Written by Zareena Zaidi
School newsletters can be very effective in engaging parents which leads to better student behavior, a reduction in late assignments, improved student achievement, and numerous other benefits. Parents want to be involved, but they often just lack the time, tools, and knowledge to know how to engage their kids.
We’re all familiar with the old predicament: “What did you learn in school today?” Brief silence. “Nothing.” To counteract this, teachers can provide parents with information about what students are learning in school, so parents can be better prepared to participate in their kids’ education.
But all too often, time becomes a roadblock. Communicating with parents is yet another task to add to your already overwhelming workload — and parents are also tight on time — many may work two jobs.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a quick, efficient way to share what students are learning with parents?
Lo and behold — 5 Minute Fridays. Take just 5 minutes at the end of the week to send out a message to parents with:
- 3 things your students learned that week
-
3 things they are going to learn in the upcoming week
Maximize parent engagement with minimal effort. No fancy writing or crazy graphics needed. Just clean, straightforward, simple info. Here’s an example:
Weekly Recap
Hi Parents!
Happy Friday! As the week comes to an end, I wanted to share a bit about what we learned this week and what is to come.
Here are a few things we learned this week:
- Dinosaurs
- Verbs
- The 7 continents
Here are some things we will be learning next week:
- Division
- Plant life cycle
- We will be reading “The Bear & the Piano” to study plot
Feel free to ask your child questions about these topics! For example, ask “What is your favorite thing you learned about dinosaurs this week?”
Thank you and have a great weekend!
If you want to go above & beyond, include activities parents can do with their children to really engage parents and extend the learning day, as shown in the final example on this page.
To make it even more effortless, we’ll soon release templates for 5 Minute Fridays that you can access from within ParentSquare when you create a post. So — with the new semester beginning — we challenge you to implement 5 Minute Fridays, and report back to us on how it’s going!
This exercise only takes a few minutes of your time and parents’ time each week, but has lasting, powerful impacts on student success:
The Power of Reinforcing
Reinforcing what students have already learned is incredibly beneficial for retention. When children are asked to recall information, they strengthen their neural connections about those topics. When children have to recall information in new situations — such as different locations (like home) or when prompted by different people (their parents) — those neural connections branch out and grow.
The Power of Letting Students Teach
I know what you are thinking: how can I expect all parents to know the correct answers to every question they ask? Well, they don’t need to. One of the best ways to learn is by teaching someone else. As you are well aware, teaching requires a comprehensive and accurate understanding of the material. So, encourage your parents to ask open-ended questions, and let your kids “teach” their parents. They will interact more deeply with the material, strengthening and growing their neural connections.
The Power of Priming
Communicating information on what you are going to teach is equally important to student success, as it preps students for what’s to come and fully engages parents in the learning process. Think of it as a preview for upcoming material. If students are gently introduced to topics before diving in, it primes them to better absorb information.
The Power of Engagement
While it’s clear that communicating with parents can extend the learning day at home, there are other, more subtle benefits that are still just as impactful. By enabling conversations at home about school and learning, you build a sense of community and garner trust from parents, which can help improve student behavior and reduce absenteeism and late assignments. And most importantly, when parents are engaged, it sends kids the message that school is something worth investing their time and energy in.
What to Say
Encourage your parents to ask open-ended questions with the material you’ve given them. For example, if you are teaching the Krebs cycle, parents can ask their kids “what did you learn about the Krebs cycle today?”
Here is an example post for an English Honors class:
Weekly Recap
Hello Parents!
Happy Friday! As you may have seen from all the reading your kid is doing, we are currently studying Hamlet. Feel free to ask them how they are liking the play. You can also ask them about topics I’ve included below.
This week we read Acts 1, 2 & 3. Some concepts we covered:
- Iambic pentameter
- Insanity & acting
- Foil characters
Next week we will finish Hamlet. Some concepts we will cover:
- The death of Ophelia — what does it symbolize?
- Famous quote from the graveyard scene: “To be, or not to be: that is the question”
- Foreshadowing throughout the play
There will be a comprehensive test on Hamlet next Friday.
Thank you and have a lovely weekend!
Here is an example post for a middle school science class:
Weekly Recap
Hey Parents!
5 Minute Friday is here! If you want to ask your kid what they did at school without hearing “nothing,” ask them about these topics.
Here’s a few things we learned this week:
- The four stages of Mitosis: Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase & Telophase
- Dominant and recessive genes
- Punnett Squares
Here’s what’s coming next week:
- Meiosis
- Chromosomes
- Friday: Genetics Unit Test
Thanks and have an awesome weekend!
If you want to go above & beyond, include activities parents can do with their children to really engage parents and extend the learning day. For instance, take the first example, which addresses elementary school parents:
Weekly Recap
Hi Parents!
Happy Friday! As the week comes to an end, I wanted to share a bit about what we learned this week and what is to come.
Here are a few things we learned this week:
- Dinosaurs
- Verbs
- The 7 continents
Here are some things we will be learning next week:
- Division
- Plant life cycle
- We will be reading The Bear & the Piano to study plot
Related Activities
Here are some activities you can do with your child this weekend to enhance their learning, and hopefully have some fun while doing so 🙂
- Dinosaurs: Ask your child what their favorite dinosaur is and why, or ask them about the difference between the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
- Verbs: Ask your child to give you an example of a verb or write out a sentence and ask them to point out the verbs. Make a game out of it — see how many verbs they can count during a commercial or a quick YouTube video. Say verbs back and forth to each other, only rule is you can’t repeat the same verb. See if you can make it to 100 or go for 1 minute straight.
- Geography: Ask your kid to point out any of the 7 main continents (North America, Africa, etc) on a map or globe.
- Division: Grab a bunch of items (pens, coins, etc) and separate them into equal groups. Perhaps you have 15 pens, and you want to divide by 5. Group the pens into bunches of 5, and there should be 3 groups. This exercise is a great way for kids to gain an understanding of division.
- Plant life cycle: With your child, plant a seed in the ground or in a pot. Choose a spot with them that is in the sun, and water it together once you’re done. Watch it grow over the following weeks.
- Plot: Ask your kid what their favorite story is and what happens to the main character(s) throughout the story. This will be great to prep them as we will be using this question to learn about plot in “The Bear and the Piano” next week.
Thank you and have a great weekend!
Start taking just five minutes each week to write to parents. We look forward to hearing about how 5 Minute Fridays are working for you!
Have other suggestions about maximizing parent engagement with minimal effort? Let us know in the comments below!
