A GREAT PARENT COMMUNICATION TOOL

We all know that when parents are actively involved in our school kids benefit. They get better grades, have more confidence, and become life-long learners. But getting parent involvement can be challenging and very time consuming.

I am always on the lookout for tools that make it EASY to communicate with parents and get them more involved in my classroom. Last year I stumbled across SimplyCircle at the PK1 Conference in Santa Clara, CA.  Not only were these ladies sweeter than sweet, but they obviously were on to something pretty great. SimplyCircle is a super cool and totally FREE teacher-parent communication service. It replaces the gazillion tools we otherwise have to use and try to organize – emails for group updates, paper flyers for permission slips, text messaging to communicate with individual parents, online signup sheets for volunteers, photo sharing services. . . the list goes on and on. SimplyCircle fixes this with just ONE easy to use app.

After speaking with the amazing gals behind this program, I so get what they are dishing out.  They have so many ideas on how to get and keep parent support in the classroom.  Here are SimplyCircle's top 6 tips for getting parents to be more involved at the school – these are totally doable and make such sense to little old me.

Ask parents to help! You know the saying “Ask and you shall receive”? When you need parents to volunteer, the first step is to tell them when and how they can help!

Make it easy to sign up. Tools like SimpyCircle make signing up for a volunteer commitment as easy as the click of a button.  And, you (the teacher) know exactly who is coming in and when they will be arriving.

Remind parents about what's happening in your classroom. Reminders about field trips, classroom parties, and volunteer commitments are a part of the weekly teacher routine.  SimplyCircle builds these reminders in for you!

Stick to a communication schedule. If parents know when to expect a letter or communication of some sort, most will start to look for it.  Be sure to pick something that works for you!

Share artwork and photos. There is nothing that parents love more than seeing their kids' artwork or photos of them in action.  With SimplyCircle, photos are kept 100%private and secure.  All photos are saved at full resulations and can be included in a yearbook or sent for printing :)

Thank the parents who help out. Showing a little appreciation goes A LONG way and is the best way to make sure that they come back.  A simple thank you note or photos of the kids involved in the activity they supported always seems to do the trick.  

If you are interested in learning more about SimplyCircle, check out their Web site HERE.  It's a totally awesome communication tool.  And, like I wrote way up top . . . it's FREE!  

Thanks so much for visiting me today. I will be back soon with a little something fun. Until then . . . hang on tight. It gets easier every day we are back in that BIG 'OL SADDLE :)