6 Tips For Writing the Perfect First Letter Home

Do you have difficulty writing letters home to parents?  What do you say?  What kind news from the classroom do they want to hear?  How do you not make it so overwhelming?  What activities can you give them to work on at home?

Those are all the questions that go through my head when I sit down to write a letter home.  

My first summer email from my principal is usually a reminder to write our welcome back letters to incoming students.  I always look forward to designing these letters home because I see it as my first opportunity to build rapport with my students and their parents.  

Having a good first impression seems to make my year go by a whole lot smoother.  So here are my tips, and if you stick around, I’ll give you a link to download my free back to school letter template for yourself!

Tip #1: Color and design matters

I design and print out my letters in color, and I also try to send my letter in a colorful envelope with a nice sticker as a seal.  In this first note home, I try to show a glimpse of my engaging classroom style, and I think the bright envelopes are more likely to get opened before school starts!

Tip #2: Introduce your educational philosophies to parents

I consider myself a constructivist teacher as I’m a big believer in Jerome Bruner’s theories on learning.  I try my best to convey these beliefs in the first paragraph of my letter home.

I spell it out for parents: I believe that children learn best in an engaging and hands on style environment where they can build upon their prior experiences while participating in fun learning activities.

Many parents have come to me during parent teacher conferences saying that they liked my beliefs stated in that letter.  So often I feel teachers think they don’t need to explain philosophies to parents, but I think it makes life easier when your views are clearly stated.  I feel they are my mission statement to the world about my classroom.

Tip #3: Give parents a glimpse at what their children will be learning this year

I always outline the big ideas for my parents, so they have a clue as to what their children will be learning.  Here’s an example: In 5th grade, your child will become an expert in decimals and fractions as well as participate in fun lessons involving early U.S. History (Christopher Columbus to the Civil War) and Life Science (think bug reports! and octopus dissections!).

I want students coming into my classroom excited about future lessons, so I try to think of my biggest hits to drop in the letter.

Tip #4: Remind them you are a real person

I like to add a picture of myself and my family as well as my pets to the letter. I also find space to write about my “favorites”. So many times kids and parents forget that we are not just lesson planning, grade giving robots! I like a place that says “Fun Facts about Mrs. M” in the letter.

So not only do they know I’m smart, but I’m also fun.  Key tip: I always include my favorite chocolates in this box, and sure enough every year I get them for Christmas!

Tip #5: Give them a little background about yourself

I’m a native to my state and I went to graduate school in my state, so I like to mention these things to parents in order to build a connection with them to ease their minds a bit.  We may be teachers, but to parents we are still strangers.

I try to think about what parents in my area respect and know.  I earned my undergrad degree in Minnesota, but I don’t mention that to parents since I live in Nevada now.  I do mention that I was *born and raised* in Nevada though.  

Also I try not to brag about traveling adventures as most of my students come from impoverished backgrounds.  I tend to include more of my hobbies that parents may also be interested in like camping, hiking and nature photography.  I want them to read the letter and say “yes! I have something in common with this person, I like her!”.

Tip #6: Highlight contact info

Let parents know that it’s okay to contact you with questions and leave them plenty of information on how to contact you.  So often parents feel the door to classrooms is a closed one.  

From the very first interaction, I like to let parents know that they are welcome to come to my room and find me.  I give them my school email address, a personal teaching email address, my school phone number, and summer classroom set up hours in case they want to stop by.

I also let them know my before and after school hours.  I want parents to reach out to me before school starts to build that connection with them.  I’ve found the better the rapport I can build EARLY with the parents, the less problems I have in class with their children!

Here’s a link to my letter forms: Five Easy First Letter Home Templates.  I wrote them special for this blog post!  You can open them in powerpoint and just click to each section to help you on your way to building a great relationship with parents this year