Recently the group of kindergarten teachers met at my school. One topic that was discussed was our method of informing parents about behavior.
Different teachers have different ideas of when and how to send home behavior notices. Some teachers prefer to send home a weekly report on Friday. Others only notify parents if the child has been in trouble.
I feel that neither of the above is effective for the child, the parents, or the teacher. I send home a behavior notice each day. The mind of a kindergarten child works best on short-term thinking. If a child has a bad day on Tuesday but the parent is not aware of it until Friday, it is too late to address the issue. The child has likely forgotten what had happened and any form of punishment or talking is pointless.
In addition, if the parents are not aware of the issue and it is not addressed on Tuesday, the behavior is more likely to continue on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
However when using a daily behavior notification, if a child gets into trouble on Wednesday the parent will be aware of it and can discuss the issue with the child. Therefore the child has an opportunity to do better on Thursday and Friday.
I also think that it is important to not only notify a parent when a child has been in trouble but also when a child has done the right thing. Each day my students get a behavior report sent home. Students who do not get into trouble get a report just as the children who have misbehaved.
Using this method a child who normally has a bad behavior report also has a chance to take a good report home.
Teachers have very different methods of managing their classrooms. No matter which method of behavior reporting a teacher chooses, it is important to always keep parents involved and informed.
Your in bIg Trouble- Special Needs Child