I am a NEW teacher, this is my very first year. I am going to be teaching 4th grade. I am wondering if there are any 4th grade teachers out there that do a weekly newsletter. Is this okay for 4th grade, or too kiddish.?
I forget who said it, but someone on here said "I don't think anything is too kiddish even for fourth graders." Or something like that.
I send home a weekly newsletter, no matter how old the students are, the parents still need to receive the information. (Or at least have an opportunity to receive the information, as we all know many parents may not read the newsletter) At least if I send it home, when they come in complaining that they didn't know something, I can pull out my copy and show them exactly where the information was and in which newsletter it came home.
My daughter's high school math teacher sent home monthly newsletters. It was great. I teach 4th and would love to do a newsletter every week, but am fearful of starting something I can't finish!! Also, I am technologically challenged, for lack of a better term, and would have to have an easy template that I would just fill in spots, if I were to attempt it. How are you planning to format your newsletter, and what will you include in it? What day of the week will it go home?
I have to tell you all how my newsletter looks, because it is really cool and the parents love it. I got this idea when I was student teaching from one of my master teachers. The first week of school, the class and I work together to make the "stationary" our newsletter will be on the rest of the year. First, I draw a border around the edges of the paper and divide it into squares - one for each student. Then, the students come up one at a time and draw a picture of themselves and write their first name in a box. Once everyone has filled themselves in, I make a bunch of copies and run off my newsletter on those the rest of the year. It is really cute and totally makes the paper stand out from others. As far as the letter itself, I don't use a fancy template, I just write it in a letter format.
Great idea, Steph-ernie! I used to do a weekly newsletter for 4th, but it was a lot to keep up with and I often felt it wasn't read, so now I do a bi-weekly one. Also, depending on the group of kids and how the year is going, I try to let groups of kids take turn doing most of the newsletter as part of writing.
Last year in 3rd I sent home a weekly letter. This year I am going to try and do a weekly newsletter. The same letter, just in newsletter form. I have found that Microsoft Word has a very easy, back to school newsletter template if you search their online site. I haven't started back to school, so I can't tell you how it will work out.
At my school (K-5) we are required to send home a weekly newsletter. I know that some parents read it every week, and some do not. I have done both a Microsoft Publisher and Microsoft Word template for mine. I think it's a great way to get information home to the parents. I would suggest a section of the newsletter for important dates/reminders. That way they can see the most important things at a glance.
