We chat every Tuesday night at 8:30-9:30 pm CST. All are welcome, especially EarlyEd teachers, leaders & experts. Co-founded & moderated by @techwnancy @JessicaCabeen & @VealHeidi
Hello! Katy here from Minnesota and I have spent a career engaging and educating parents in early childhood settings, and beyond. I have been waiting for this chat my whole Twitter life! #ecechat
Hello All!! Vicky Farias from Richardson, Tx - I won’t be able to join tonight - working late.. but I’m looking forward to reading through the chat later 😍 #ECEChat
Hi! Colleen from Omaha. Former kdg T, speaker, author zoo keeper. I’m still drying off from watching 10 year old’s soccer in the rain tonight. #ECEChat
Hello everyone! Connor Christensen, Kinder Teacher in Goddard, KS! So happy to be here tonight! Taking a break from homework to talk ECE!!! #ecechat#betheone
A1 Connecting with & engaging parents in multiple parts of the school day using digital platforms like @Seesaw@ReadyRosie & Twitter or a private Facebook page. #ECEChat
A1 SeeSaw has been great for keeping parents up to date on what we are doing in class. I think it helps for them to see the photos as compared to just reading a newsletter like they were before. #ECEChat
A1: overall school culture is elevated. There’s more buy-in from students, families, teachers, and admin because everyone is working together towards student and school success #ECEChat
A1- being a transparent leader and having clear and consistent communication with parents. Letting them know that you have their child’s best interest in mind. #ECEchat
A1: we’ve started focusing more on what they CAN do, instead of telling parents they are a level B and we are aiming for D, they don’t know this yet, etc. Ficus in the positive!! #ecechat
A1. Relationships with family AND students are elevated when working with the parents. The students see the mutual respect being modeled. It builds a stronger sense of belonging for the whole family which in turn creates more buy-in and support #ecechat
A1 SeeSaw has been great for keeping parents up to date on what we are doing in class. I think it helps for them to see the photos as compared to just reading a newsletter like they were before. #ECEChat
Love this Jessica-be open to say I don't know everything, but together we can do great things is such an important place to come from when working together. #ECEChat
A1: Since TK students come from all over the district my parents get to see the difference between us and their "home" schools. Some want to stay with us!#ECEchat
I think @seesaw also helps parents know exactly what to talk to their child about at home. They know what they did in class because they have seen the pictures/videos, etc. #ECEchat
A1: I think letting parents talk is important. Hear them! They are their child biggest advocate! We have to remember that parents send us their most prize possession everyday! #ECEchat
A1: Everyone wins when you work with Ps, Ts, admin, the school, but most importantly the Ss - when you work on developing the home/school connection, you are able to elevate everything! #ecechat
Agreed! I always say - remember that every child is someone's baby, and I tell parents...never apologize for being your child's advocate - that is your most important job! #ecechat
I love sending pictures, videos, positive calls home. We are celebrating the kids accomplishments big and small at this time of year! Just CELEBRATE students! #ECEChat
A2 Ok, I don't want to sound like a broken record, but @Seesaw. We (Ss and Ts) send out real time Wow work, SEL videos (SS I miss you Ps send video back), field trip photos....#ecechat
A2: When I was in the classroom I used to end our day by reminding students to tell there parents about what happened that day, or telling the parents to ask their child about a specific part of the day, prompting conversation! #ecechat
A2: I think social media allows teachers to share bits and pieces of their day. I also am very interested in getting my Ts to use @Seesaw to involve parents into their childs day more! #ECEchat
A1: Ps are more aware of classroom expectations and daily events and in turn suppotative when issues arise. #Seesaw has been an amazing way to bring Ps into the classroom @Seesaw#ECEChat
A2. By using Instagram and @ClassDojo families are able to see pictures and VIDEOS of what their children are doing at school. Always love parents coming to parties and celebrations #ecechat
A2. At my son’s preschool the teachers use CLASS DOJO to upload pictures and notes of their day. They aren’t using Dojo for behavior and I find that so refreshing. I LOVE seeing pics of him while I’m working! #ecechat
A2: I send pictures and videos. I also have a parent communication binder with daily communication. In the past, I have done Family Fun Days. I am going to try to incorporate those again next school year. #ecechat
A2: Seesaw! I love that I can take a picture of what we are doing and send it right to parents! One of the many great things you can do with this app! #ECEchat
A2: Pictures, pictures, pictures! I work at a STEM school, design challenges and PBL are a big part of our program. I take pictures of them building and creating, put them on GoogleDrive, send the parents the link. #ECEchat
@Slater_Curtis_ It is amazing how great Twitter can be used to build your learning community. Believe it or not parents are on Twitter throughout their workday #ecechat
A2: #ecechat I find that as a P I 💕to see what my boys are doing in class. Ss do not always verbalize what happened at school. Using #Seesaw — sending pictures, videos and feedback has been a great way to involve Ps in their child’s day.
