4 ways to support your child's teacher

Read on to get the year started off right with these 4 ways to support your child’s teacher!

Benefits of supporting your child’s teacher

I spent ten years teaching in an elementary classroom and was blessed to have so many wonderful parents and families to interact with.

Building strong relationships with parents was so important to me, and I could tell it was important to many of my students’ parents as well!

There are many benefits to good parent and teacher relationships including:

The teacher is more likely to approach you and share about what’s going on at school
The teacher learns more about your child and family
You know more about the person who is with your kid all day
Your child can be more comfortable at school and trusting of the teacher

How you can support your child’s teacher

1. Talk with them!

Hold off overwhelming your child’s new teacher with too much information about your child when you first meet them. Instead ask about them!

I used to be so overwhelmed at ice cream social or back to school night with parents telling me how gifted their child was in math, or how reading out loud made their child nervous.

It wasn’t that I didn’t care about this – there was just no way to remember it all in that moment!

Instead, make your first meeting with them more meaningful by asking about the teacher’s family, life, and hobbies. How long have they been teaching? Why did they become a teacher?

They will remember more about your family and child in return!

2. Get a Teacher Wish List started

This is easy, fun, and oh so helpful! I had a parent ask me to make a list of things I wanted for the classroom. Then she sent it out to the parents and my students and I enjoyed every time something off my list was brought in.

This is also a great way to make sure the teacher gets things he or she could really use on teacher appreciation day and other days when people send in a gift!

Here is a fun and easy way to manage the teacher wish list:

Ask the teacher to write each item they wish for the classroom on a sticky note.
Leave them out on back to school night on a wall or table.
Ask the other parents to grab a sticky note with an item that they can purchase.

Another idea is to have them create a digital wishlist on Amazon and emailing to all the other classroom parents. Either way, the idea is to show you care by helping them buy things they would otherwise buy themselves or go without!

3. Get creative and think of a way you can help

If you’re a working mom, you may think you’ve got no time to help out because you can’t be at school during the day. Or you may be a parent with a younger child and have no way to leave them to volunteer at school.

Or maybe you just aren’t interested with working with the other children in the classroom on school skills. There are other ways you can help!

Here are some other creative ways that parents have helped me through the years without having to volunteer in the classroom during the school day:

Bulletin boards: You can come up during or after school and set up the hallway or classroom bulletin boards.
Make copies: Hang out in the copy room and make all the copes and packets the teacher needs.
Assemble and staple packets: I had moms take things home and do this on their on time! I always had loads of laminated items, decorations, or packets that you can easily cut out and/or staple in front of the TV.
Design and send out the classroom newsletter.
Sending in supplies for a special classroom activity: I often did fun science experiments or themed days. Having a parent collect and send the supplies in was a huge help!

4. Find out their favorite drink or snack

I guarantee this tip will make them feel so special!

Teachers usually can’t leave the school building even on their (too short) breaks, so someone bringing my favorite drink or snack on occasion was the biggest treat for me!

It doesn’t have to cost a lot – but just doing this one little thing to make their day easier lets a teacher know that you care!

I still remember the 5th grader and her parent who left a McDonald’s coke on my desk often. And the 2nd grade boy whose mom sent him in with my favorite granola bars on a regular basis. Made my day!

I’d love to hear if you try any of these tips with your kids’ new teachers. Be sure to follow me on Pinterest and Instagram for more mom tips!