5 Items To Add To Your Newsletters To Get Families To Read Them

Each Friday, at about noon, many teachers start thinking about that weekly newsletter that gets emailed or printed each week. We can only hope each family reads it but we know it can get lost in the pile of mail. Here are my top 5 things that encourage families to read each newsletter and increase their involvement.

1. Pictures, pictures, and more pictures! We live is a picture world, we want to see pictures of our kids! Have students help capture and choose the photos.

2. Questions, each week choose up to 5 questions for families to ask their children, we know kids get sick of hearing "what did you do at school today?" Try things like "What book did Mrs. Dahl read today? What was the setting of the book? Show me how you can count to 100. What sound does the letter t make? Questions like this will help families ask better questions. Try to have them match your objectives for each week, which may be helpful to share too!

3. Website/Apps students use in your classroom, let families know what websites and apps your students are using. f]Families ask me all the time about good apps or websites, if they know which ones you use at school they can engage with their children at home using these apps.

4.The 3'Cs, color, clipart and consistency. Be sure your newsletters are easy to read flow/layout. If you have the reoccurring information newsletter be sure to put new information at the top or in a consistent spot that way families know where to look for the more important information. Adding some color and clipart makes it more interesting and eye catching in the pile of papers each week. We wouldn't look forward to reading a magazine or newsletter article full of black type.

5.  Go digital! Share it via email/Remind message. or class blog. Be sure not to use a Word document because not all families have Microsoft programs. Save your newsletter as a PDF to allow easier viewing and still have active links. Other options include; Bloomz, S'more, Sway, Tackk, or Seesaw.

Here is another resource to help create newsletters using technology 3 Tech Tips for Parent Newsletters.

I have included 2 examples from my classroom.

Let me know your favorite thing to add to your newsletters that gets families to read your newsletter!