A2. During the short school days, one way to involve parents could be by having a few students parents, throughout the year, come in a speak about their vocational field. Or have parents come in at the end of the day to stuff folders and talk about their childs day #ECEchat
I think social media is a good resource for both teachers and parents. It can be a bridge connect with school and families. Parents will see students' life in school and know more about their children effectively. #ECEchat
A3: Best thing ever was delivering books to each of my incoming K students this summer before school started, met the families, saw them at home, introduced myself, and kids were excited to see me again on the first day of school! #ecechat
A3 We do 2 home visits and 2 conferences per year. Although this is a requirement for Head Start, it does create a stronger bond for Ps and Ts. #ECEChat
A3. The most powerful thing I did as a T to build relationships with my Ss and families was to schedule home visits. So worth the extended effort! #ECEChat
#ECEchat We do a interactive PTA events. We always do it with something else like Reading night, Stem night, etc. We get the best interactions with our FAMILY EVENTS: Dads for donuts, muffins for moms, family movie night, etc. Giving families the opportunity to be involved.
A2: I love sending pictures home of my Ss amazing accomplishments in quick emails. I also prep positive notes at the beginning of the year for each S. I make a point to catch them doing something great, grab a note, personalize it, and send it home. #ECEchat
A2. Send out a newsletter at the end of the week with an update on what the students learned in class so that parents are more involved in their students lives. #ECEchat
A3- greeting students at the door who are walked in by Ps and having friendly conversations. Inviting parents to school for Open House, conferences, and family engagement events. #ECEchat
A3 Field trips are a great chance for families to come interact with their S and classmates. We also do Muffins with Moms and Doughnuts with Dads events to share time with the special adults in Ss lives #ECEChat
A3. Morning Greeting. Welcoming families outside-rain, sleet, wind, sunny or snow shows a commitment to care and accessibility as a school leader. #ECEChat#hackingearlylearning
A3: Best thing ever was delivering books to each of my incoming K students this summer before school started, met the families, saw them at home, introduced myself, and kids were excited to see me again on the first day of school! #ecechat
A2 as a kindergarten #physed T, this is still a challenge forme, i’ve used @ClassDojo and @Seesaw but active participation from Ps is still a struggle #ECEChat
A2 I love how Seesaw allows students to feel motivated to share their learning with pics, videos, drawings... and parents can respond and discuss at home. From the parent side, seeing what my daughter is doing in school is a great glimpse into her day. #ecechat
A3 This is my zone, greeting parents, sharing smiles and laughter, caring deeply about them, seeing their strengths, holding their babies, helping them out to the parking lot after school, and holding their stories until we meet again. Radical hospitality is key. #ECFE#ecechat
A3: Best thing ever was delivering books to each of my incoming K students this summer before school started, met the families, saw them at home, introduced myself, and kids were excited to see me again on the first day of school! #ecechat
A3: I’ve found talking to parents when they pick up is great to chat quick. Also going to all the fun family events is fun to see kids with their family and visit with parents #ecechat
A3. 2 conferences per year, parties, and PTO fundraisers. Love seeing the families outside of the school day, and especially outside of the school. The bond grows much stronger when you spend 2 hours at the skating rink with 17 of your 22 families!! #ecechat
A3: I have the Ss take their parents on a tour of the class from a written list. The Ss explained everything and then the parents Qs are focused. #ecechat
A3: We’ve has really successful curriculum nights. We’ve tailored activities for PreK Ss and their families to give them a taste of the sort of things we are doing in class daily! #ECEchat
It truly is remarkable! I’ve experienced first hand the impact of doing Home Visits & how it goes a long way to ease the transition from home to school at the start of the year. #ECEchat
A3 We do 2 home visits and 2 conferences per year. Although this is a requirement for Head Start, it does create a stronger bond for Ps and Ts. #ECEChat
A3: Last year, the Family Fun Days were successful. The families would come and do stations with their kiddos for a couple hours. We did themes: Super Heroes, Polar Express, and Dr. Seuss. I started the planning for one this year and time just got the best of me. #ecechat
A3: #ECEchat we have done Bingo nights, ChickFilA nights, Skate nights, and content nights with a book fair...we used to do a Fun Run and spring Festival.
