How Do You Communicate with Your Kids Teachers?

95% email, 5% phone call.

I always volunteered in the classroom when given the chance, so I had the opportunity to get to know the teacher on a personal level. My approach has always been that the teacher and I are on the same team dedicated to the academic success of my child. If there were ever any issues, we tackled them together. I never felt any animosity towards any teachers and I kept the communication open so that they could feel comfortable approaching me. Doing this has served us all well, I think. The kids are all doing really well in school and so far, I've not had ANY serious problems with any of them.

Mostly by email, and by going on School Loop, and Power School (those are the online grade/homework/info systems here.)
I was in more regular contact with the elementary teachers, but that's because I was physically there more, volunteering and later working as an aide. Plus my youngest has an IEP so I needed to be in regular contact for her benefit.
In middle/high school I have RARELY had contact with any teachers, mostly a quick hello at back to school night & open house, maybe a phone call or email here and there with a question, but that's it.

I think it's important to establish a relationship with the teacher right away, so if problems do arise she/he will know that I am approachable.

Every person has their own favorite method of communicating, so I ask the teacher "what's the best way to reach you?" and go from there. When I was teaching preschool I preferred NOT to do email because if we had a problem arise, I wanted them to be able to talk to me about it in real time. I have found that when there is a problem to be addressed, for many people, email is susceptible to misunderstandings. Esp for parents of younger kids, when their children are not as skilled in retelling events from their day. I would rather have a parent call than sit around all night wondering if I got their email or worrying about a situation.

That said, I also know that many teachers do prefer email, and so if something arises, I try very much to ask an open ended question like "Kiddo said such and such happened in class and I was hoping you could tell me more about this." I recently emailed the teacher because Kiddo was fretting over one part of his regular school day and since he does have some challenges, I wanted to clarify if this was him just griping or if there is something which he was needing more support on. It turned out to be the latter and she was able to provide me with a few tools to help.

If I believe there is a problem in the classroom around the behavior of another child, then I might ask "Kiddo has been pretty upset because another child has been doing X to him; I was wondering if you had any tools for your classroom in helping the kids to stand up for themselves". Here, I'm putting the responsibility of Kiddo standing up for himself on him, and also alerting the teacher to a problem. I want to be sure to address situations from a perspective of 'how can we help Kiddo cope with this/mature' instead of "that kid over there is doing XYZ..." The interesting thing is that once the teacher gets that sort of information, they are likely to make an effort to notice what's going on between those two children and to observe what the problem may be. It also allows the teacher to address the issue without having to deal with a parents who is saying "what are you going to do about that little so-and-so who's being mean to my kid?"

It sounds like you are on the right track with being responsive, giving positive feedback and making yourself approachable, K-Bell. Good for you. :)

My son just started kindergarten and we have a daily planner that goes back and forth each day.

The planner includes a section with homework instructions and the actual homework pages which I have to review and sign daily; a section for his reading log where I have to list the books, authors and daily signature to confirm that we completed at least 20 minutes of reading; a behavior chart that shows the color coding he received which also has to be signed and blank communication pages for us to write notes back and forth whenever needed. I have to initial each of her messages to confirm I've read her message and she is also required to initial my messages.

We will have a conference each grading period as well. It works very well.

Email for a great deal of my communication. Most of the teachers we have send out emails/newsletters. I try to make sure and establish a relationship with the teacher in the begining of the year (my oldest is in MS this year, so that's a big change with all the different teachers)

We have the online access to grades (FANTASTIC) so I'm never suprised by a bad grade or missing homework. (That is if the teacher keeps the system updated...only had one issue before with that)

If there is a bigger concern or issue, I prefer to speak to teachers face to face. Email or phone calls just can't compare in those instances.

It really depends on the teacher, in first grade he had an older women, since retired, and she was not really into the e mail. This year's teacher is fresh from college and I'm sure she'll be using the email, she's planning a blog as well.

All my kid's teachers send home a daily planner that parents are supposed to sign every day. The planner has a spot where the teacher and parent may include personal messages. In addition, our school website has all the teacher email addresses. I prefer to contact in writing but if there is something urgent or really important, we can call the front office and they will route us to the teacher as well.

We have an agenda that we use for day to day communication and assignments, and we email if we have any concerns or issues. I also work at my sons school so I talk to the teachers every day.

Through Edline we have email addresses for all our son's teachers.

the quick answer is, email in our district seems the best, last years teacher used a Facebook group. It felt "weird" but was prob very easy for her and because it was easy she shared a lot about the little things in class that I enjoyed hearing about.

the teachers email is on the district website and is sent in a welcome letter/paper copy so I don't initiate an email to say hello, but that is a nice idea, I just go to open house and what ever school events and try to say hi.

