Parents - The Child's First Teacher

I view parents of the students I teach as partners, collaborators, and advocates for their children. They are their child’s first teacher, therefore I try to involve them in as many aspects of their child’s learning as I can.

It is not uncommon to see parents volunteering within our classroom, reading to a small group of children once a week or teaching the entire class about their own passion or interest.

I work very hard to help parents understand what a social-constructivist classroom is like, why play is very important, and encourage them to follow similar philosophies in their parenting.

Displaying documentation around our classroom and hallway space, as well as learning stories through our blog, informs parents of our classroom happenings, and inspires them to be creative and experimental with their parenting in order to raise a whole and healthy child.

The documentation binder also supports parents to aid their child with the 'reflection' process of learning, a prop to ask questions and have the child recall while the parent records the child's thoughts of the learning event. They always know what to ask their child about at the dinner table.