{"id":9306,"date":"2013-08-29T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2013-08-29T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=9306"},"modified":"2019-09-09T14:46:21","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T18:46:21","slug":"ready-set-go-get-a-positive-start-to-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/ready-set-go-get-a-positive-start-to-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Ready, Set, Go! Get a Positive Start this School Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"Ready%2C%20Set%2C%20Go%21%20Get%20a%20Positive%20Start%20this%20School%20Year\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Parent-teacher team building early facilitates the continuation of the good start through the rest of the year!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Great suggestions for starting things off on a positive note when school begins! (Part 1)<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 1px solid black; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; float: center;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/images\/istock\/parent.school.mtg.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"514\" height=\"346\" \/><\/strong><\/span><strong>Meet and Greet the Teacher<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Try to meet with your child\u2019s teacher before classes start.\u00a0 Many teachers are available getting their rooms ready for a few days before start of the school year.\u00a0 If you can meet, take refreshments!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Make a Folder about Your Child<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Make a folder with a few pages of information about your child.\u00a0 This is a great place to put your child\u2019s picture.\u00a0 Don\u2019t use the regular school photo.\u00a0 Choose a photo of your child taking part in a favorite activity.\u00a0 This makes your child a real person and provides additional information.<\/p>\n<p>Include a copy of your child\u2019s IEP.\u00a0 While it may be tempting to go through it or highlight portions for the teacher, resist this impulse.\u00a0 This gives the teacher the respect of assuming she will read it and note important points.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bring your own IEP copy with highlighted points when you meet with the teacher.<\/strong> The teacher may notice and ask about the highlighted portions.\u00a0 This gives you the chance to reinforce important information, without seeming to tell the teacher how to do her job.<\/p>\n<p>Add a page of information you may have gleaned from last year\u2019s teacher.\u00a0 This is information teacher\u2019s often do not get.\u00a0 Indicate what worked well with your child and any other positive points from that year.\u00a0 You might include 1 or 2 examples of your child\u2019s work, either from home or last school year.\u00a0\u00a0 Pick ones that highlight noticeable progress or special talents.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Offer Your Help<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Answer questions<\/strong><\/em>. Indicate your willingness to your child\u2019s teacher to answer any questions she might have about your child.\u00a0 Provide your contact information, especially email.\u00a0 Many times this is the most convenient way for teachers to pass on comments or questions.\u00a0 It also provides documentation for your own files. If you provide phone contact information, include the best time to reach you.<\/p>\n<p>Be sure to <span style=\"color: #0066cc;\"><a style=\"color: #0066cc;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/advoc\/articles\/advo.create.trails.htm#logs\">record all contacts in your contact log<\/a><\/span>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/advoc\/articles\/advo.create.trails.htm#logs\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/advoc\/articles\/advo.create.trails.htm#logs<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Volunteer to help.<\/strong><\/em> Ask about any needs the teacher has in the classroom, for volunteers, extra supplies, etc.<\/p>\n<p>I used to hit some of the sales where supplies are crazy cheap and give the teacher a package of extra pencils, paper, glue sticks, paper towels, or facial tissues. Many times schools no longer supply these and teachers end up buying them out of their own pockets.\u00a0 Even if you bring in only a few things, it lets the teacher know you intend support, not conflict.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Write a Thank You Note<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Follow your meeting with the teacher with a thank you note.\u00a0 Find at least one positive characteristic of this teacher to mention.\u00a0 Even if it is her great smile, or kind tone of voice, whatever you can find.\u00a0 Everyone has some positive things about them.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=10175\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">Ready, Set, Go! Get a Positive Start this School Year (Part 2)<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Parent-teacher team building early facilitates the continuation of the good start through the rest of the year! Great suggestions for starting things off on a positive note when school begins! <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/ready-set-go-get-a-positive-start-to-school\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[883,136],"tags":[566,792,1072,1071,148],"class_list":["post-9306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parent-school-relationship-2","category-strategies","tag-advocacy-strategies","tag-effective-advocacy-strategies","tag-parent-teacher-meetings","tag-parent-teacher-relationships","tag-success-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9306"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24950,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9306\/revisions\/24950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}