Communication from preschool.......

CMM05

Hi Ladies-

Can you please share what kind of communication you get from teachers at nursery school/preschool, etc?

I am not mentioning daycare because I have found that at daycares daily sheets are very common.

Our boys go to nursery school (2 year old) and pre-k in a private setting. I am not all that pleased with the communication. We get a very broad newsletter once a week.

The teachers do not have computers in their rooms so they don't really e-mail.....and when I do, it sometimes takes a couple days to get a response back.

I am having a meeting with the director tomorrow because we are having some issues with DS2 being a bit aggressive in class (speech eval is already underway!) and I am trying to come up with ways that we can communicate in a more effective and frequent manner.

Just wondering if anyone gets more personalized sheets, etc.

TIA!

 

browneyedgrl4282

Our kids have a notebook they come home with everyday called "communication book" that the teachers write a note in daily! We are also to ask to communicate back through the book when needed. We also have email addresses of the teachers.

schmoodle

We don't get anything more. There is a monthly newsletter that isn't child specific (just "we're working on the color blue this month", that sort of thing), and at pickup they say what they did that day and may say "Toodle recognized his name!" or something like that. He's been in the class since September and we got one short evaluation sent home that covered whether he recognized shapes/colors, whether he listened, kept hands to himself, used his words, etc.

I actually want to talk to the teachers about a couple questions I have about his behavior and don't even have email for them, I'm planning to ask at pickup tomorrow if they have a minute (and usually the nanny does pickup/dropoff so I wouldn't even be able to do that).

charmcitygirl

We get a general monthly newsletter and each day the teacher will give a quick synopsis of his day at pickup. Most times, it's "Jacob had a good day. He loved coloring.". Or "Jacob had a challenging day...". If you want to talk to the teacher more indepth, you call and leave a message and she'll call you back. Mostly after school. They also do parent/teacher conferences each year - in fact, we just had ours this morning. But if I wanted to have a more indepth conversation, I can call and she'll call me back.

UsedToBeGoldie

how do you know about the issues that are happening in school? how did the teacher communicate that?

every teacher has their method... and pre-K doesn't require a TON of communication... I have taught pre-K and K... and it's a world of difference re: how much I need to talk to parents b/c preK is just to introduce things... there are not tons of things a child needs to master in preK.

meeting with the teacher to discuss the problem is the first step- and you should work together to decide on a plan for your communication... be it email, text, a note home, etc.  Keep in mind the limited time a teacher has during the day to write stuff down - so don't expect novels each day with every detail.

LisaMarisa

We dont get any kind of communication except maybe a few words at pickup.  I dont have email addresses for the teachers.

My communication today was a phone call from the director saying that DS dropped the piano lid on his finger and now the nail is black.  Fun.

cjsbdl

Henry is in MDO twice a week and they send a sheet home each day he's there that tells us how many times they changed his diaper, how much he ate for lunch (they also leave he remains of lunch in his bag), what songs they sang, what their bible story was (it is a church-based program), and what numbers/letters/etc they worked on. There is also a place for notes and his teacher usually uses this space to let us know if he is doing something new ("Henry is finally dancing during music time!") or if something happened that day we need to know about ("we sent maggie home with a fever."). We haven't had any behavioral problems so I am not sure how they would handle that, but I always chat with his teacher at either pick-up or drop-off so I'm guessing that is when she would mention it.

TheSkimmy

No newsletter- but we also have a long term sub. They write what they did on a dry eraser board ie. read "Cat in the Hat", learned the letter Z and went to science

I only get personal information when its really necessary- today it was that Charlie pooped in his pants and how they handled it. I've found that each teacher is different. Last year the teacher walked out and explained everything they did in class that day but at the 3yr old level they expect the communication to be open between parent and child. 

LVBlvd

At Paige's MDO, we get a sheet every day with her name on it.  It says what her mood was (chatty, active, happy, teary, quiet), what activities they did, when she went potty or had any accidents, how long she napped, and then there is a comment section.  The comment section usually just says, "Paige really enjoyed the nature walk today!"

If there are specific concerns like aggression, I imagine they would call me to discuss.   