Now the deeper question to me is ----"How do you establish a relationship?" That is something I am always striving for. but I rarely feel like I accomplish it. Maybe teachers would prefer to just do their work with the kids and not really deal much with parents? I used to teach preschool and I loved sharing little things the kids had done that day or something they had been working on and accomplished that made them so proud of themselves, or even the funny little things the kids said that cracked me up. so that is the background I bring with me and that is the kind of "relationship" I would like to have with my kids teachers. I would just like to be able to make conversation beyond, "how is Rodger doing?" "he's great, loves math, the next grading period is over in Dec. look for his report card then." I know they have tons of kids and tons of parents and i'm an introvert and not as beautiful and charismatic as some moms, but I would love to be able to figure out the key to taking it "beyond" just a factual report of his grades. I want them to show me that they "know" him and appreciate him.

But I have a good kid and I think it's the parents with children that are struggling in what ever area that get more attention from the teachers.

It depends. Our teachers provide a phone number for messages and I often find it more useful to email them. They can check email on a break, but phone messages only at the end of the day. If the teacher is using Edline, you can contact them via that, too. I don't start out the year contacting them. I just contact them as needed.

I also join the PTA and any parent listserv for the school.

Since neither of my kids is in elementary anymore, and face time at school is limited due to that, I mostly use email. Our schools use Powerschool, which not only gives access to grade/assignment information (provided the teacher keeps her account/records up to date) but an embedded link to the teacher's school email. It make email contact crazy simple.

I have found that once they are out of middle school, I pretty much don't need to email much anymore. Only for the unusual thing, not normally academically related. Things like "My child is in your 4th block class, and their Dr. appointment has changed. Please let them know I will pick them up/do not ride the bus home." type things.
Or for extracurricular activities: Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl, Jr. Beta Club, Band, Wrestling, etc... Practice times and days change on these things periodically, and if my child won't be there for some reason, I like to let the teacher sponsor know in advance.

But, I always go to Open House night at the schools. And meet each teacher in person. They all have sign in sheets where they request your email contact info and most send out a "welcome to __th grade" email and ask that you reply so that they know you received the email. Then we just take it as it comes. Some teachers send periodic "here's what we're working on and what's coming up" emails. Some do not. Most are very good about responding very quickly to any email sent to them. There are a very few who are not. Those tend to be the same ones that are slow to update the Powerschool gradebook. It can be frustrating... b/c if they haven't updated, that may be why I am emailing in the first place.

But phone calls? They are in class. If I couldn't address the issue with an email, I would likely need to schedule a conference.

Email is the best for my daughter's teacher, but I have sent notes to her in the past.

As a teacher, I prefer to receive email. As a mama, I went to the school to see the guidance counselor face to face about issues.

I volunteer at my son's school so this makes things easier in my world as most of the teachers already know me. We have many new faces this year at my son's school including his teacher this year. What I did to ensure lines of communication began at the Supply Drop Off Night, we went as a family to deliver his supplies, confirmed we met the needs, exchanged emails, and had an "introductory" conversation. In addition, I drop my son off and pick him up, the teachers have to walk the students out and confirm they have all been attended to properly before going back into the building, she takes a moment there to talk or set up a phone call time. In addition, when poor behavior takes place on the classroom level she has a communication card that is sent home - you can call or email for more information.

Last year my son's teacher and I communicated on the same levels as this years, plus we texted each other for quick needs.

Last year when my daughter was in K I volunteered one morning a week (thanks to a very odd teaching schedule for me). We rarely talked about my daughter during the couple of minutes before the kids came in, but I felt comfortable asking a question if I had one. We also had two formal conferences during the year. Once in a while I sent her an email.

This year my daughter's teacher is a friend of mine. I don't bring up my daughter and school in social situations unless she does. (Usually it is just, "How does M like school so far?" type of questions. I pick my daughter up every day so we might chat a second on the playground. If it isn't anything real important (change in how M is leaving school) I just send a note in her homework folder. I'm sure at some point I will email and we will have two formal conferences.

My kid's school uses planners. They are for the benefit of the student, teachers and parents. If there is an issue it is written in there. If it is something that requires immediate attention a phone call is placed. Otherwise we use e-mails.

Email. He gets a schedule sent home every day of what he did and if theres any questions or anything at all, its written on the paper. Depending on what it is, I will either respond by putting a note in his binder or sending an email

My son's current teacher (1st grade) isn't comfortable with email, which bugs me a little, as it's just inconvenient for me. She's invited the parents to send a note in our child's school bag if there's something pressing. Otherwise, we don't discuss progress until the parent-teacher conferences, which are twice per year. I trust my son's teacher to teach him and to come to me if she has concerns. I also trust my son to answer me honestly when I ask him questions about what they did in school that day or if he learned something new. I also see the progress in his daily reading, vocabulary and math.

E-mail and telephone. It depends on the teacher and how they communicate best. My childrens' teachers this year all seem to prefer and respond the most quickly with e-mail.