Ideas and resources for parent conferences
These reviewed resources offer information so share with parents at conferences or suggested activities to share at conference time. Read "In the Classroom" ideas to display and other creative approaches for parent conferences. Parents will appreciate your sharing of educator-reviewed resources at conferences and on your TeachersFirst public page so you can work as a team in support of their child's learning.
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bulb - Bulb, Inc.
Grades
2 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): multimedia (55), portfolios (21), writing (307)
In the Classroom
Use bulb for student portfolios in any subject. Set up an account with your teacher name, email, password, and some basic information. Once you and your students' accounts are set up, share how to get around bulb on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector to get students started. When you (or your students) create group pages, anyone you invite can publish to the group. However, students will also have their own account and can keep pages private. Science teachers could have students write up their lab reports in a portfolio, and history teachers could set up portfolios for student report writing. Have teens and older students upload work throughout the year to create their own "me-portfolios." Create portfolios (with permission) to share younger students' work with parents and students during conferences. Use this tool to show finished projects or to show changes in a project from start to finish. Make a work prototype site and upload examples of exemplary work to share with students to set expectations for completed products before beginning a project. Create a link to this tool on your class website for students to share projects and information. (Get parent permission before posting students' work!) Have students take ownership of their own portfolios to show progress and products across several years. Have older students build portfolios to share as part of career and college preparation. Art teachers will want to share this as a portfolio option for their students.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Google Forms - Google
Grades
K to 12tag(s): polls and surveys (41), spreadsheets (20)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the flexibility of Google Forms to create surveys for parents and students at the beginning of the year to learn about student interests, create parent volunteer lists, and much more. Create sign in and sign out sheets for classroom library materials including books and digital equipment. Use Google Forms to set up and collaborate on lesson plans, include check boxes to standards, materials needed, and covered content. Google Forms is perfect to use for assessment purposes - create online quizzes and exit tickets. Have students use Google Forms to prepare and submit reading logs, brainstorm and collaborate with fellow students, create choose your own adventure stories, or schedule reading and writing conference times. Use Google Forms to set up and share rubrics for any project, have students complete the rubric and turn in with any completed assignment. The uses for Google Forms are as unlimited as your imagination; this is a must-have tool for all classrooms!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Mahara - New Zealand's Tertiary Education Commission
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): assessment (127), classroom management (107), portfolios (21)
In the Classroom
Record classroom activities and student learning with photos or videos. Show students how to create a portfolio, then document their learning and make comments in their portfolio. Share portfolios with parents, not just at conference time, but any time the student portfolio is updated to keep parents in the loop.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Zoom - Eric Yuan
Grades
K to 12tag(s): chat (36), communication (113), DAT device agnostic tool (125), parent conferences (20)
In the Classroom
Use Zoom to set up virtual parent/teacher conferences with participants located anywhere in the world. This is especially useful when multiple teachers are involved or when parents may not reside in the exact location. Share your screen as needed to provide information on assessments and student work. Connect whole classrooms across the country for book clubs. Collaborate with experts, such as authors and scientists, in classrooms with children. Create connected learning experiences with other students, especially those in older grades. Connect world language classes to classes in different countries. Teachers can hold "office hours" for homework help and to ask questions. Create a collaborative space for homework help before or after school or on snow days. Students can meet whenever help is needed, or teachers can create a session that can be accessed on any device easily by those who need it. Consider using a tool such as Remind, reviewed here, to alert parents and students when your sessions are open. Use Zoom for group work - no more excuses about not being able to meet for cooperative learning projects! Buildings can collaborate and share professional development with others in their own district and beyond!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Flock - Cookies Riva FZC
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): chat (36), communication (113), microblogging (14), polls and surveys (41)
In the Classroom
Teachers can use the chat feature to communicate with parents or students. Collaborate with other educators on lesson plans and activities. Create groups of students during group projects for collaboration. Attach the directions to the chat and monitor the conversation by including yourself in the group and promoting good digital citizenship. Use the poll feature to check for understanding or use the chat as an exit ticket.Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
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Milestones - GreatKids
Grades
K to 8tag(s): parent conferences (20), parents (53), professional development (273)
In the Classroom
Milestones is perfect for sharing with parents to explain grade-level goals and expectations. Share a link on your class web page or blog for parents to access at any time. Share one or two videos during your meet the teacher night or with individual parents during conferences.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Boomerang for Gmail - Bavdin
