Parent Teacher Conferences

It's that time of year again.. Parent Teacher Conferences! I love conferences in the spring (or in my case this year beginning of February... yikes) because the kiddos have come so far and are so proud of all of their accomplishments. I do student led conferences so the kiddos can show and tell their parents all about what we do in the classroom!


Now before I get into all the deets about my student led conferences.. I do not offer a student led conference for all students. There are always some students who have not progressed as planned, or have other issues that need a different type of conference. I schedule private teacher led conferences for these students and do not offer another option. Also, some families don't want this type of conference, and if that is the case then I meet with them on a different day during conference week.


Anyways.. back to student led conferences! I do mine open house style on one day during conference week. We have a "family conference day" where families with multiple kids can come to school and do all of the conferences in one day. This is when I offer my student led conferences - open house style. I have families sign up for a 45 time frame that they would like to come to the conference, and let them know they can arrive at any time during their time frame. I schedule up to 5 families per time frame so I can still meet with them to discuss their child. I just find that most of the time I don't have a whole lot to share with their child. I mean.. I can rant and rave about how amazing my students are or blab on and on about things they need to work on, but most of the time I don't have a whole lot of new information to share. I keep in touch with families throughout the year so most conferences go quickly.


We practice how the conferences go a lot leading up to "family conference day". The kiddos take on the role of a tour guide and start the conference off by giving their parents a tour of the classroom. They go over:

1. Each bulletin board and the things that we're learning about that are displayed
2. Their cubby and desk
3. Race their parents on a math fact test - the students do their current level and choose one for their parents to do
4. Read a book with their parents - I put out only grade level books so the parents can see how their child does while reading an on level book
5. Their writing portfolio - I send home all of their writing at the very end of the school year, but I let the kiddos take home up to 3 pieces at this conference.
6. A brief visit with me - I go over the most recent testing data and classroom or behavior observations about the child.


 I watch the conferences from a distance and meet with the parent when a) the parent is antsy and obviously ready to leave, b) there is a lull in the conference and the kiddo needs redirection, or c) another family walked into the room and I get anxious about how many more people will walk in next.


I send home a preconference form (included below) so I can get an idea of what the parents want to know at the conference. This way I can make the most of the limited time we have during the student led conference, and I know exactly what they have concerns about and can address them quickly. At the completion of conferences I ask the parents to complete post conference form so I can determine what to improve for next year and make sure that the parents left with information they needed.

The resources I use are in my TpT shop as a FREEBIE until my conferences are over on February 5th. Check it out and grab it while it's free!

Click the image to view the product in my TpT store!