Let’s Get Ready with Cedar Valley Publishing

Parent Teacher Conferences are essential opportunities to find out how your child is doing in school.  It’s a time to ask questions and your opportunity to get to know your child’s teacher one-on-one.  Remember, as the parent, you are your child’s first and foremost teacher.  So if you have a question, ask it.  Find out how you can help and don’t be afraid of asking simply:  How can I help? 

Build a network of other parents within your child’s class and volunteer.  The easiest way to be involved is to just show up and make it fun.  Kudos to the Pigeon River Green Gang in Sheboygan, WI.  This group of parents, teachers and kids have been meeting for 6 years, every month and doing improvements to their school.  They have created walking paths, prairie settings, and pizza gardens by planting the basil, oregano, tomatoes, peppers and later having a pizza party or a salsa party for their school to eat the fruits of their labor.  WOW, and that was some yummy salsa they made!!! 

I was recently at Harvard, IL’s 4 year old Kindergarten to talk to parents, via an interpreter about how they can help their children be successful in school.  I told them that just by showing up and asking questions, they are showing their kids that they care.  I also talked about the importance of going through the backpack and folder every night, reading with their kids for 15 minutes and playing a repetitive game for 15 minutes, like jumping jacks and counting out loud as they go.  Stop, drop and listen to your child daily and ask open ended questions to help your child learn to communicate and be involved in school activities and functions and build a network of parents to make it a fun social experience as well.  It’s all about making it fun for the entire family!  If it’s not fun, you need to make some changes to make it fun.  Find new people that are fun and start networking!
 
Copyright 2007, Stacey Kannenberg, Cedar Valley Publishing, Let’s Get Ready For Kindergarten! and Let’s Get Ready For First Grade!

Got some neat ideas to make it fun?  We’d all love to hear them!  Don’t stop with us. Share them with teachers, other parents and your local PTA/PTO too!  We’re all in this together!