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): organizational skills (80)
In the Classroom
Let Boomerrang simplify your email life. Start the beginning of school with welcoming emails to each student/family. Schedule emails with newsletters, timely events, or parent conference reminders in exactly the right time! Design unit newsletters to coincide with your lessons time periods. Schedule birthday wishes or even schedule emails to remind yourself of an important event. You will never forget to collect all responses or assignments with a reminder email. Manage daily or weekly parent reports with ease and timeliness. Share at Meet the Teacher Nights or Curriculum Chats to help parents improve organizational skills for their student.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Seesaw - Charles Lin, Carl Sjogreen , Adrian Graham
Grades
K to 10tag(s): blogs (69), communication (113), DAT device agnostic tool (125), digital storytelling (150), Learning Management Systems (18), portfolios (21), Teacher Utilities (170)
In the Classroom
Sign up for Seesaw, and after students have parental permission, generate a join code for the class from the menu at the upper right corner or by clicking your name or initials in the left corner to get a drop down menu. The join code expires in 15 minutes, so it is best to do this in your classroom or computer lab. Teachers can add photos, drawings, links, notes, and upload a file from this same menu by clicking the + symbol. You can even add a co-teacher! See Seesaw's FAQs for ways for parents to sign up and letters to send home. Use Seesaw portfolios for any subject or grade level. Once your account is set up, create a simple project or borrow one from the Activities on the Help and Teacher Resources page. Share the project on your interactive whiteboard or projector to get your students started. The teacher portal allows you to access and comment on student work. View the work of an individual or the entire class. The ability to import work from many creation apps to Seesaw makes this a perfect portfolio tool. Don't forget to watch the video about setting up blogs for your students. Remember, this is all free! Science teachers could have students write up their lab reports, take photos of their labs and label them in a portfolio. History teachers could set up portfolios for student report writing or digital storytelling projects. Seesaw is the perfect tool to use during parent conferences.Comments
I love using Seesaw with my elementary school students. It's great that parents can comment also.Katy, , Grades: 0 - 12
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FreeConferenceCall.com - freeconferencecall.com
Grades
K to 12tag(s): blended learning (27), chat (36), communication (113), DAT device agnostic tool (125), parent conferences (20), parents (53), remote learning (31)
In the Classroom
Use Free Conference Call to set up virtual parent/teacher conferences with participants located anywhere in the world. This is especially useful when multiple teachers are involved or when parents may not reside in the exact location. Share your screen as needed to provide information on assessments and student work.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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180 Days: Challenge - PBS
Grades
K to 12tag(s): classroom management (107), professional development (273)
In the Classroom
Take the 180 Days Challenge as part of your professional development activities. Use individual scenarios as a prompt for discussions within your school or grade level. Be sure to share this site with other teachers and administrators as part of your ongoing teaching discussions. Use videos found on the 180 Days Challenge to discuss how your school handles different classroom situations.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Simple Sticky Notes - Simnet Limited
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): brainstorming (17), graphic organizers (50), note taking (30)
In the Classroom
Stay organized and never lose that sticky note again! Make notes for conferences, lab materials, books needed, or even parent conferences. Use on your interactive whiteboard to create a fun brainstorming session. Use as a way to motivate unorganized students. Post a link on your class web page as a tool for students and even parents! Post on student computers and fill with inspirational messages, vocabulary or spelling words, or even for reflection questions.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Bloomz - Chaks Appalabattula
Grades
K to 12tag(s): calendars (34), communication (113), DAT device agnostic tool (125), images (253), parent conferences (20), parents (53), Teacher Utilities (170)
In the Classroom
Use Bloomz for all your communications with your classroom community. Not only that, but share important documents (field trip permission slips, a syllabus, etc.) for others to access; post photos of special projects in class or from field trips. P.E. teachers and coaches can use this tool to post what skills students are learning and action pictures of student involvement in games and activities. Parents can download the free app or receive updates via email. Currently, there are three ways to invite parents and other class members. Email, enter the information manually, or upload an Excel spreadsheet and send a bulk invitation. Create groups within your Bloomz class and invite members. These groups might be volunteers in the classroom, volunteers for driving on a field trip, and more. Then you can communicate just to that group when necessary. Introduce Bloomz to parents at Back to School Night in the fall, Open House in the spring, or during parent conferences. Encourage resource teachers and others to join your class community to see what your class is doing. Update Bloomz on the go with your mobile device!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Common Core Math - Grade by Grade View for Parents - Tricia Bevans & Dev Sinha University of Oregon
Grades
K to 12tag(s): commoncore (59), parent conferences (20), parents (53)
In the Classroom
Share this Common Core Math handout with parents on meet the teacher night or at conferences. Be sure to include the last two pages sharing tips for parents to help students with math. Share with co-workers as a resource for parent information.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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FollowUpThen - Reilly Sweetland, Lukasz Wojciechowski Github, Joren Mathews
