Plum Paper and Erin Condren Products

So I'm Plum Paper's newest fan! I purchased my teacher planner from them and then decided to order a Notebook too. I loved the idea of a Parent Teacher Conference book, so I ordered a 7x9 (8.5x11 is available too) personalized notebook. Instead of lined pages, I clicked on the Lifestyle format and chose Meeting Notebook. 

This book has 49 pages (f/b) of meeting pages. You could easily use this for team meetings, PLC meetings or any other meeting you might have. I'm choosing to use it strictly for parent conferences. With that many meeting pages, it could last 2-3 school years.

I also snagged a few things from Erin Condren as well. I told you in my last post that the EC interchangeable covers also fit my PP planner, I saw this one and knew I had to have it too!

I purchased these colorful circles to mark important dates on my yearly spread.  

I purchased these to snap into my planner on the current week. 

I purchased a set of personalized stationary. I chose to get the Happy Birthday set. It came with 20 folded (flat is also an option) cards with my name already inside them. I could have personalized a message in all of them but chose not to. I got to pick the color envelopes I wanted and it also came with envelope seals. I thought these would be perfect to give to my colleagues during the school year.

What are your favorite Plum Paper and Erin Condren products? 

4 for Friday: Parent Communication

I don't know about you but my summer is officially over! Teachers in my district report back to work on Monday. I've spent my week lounging, lesson planning for the first week of school and designing posters for my classroom.

This week I want to discuss parent communication. I would say that it's one of my strengths, though parents may not have the time to read and explore all that I send home, its there if and when they need it. 
Parent Communication 1. Parent Flipbook- Some teachers give this to parents at Back to School Night but I choose to give it to parents at Open House so that they can have a snapshot of our classroom before school officially begins. 

My parent flipbook includes our Daily Schedule, Classroom Celebrations, Homework Policy, as well as information on our Smart Tags (brag tags), 7 Habits of Happy Kids, Whole Brain Teaching and how parents can contact me. I purchased my flipbook from Learning in Wonderland and added my content. 

2. Parent Handbook- I pass our my Parent Handbook during Back to School Night (which happens 3 weeks into the school year), instead of putting this information in a slide show, I put it in a handbook for parents to refer to when needed and I spend BTS Night, discussing expectations, curriculum and classroom management. 

My Parent Handbook consists of detailed information about the above information. Like I said earlier this is generally information that would be included in your BTS Night presentation but I found that I have more time to discuss the ever so important behavioral and academic expectations as well as the curriculum and what their child is expected to master during the school year. I got this idea from Primarily Speaking. 
3. Monthly Newsletter- Last school year I switched over to a Monthly Newsletter as opposed to a Weekly Newsletter and it was the BEST decision I have every made! I didn't have to worry about getting the weekly newsletter written, printed and copied every week which freed up quite a bit of time for me.  Last year I would copy our Monthly Project on the back of each monthly newsletter. Now that I'm going back to 2nd grade, I'm copying "Family Write Night" ideas on the back of each monthly newsletter. 

4. Weekly Email Updates- Although I switched to monthly newsletters, I still wanted to keep my parents informed weekly of what was going on in the classroom. I found that sending a Weekly Update on Sunday evenings was perfect. I could "draft" the email all week if needed, so I wouldn't forget anything. 

 I always included general reminders first, then included important dates and ended with what we were learning that week. Those topics directly correlated to their Learning Handbook so they knew exactly what to study.
I'd love to hear how you communicate with parents, leave a comment here or hop on over to our Facebook page and leave a comment.

Communication Folder Inserts

I've been using communication folders in my classroom for years. The one's I purchase are durable and last all year. They also have a clear pocket on the front for me to add my own insert. The inside is imprinted: Left Side- Return to School, Right Side- Keep at Home. 
I absolutely love Nicky's Teacher Parent Communication Folders. You have to order a minimum of 100 folders so that's $125. I recommend going in with other teachers to reduce the cost or if you're lucky your school or PTA could purchase them for you. I was blessed with 50 black folders at the end of the year so that'll be enough for the next two years. I've ordered Metallic Purple, Metallic Silver and Black before. I really like the black ones best. You don't have to order all one color, you can mix and match as long as it equals 100.
For the last couple of years I've done a SMORE Folder. This year I'm switching to a SMART Folder because my school as a motto of Coalminers are SMART and SMART is an acronym for how students behave. Below is the insert I created for this year.

