In a special education classroom, communication with parents is key. This year 4 of my students do not speak at all. They can't tell their parents what happened at school. Even if as a parent they wanted to ask their child about their day, they would have to ask a lot of questions before they would possibly get to the right topic.
As a teacher, writing in 8 communication books is tedious. I used to spend my lunch and breaks writing in books. Often I was writing the same basic information for everyone. ie: Today we had music and made a craft or we worked on certain words or read a certain story.
A few years ago I got a digital camera through the Campbell's Label for Education Program. You collect Campbell Labels and trade them in for points. You can cash in the points for items like digital cameras.
So this is what I do now: I take a picture of the children, sometimes an individual shot and sometimes a group picture and transfer the pictures into word. I then type a little blurb about what we did that day and copy it under each picture. I then add any notes that pertain to each individual child ie: more diapers or an activity that only that child did.
I print them off the printer, cut them out and glue them into their communication books which go home every night. The whole process takes me a quarter of the time that it used to.
When they get home, the child has a visual reminder about what they did at school and the parent has a springboard with which to ask their child questions about what happened at school. Also, by the end of the year, it becomes a scrapbook of their year.
Don't forget about my sale. It's only good for today.
7 comments:
Thanks for participating in my linky party! I love that you have communication notebooks!
~Lorraine
Fabulous 4th Grade Froggies
I will have to remember this for next year! I started off with communication notebooks... By November students/parents lost them or by the time I remembered I needed to write in them the student was leaving.
Those notebooks sound awesome! What kind of notebook do you use? A composition notebook?
I used to do the communication notebooks written longhand, too. It took forever! I love your photo method.
Kara
Spedventures
This year I got composition notebooks. I usually try and find something from the dollar store. I try and get something thick enough to last the whole year and with a thick enough cover to hold up. I made up a cover using clip art and glued it to the front.
I like your idea of communication notebooks with the photos! I found you through the linky party and I'm a new follower.
Andrea
Cheers To School
What an awesome way to communicate with parents:)
We are ALL Special!
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