Parent-Teacher Conferences: Ideas & Freebies

I can not believe it is time for Spring Parent-Teacher Conferences! It literally seems like Fall conferences were just here! Either way it’s here and I’m excited! Excited you say? Well, I am so eager to share with parents the AH-Mazing growth their student has show so far this year. Maybe it’s the fact that I am no longer scared to death of parent-teacher conferences that I can actually look at this a great opportunity to sit down with the parents and share great news! Yes, I do still have a few Kinders that will need continued support, but even those friends have shown growth beyond words.

It seems that the time always flies by and before I know it I am needing to wrap up my conversation so I like to have a schedule that I follow {yeah I type it out so I don’t forget anything 🙂 Here’s what that will most likely look like….

Meet & Greet

Go over report card

Questions/concerns about the report card

Share student video {see below}

Share student letter {see below}

Share a Day in the Life of a Kindergarten {see below}

Forms, signatures, etc

Hand out support material if needed {flash cards, fluency sheets, etc}

Hand out Ready, Set, First – -an introduction to 1st grade Common Core {see below}

Conclusion and additional questions

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

After typing that out and I very thankful our conferences for this year where pushed to 20 minutes rather than just 15! Above I mentioned a few activities that I will elaborate on below! The first being sharing the student videos.

This idea came to me the other night while falling asleep. I am sure it’s not an original idea, but I still love it! Anyway, I recorded short videos of each student teaching their parents something new they’ve learned in Kindergarten! Some students decided to read a book, write a story, sing a song, chant the ABC chart, or explain new concepts like how many tens & ones are in teen numbers! They turned out so cute and I can’t wait for parents to see them. As you know I am not able to share those on here, but trust me they are adorable!

Along with student videos the students will also be writing letters to their parents, completing A day in the life of a Kindergartener writing, and an opinion piece! {see below for the freebie link}

I was wanting to introduce my Kindergarten parents to the First Grade Common Core Standards so I created this easy to send home packet. It is a 15 page packet that explains most of the standards. It includes ideas and activities to practice the standard.

This packet is designed as a reference for Kindergarten parents. It is an overview of the important standards that will be expected of their soon to be first grader. I am more than aware that the transition from Kindergarten Common Core Standards to First Grade Common Core Standards is quite a task. So, why not help prepare these little Kinders?

A majority of the ELA and Math standards are covered in this easy send home packet. I have 25 students in my classroom so I made this packet quite condensed so it would be manageable to run a copy for each student in the classroom. This packet would also be great to send home over Summer Break!

Standards covered in this packet: key details in text, long & short vowels, phoneme segmentation, manipulating beginning, middle, & ending sounds in words, sight word recognition, addition problems with multiple addends, addition & subtraction problems solving for more and less, missing numbers in equations, rote counting, counting on, place value, more than/less than/equal to, time to hour & half hour, and fractions.

If you are interested in these freebies click below to grab them!

It sells for $3 in my TpT store! Click the image below to view!

{example page from the packet}

Click below to download the FREEBIE conference templates from above!

Comments

Sarah says

March 11, 2013 at 11:20 pm

I put that packet on my wishlist for next school year. 🙂 Looks cute and helpful!

Sarah
teachingiscolorful.blogspot.com

K is for Kinderrific says

March 11, 2013 at 11:55 pm

What a great idea to let parents know what is coming up in 1st grade AND ways to help their child!! Definitely on my wish list now!!

Debbie 🙂
K is for Kinderrific

Mrs. Krol says

March 12, 2013 at 12:53 am

We have conferences this Thursday. I'm hoping to be able to whip up some videos too. Thanks for the great idea. Love the freebie!

Pencils, and Crayons, and Books! Oh, My!

Anonymous says

March 12, 2013 at 2:05 am

Thanks so much for the love ladies!

Mrs. Krol you will not be disappointed in the videos… they love to show off! 🙂

Freckleteacher says

March 12, 2013 at 5:39 am

You are awesome Tara! What do you use for the videos? We don't conference with parents this time. We just send the report card home!

The Polished Teacher says

March 17, 2013 at 3:16 am

Thanks so much Tara! These are great! I'm sure the parents will love the videos! The kiddos must have had so much fun being the star of their own show! Such a cute idea!

ThePolishedTeacher

Katelins Kreative Kindergarten says

March 30, 2013 at 3:29 am

When I track back in, I will be doing parent teacher conferences! Thanks so much for the great ideas and freebie!!

Katelin

Samantha Morron says

November 2, 2013 at 12:34 pm

Thank you for sharing. Do you have a packet to explain kindergarten standards to parents at the beginning of the year?

Anonymous says

November 2, 2013 at 8:10 pm

Samantha,

Here is the link: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Ready-Set-Kindergarten-introduction-to-K-ELA-Math-Common-Core-Standards-711865

Thanks,
Tara

LacyB says

September 21, 2016 at 7:39 pm

What do you use for a report card? I just had to make my own and it seems like I have way to much information in it!

- Anonymous says
  
  September 28, 2016 at 8:01 am
  
  My district has always provided a mandated report card! We have always picked and chosen which standards to cover! It would be a lot to do all 🙁 That does sound like a huge undertaking! So sorry about that 🙁
  
  Tara