As we get ready to return to school there will be lots of anxious infants along with anxious parents coming to our doors over the next few days.
Having recently researched the area of supporting parental involvement in play and Aistear here are some ideas for parental involvement in Infant Classes.
As a school we request parents email addresses on the application form. In this way the teachers can contact the parents through their school email. It is important to use a school email both from a data protection point of view and keeping your personal email confidential as it may be linked to social media accounts etc.
I email the parents regularly, at the start of a new Aistear topic and also for different events in the class, parents can also email me regarding pick ups or play dates if they wish.
I have recently designed newsletters for some Aistear topics that could be emailed home as a pdf or printed and sent home. The newsletters have ideas for songs, rhymes and stories that link with the topic along with vocabulary for the topic. These newsletters are on Mash.ie.
Through keeping parents informed parents can in turn support their child’s learning at home. Parents are not always aware of the value of play based learning and I encourage play based learning at home using maths games as part of their homework.
Curriculum information evenings were also mentioned within my research as an effective way of informing parents and involving them in play based learning too. A powerpoint presentation for a curriculum information evening will be available on Mash.ie in the coming weeks.
Keeping parents informed and supporting them to help their child’s learning at home is an ideal way to develop a level of parental involvement in your class. If you have any questions regarding this post or my research please feel free to send me an email.
Aistear Múinteoir 