Productive Day and the Breakdown of Conferences!

Wow..Since I'm all finished with my conferences and was done with school at 1:00, I had an EXTREMELY productive day! It feels so good to actually get things done..I haven't had much time do much of anything else since conferences have been my main focus. I went shopping at our school book fair, came home and cleaned the house!! My oh my did my poor little apartment need it!! Do any of you live in apartments?? I can't wait to move into a house and have more space. My poor living room (and poor and kind boyfriend who is so understandable and patient) was a COMPLETE MESS with stacks of paper here and stacks of paper there. My living room is pretty much my office with storage bins and shelves all over the place with school stuff. I had student work everywhere as I was searching for all the student evidence I needed and going through things that needed to be graded. So I got a chance to sort through the piles, and now I can actually see the floors and couch :D I also did a load of laundry and had time to take a NAp. I feel so nice and refreshed!!

Alright, so I did want to share how I go through conferences. I begin by sending home a pre conference form to parents so that I can see how they feel their child is doing as well as address any concerns they may be having. This form is extremely helpful in guiding my timeline for each of my conferences. I can be sure to address any concerns or issues parents are having and make the most of our 20 minutes together.

Next, I schedule all of my conferences then send home notifications to each parent. Each year its so helpful because I just pull out all of my conference files, print them and send them home. I have included a word document of my conference schedule so that you can change it to your needs (dates, times, and add in student names). I have also included PDF files of scheduling notes to send home to kids.

I also have notes to send home just in case parents miss a conference. There is an option for parents to either email or give you a call to reschedule.

While preparing for conferences, I use a template to guide my conferences that highlight the strengths and needs of each student in reading, writing, math, and and overall class behavior and work ethic. At the bottom of the sheet I add in any other things/reminders of things to address during conference. I have included a pdf file in my packet as well as a word document, just in case you prefer to type out your notes.

Please keep in mind that my word documents are plain and have no cute clipart. If you prefer to use the pdf file of my notes to go home, yes you will have cute clipart. I could not include it into my word documents because of the terms of use on Scrappin Doodles. :)

I've also included a cute sign to put on your door while meeting with families.

Last but not least, I created some notes to finish conferences off by having parents write a positive note to their child. I don't think that parents really take as much time as they should to really tell their child how proud they are of them and what a good job they do every day in school. These notes should be collected and once ALL of your conferences are done, hand them out to each child. Unfortunately, I thought up of this idea AFTER all my conferences were done..but I do think this will be such a sweet ending :)

All of these conference items are available in my Parent Teacher Conference Bundle at my TPT Store :)