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): organizational skills (80)
In the Classroom
Use FollowUpThen to receive reminders when waiting for email responses from colleagues or parents. Set up annual or monthly reminders for recurring events such as conference dates, programs, or report card due dates. Clean-up your email accounts. Send yourself reminder emails for due dates, future projects, parent contacts, and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Time and Date - Steffen Thorsen
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): calculators (29), calendars (34), DAT device agnostic tool (125), moon (72), sun (82), time (87), time zones (7), weather (162)
In the Classroom
Bookmark (or save in your favorites) Time and Date on your classroom computers for students to use throughout the year. Find out the local time and temperature in countries as you study them, and count down the number of days until spring break or the end of the school year. Use the stopwatch or timer/alarm for timing class activities. Create a personal classroom calendar. This is a perfect addition to your Calendar Math lessons in elementary school. Share the site on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) as you count how many days you have been in school, daily weather, or a countdown to a special occasion. The possibilities are endless using all of Time and Date's features! Include time/date conversions for online conferences you will hold with parents who are deployed or traveling in different time zones. Share meeting dates/times for Skype sessions using the time conversions so everyone is "on time." Humor your fellow teachers by warning them of the upcoming full moon and its supposed effect on student behavior!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Parent-Teacher Conference Tip Sheets - Harvard Family Research Project
Grades
K to 12tag(s): parent conferences (20)
In the Classroom
Use these tip sheets as suggested on the site. Prepare copies for parents, principals, and teachers well before conference meetings. Include a link to parent tip sheets on your class website or include with class newsletters. Be sure to include copies for other professionals such as counselors, and ESL/ELL, Learning Support, Speech/language clinician, or Gifted Education teachers.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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My Autism Team - My Autism Team
Grades
K to 12tag(s): autism (15), Special Needs (45)
In the Classroom
If you have an autism spectrum chid in class, use information and resources on My Autism Team to understand parental concerns and make parent-teacher conferences and communications more effective. Share this site with parents of autistic children as a resource for networking with other parents. Be sure to share this with partner teachers including Special Education teachers. Browse the Question and Answer portion of the site to become familiar with concerns families of autistic children have when working with school systems and IEPs. Help diffuse the feeling of "them and us" by reading what parents say and talking about how you can work together.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Super Power Speech - Caroline Bowen
Grades
1 to 5This site includes advertising.
tag(s): professional development (273), social skills (22), speech (65), vocabulary development (96)
In the Classroom
Whether you are a speech pathologist, social skills/autistic support teacher, or a classroom teacher, find extra resources here to help children with speech and language needs. Also read the discussions to help build social skills or even to improve literacy. Read through past blog entries. Brush up on the latest to be sure you are current! You may also find some specific ideas to share with these students' parents at conferences so you can work together in supporting their child. Primary grade regular ed teachers will find vocabulary development activities appropriate for any student, not just those who are identified.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Konstella - Elena Krasnoperova
Grades
K to 12tag(s): classroom management (107), communication (113), homework (25), microblogging (14), Teacher Utilities (170)
In the Classroom
Set up accounts for all of your classes. Send homework, project, and supply reminders. Send changes to plans due to a snow day or other emergency. Remind students of upcoming events, practices, or things they need to bring to school. Don't forget to include any extracurricular activities. Use this tool to communicate with parents. Provide parents with the necessary information on your class web page. Remind parents of big tests, report cards, field trips, deadlines, back to school night, school spirit days, conferences, and more. Learning support teachers can promote organizational skills by having students and their parents sign up to receive reminders about tests and homework. Add messages with tips for parents to help their elementary child study. Need supply donations? Send out a request using Konstella. Set up a faculty reminder group within your school for emergency closures or department meetings and activities. Make a PTO/PTA School account to share resources for school-wide projects, events, or fundraisers.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Remind - Remind 101
Grades
K to 12tag(s): chat (36), communication (113), DAT device agnostic tool (125), microblogging (14), Teacher Utilities (170)
In the Classroom
Set up accounts for all your classes, and even your extracurricular activities, to send homework, project, and supply reminders. Remind students of upcoming events, practices, or things they need to bring to class or practice. You could also use this to communicate with parents (allow them to sign up for text message updates at back-to-school night). Share this site in the first week of school to save time throughout the entire year. Remind parents of big tests, report cards, field trips, deadlines, back-to-school night, sneaker days, conferences, and more. Set up a faculty reminder group within your school for emergency closures and more.Comments
Love this site! I'm using it to send reminders to students about overdue library books and/or fines!Terri, VA, Grades: 9 - 12
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