Parent Teacher Conferences - May 8

On Tuesday, May 8th Home Sweet Home will be closed for children's services to invest in the Parent-Teacher partnership by facilitating the second of the biannual Parent-Teacher Conferences. Ongoing communication reveals how much parents and teachers value their time together. By pooling the wealth of knowledge around the child's behavior in multiple environments (home, preschool, playdates, extended family, neighborhood) we expand our understanding of each child's strength and capacity. The goal is that our shared knowledge will increase our capacity to support the child with deeper and more meaningful care and experiences in home and at Home Sweet Home.

The Omnibus Work Sampling System provides a tool to formally document staff observations three times a year through a behavioral checklist in seven content areas:

Personal and Social Development
Language and Literacy
Mathematical Thinking
Scientific Thinking
Social Studies
The Arts
Physical Development and Health

The strategy for success of the Omnibus as a tool is to utilize this checklist as a framework for teacher communication - to enable our understanding of the wide range of developmentally appropriate behaviors by sharing a common vocabulary. In essence, it gets all of us on the same page so we know what each other is talking about and what we mean when we say it. Use of this tool informs weekly staff check-in as we seek to observe, document, and be responsive to each individual child. Our shared understanding supports content presented at the Parent-Teacher Conferences. To recap: Omnibus is simply the prep work for teachers to support the experience of the Parent-Teacher Conference so that our contribution to the conversation is thoughtful, reflective and responsive. Parents are shown the tool, but cautioned not to regard it as any kind of a test or report card - it is simply the teacher's documentation of what we have observed from your child in the preschool environment. It is NOT the whole picture.

Parents are encouraged to prepare for their conference by reflecting on the child's development over the past 5 months. This might be achievement of milestones (cutting with scissors, sleeping alone, toileting). This might be new interests (books, music, playdough, vegetables). This might be expanded vocabulary (20 words to consistent use of 10 short phrases for personal problem-solving). What has changed for the family? How has the child "owned" responsibility for their self-care (put on clothes, wash hands, brush teeth) and chores (make bed, help set table, tidy living room)? Is the child curious, interested, engaged and joyful? Have new fears emerged? What are the child's coping mechanisms? How have they changed? How have they grown? How have we grown? Parents may want to bring in photos or work samples documenting the child's interests and activities in the home to support teacher understanding.

Home Sweet Home dedicates time twice annually to formally meet with parents to discuss their child. The strategy for success of this practice is to embed this date in the Preschool Calendar to ensure families have ample foreknowledge (10 months) to plan and provide alternative care for their child on these days and so that adults hold space in their work plan to be flexible to the assigned time for the preschool meeting. Home Sweet Home appreciates parent partnership around the learning community's task of scheduling 40 meetings with four staff members within a 9 hour day. Thank you for holding this space and time.

Assigned meeting times will be released to parents by April 27th - by note in the child's mailbox. Please arrive 15 minutes earlier than your scheduled meeting time. If weather permits, we will host coffee in the playground garden and parents can relax and read through any provided teacher documentation. This will help Home Sweet Home to facilitate the conferences on time for every family. Please support staff to hold sharing within the 30 minute meeting time.

Please know Home Sweet Home will not have the opportunity to reschedule conferences this Spring. Parents who cannot make their meeting time will try to be accommodated in late July or August with a 20 minute check-in, but this cannot be guaranteed. Please note rescheduling parent conferences outside of the agreed upon days of closure impacts the care of children and the preschool budget due to the need for substitute staff coverage. Home Sweet Home appreciates that all the adults are very busy balancing their work-life and hopes that by sharing information we will grow our capacity around the Conference Partnership.

Thanks to all the committed children, parents, staff and youth who create our vibrant learning community.