a hot classroom include:

• Provide water bottles, or encourage trips to the water fountain, to ensure children stay hydrated
• Leave lights off
• Keep windows closed on humid days
• Bring multiple fans and distribute evenly throughout the classroom

However, even when taking precautions, children, and teachers are still going to be uncomfortable. Try to think of innovative ways to use technology in the classroom, something that will take their mind off the heat.

Finally, make sure you stay organized. Having to frantically run around, shuffle through papers and keep track of which child is going home with who is troublesome enough, but add 100+ degree temperatures, and it can be a nightmare. Try using childcare management software for keeping track of attendance, contact information and class schedule to keep you calm, cool and collected.

Have additional tips? Share them with the teaching community by commenting on our Facebook or twitter pages.