Communication

In my classroom, the teacher uses a B.E.A.R book, which is just a three ring binder with important information to take home. The acronym B.E.A.R. stands for B ring  E verything  A lways  R eady. The B.E.A.R. books for a kindergarten class are a way of maintaining effective communication between home and school. This is an easy way for the teacher to put notes in the binder for the children to put in their book bags and take home to the parents. The front page will be a new letter for each week. This letter gives the theme for the week, for example this week’s theme is personal hygiene. The letter always tells the parents the new sight words their child should be learning that week, also which letter the child is working on. Mrs. Smith will tell the parents in the letter what chapter the class is on and what kind of math problems the students should be studying for a test. The binder always contains a weekly schedule of the student’s specials. So on Tuesday the parents know the child has P.E., and the child should wear tennis shoes to school. The lunch menu is printed on the back. This schedule changes every month. The binder contains other important information such as a list of the alphabet, coins, numbers 1-100 ( the parents should be studying these every night to help their child be more successful in the classroom.) Mrs. Smith has her discipline policy which is 1) verbal warning, 2) move clip to yellow ( loose ice cream for the day) 3) move clip to red (time out at recess). The parents are given the school rules, school schedule (from the time the students walk in the door until the students leave.) In the morning, Mrs. Smith will check for any parent notes. The parents have to sign daily that they looked over the child’s B.E.A.R. book. Mrs. Smith will write in each child’s book before they go home to tell the parents what kind of day that child had. For example, if Kayla moved her clip to yellow, Mrs. Smith would write that in and explain why Kayla had to move her clip.. Mrs. Smith will probably meet with the parents twice a year face to face. Parents stay so busy, and it’s hard for them to get in for a meeting. Mrs. Smith will speak with the parent’s of a child who is always getting in trouble more often than a child who isn’t.
 * Communication with the Parents**