You’ve probably walked down this road school hall before…
You write a class newsletter…
To thoroughly communicate with parents.
You spend hours recapping all of your class events, providing important announcements and keeping all our students’ families in the loop.
Then you send it home…
And hope…And possibly pray…
That families will actually READ IT!
But, they don’t…
Instead they show up at your class door and ask you questions to which you really wish you could respond with a polite,
“Didn’t you read our class newsletter?”
But, you don’t say that…Because you kind of can’t…
Sound familiar?
We felt exactly the same way until we had a Bright Idea!
Like you, we spend a lot of time each week (usually after school hours), keeping our families in the loop. Our class newsletter is our “lifeline to class” and the way we see it, if we take the time to write it, it’s extremely important for parents to read! So, we make a little game out of it. Somewhere “hiding” in our class newsletters, is a secret message. Sometimes they are silly…
Sometimes they are sneaky and reinforce our learning…
But, bottom line…
They always get the message across that we need parents reading our class news. And, with our secret messages, they do. Why? Because we offer the kids a special treat (AKA sticker) if they bring their secret word back to class anytime during the week. And they do…If not the first day, they see their friends celebrating with stickers and want in on the action, so by Day 2 or 3 the secret messages are flying back into class. Shhh…
And, here’s a super duper secret…We teachers actually keep track. Yep, we are those teachers. We mark every single secret message off on our class checklist so we know who’s in the know and who’s not. Then, parent conference time comes along when we really wish you could do respond with a polite, “Didn’t you read our class newsletter?” Best teacher secret ever! Shhh…
For more bright ideas, please browse through the links below!
