do you receive regular communication from your child's preschool teacher?

apies · Guru

do you receive regular communication from your child's preschool teacher?

Cuppycake · Guru

We get a monthly letter from both of her preschools.

I volunteer monthly (not required, but heavily encouraged) at one school, and I guess they assume you see what you need to then. They do a caravan style pickup, so there is never time to talk then (unless you want to park and come up afterwards). I do wish there was more communication, but I tend to just assume that no news is good news.

At her other school, it's super tight-knit, and usually end up arriving early and staying late. She hasn't started that school yet, but once she does, I assume it will be like last year, with just a monthly letter unless there's an issue.

That seems to be the norm here, especially in the pre-k setting (as opposed to a daycare setting) and I think I'm only bothered by it because I'm so used to seeing the nap/bathroom/comment style sheets that you mentioned, because I had to fill out a zillion a day back when I was in that field.

apies · Guru

yeah, that was another point - since she rides the bus to and from school, we literally never see these people.

i guess i just need to get a grip and realize that this is how it's going to be moving forward.

when did our kids get so big!?!??!

daisy · Guru

there's no communication whatsoever from my school. we see the teachers everyday at dropoff and pickup, and it's very friendly and everything, but there are no written reports, and no descriptions of daily activities.
i get most of my info from R after school.
we are able to check in whenever we want with the teachers. i hadnt heard much from them (she's been there a week now) so i asked today how she's doing and they told me everything is "on point" with maybe one or two more sentences about who she's been having fun playing with, that she's participating and talkative now (as opposed to last year) - but seriously it was 2-3 sentences.
there's a conference in january and that's it, unless i schedule an appt.

i think when there are problems, they call the parent in. otherwise, no news is good news.

a_mastermom · Guru

daisy wrote:

there's no communication whatsoever from my school. we see the teachers everyday at dropoff and pickup, and it's very friendly and everything, but there are no written reports, and no descriptions of daily activities.
i get most of my info from R after school.
we are able to check in whenever we want with the teachers. i hadnt heard much from them (she's been there a week now) so i asked today how she's doing and they told me everything is "on point" with maybe one or two more sentences about who she's been having fun playing with, that she's participating and talkative now (as opposed to last year) - but seriously it was 2-3 sentences.
there's a conference in january and that's it, unless i schedule an appt.

i think when there are problems, they call the parent in. otherwise, no news is good news.

Exactly the same situation at Natalie's preschool. We don't even have conferences. I assume that I will only hear from them if there is a problem of some sort.

Sara · Guru

During pick up the teacher that brings Owen to the car will tell me how his day went.

Also, the lead teacher usually sends out an email summarizing what they had did that day with some pictures as well. Encouraging us to ask the kids about some of the things they had done especially if they forget to tell you. Which obviously they never remember it all.

We also have conferences in January. And then at the end of the year get another progress report that is tested on the same things the January one tests for.

Now that Bryce is in school I will email back and forth regularly with his teacher if I have any questions or concerns. Wonder if you could do that?

Juni · Guru

Honestly, I think you were just spoiled (in a good way, I don't mean that rude) last year. What a great thing to have that whole book and how great of that teacher to write in it every day. Seriously, so awesome.

So far with Gavin's school there is no formal communication - I called after his first day since I didn't pick him up to see how he did and I talk to the teacher in the morning. I *think* they do conferences though but I am not totally sure.

From the perspective of working at a preschool where there are 19-20 kids per class - there is just NO way they could do something like that. I have had parents that want certain accommodations and the teachers really try their best to communicate with the parents but their time is SO limited as it is, there is just no way.

One thing I would suggest is seeing if you could email. Being able to send an email after class is a lot easier than trying to write something down and get it to you before class is over, ya know?

It stinks to have been expecting something like that and then not have it done, but honestly, I think it's out of the ordinary for teachers to do that every day.

CoffeeQueen · Guru

no daily updates for us either

We get a monthly newsletter and conferences

the teacher does answer email daily if you have questions or issues. She also has an open door policy, but not a daily run down.

Maybe ask the teacher if you can get a weekly update? What are you looking for exactly?

FoxyRoxy · Guru

she send us a weekly schedule for the asingments. i drop and pick him up from school so if something happens she tell us at that moment.

we have a meeting on friday so she can give us the dates and themes of the christmas and end-of-school parties (she is very organized so she need to plan EVERYTHING).

other than that everything is very informal.

Supafly · Guru

Like many others, we don't have much of anything formal. During pick up, the main teacher tries to make sure she puts each of her students in their respective cars, so when she does, she will give you a quick run down, and touch on anything that needs to addressed. (this is for Anna's class)

For Kate's class, we go in for drop off and pick up, and her teacher will let you know of anything that needs to be mentioned. But she is also gives everyone her email, home phone and cell and makes sure we know we can use them if we feel the need to talk to her about anything.

