Class dojo works wonders for me in helping me to stay connected with parents. Parents can download this app on their phones and receive notifications in regards to their child's behavior, text back and forth with the teacher, set up conferences, and view what it going on in the school/ classroom via video, photo, or message. I love this source as it serves a classroom management tool, it's easy to use, quick, incorporates technology, and a good form of documentation! I hope this helps and good luck!

I use remind.com to communicate with parents. I have them sign up at the beginning of school- giving me either their phone number or email address- and it provides a quick way for me to send messages and communicate with parents. I can send a group message if there are multiple parents I need to talk to about the same issue (a student not turning in homework for example). If I just need to talk to one, I click on their name and send a message. It's quick and easy and I would highly recommend it.

All teachers in our county have a class website. I use this to keep my parents updated about everything that we have going on. I place homework assignments, test dates, and special events to the calendar. This way, parents have access to class information wherever they have an internet connection. I have also used the Remind app to communicate with parents.

I would see which form of communication works best for each parent. For example, some parents may respond to Remind blasts or emails, so in these cases communication would be quick and easy. Some parents, however, do not check their child's folder or respond to emails. These parents would benefit from phone calls. I would just see which communication works best for the parents instead of calling every parent.

Remind 101 is a great tool for communicating to parents and students. All parents have to do is send a text message with a code in it to a number, and then they are automatically signed up for the classroom. At that point the teacher can send out messages to parents about the class. It is a great resource to get information out quickly to all parents. I also use this for getting information to parents on the baseball team that I coach. It is a great tool.

Communicating with parents is everything! Remind and Class DOJO works well and google has an app that supplies an alternate number so parents won't call your cell phone back.

I think that you could send home a letter on the school letterhead for every event or thing going on at the school. You could also send a mass email to all of the parents in your class as communication. You would then hit the parents from two different forms of communication. If there are some parents that do not use email then you might want to continue to call them, but it would decease the number of phone calls massively.

Hello Ashley, I understand that there is never enough time in the day to complete all that we would like, let alone contact parents too. What has worked for my class is a classroom newsletter. Each week, I send home a newsletter with upcoming events, the main skills students are working on, reminders for forms that need to be turned in, and a shout out section for student of the week and birthday celebrations. By doing this newsletter, my parents are able to know on a week to week basis the important events within the classroom. Another way that I have kept communication open between the parents and myself is by providing them with my cell number. This may or not be an option for you. I teach Pre-K, and know that parents want to know immediately if their is a situation or incident at school. For this reason, I have each parents number saved in my phone, and send text messages if needed during outside play or nap time to keep them informed.

Class DoJo is amazing and will fix all of your problems with having to constantly call people. Any parent that connects to DoJo will have a text messaging-type system where you will be able to send messages back and forth as often as you need. It will be a life saver and it best of all, it is free!

CLASS DOJO! this is probably one of the best family involvement methods I have encountered!

The school I work in utilizes Shutterfly to increase communication and encourage parental involvement. Parents can choose whether or not to join the class site. Once a member, parents can view updates, see pictures and sign up to donate supplies or volunteer. The feedback so far has been positive.

I would use a flyer that you can simply edit for the yearly events. Maybe create a small calendar to send to the parents and remind students when the events get closer.

Texting parents allows TerLouw to update them on their child’s progress before waiting for an issue to arise. It’s quick and easy, and TerLouw says the constant flow of contact with parents has done wonders for her own parent-teacher relationships.

I suggest that maybe you have a template that you can say to every parent and then add information to that specific student. This way you will have more time to call the parents.

This idea might be a little old school, but you could put a note in the child's agenda and make the parent sign it so the parent acknowledges that they know what is going on in the classroom.