By Carolyn Beeman

The key to any successful relationship is communication; your relationship with your child’s teacher should be no different. At the Learning Tree all of our teachers have their own personal work emails so if there is ever a time when they or you have something you would like to know about there is a chance you will not see each other that day, it can still be said. Our teachers prepare monthly newsletters and calendars so that you know what is happening in your child’s classroom, what they are focusing on for that day/month and what they have accomplished. Each classroom even has their own iPad where you can message your child’s teacher at any point during the day.

Communication between a teacher and a parent is crucial to the success of your child. Parents want to know, and deserve to know about their child’s day. Just because you might pick up your child later than their teacher is at work does not mean that you should have to wait until the next day to talk to them.  However it is also important for teachers to know what is happening in the child’s life outside of school. That does not mean that you need to tell your child’s teacher every personal detail of your life, but it is important for teachers to know if there are major changes happening. Your child will react to these changes and it may happen at school. There are many different ways to handle a child’s reaction to such things, but if the teacher knows why the behavior is happening then it can be handled in a manner that is appropriate for the situation at the time.

At the Learning Tree we think it is important to know and to have positive relationships with or families. The best way to get to know one another is to spend time together. We attend monthly play dates, we extend our school parties out to families and encourage them to join us, and schedule whole school outings. In our lobby we have a parent information board where we post our schools monthly newsletter, our monthly snack menu, and any other information that we feel might be beneficial for you to know about. We appreciate your feedback about how we are doing as well. That’s why at The Learning Tree we ask our families to participate in a once a year whole school survey. The surveys are anonymous so you can be as honest as possible. Your feedback helps us to improve ourselves and our school.