A3 Parent Academies to show parents how they can help their kiddos at home including a make & take so they have something to take home and use right way! #ecechat
A3: Parent-Teacher conferences -- that's when parents learn what their children can/are doing. Even if it seems very formulaic., my parents and I learn so much from each other. I look forward to them every year.#ECEchat
#ECEchat one thing that we had great parent connections is when our students showcased their Code to the future projects! It was amazing to see what even kindergarten students were creating!
A1: Everything! Sound cheesy but honestly, the relationships built increase the day to day interactions between Ss, Ts and fams! When we know more, we can do more! Working as a team everyday instead of just a few nights a year makes our classroom run so much better! #ecechat
A3. One face-to-face way to connect with families that has been successful is through class parties or field trips. It has been successful to get to know parents involved in volunteering and planning. For parents not involved in this, parent-teacher conferences help #ECEchat
A3: On the informal side, we have some fun events: our Halloween fundraiser, book fairs, music performances, a BINGO night where teachers sing, dance, show off a talent. Creates that community! #ECEchat
A4: Home visits makes a tremendous impact on home/school relationships! It’s a great way to start the school year off on the right foot before the 1st day of school. #ECEchat
A4: phone calls & emails have been my go to tool when F2F isn’t possible. I also will send notes home with kids on a communication sheet in their folder #ecechat
A4: Facebook, Twitter, IFTTT, Smore, School Messenger, email, but sometimes those little humans in our building...tell them to go home and tell mom and dad about this or that #ecechat
A4. ClassDojo is my go-to. I have all parents connected and they see real-time how their student is doing as well as pictures and videos. I use Instagram to connect with more of the community as well as parents. #ecechat
A4: We ❤️ @ReadyRosie! As a teacher, I love to tailor video playlists with activities that are relevant to my Ss learning. The playlists go straight to my Ps phones - then they have meaningful, helpful resources at their fingertips to help engage their littles! #ECEchat
A4. Our parent blog has been a great way to archive and share information not only for current families-but future ones as well. https://t.co/HkPCMhchwl#ECEChat
A2: We like to have events that actively involve fams in their student's learning: gingerbread building during our construction unit, fam. learning picnics where students make lunch for them and we can share resources for fams to use at home! The keyword is ACTIVE! #ecechat
A4. HOW COULD I FORGET! Positive Phone Calls regularly. Parents eat these up. Also I send a lot of reminder emails with upcoming events, what we're working on, etc. #ecechat
A4. We have a take-home backpack program. They have some frustrations with all their little pieces, but I got this comment the other day on a Mother’s Day card. All the work is worth it if even just one child feels this way! #ECEChat
A2: part 2: For day to day comm. we use all resources! Face to face convos, text and phone calls, emails, weekly newsletters but my fave is our class Shutterfly website that allows us to share photos with fams of the incrdible play based work their Ss are doing in class! #ecechat
A4: So many social media resources that teachers and parents can use to connect without face to face, like Skype. Online meeting is a good way for them to manage their time. Also, creating an opening online platform can allow parents to share their opinion as well. #ECEchat
A2: part 2: For day to day comm. we use all resources! Face to face #ecechat text & phone calls, emails, weekly newsletters but my fave is our class Shutterfly website that allows us to share photos with fams of the incredible play based work their Ss are doing in class! #ecechat
A2: part 2: For day to day comm. we use all resources! Face to face convos, text & phone calls, emails, weekly newsletters but my fave is our class Shutterfly website that allows us to share photos with fams of the incredible play based work their Ss are doing in class! #ecechat
A4: Oh, email is my friend! I had a rough start with a couple of parents this year. But through emails with them and with my principal, we were able to work through it. When there's no issue, it's just a great way to ask and answer questions in real time. #ECEchat
A4 Does anyone do parent engagement nights focused on topics of interest to them as parents (besides how their child is doing in school, of course)? #ecechat
