A Safe Arrival Program, when run correctly, assists the school in accountability for attendance and gives parents the peace of mind that their child has arrived safely at school. It also ensures that if a child has not arrived safely at school, attention is paid to the absent child immediately.

Leticia Barr, educator and administrator who writes Tech Savvy Mama recently commented that “a good program that ensures safe arrivals requires constant communication between parents and the school and also among the staff within the building.  As a parent, I’m accountable for notifying the school when my children are absent per our school system policy and trust that my school will uphold their policy of notifying me in a timely manner if my child is absent.”

Key elements of a Safe Arrival Program

• Your school will need:
• dedicated voicemail;
• calendar or journal to record messages as well as pre-planned absences;
• emergency contact information for each student, with a list of phone numbers of parents, guardians or caregivers, in order of emergency priority. Recommended: a file box with a file card for each child listing the emergency contact information.
• A dedicated voicemail is available at the school and parents and guardians are expected to report an absent student prior to the start of the school day;
• Voicemail is checked and absentee reports are recorded within 30 minutes of the beginning of the school day, at the same time that teachers are taking attendance in the classroom;
• Absentee records from the Safe Arrival voicemail are cross-checked with the classroom attendance forms. Should there be any discrepancies, they are quickly double checked with the classroom teachers;
• Phone calls should be made to any remaining students’ homes who are absent and who were not reported absent on the dedicated Safe Arrival voicemail line;
• Should a parent or guardian not be reached during the initial call, parents, guardians, caregivers or other individuals should be called, in order of priority,  to notify of the absence. Calls should be placed until a responsible adult can speak for the absent child;
• Should the school not reach a responsible adult in a given amount of time (example, 2 hours) the principal will be notified and take the next safety steps as determined by the school system.

© 2011, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.

It’s really hard to be a teacher and a parent. It’s like a curse because it’s so easy to judge and think “I could do this so much better.”

I struggled with this all last year, when Big was in first grade. I posted very little of my frustrations. And I plan to post very little this year as well.

But there’s one thing I can’t not post:  the value of communication.

From the first day of my teacher training, we learned about the importance of working with the parents. We learned that communication is key. We learned that we need to smile and listen to parents, as we hope they’ll listen to us.

And, parents, we need to understand the same.

Everyone needs to know that your children won’t succeed in school unless the parents and the teachers work as a team.

Seems simple, yes? Oh. But it isn’t.

It takes a village, right? It takes a village to raise a child. But have you ever been a part of a village that doesn’t communicate? One that doesn’t send notes to each other? One that never tells you how to get in touch with each other or takes interest in sharing policies or expectations?

It’s difficult to raise our children when they’re with someone else 7 hours a day. It’s difficult to be supportive of a teacher when we don’t know why we’re being supportive.

Teachers, if you don’t explain yourself, if you don’t introduce yourself, or make yourself accessible to discuss, how are parents to support your decisions, your grades, your policies and your rules?

Our children have been in school 4 weeks already. I have yet to receive a note from the teacher.

Tonight, there was a phone chain amongst the mothers in our classroom. We needed spelling words, explanations of codes in our homework books, understanding of the grading system.

And we needed to know how to get in touch with the teacher.

When our children come home unable to explain a grade or an expectation and ask us a question, how can we answer? How can we respond to our child and share why Joey received a B and not an A, while he spelled every word on his spelling test correctly? How can explain something we know nothing about?

Communication. It’s key to any relationship.

Parent:teacher. That’s a pretty powerful relationship.

© 2011, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.

Exploring a child’s interests is such an important part of emerging literacy. A child will want to do more towards his own learning when he or she has an interest in the subject.

I recall a student, a second grader, who was obsessed with motorcycles. He drew them, looked at pictures in magazines, even wore racing clothes nearly every day. But he couldn’t read beyond basic sounds. When he went to the library, he came back empty handed due to a lack of interest.

At that time, the internet was just still emerging, but the parent and I jumped online and searched for books about motorcycles. We found a few that were child-friendly and she gifted them to him. I also made some available in our classroom library.

When there were things that he was interested in, his learning skills grew. He associated the words with things he wanted to learn, and learned to put sounds together to form words. (He learned phonemic awareness.)

This software, suggested for early readers, ages 4-7 (pre-K to first grades), welcomes kids to a “school” with 26 exciting and educational games, aimed at teaching reading, spelling and logic skills.

Beyond regular games reading games, kids can create yearbook pages, “cook”, make music, and even play soccer, by selecting characters that have interests similar to their own. This allows kids to learn while exploring their personal interests, which is great because while some kids may want to play astronomy games all day (and learn to read), other’s may be more interested in learning about flowers. With the many characters with different interests available, at the Leap School, they’ll be able to focus their interests.

