Nowa Techie

My district holds Back to School Night the night before school starts, at least for the TK – 5 schools. I personally love this. No parents are asking about behaviors, assignments, etc. I get to meet them and get to know each family a bit. It also helps the kiddos see where to report to in the morning. I really enjoy this model.

This leads me to August 2019. Sometime during my classroom setup, I got the idea to post a giant poster in the room and invite parents to write little words of encouragement. This was the last year in elementary before they went off to middle school. I wanted to make it memorable. Little did any of us realize that the universe was most certainly going to make it a memorable school year!

Some notes touched on the importance of making mistakes, believing in yourself, and asking for help when needed. This poster stayed up in our room for a long time after school started. I referred to them from time to time reminding them of what their families wanted them to know.

We have many multilingual families and some monolingual families (non-English). They were invited to write in the language of their choice. Had a parent wanted something written for them, I certainly would have helped with that too. Their words mattered. Side note, as I sat to write this today, I realized I wrote about it in 2019 too. Funny how a great idea sticks with you.