Building relationships with students and families is so important to creating a classroom community and having everyone feel vested and welcomed in the classroom.  Here are some great tips and FREE printables for how to build relationships with your families!

Relationships are the most important thing in a classroom.  I truly believe that we cannot do our job as a teacher if we don’t take the time to build relationships with our students first.  This is something that I strive to do better each year.

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This past year, I spent time getting to know each student at Meet the Teacher, as I always do, but I followed up with each individual family after our meeting and mentioned some of their child’s favorite things.  This is something that was simple to do and helped start that relationship off on the right foot.

As many teachers do, I also send home positive notes.  I always want to make sure my first communication with families is a positive one because it makes the tricky days much easier, not to mention, that it helps build the right kind of relationship!   Therefore, I spent more time this past year trying to make phone calls.  I feel like phone calls are a lost form of communication with teachers nowadays.  It is far easier to send an e-mail, write a quick note, or even send a text.  A phone call can be quick and is so much more personable.

I have been thinking about ways to build relationships with my kids this upcoming year.  What can I do to make those relationships even stronger?

I know that most of what I do takes place at school.  It is all on my “turf” and on my time, in a way.  I want to meet kids where they are.  Physically, go to where they are. Therefore, I am going to send home an invite at the beginning of the year.  Kids can fill it out and send it back.  I can go to their house (I know some families would not necessarily like this, so it is just an option), soccer games, birthday parties, dance recitals, etc.

And we have GREAT news!  Teachers have requested this item to be changed or translated, so we have made this file EDITABLE for you using Adobe!  (Because of that, it looks a smidge different). Download the file, open it in Adobe, and easily change or just print!  

I hope that this helps me build stronger relationships with the students in my class.

What are your favorite ways to build relationships with your students?

TAG:  Kindergarten is Grrreat, Kinder is Great, Parent Involvement

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