This post is sponsored by LeapFrog as a part of the Fill the Backpack campaign. Have you entered the Fill the Backpack Giveaway on Just Precious? Here’s another entry opportunity:

Answer this question in the comments of the Backpack11 giveaway post: Think back to when you were in school. Did learning to read come easily for you? Why, or why not? What were your biggest obstacles in learning to read?

© 2011, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.

When my statistics show my suggestions for teacher gifts posts are among my most popular posts for the week, it’s always a great reminder for me that I need to purchase teacher gifts. So… to make it easy for everyone, here are links to some of my most popular teacher gift posts:

End of the Year Gifts, the good, the bad and how much to spend

Tip: Buy your teacher gifts now

More teacher gift ideas

5 things… Not to give as a teacher gift!

Blogging it forward: Preschool Teacher Gift

5 Things… Teachers love to receive at holiday gifts

And around the web:

The Best Gifts for a Teacher (by a Teacher!) from Tech Savvy Mama

30 Homemade Gift Ideas from Tip Junkie (love the crayon frame–great idea to make with the kids this summer for their rooms, too.)

© 2011, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.

It is so hard. So. So. So hard to enter a new school as a parent. You’re filled with anxiety for your child that you’re trying to hide and you just want to understand what you can do to volunteer at the school and how and what things mean. Or, maybe, you are at a school where lunch ordering is computerized (or Scholastic book orders or volunteer sign ups) and you have no idea where to start or how to sign up. Perhaps you want to call the guidance counselor with a question, but you don’t even know her name or if she works 5 days a week or 3.

Parents and teachers and administrators, remember all this from your first time? Can you help to make it easier for new families?

At our school, we host a PTO Welcome Coffee. We do it on the cheap with coffee, orange juice, bagels, muffins and fruit. This year we added Cheerios for the siblings. We started just a bit after school began, giving parents enough time to get to the school, and spent the first 20 minutes allowing the parents to complete their name tags, eat, chat, meet and sign up for events. Then we brought everyone together and the PTO Chairperson (that’s me) introduced herself and the director and welcomed everyone to school.

My goal was to make everyone comfortable. To let them know that I, as well as other seasoned parents, are here to help and available to answer questions. That our’s is a warm, welcoming place. Oh, and if they are avable to get involved, all the better.

One of the goals of any school association should be to build your community. To offer it as a place that the parents feel comfortable and welcome, so that they can convey that comfort to the students. Because, in order for the students to learn successfully, they need to know that its a comofortable, safe place. And now matter how many times you tell them that, they don’t buy it until you feel it.

A welcome coffee is just one of many ways to enhance the community of your school. How does your school do it?

© 2010, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.

All these bullying and wimpy kid stories have brought back quite a few teaching stories for me. Today, I want to tell you about Melvin*.

Melvin was a tall, African American boy. He transferred to our school in the middle of 3rd grade. He had a “tough guy” attitude and while I was often the teacher that most of the African American parents requested, he wasn’t in my room in fourth grade. I’ll admit to being pleased about that. Looking back, I realize how lucky I was to have known him at all.

But Melvin was a student in my low-level math class. He shouldn’t have been. He was smart. Smart enough to pick up new concepts and move forward with them, when he wanted. When he was encouraged. We talked about moving him to the middle class, but the support and attention he received in my smaller room made him thrive.

Was Melvin a bully?  No. Certainly not. He was in with the crowd. He intimidated plenty of the kids. He teased a bit. And rolled his eyes plenty. But did he deliberately go out and attack a kid? Never.

He was, however, a tough kid. He came from, in our affluent suburban community, the rough side of the tracks. In his home life, he put up with a different authority and discipline system than most of my other students.

On any given day, no matter how rough it was, I could find a smile, somewhere, within Melvin. But on a random Monday, Melvin entered my math class with a hat on. He looked down at the floor. He didn’t want to talk. The kids began their work and I approached Melvin, asking about his weekend. “Fine. Idonwannatalkaboutit.” I let it go.

But my co-teacher, the Learning Support specialist, Lori, who had several years seniority over me, walked in. She saw Melvin’s hat and was concerned about authority and respect. She asked him to remove his hat. He refused. She asked again, explaining it was disrespectful. He didn’t reply. She looked to me. I tried, really tried, to give her a look of “don’t” but either I didn’t convey it, or she didn’t want to hear it. Instead of quietly taking him aside, she continued to tell him to take off his hat. Before I knew it she was threatening to take him to the principal and tears were welling in his eyes.

I looked to her again. Pleading her not to push it. But, at this point, it was a battle of wills. And with a class of students, the teacher needed to win. She did. She threatened the principal again. She may have threatened recesss. I’m not sure.

Melvin took off his hat. The child had an Afro, over 6 inches from his head. He slumped in his chair, huge tears flowing slowly over his cheek.