LIAngel

We get a weekly newsletter in Nicholas' school bag.   I am welcome to email the director anytime I wish.  Also I can put a note in his folder with any concerns I may have.   I'm sure if there was a problem (like if Nicholas isn't behaving or he is acting aggressively), they would notify me.  

I do know that the kids in the K3 and K4 programs get assessments sent home and have parent/teacher conferences.

I don't get a daily report of everything he does though.  However I am friends with one of the Aides and I asked her what Nicholas was like at school.   Wanted to make sure he wasn't a bully or causing problems.    She said "Nicky is so precious that the only thing I have to tell him to do is to stop laughing so hard while he is eating his lunch cause I'm afraid he'll choke."  

KYRN

When DS was in the 1/2 day program I didn't like it b/c we really didn't get any communication aside from the teach making a comment when we picked him up if he'd been in timeout.  

He switched to the full day program (same teacher/class etc.) we get a daily sheet home with how much he eat and slept, his mood, and whether his hands were for helping or hurting.  And also what they did/learned that day.  

howleyshell

Private pre-school and pre-K here too.

They post the curriculum outside the door and each day before we walk in I tell them what they're going to be learning about that day (it's broken down by day and how the different activities (fine motor, gross motor, story time, centers) will be backing up this subject and what activities they'll be doing.

We have parent teacher conferences once a semester.  Before we had ours (October) I had no clue how my kids were doing academically.  I knew about one behavior incident early on but was shocked to find out my 5 yr old had been pushing boundaries in the class room for a solid month prior to the conference.  She assured me that had it been an "issue" she would have addressed it with me sooner and told me she thought it was a good thing to see him feeling out his surroundings as he becomes more comfortable and confident in his environment.  She said he's always responsible to discipline and never repeats the boundary testing stuff once corrected so she sees it as normal behavioral development.

Here's how I see it.  If they had to e-mail, take 5 minutes with, etc each and every parent each and every day they wouldn't have time to lesson plan and work with the kids.  I respect that.

I try to limit my conversations to letting them know if someone had been ill or acting out at home.  They're always willing to give me time and drop off (as long as it's not too close to class start time) and pick up and follow up on the few things I have discussed with them.  When I NEED to talk with them or vice versa they do it in person but frankly there's just not that much that's pressing as long as they're developing well academically and socially.  I know what they're working on and see what they're bringing home and over all that's enough for me.  When it's not I push for more.

JillRock96

Weekly e-mail newsletter specific to her class

Monthly e-mail newsletter for the school

Stamp on her hand every day if she stayed on "green" behaviorally

Private parent-teacher conference in the fall

Other than that, I can e-mail the teacher with concerns or question, and she is good about getting back to me within a day or so.  She is also good about taking time at the start or end of the day, which I know is difficult.

Honestly, I don't expect much more.  If she had an issue, I know she would contact me.  And if I have a question, she gets back to me.  At this age (pre-k), I don't expect to know Ava's mood, what she ate for snack, how many times she went potty, etc.  I know what they are learning in the classroom, so I know what to ask Ava about at home.  And I know by the stamp on her hand that there were no major issues.

ETA:  Just re-read that, and it came out snarky -- I didn't mean it to.  I meant to say that in a daycare setting, I would expect more of a report.  In a structured preschool setting with a curriculum, I don't expect to hear much of the day-to-day stuff unless there is an issue.

queenbone

There is a "communication file" just outside the classroom door for each student, but that is really just hanging file folders in a crate that the Administration uses for invoices, bulletins, etc. 

On the bulletin board outside the classroom there is a daily sheet that lists what they ate for snack that day and who brought it, what they read, what they sang, etc. and a suggested question that parents ask their student when they get home to trigger discussion about their day.

The teacher emails us a monthly classroom newsletter and it is also posted on the bulletin board. 

The few times I have emailed her she has responded w/i 24hrs.  They don't have computers in the classroom, so she doesn't check it until she gets home.

crystalgirl

DS1 goes to a Montessori school. When he was in the "toddler" classroom, we got a daily report. Now that he's in a preschool class, we get a broad, weekly newsletter. Occasionally one of his teachers (there are two, but I really only ever interact with one for whatever reason) sends a note via email about something that went on recently. This usually only happens if there is an issue of some kind. Similarly, if I email, I usually get a response within a day, sometimes two. They also don't have access during the day, so email exchanges are always in the evening.