Parent Communication Cover Letter

As every teacher knows, communicating with parents is essential for a productive and supportive school year.  At my school, we have what we call a Tuesday Packet.  This packet consists of the following items:

Sample Packet Cover Letter

• Any papers, forms or notes from the office
• All the student's work from the previous week
• A Packet Cover letter (which is slightly different from teacher to teacher but contains the same general information)

Each student takes all of these items home in a weekly envelope that parents sign off on saying they received the items within it.  

By doing this on the same day each week, it eliminates the overwhelming number of papers that we know can go home throughout the week.  Also, parents know that they can expect to receive their child's graded work from the week before.  One of my favorite things about this system is that it requires me to stay on top of my grading!  Of course, sometimes I don't get EVERYTHING done but that is seldom.  This system also helps alleviate the possibility that a specific poor test or other assignment might go missing.  Why you ask?  Simply because the Packet Cover letter gives a brief list of what items the students completed that week.  See my example Cover Letter below to see just how brief my list is.  I don't go into great detail - just give a bulleted list.  This is nice for the parents so they can see what their child covered in class and what assignments they should see in the packet. If I have a test listed, they know that test should be in that packet.  Additionally, the packet letter let's me communicate with parents with any general announcements and comments or I can write specific ones to a particular family.  I also list any points in behavior or work habits that their child received from the week before (this is part of our school-wide behavior plan).  

This system really works for our school and parent feedback on it has been very positive. If you'd like a copy of my Packet Cover Letter, head on over to my TpT store and download it for free.  I provided it in doc format so you can tweak it to suit your needs.  I hope you find it useful!

Enjoy! 

Katie