I’ll never forget the look on Lori’s face. How her hands went up over her mouth, not to cover laughter or pity, but in shock as she realized what she had done. She, a loving teacher, had humiliated our student. She bullied him into doing something he so badly wanted to not do.

I took him into the hallway to talk, leaving her to teach the rest of the class period. He wore the hat for 3 more days until his mom had an opportunity to have his hair braided again.

Lori didn’t know. She didn’t mean to do what she did. She certainly never meant to bully the child. That experience taught me about sensitivity, errors in judgement and, maybe a little bit, about sticking up for those who are weak. I wish I had been able to that day.

Tonight, I searched Facebook for Melvin’s page. I couldn’t find it. I hope that he’s become find a strong-willed, polite leader. That’s the person that I always imagined he’d be.

© 2010, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.

Dear Just Precious,

I hear my daughter’s teacher is wonderful, and I want to make sure she knows that we’re excited to be in her class this year. I read that parents give gifts to their teachers on the first day. What should I give? What is the appropriate amount to spend?

I swear. Parents stress out over gifting… its not worth it. Really. Because, in a word, nothing. Give them nothing monetary on the first day of school. Give them a well-rested, well-fed, happy/nervous/curious/shy child and be a supportive parent and the teacher will be happy.

Here’s what you should consider:

On the first day of school your child’s teacher has about 23 new students to greet. She has 46 new hands to teach to wash and raise. She has 46 pairs of feet to remind not only not to run, but to walk in the right direction to the classroom or bathroom. She has 23 pairs of eyes to watch her as she stumbles and 23 pairs of ears who will hear her call Joey, Jason. She’s a wreck trying to just connect with her students and let them know that they all mean something to her.

She’s dying to get to know every child. She’s excited to welcome every child. (and every parent, sure.) But, really. You, the parent, you’re not her number one concern right now. So if you must go to the classroom (and I really do advise you against it unless your school encourages parents to take their students into the room to hug good-bye), do not do anything that would take the attention away from your child. Your child is what is important.

So why not send your child to school with a gift?

Think back to that teacher welcoming 23 new names with bright, shiny desks and 6 sharpened pencils in each pencil box. Imagine her having to show every child where his coat gets hung and what do do with his glue stick and tissue box. Imagine 23 children running up to you (the teacher) asking where the bathroom is and if he can borrow a book and what he should do next? Now. Imagine all that, in the first 2 minutes since the kids walk into the room, with a handful of gifts in your hands. Not a pretty sight, right? Not at all when you’re also dealing with a child in tears of nerves and another child frightened because his best friend from last year is across the hall. And then another little girl comes in and she doesn’t even belong in your room.

And all the teacher wants to do is hug these children and guide them. But she can’t. Because she has a handful of un-vased flowers and wrapped gifts and heavy books with big ribbons.

Still want to give a gift?

• Send a note on the second day, telling her what a great first day of school Sammy had and that you’re happy to help out around the room if she needs it, just call!
• Send a food tray (or home made desserts or a few pizzas) to the teachers’ room to welcome the staff back to school.

I’m not getting it, right? You really, really need to send a gift:

• Give your teacher a tiny bud vase with a single flower in it. Then, each Monday for the rest of the year send in a single flower to keep it fresh. (really, though, send the vase the 2nd week of school so this idea doesn’t overwhelm the teacher on the first day.)

Again, the most imporant things to send to school on the first day? A well-rested, well-fed, happy/nervous/sad/outgoing/shy/quiet/loud/confident child who knows that he has your love in his pocket. That. Is what a teacher wants most of all.

© 2010, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.

Big starts 1st grade this month at a new school. He already knows a few of the kids, but he’s nervous, and so am I. I started first grade as a new student, too. I entered the room (mid-year) knowing no one. I remember my dad holding me as the teacher came over to greet me. And the next week, I sat in the front row with 10 new friends vying for my attention. Most of the class befriended me right away. Being new in school in first grade is cool. You’re exciting.

So why can’t I, as his parent, realize that he’ll be fine? Why am I so nervous? I recognize that its a good school. I know he’ll handle the academics. I suppose I just feel so many emotions of this big move from his private Pteschool & Kindergarten where we all felt so safe and coddled to a big building that is so unfamiliar. I feel nervous. I feel scared. Will they like me, as a parent? Will I be thought of as pushy? Smart? Helpful? Annoying?

I’ve written a lot in the past about teaching and PTOing and parenting. I’ve always written from the perspective of someone who’s been there, done that. But this is a totally new perspective. I’ve never walked Big to the busstop where he’ll ride with the 5th graders (will there be bullies?) I’ve never provided him with lunch money and asked him to make the right choices in his meals. I’ve never sent him into an unfamiliar hallway with an unfamiliar teacher and unfamiliar rules. What if I don’t like his classmates? What if I don’t like their moms? What if they don’t like me? What if I don’t have an opportunity to be involved in his school the way I am in the Preschool and Kindergarten? (hmph. Some may say that would be a good thing.)