We have conferences in January as well. Last year we had bad weather, and the conferences were canned unless you felt the need to have one. I didn't. So I haven't even done the conferences as of yet.

Kate's class has 8 kids and Anna's has 16.

Alyssa · Guru

They are supposed to send home a sheet each day with a couple of sentences about what they did, what they ate for lunch, and if he napped. Lately it's been hit or miss if it's there.

But I drop off Ethan and pick up most days so I see his teacher a couple of times a week. Some days his teacher gets in after him so on those days I drop him off in the preschool class (he's in pre-K) but I'd say at least 2-3 times a week I see his teacher and if I have a question, I just ask it then.

I can see how it would be difficult with the bus.

I would probably send a note asking if there was an email address in case you had questions. I would also ask if they do teacher conferences or have evaluations. Ethan's old school did that and it was really good to get feedback. His new school does it too but I don't think until the spring. He didn't get one this past year.

gogona · Guru

I am lucky that Christopher's teacher uses facebook so we communicate quite a bit through facebook. She also created a private facebook page for Christopher's class and posts pics of kids that she takes in school few times a week. I LOVE it!

She also sends us a group e-mail few times a week telling us about what kids are doing and how they're doing.

supergrover · Guru

Nothing formal at all. Monthly general newsletters, conferences once per semester. Teachers are always available before or after.

I'm on the parent committee and one thing I am pushing is that there is a poster in the coat/bag room that lists what they are working on this week, and what is coming up next so we can reinforce things at home. (they have a ton of theme weeks...dinosaur is a huge hit. If I knew it was coming, we could plan fun things at home too).

I think I get too little info, but I've also kinda gotten used to it.

SerenityNow · Veteran Member

No, nothing formal. I do talk to the teachers daily though because I work with them (I'm the V.P of the board of directors so we have to talk, a lot). I wish there was something weekly. Maybe I should suggest that!

I do know if there is a problem they talk about it, but if not, no communication whatsoever. But, there is a weekly sheet of the lesson plans for the week posted which is nice to know.

Corey · Guru

connor's preschool doesn't send anything home, but every day at pickup there is a sheet taped next to the door that says what the days theme was, if they had outside or indoor recess, what they ate at snack, what song they sang, and what project they did. they never give any kid specific feed back unless you ask (or unless your kid had an issue--like last year when connor refused to keep his shoes on in class and wasn't allowed out for recess biggrin

)

apies · Guru

thanks for all the feedback girls.

i knew i was spoiled last year. i guess i just wasn't ready to go from full throttle to nothing.

i do have her teacher's email address. maybe i'll shoot her a line later today and see how that goes.

i have found that the staff at emily's school are not nearly as good with using the email as at my school. i email parents daily yet at her school, some of them only check email a few days a week (wtf!?!)

thanks again!

dorian · Senior Member

last year, we seriously almost OD'ed on communication from his teachers.

this year we get NOTHING. i have to schedule a conference to know what's going on in his class. i have NO idea what the daily routine is or anything.

the only thing we get home is a happy face/ooops face or sad face with his homework. and if it's a oops face, there is not explanation or anything.

fruuuuuustrating.

CheleLyn · Senior Member

Our school has "take home folders" that come home daily. it has a behavior chart and we are free to put notes or whatever in the folder to be sent back to the teacher.

The parents are expected to initial the behavior chart daily...the teachers put in a colored smiley face whose color changes daily depending on the behavior of the child with a note explaining why there was a color change.

crystal · Guru

all the parents get an email every day with pictures attached of the day. it is very nice because i can show mason the pictures and it gets him talking more about his day. it is not personalized for each child though. it is the same email the all the parents get for the class. it normally says what all the activities they did for the day.

i would be pretty annoyed to hear nothing at all. especially if emily doesn't tell you much (mason barely will tell me anything about his day).

crystal · Guru

Cuppycake wrote:

We get a monthly letter from both of her preschools.

I volunteer monthly (not required, but heavily encouraged) at one school, and I guess they assume you see what you need to then. They do a caravan style pickup, so there is never time to talk then (unless you want to park and come up afterwards). I do wish there was more communication, but I tend to just assume that no news is good news.

At her other school, it's super tight-knit, and usually end up arriving early and staying late. She hasn't started that school yet, but once she does, I assume it will be like last year, with just a monthly letter unless there's an issue.

That seems to be the norm here, especially in the pre-k setting (as opposed to a daycare setting) and I think I'm only bothered by it because I'm so used to seeing the nap/bathroom/comment style sheets that you mentioned, because I had to fill out a zillion a day back when I was in that field.

oh, and when i pick mason up, his teacher normally makes a point to tell me how he did that day. it is normally only a minute or 2 that we talk, but she tells me if he was really tired that day, or did something special.