Send a Letter! Phone a Friend!

Sooo...we are already 3 days into our new year.  Our kiddos arrived bright and early this past Monday morning.  We can't believe the summer flew by! 

Now that we are back into full swing, we are thinking of the 1st piece of useful information (we hope!) that we can pass on to our super sweet new followers! 

And the winner is...Send a letter! Phone a Friend!

Before school begins each year we send our new kiddos (and families) a letter in the mail.  Let's be honest...who doesn't love getting REAL, honest to goodness, snail mail!  (Bills not included!) 

Here's links to our webpages where we include the same information that we put in our letters.
http://www.cowetaschools.org/arbor/fogle/meet_mrs.htm
http://www.cowetaschools.org/arbor/tarleton/meet_tarleton_archer.htm
Hopefully this will give you some ideas for what you may want to include in your own letters if you choose to send them.

The next step (and this is the BIGGIE) is that we call every single family the very first night of school!  It usually takes us 1 1/2 hours...but this is the BEST TIME YOU WILL EVER INVEST in your class.  We promise this is SO worth the effort and time.

We try to keep the calls brief telling parents 1 awesome thing we noticed about their child that day.  We also ask them if they have any questions or concerns now that the year is underway.

Parents are SO appreciative to receive this 1 special call.  They immediately know that we think their child is special, that we want to build great relationships, and always have an open line of communication.  The next time you may have to make the "Oh no.  Johnny was swinging from the ceilings." phone call, parents are already on board and ready to work together.

We promise this will be SO worth your time.  Here's some of the emails that parents sent us the very next day after receiving our calls.

"Hi Cristy!

I hope your first day of school was as great as Kayton's was. She came home talking about the book of the boy who didn't listen and got the wrong things, the songs you all sang, her clips and just what a great day it was. Thank you for that! Thank you also for your call last night. That was so considerate to call and check with the parents about any concerns, none here though. :)"

"Good morning Cristy,

I am so glad to hear that Hunter had a great day yesterday. He has been so excited to start school and he just seems to adore you. You definitly made his day with that call. He was so proud to tell us he was good all day.   Don’t ever hesitate to call or email us. We want to help you as much as possible and are looking forward to a great school year. "

"Dear Page,

Thank you for the phone call yesterday. Such a positive message! Clayton enjoyed the fact that you called to say he had a good day and I too appreciated it. Thanks Page! Hope you have a good day."

So here's hoping your school year gets started off with a BANG!