Wait, really? I’m having the back to school jitters, as a parent? I’m feeling butterflies like I’ve never felt before. I didn’t get this way before Kindergarten. I felt so safe because we’d been there before.

And I know how scared he is. He’s talked about it with me, albeit briefly. He fully expects to have his best friend, who was also in his Kindergarten and preschool classes in his classroom. He’s worried he won’t. He’s worried about the building he doesn’t know and the friends he hasn’t met and the teacher he doesn’t have a name or a face for.

I have to be confident, for him. I have to hug him and tell him its fine to be nervous, that everything will be great. I have to show him how to be strong on his first day of school. I have to do this for him.

But in the meantime, for you, I’m sharing that I’m just as terrified. Maybe more.

This post is in response to the Y! Mother Board‘s August topic, Back to School. Read tips and suggestions about Back to School season at Yahoo! Shine. And make sure you enter the Fill the Backpack contest this week on Just Precious, as well as the other Fill the Backpack member’s sites to win one of 16 backpacks overpacked with $300 worth of prizes. Are you a teacher? A parent? An Administrator? Enter for an opportunity to win $500 towards your dream classroom.

© 2010, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.

Economically, its a tough time. Yet we’re getting hundreds of calls asking us to give money. And we feel guilty every time we hang up the phone. Nodding your head in agreement?  That’s okay. Here’s a very incomplete list of ways you can help charities without opening your wallet:

Help your local school: volunteer your time daily, weekly, monthly or once a year; call your teacher and offer to write her newsletter, run your classroom’s scholastic program (you can do this from home and it earns books for your school!)

Help your hospital: run a local toy drive for the children’s ward; volunteer at a blood drive; become a a candy striper (yes, even adults can do this!); volunteer at the hospital gala (by volunteering you can express that you can’t pay to enter but will work there instead. They’ll love you for that!)

Help at a run for a cause: Sure, you can run. You can also host a water station, be a registration volunteer, help with promotions, get your company to co-sponsor, be a run directional cheerleader (yes, they need those!)

Help your library: donate old, used books for a library’s used book sale; donate your books to a library; volunteer your time stacking shelves or teaching classes

Help at a shelter: offer to take leftovers to the shelter after your place of worship or school or event is over; volunteer in their consignment shop; run a toiletries drive to donate; collect mini-toiletries after a conference and donate them

Help at an event: Get your company to sponsor, collect raffle or auction donations, make phone calls, run registration, coordinate a part of the event

Clearly, an incomplete list because the opportunities to get yourself involved in causes are limitless. Have more ideas? Share them, please. Inspire someone.

© 2010, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.

In our call last week, Secretary Vilsack shared that a new Food Pyramid is planned to be unveiled later this year to reflect the findings of many different studies, and to encourage, or course, healthier eating. Here’s the big surprise, many active parents don’t realize that the pyramid has changed since we were in school.

While its true that the pyramid will be changing, that doesn’t stop the need to learn healthy eating in the mean time. The Department of Agriculture created several great webpages to teach children and families basics of healthy eating, starting with the pyramid.

My Pyramid for Kids includes an interactive game where kids ages 6-11 race through space learning about healthy eating. Also are links for parents, a worksheet, a coloring page and teacher resources.

The Preschoolers Pyramid page was built for 2-5 year olds. On this page you and your kids can create a “pyramid plan” for your kid, based on his age and amount of daily activity.  Parents can also learn ways to be more healthy with your children. Note that this page is not for Preschoolers to play but for parents to learn how to better help their children.

There’s also a page for moms and moms-to-be which focuses on pregnancy and breastfeeding health. Easy to read, its worth checkign out if not for review, than to answer quick questions if you fall into either of these catagories.

What’s the point? Well, if we want our children to make wise choices in eating, its going to have to start at home. Parents need to make sure that their children’s plates are colorful, serving the correct number of grains in relation to dairy. And we need to teach our children, outside of school, what’s important.

Additionally, if your schools aren’t teaching your children about healthy eating, its your job to encourage the School Directors to put health back into the curriculum. And there’s no better way to do that than to come armed with knowledge, as well as suggestions for teaching.

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• Tips for Teaching Your Child To Eat Healthy Foods {Looney Tunes Eating Right Kids Program} (momblognetwork.com)
• Talk with your Teens about Diet – Part 3 (connectwithyourteens.blogspot.com)
• Sarah Newman: Fight Childhood Obesity By Supporting Public School Nutrition Reform (huffingtonpost.com)
• Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack Speaks with Mom Bloggers (svmoms.com)

© 2010, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.