Family/Teacher Communication Form
Facilitates family/teacher communication.
When to use:
- When your student can not reliably communicate the events of their day.
- Regular use with students can increase family/teacher communication, as well as strengthen intervention support in both school and home settings.
- Family can learn about the successes and needs of their child in school. Teachers can be made aware of important factors in a student’s life, such as health concerns, sleeping and eating patterns, and other factors that might affect performance in the classroom. Can be used as a part of a Daily Take-Home Folder.
How to use:
- Identify the information that is valuable for you and your student’s family to share. Create a double-sided or divided form to separate the outgoing teacher notes from the incoming family notes.
- Possible teacher to family topics include:
- Today’s activities/schedule
- Upcoming events/needed items
- General notes, especially celebrations or successes
- Possible family to teacher topics include:
- Changes in routine Dietary or other restrictions
- Upcoming absences
- General notes
- Possible teacher to family topics include:
- At the beginning of the year, talk to the family about your goal to develop communication channels between school and home. Ask them if the communication form will be a useful tool.
- Schedule time in your day to complete the form.
- Designate a place where the student keeps the form when taking it home and returning it to school. Using a daily take-home folder can increase the likelihood of this form successfully making the journey each day.
- Designate a place and time of the day for students to return yesterday’s form to you for review of any family comments.
Tips:
- Communication forms could be filled out daily or weekly. The more often they are used; however, the more information can be shared. Daily use can help identify events or circumstances in a student’s life that will affect their performance that day.
- Modify the form to each individual student’s needs.
Variations:
- This form can be shared digitally if both teacher and family are more likely to participate and it complies with district policies.