Giving Parents a "View" Into the Classroom

I decided this weekend to update the template I use for my monthly parent newsletter for the classroom.  While I was doing this, I began thinking about the various ways we, as teachers, help parents understand what the children are doing all day at preschool! 

It has always been a bit tricky to show the parents what the children do daily in my classroom.  Some of the kids in my classroom can be VERY aware of routines and insistent on things staying exactly the same each and every day!  Often this also seems to dictate WHERE people should be! (mom should be at home, Miss Pam should be at school, grandpa belongs at his house etc.)  This can make visits from family members to the classroom tricky as meltdowns are likely to occur!

One of the quick and easy ways I have found to give parents a peek inside the classroom without a parent necessarily needing to BE there, is to add some various anecdotes to our monthly newsletter!  Below is the "News from Around the Classroom" section of our November newsletter to the families in my classroom.  As you can see, it is less about correct sentence structure, and more about keeping the flow of the "snapshot of the classroom" going!  (at least that's what I tell myself :)

News from Around the Classroom!

Last month we enjoyed exploring our apple

pie spice playdough.  Daniela was seen using

rolling pins, cookie cutters and pizza

cutters to make various pretend items with

this playdough!  (This month we will be exploring

pumpkin pie spice playdough- another wonderful

smelling sensory item!)  Christian has been getting

used to our classroom and has enjoyed using just

about any one of our musical instruments, cars,

Duplos or trucks in October!  -While Trevon

continues to enjoy painting with orange and yellow

paint just about every day!  A'ziah has been seen

driving many toy cars down the car ramps and has

enjoyed learning to swing on the big kids swings

while outside!  Colin has been obsessed with listening

to the story "The Spooky Wheels on the Bus".  And

Kayleigha has been thrilled to join us for our outdoor

time and has been enjoying riding bikes and driving

the car!  Ryan has enjoyed Going on many

Bear Hunts with us!  And Jeremiah and Dalton

especially enjoyed our painting with natural autumn

items (leaves, sticks etc.)

I simply mention one or two things that the child has particularly enjoyed during the previous month!  Generally, I focus on items the children have enjoyed doing during center work or outside.  It is a quick and fun way to individualize our newsletter!  Now, of course, adding photos would be even nicer, but our newsletter is short and to the point, so just the quick mention of each child and his or her favorite activity is enough! 

There are so many ways to give parents a view into the classroom (school websites, daily notes home, documentation panels, assessments using collected work and/or photos)!  This is simply one very quick and easy way to provide a bit of that "view" into the classroom!

Ring Around The Rosy...Autumn Version!

The last few weeks we have been enjoying a super simple, super fun version of "Ring Around the Rosy"!  We start by putting craft autumn colored leaves (the fabric type) on top of our small parachute. 

We all hold a handle and slowly move around the circle singing Ring Around the Rosy in the normal way...until we get to the end of the song.  We change the last line a bit. Instead of saying..."We all fall down" we sing, "the LEAVES fall down!" 

This is our cue to shake the parachute like crazy and let the leaves fly up and then fall down on top of us!  The kids LOVE this part!  They laugh as all the leaves fly around and down to the ground!  The kids then scramble around collecting all the leaves on the floor and putting them back on the parachute so they can play the game all over again!

Excuse the photos!  This is what you get when you're holding a
parachute handle and trying to take a photo at the same time!!

**Here's a parachute tip that really helps the kids settle down and relax after active parachute play.  Start with an active parachute game, like the Autumn version of Ring Around the Rosy.  When you're ready to slow down, have the children lay or sit down under the parachute.  Have the adults hold the handles and slowly pull the parachute up and down above the children's heads.  We count aloud to 20 while the children look up at the colors and feel the breeze.  Usually the children watch transfixed to the parachute colors above them and quickly calm down and relax!  It's a perfect calm transition and helps to gently end the game, as some children may be reluctant to see the parachute tucked back in it's bag!