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Kelsey Kinard
TWS 10: Communication and Collaboration
A. Family Communication
1) Introduction Letter
At the beginning of student teaching, I will send out an introductory letter to the
parents and/or guardians of each student in the class. In this letter I will introduce
myself to the parents and/or guardians and tell them a little bit about myself. I will
share in the letter how thrilled I am to work with Mrs. Koone and how eager I am to
work and learn alongside their first graders. My email address and ways to contact me
are included in the letter to create an opening for communication with the families and
to reassure them that I am there to work with them and help teach their child.
2) Daily Behavior Sheets
Behavior sheets are sent home in the students homework folders daily. Each
student will receive either a smiley face or a frowny face based on their behavior that
day. If the student does not receive a smiley face for the day, there is space on the
sheet to write a note to the parent and/or guardian explaining their childs behavior.
Likewise, a student might receive a note on their behavior sheet for good behavior or a
change in behavior especially for any student on a behavioral management plan. The
behavior sheets are the main source of conveying behavioral expectations or issues with
parents and/or guardians before having a parent teacher conference or involving the
office. Notes can also be written to the parent and/or guardian on the behavior sheet
notifying them about items or work that is not returned to school. Parents and/or
guardians are to check, sign, and return the behavior sheet every day. During my fulltime teaching, I filled out and checked behavior sheets daily.
3) Weekly Newsletter
Newsletters are sent home in the students homework folder at the beginning of
each week. The newsletter informs the families of important dates, classroom news and
reminders, the lunch menu for the week, and what we are studying in each subject.

There is a student quote of the week, a quote from the teacher, and a Math and Literacy
tip for the parent and/or guardian to do with their child. The newsletter lets families
know what is going on in their childs classroom that week and involves them in their
childs academic learning.

B. Communication/Collaboration with Colleagues

1) PLC Meetings
Professional Learning Community meetings take place in the conference room
biweekly. On Tuesdays during related activity time, the first grade teachers meet with
the principal and instructional specialist to discuss their students who are academically
not on level. The first grade teachers inform the administrators what instructional
measures they are taking in the classroom to help these students succeed and advance,
how the students individually are responding to these efforts, and their continued plan
of action. I attended every grade level PLC and was able to discuss instructional issues
with the administrators for feedback.
2) Faculty Meetings
Faculty meetings take place on Tuesday afternoons once or twice a month. The
subject of the meetings varied from technology training and running record training to
discussing Title 1 programs and school wide events. The meetings keep the teachers
and me up to date on what is happening around the school, allow us to share ideas, and
provide us with new information to apply to our classrooms.
3) Guided Reading Group Teachers
In my first grade class, students reading levels range from Pre-A to Level 18+.
There is no way for one teacher to instruction guided reading groups on all of these
levels multiple times a week. In order to provide each student with small group
instruction on their level, I partnered with the other grade level teachers. Mrs. Turner
took on two of my lowest level readers into her guided reading group. I met with Mrs.
Turner at least once a week to discuss how my students were doing under her

instruction and how they were progressing. This kept me up to date on what reading
strategies and sight words they were working on so that I could continue to reinforce
those skills in my classroom as well.

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