Transparent and efficient parent teacher communication between the two pillars of support for kids in their early childhood – parents, and teachers, is crucial for establishing and working with the challenges and strengths of a child. It not just prospers mutual trust and respect but also empowers them to work with each other in the best interests of the kid.
Both teachers and parents of a kid attending preschool play a pivotal role in helping them develop to their full potential. While parents lay the foundation of essential life values and skills, teachers spark the kid’s imagination and creativity, which becomes the bedrock of things they develop an affinity to later in their lives.
How does parent involvement benefit a child’s progress?
Some of the most key cognitive developments in a child take place during their preschool years. By staying actively involved with what is happening at their kid’s preschool, parents can offer them all the support and help they need, which eventually helps them perform better – both in terms of their growth and performance.
If parents are aware of the developments at the school, they are able to establish a connection between the learning that takes place at school and the activities that happen at home. This way they are best equipped with the knowledge to help their children experience the learning process in a more fruitful and positive way.
Parent involvement enables the learning to not be confined in the four walls of a classroom and extends its impact on a kid’s life. This ensures that the children get the attention they deserve and need to develop to their brimming abilities.
Studies have shown that parent participation is one of the key factors that encourage and motivate kids in their learning process, and this can be best achieved with effective communication between the parents and teachers.
Here are some tips to set up constructive parent-teacher communication
How can teachers keep parents involved?
Using a Steady Communication Platform
When teachers use a uniform approach of sending newsletters, daily reports, announcements, and other updates with parents, it helps you establish a system that is structured. Using a consistent platform for communicating the same makes it convenient for teachers to be timely and regular with their updates, and for parents to easily access all the information for a single platform.
Illumine’s childcare app helps teachers streamline all the parent-teacher communication, bridging the parent-teacher gap efficiently while providing parents with real-time updates of their child’s activities at school.
Illumine offfers visually appealing and easy to use teacher parent communication app
Parent-Teacher Conferences
Parent-teacher meet-ups are a great way of familiarising parents with the preschool centers and all the educators that work with their children. This face-to-face communication puts the parents at ease and gives them a closer look into what is happening at their child’s school. It also makes way for the teachers and parents to get together and discuss the various developmental aspects of a child in detail, and also chart out the future goals for them..
Sharing beneficial resources with parents
Acquainting parents with various guidance materials could help them support their kid’s learning process in a more coherent manner. The knowledge gained from these reading materials can be used by parents to nurture various behavior patterns and skills in their children. These resources can include behavior management, language evolution, building better motor skills, amongst many others.
Incorporating Parent’s Feedback
Parents know their kids like no other. Their insights regarding what their kid might need are invaluable. These insights can be documented with the help of surveys that parents have to fill in mandatorily, which could be then followed up by a feedback form asking for their experience so far. It is crucial to reflect on the feedback provided by the parents and integrate the substantial ones into the teaching process.
Creating and sending daily reports
The daily reports are basically a breakdown of the entire day at preschool. By creating daily reports on the child’s activities, teachers can update parents with their kid’s progress on a regular basis, thus, involving them closely in the child’s learning experience.
With Illumine daycare report app, teachers can create individual journals or reports for each kid enlisted in their classroom and have them automatically sent to the parents. With Illumine, keeping parents at par with a child’s day-to-day activities at school does not just get highly convenient for them, but also saves them plenty of time.
Suggesting parent-child activities to be done at home
A great way of reinforcing what teachers have been teaching during school hours is to assign parents to engage in activities with their kids at home. This doesn’t just give parents a firsthand experience of exploring new learning experiences with their children but also keeps them more involved in their child’s growth journey. This can impact both – the relationship between the two, and the child’s skills – in a positive way.
Pointers for parents
How can parents stay more connected with their kid’s learning process?
Familiarising with the systems deployed at the school
It is crucial that the parents know how the platform deployed at the preschool work. This can help them navigate through the day-to-day operations and the activities happening in their kid’s classrooms constructively. It would also equip them with the information as to how to send in any requests for food, medicines, leaves, etc. It also enables them to effectively access all the lesson plans, assignments, and any other such notices that might need their attention.
Reading and responding to all correspondences
Parents need to make it a regular habit to go through all the correspondences sent in by the teachers. This way, they are up-to-date with all the progress taking place at the preschool and are better equipped to help their kids in all the ways they need support.
Illumine’s preschool management software streamlines all the announcements being sent to a single platform, making it easy for parents to access and keep a track of them and hence, never missing a beat of their child’s growing journey.
Reading and responding to all correspondences
Parents need to make it a regular habit to go through all the correspondences sent in by the teachers. This way, they are up-to-date with all the progress taking place at the preschool and are better equipped to help their kids in all the ways they need support.
Illumine’s preschool management app streamlines all the announcements being sent to a single platform, making it easy for parents to access and keep a track of them and hence, never missing a beat of their child’s growing journey.
Illumine parent-teacher communication app lets parent communicate all the food and medical requests digitally
Attend School Meetings
Throughout the year, preschools hold various events where parents get a chance to visit the institution and talk about their kid’s learning curve with their educators directly. Parents should make it a point to take out time and attend these events. It would help them stay connected with the ongoings at the school, and also give them an idea of the areas they need to work their child on.
Being thorough with lesson plans and assignments
Teachers usually send timely updates of upcoming lesson plans and assignments to parents, for them to be on track with what has been going on in the classroom.
Illumine’s daycare management app empowers teachers to update the lesson plans and assignments digitally without putting in much effort and time, and it helps parents access the same, all from a single platform, without any fuss.
Working on a child’s development and progress is a two-way open process between the parents and the teachers. When both the parties are well aware of what’s going on each side, they are in a better position to help the child grow into his or her best version