It’s that time of the school year again. The time when teachers gather student data and work samples, in preparation for each student’s Parent Teacher Conference. In our district, we are only required to have one scheduled parent teacher conference a year, so I try and make sure to be well organized and well prepared. I often get asked what I do to organize and prepare for conferences, so I thought that I would share my tips with all my teacher friends here today!

Tips For Successful Conferences

Tip #1: Have the Most Current Data Available

ESGI Individual Parent Report

I know that this sounds silly to some teachers, but the reality is that parents want to know how their student is currently doing, not how they were doing 4 weeks ago! I do my best to update all of my students date on ESGI and that the data that I am sharing with families, reflects their current skills in the classroom. I even reassess my students on their written alphabet and numerals 0-20, two to three days before conferences. This always astounds parents at the growth their child has made!

Here is the data that I provide on each of my students.

Letter ID
Letters Sounds
Number ID 0-20
Sight Words
Written Alphabet
Written Numerals 0-20

There are no specific requirements on what I have to share with my parents, but I feel that this is the most important. *Always check with your admin on what you are required to share at your parent teacher conferences*.

Tip #2: Be Prepared and Organized

I know at the beginning of each school year, the day that Parent Teacher Conferences are scheduled. This gives me plenty of time to prepare for each conference. I create an informal portfolio for each student, which has their entry/beginning of the year data, as well as any important or specific work samples that I feel would be valuable to share with families.

To be prepared and stay organized, here are a few tips that I follow.

Send out a digital invite/sign up to all parents. I use the Sign Up Genius to create a Parent Teacher Conference Sign Up. This gives parents all of your available days and times, without double-booking families. Reminders are sent out digitally too, so that is one less thing off of your plate!
Print out all current ESGI data for each student, including any flash cards or graphs that could be important.
Create an ESGI Learning Tool Box for each student- Click here to read all about it…plus it is FREE!
Print out any parent info, including school information that is required or recommended. I know at our school, they want us to share information on fundraisers or specific community programs, so this is a great time to get all of that information out.
Create a specific folder for each student that can go home with their family. Each folder can contain their ESGI data, Learning Tool Box, and any extra parent information.

Tip #3 – Give Positive Suggestions and Resources

Share some Positivity!!

Every Parent Teacher Conference should include positivity! Even if the conference includes information about the student not growing academically as expected, or struggling with behavior, you should try and give positive suggestions on how to help the parents/family access resources to help their student when not at school. And for those conferences that are easy, I still try and offer up outside resources that can be read or looked into, when not at school. Here are a few resources that I like to share with my parents.

Reading Tips Brochure from A Teachable Teacher
Early Childhood/Kindergarten Writing Progression Printable from HeidiSongs
Include great websites that families can access to help students achieve goals, like abcmouse.com, Vooks.com, and a variety of learning apps.

Tip #4 – Create an Inviting and Warm Environment

Parents love little treats!

Parent Teacher conferences can be an exciting time for some parents, but produce anxiety for others. As a parent myself, I love it when teachers make conference time just a little ‘extra’ special. 🙂 Over the last few years, I have included little mint-flavored treats and have a few ‘adult-sized’ chairs available for anybody who doesn’t want to sit on a crate seat or kid-sized chair. Think about what you could add to your conferences to include something a little extra for families.

If you are looking for a cute little sign to advertise your appreciation to families, you can download this adorable one HERE! {Click the download below}