5 Ways to Support Your Child's Teacher

Your child’s early education is just as important at home as it is in school. Did you know that students with involved parents have a 98% average school attendance rate, which contributes significantly to academic achievement? Also, 95% of students with actively involved parents have better mental and physical well-being, providing them with a good foundation to excel academically. [source: https://www.positiveaction.net/blog/impact-of-parental-involvement ]

One of the best ways you can support your child’s learning is by supporting their teacher. Want to know some easy ways? Keep reading to learn some great ways you can support your child’s teacher so you can set up their academic success and make their teacher’s life a whole lot easier.

Be Involved in Your Child’s Learning

Staying involved in your child’s learning is a lot more than just asking them what they learned or what they did when you pick them up from school each day. Here are some tips:

• Provide your child with a workspace to do homework or reading
• Assist your child with their homework
• Be patient if your child feels stuck on something, and take a break when needed
• Talk to your child’s teacher about expectations and curriculum
• Go to parent/teacher conferences and other school events

Donate Supplies or Volunteer

Teachers are angels who often go above and beyond their pay grade in order to provide students with adequate classroom support, supplies, and environment. If your child’s teacher has an Amazon wish list, make sure you take some time to donate items from it so that they can get what they really need.

If your child’s teacher does not have a wish list, talk to them about items they use most and donate those. Not sure what to buy or where to begin? We found a handy list that breaks down heavily used school supplies by grade level. https://getschoolsupplieslist.com/

Many schools will also offer parents the opportunity to volunteer in their child’s classroom. Not only is this a great way to spend some time with your child and make them feel special, but it is also a great opportunity to talk to their teacher more, see what a typical day is like, and immerse yourself in their experience. This way, you can have more detailed conversations with your child at home and allow that to be a bonding experience.

Celebrate School Wins at Home

Don’t just leave “school stuff” at school. School is a huge part of your child’s life—they are now spending many hours a day there, and it is important to show them that it is important for you, too. Did they complete all their work today? Get star stickers every day this week? Eat their entire lunchbox? Help a classmate? Celebrate!

Here are ways you can celebrate school wins at home:

• Special meals or treats 
• Extra privileges
• Earning school-related trinkets, such as FlexCharmz 
• Call other family members to share the news in front of them 

Celebrating school wins at home boosts confidence and fosters positive habits at school. This can be especially helpful if your child has a tough time at school, whether it is paying attention, focusing, or sitting still. 

One of the ways you can help your child at school is by providing them with sensory fidget toys. They have been proven to help children focus, retain information better, study for longer periods of time, and help them pay attention better in class. 

Innobaby has an entire line of silicone sensory fidget toys in all sorts of shapes, colors, and sizes. They are non-distracting for other students, can fit in the palm of your hand, and can be tossed in the dishwasher with the day’s load for easy cleaning.

Communicate as Much as You Can

While you don’t want to overwhelm your child’s teacher, it is important to communicate with them as much as possible. This is especially true if you have something going on at home that might affect them at school. It gives your teacher a better understanding of your child if there are changes taking place with their learning.

Some things to communicate with your child’s teacher about include: 

• Your child’s strengths and weaknesses 
• Home life changes 
• An injury or illness they may have 
• Areas of concern or struggle you are seeing with their home studies 
• Ask specific questions to their teacher about what engages them or what can be worked on at home

Give Gifts They Actually Want

Whether it is Teacher Appreciation Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or the last day of school, there are plenty of opportunities to give your child’s teacher a gift of appreciation.

While most teachers will tell you they appreciate every gift they receive, there are some things that they, secretly, wish they could stop receiving. Some of these include:

Gift ideas your child’s teacher actually wants include:

• A handwritten card or note
• Giftcards Items from their classroom
• Amazon wishlist 

For more parenting tips and great items your entire family (and teachers!) will love, visit us at Innobaby.com!