Important to consider-some parent's are not physically in the same city, state, nation as their children. Parent involvement and engagement can be creative, meaningful and address physical barriers that have otherwise limited engagement. #ECEChat#HackingEarlyLearning
A4: So many social media resources that teachers and parents can use to connect without face to face, like Skype. Online meeting is a good way for them to manage their time. Also, creating an opening online platform can allow parents to share their opinion as well. #ECEchat
A5. It’s a tie between our first event when we are getting to know each other and our last event when we wish our kiddos well as they head to their kindergarten school! #ECEchat
A3: The best ways have been fam. events! Bringing in fams and planning events can be tiring but it's valuable to have times throughout the year where you can have convos & share meals & resources, info about Ss. It goes a LONG way towards building lasting relationships. #ecechat
A4: I like when I hear how social media today can be used in a positive way to connect and inform parents of the great learning. Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc. #ECEchat
A5: my favorite parent involvement activities this year were inviting parents (&family members) to come in help us build gingerbread houses & I asked parents if they would be willing to help cut out items for center activities at home #ecechat
A4: We ❤️ @ReadyRosie! As a teacher, I love to tailor video playlists with activities that are relevant to my Ss learning. The playlists go straight to my Ps phones - then they have meaningful, helpful resources at their fingertips to help engage their littles! #ECEchat
A4. We have a take-home backpack program. They have some frustrations with all their little pieces, but I got this comment the other day on a Mother’s Day card. All the work is worth it if even just one child feels this way! #ECEChat
A4: Our class Shutterfly website is the biggest support for fams that can't make it in to our classroom on a daily basis. It allows them 👀 into their Ss daily learning 🌍. From there, I use whatever means necessary. Text, phone calls, email, daily folders/ comm. sheet #ecechat
A5: Have not been able to officially get it started but have been giving out copies of The Gift of Failure for Ps to read and was hoping to have a face to face book club chat and a Facebook group discussion #ecechat
A5: This year I tried doing a student led conference for the first time. I really enjoyed that! I will continue using those in the future for at least one conference each year. #ecechat
A5. Camping week! Parents write the students letters as though they are at summer camp and the students write back to them each day. Everyday they are able to wear pajamas and the create a fort under their desk like it is a tent. #ECEchat
A6: I like asking my kids what I should tell their parents. I’m gonna try & connect with each of them to write a positive note together to send home!! #ecechat
A5: A tough one! We have a TK InfoNite at the beginning of the year, when we meet parents and students a few days before school. But I love Open House, too! InfoNite is exciting. Open House is where the kids shine! #ECEchat
A5: When I was a T, I had Ps write to me - Tell me about your child in 1 million words or fewer - saved those letters, still have them, over the years two children lost mothers to cancer and I mailed letters to the family so they would have them, still love to reread #ecechat
A6: I definitely want to get on the @Seesaw train! I’m also brainstorming ways I can incorporate some of the great parent engagement questions into beginning of the year materials for next year. #ECEchat
A6: I have always been intrigued by using seesaw or something similar. Tomorrow, or in the near future, I will start exploring and preparing to incorporate this in my communication for next year. #ecechat
A6: I have made it a personal goal to make face or face contact or talk on the phone with each of my families between now and the end of the year to let them know how great their child is! #ecechat
A5: Book handling family learning picnic; mixes two of my favorite things: working with families and childrens' books! Love seeing the parents check out the new books they get from us with their Ss as they try out new strategies to read to their S! #ecechat
A6: I have been searching for a convenient and quick way to share stories and pictures that allows for privacy in a way twitter and fb do not. Definitely going to next out classdojo and seesaw now. Thanks for so many great ideas! #ECEchat
A6. I can connect with parents starting tomorrow by being intentional with contacting them, whether by email or phone, to go over with them how their students year went. #ECEchat