I was feeling creative and decided to make some inserts with some different themes. Maybe you can find one that you can use! Search the Teaching Oasis for these inserts.  

 

Made it Monday: Summer Recap

Next Monday teachers in my district head back to school for Teacher Work Week. I've enjoyed not teaching summer school and allowing myself downtime to reflect on this past school year. I've also created some amazing memories with my family and friends. I've been blogging regularly during the summer and hope to continue once the school year starts. Let's take a look back at all the creations I've shared this summer...
6*20 SMORE Folder Insert- This week I shared the new design for my SMORE Folder's (Take Home Folders) this year. 

6*27- Long Range Plans- This week I shared my long range lesson plans for the upcoming school year. 

7*11 Hydration Station- This week I shared an idea about creating a Hydration Station in my classroom this year. Hop on over to this post for a copy of the sign. 

7*4 & 7*18- Brag Tags- Thanks to my great friend and coworker I jumped on the Brag Tag bandwagon and created tons to share... hop on over to this post for a wide variety tags to use in your own classroom. 

7*25 Student Welcome Gifts- This week I shared the gifts I created for my students. I can't believe I'll be meeting them in two short weeks!

8*1 Parent Resources- This week I talked about the Parent Flipbook and the Parent Handbook I'm sharing this school year. 

8*8 Student Birthdays- This last creation focused on how I want to celebrate my students birthdays this school year. I've got everything ready to go in their cute birthday bags. 

This blog as well as the Teaching Oasis website is supported by donations from readers like you. The website domain, monthly hosting and clip art can become quite an expense, please consider making a donation to keep all this possible. Thank you for your continued support and have a great school year!

Made it Monday 8*1*16

In last weeks Made It Monday post I shared about the welcome gifts I made for my students for Open House/Meet the Teacher. This week I want to focus on their parents.

After scouring Pinterest I ran across this cute idea from The Lemonade Stand. "Parents Like You Are So Refreshing!" All I need to do is get some mini water bottles, Country Time lemonade packets and string and they'll be ready to go. You can download a copy for yourself on her blog.

 Also waiting for the parents is the Parent Flipbook I made them. Last year I gave this to parents during Back to School Night, but this year since that night comes 3 weeks after school starts, I wanted parents to have a preview of our classroom from the very beginning. Most of this information is included on our classroom website but last year I found that very little of my parents actually took the time to read up about our classroom. They had many questions that could have been answered if they had just looked at the website!

If you haven't seen Learning in Wonderland's Back to School Flipbook Templates then you don't know what you're missing! This is the neatest little thing I've ever purchased. She even included a step by step video on how to customize it and print it. I created something like this in the past but it was "old school"... a lot of cutting and pasting and copying until it lined up right and even after all that... it still didn't!

Since I'm passing out the flipbook at Open House/Meet the Teacher this year, I needed something for Back to School Night. In comes the Parent Handbook. I got the idea from Primarily Speaking. She included a copy in her Back to School Forms, since I only needed the handbook portion, I created my own. In this handbook parents will find detailed information about:

• classroom communication
• behavior plan
• homework policy
• grading
• assessments
• cultivating leaders
• celebrations
• daily schedule

So what do you give your parents at Open House/Meet the Teacher and Back to School Night?

Looking for more Made it Monday ideas? Hop on over to 4th Grade Frolics!

Made It Monday 6*20*16

I use Nickey's Folders for my parent communication folder. They come in a variety of colors but I'm partial to the black folder... they all have a clear sleeve for a folder insert. On the inside they have printed words, Left- Return to School, Right- Leave at Home.  

 This was my SMORE Folder last year. I wanted to redesign the insert for this year.

#1 was my design for last year and I debated and got feedback for next year's design and finally settled on #4 with some subtle changes.

 Stop by 4th Grade Frolics for more Made It Monday ideas!