Parent Teacher Conferences and Break!

Hola, folks!  I'm glad you stopped by today, because I have some fun things to share with you.  I just finished up with our second round of Parent-Teacher Conferences. {Remember: I run on a 'year-round' schedule so if you are finding this to be early...it just may be for you "normal calendar" folks}.  As I was preparing for conferences I ran into the common questions of "what do you share at conferences?" and "how do you share it with parents?".  

Now, I have done my share of searching for tools on Teachers Pay Teachers and I have tried asking those "well seasoned" teachers, but haven't found something that accomplished what I was looking to do in my conferences.  I wanted something that held my students accountable, but also showed parents that their child was aware of what they needed to work on.  So, I started asking some of my teacher friends I work with to see if they had the same dilemma I was struggling with. Needless to say, they were having the same question, but we determined that it was one of those things we would just "get" over time.  Well, that answer made me feel a little bit better for about five minutes and then I decided to take matters into my own hands. One of my friends, "Lynn" (name has been changed), has mentioned she just wanted a letter that her students could fill in the areas they felt successful in and the areas they felt they needed to work on to be successful.  This was a BRILLIANT idea, so I text her and asked if she would be okay with me creating a letter for her to use and potentially share with the rest of you! She was thrilled and was relieved to know that 1) she wasn't going to have to hand write a letter to photo copy and 2) that her students parents would be able to see/hear from their child about their feelings of themselves as a learner. 

I got straight to work and developed a letter for myself "Lynn" and "Amanda" ( another teacher friend whose name has been changed).  Each of us tried it in our classrooms and found that it was a great addition to conferences. We had parents tell us how much they enjoyed seeing their child take ownership of their learning and our students even enjoyed being able to share the areas they felt successful in and what they felt they needed to work on! 

Here is a picture of the Conference letter I made. Hop on over to my TPT to download it and keep it for your future conferences! Please be sure to let me know what you thought of it so I can improve or alter anything that didn't work out! I greatly appreciate your feedback! 

Phew, now that conferences are over I have a week break and then I'm teaching our "Extended Learning Opportunities" next week! I have been making a list of projects/goals for my summer break and here is what I have so far:

1) I need to paint more buckets to store my Guided Math Stations (this will also be something I work on over the summer). {see my buckets here}

2) Attempt to make crate seating for my Guided Reading table! Have you seen these things! They are absolutely adorable and also can be used as extra storage...who doesn't love storage? If not, pop on over to my Pinterest page a take a look at my "First grade Ideas" board. 

3) Find a Guided Math Stations to create for my potential Guided Math Groups. 

4) Hang out with my adorable schnauzer, Kyle. 

Just look at that face! He is very fuzzy right now, but it sure is keeping him warm during these crazy Nebraska freeze-outs! 

Alrighy folks, I think I'm going to keep working on some of my TPT products that I hope to share with you soon! In the meantime, hop on over to my TPT store or check me out on Pinterest. Don't forget to hit that follow button so you don't miss any freebies or products! 

Thanks for stoppin' by! 

Parent Teacher Conferences, fab finds and share time!

Okay, so I'm sure some of you looked at the title of this post and probably did a double take. But, yes, you did read it correctly...this week I have Parent Teacher Conferences. I know it's probably very early for most of you to be thinking about this, but I am curious. How do you share information with your parents on conference night?

I have found that using a Conference folder that the students help create is a great tool. While browsing through TPT I found some adorable conference ideas. I will share with you my top two favorite conference folder ideas.

The first favorite comes from Rachelle and Natalie at What the Teacher Wants. Their lion themed conference folder cover is just too cute! I used these covers my very first year of teaching and not only did my kids love decorating them, but their parents LOVED them. 

Photo is from What the Teacher Wants blog.

My second favorite idea came from Carolyn McCleary, from Nurturing Noggins, who was inspired by Rachelle and Natalie from What the Teacher Wants. This conference packet has a personal report card, a reminder note, a teacher form and a conference folder cover (that is adorable!). Click here to hop on over to TPT and snag this freebie from Carolyn! I thought the "Dog-gone" folder cover was brilliant and my students loved decorating their own conference folders. 

So feel free to share! How do you share information with your Parents at conferences? Post a comment below with any links or ideas you have! (sorry I don't know how to do all those cool linky doo-dad things yet, I'm still learning). So, in the mean time we will do it the simple way! I can't wait to see what wonderful ideas we find! 

Thanks for stoppin' by!