School's Starting Soon!!

I hope everyone has enjoyed their summer. From the cookouts, vacations, swimming, to just plain relaxing, summer is a good thing. But, as the old cliche says, "All good things must come to an end." School starts for Hillsborough County students in about 3 weeks. We do a great job as parents to prepare our children for success, but what about us? Are we prepared for school? Often, we send our children off to school not knowing exactly what to expect during that school year. We sit back and wait for the teacher to contact us. Why not be proactive? Most schools have an Open House and during that time, it's a great opportunity to get the scoop on what will be happening in your child's classroom. If you can't find the time to ask some probing questions during Open House, you can always e-mail your teacher. This allows her/him to answer your questions when they have free time without feeling rushed. A lot of these questions may be answered during Open House, but just in case, here are a few questions to ask your child's teacher before the start of the school year.

1. What is your disciple plan? It's important to know that your child's teacher will be fair and consistent in her/his management system.

2. How often will your child receive homework? This will give you a heads up as to how to plan your after school schedule. You want to make sure your child has supervision with their homework.

3. How will the teacher communicate with you? Knowing what's happening in the classroom is important. Usually, this type of communication can be done via classroom newsletters or web pages. Also, agendas (student planners) are another great method for communication.

4. What's the teacher's philosophy on delivering lessons? This will give you an idea of whether your child will doing a lot of group activities, individual activities, or a combination of both. If you child is ESE, ask about the services that your child will be receiving (will the ESE teacher be in the classroom or will your child be pulled out).

5. How can you volunteer? What better way to know what's going on than by being apart of what's going on! Teachers really do need to support of parents.

The internet boasts a lot more questions to ask teachers during the start of each school year. Hopefully, these will be of some help to get you and your child off to another great school year!