Jumpstart The School Year! Get Parents & Students Involved!
No matter how many years you have been in the classroom, the beginning of the school year is always exciting and can be a little bit scary. This is a time to celebrate your new students and get to know their parents, making them a part of your classroom community. This takes a little bit of effort but is well worth it to get the year started off right. We have put together a list of four ideas that will get everybody invested and make this school year the best ever.
1) Family Dinner Night - You are probably thinking, “Hey my school already does this!” And our response is, “Timing is everything!” We see most schools wait too long until they have this kind of event. Parent investment is the highest at the beginning of the year so you want to leverage that as much as possible. Having family dinner night earlier in the school year brings your families in sooner rather than later, which increases attendance and minimizes breakdowns in communication. Also, invite the parents to eat in the classrooms, that way they get to know each other as well. This gives them more context when communicating with their students at home which is proven to increase student performance.
2) Start Incentives Early - We have all seen it or experienced it. Your students come in at the beginning of the year with great attitudes, do their homework, participate in discussions and then they seem to slip. Then we try to get them back on board with incentives that seem to be hit or miss. By starting incentives before students begin to slip, you are able to maintain the momentum from the start of the school year. This allows you to create a reward-based classroom culture rather than a punitive one which increases student joy and engagement.
3) Diploma Wall - The classrooms we have seen this in just seem to have more motivated students. Designate a space on that will be maintained all year as the Diploma Wall. First calculate what year your current students will graduate college (for example current 5th Graders will be the class of 2028). Then have your students write down what they want to do when they grow up and research what degree they will need (for the younger students you can help with the research). On a whiteboard, write “In 2028 I Will Graduate With A…” and fill in the appropriate degree for each student. Take a picture of the student holding the whiteboard and display them on your Diploma Wall. Be as creative with this concept as you want, as it truly shows your students that you are invested in their future.
4) Start/Lead A Club - This is an excellent way to connect with and impact students that may not be in your class. Create or lead a club that resonates with you. The number one thing that drives club attendance is how excited you are to get to teach about the topic. We have seen clubs range from fringe sports to robotics and everything in between. The earlier you start your club, the more time your students will have exploring the topic and more passionate they will become. This could be the year that you start the Cooking Club and create the next Gordon Ramsey.
As always, we are here to help in any way possible. If you need assistance getting funding for any of the ideas above, you can create a cause today or reach out to one of our team members. If you have any other ideas to get the year started off right, please comment below.
If you have any questions, email us at info@pledgecents.com.
