First Week Positives

I've been doing a little bit of reading this week on my vacation. It's called Kids Deserve It! by Todd Nesloney and Adam Welcome. They have talked a lot in the book about making that connection to students and building a positive relationship with students and parents. This is not anything new to me as an educator, but sometimes we all need a little reminding of how important the little things are in building successful relationships with students and parents.

Those tough students can be the hardest ones to reach and sometimes all it takes is someone to believe in them and find the positive in them.

My first year teaching someone shared with me the importance of reaching out to parents during the first week to share how their week has gone. So I made myself a little first week notes checklist so that as the week went on, I could jot down the positive things I saw in each child so that I wouldn't forget. Then, at the end of the week, I could sit down and call every parent to share those positive things.

It was so powerful for starting our year off on a positive note, especially for those challenging kids. It was hard to find something positive for some of those little gems, but you have to get creative and find something that every students shines at.

I have to be honest and say that I have been sort of awful these last few years at my first week positive phone calls, but reading this book has inspired me to create a little checklist to help motivate me this year to make this happen and start my year on the right note!

Just click on the image below to download your free copy of the checklist! I hope this helps you start your year off on a positive note as well and see the good in each and every one of your sweet kids!

And I would recommend reading the book Kids Deserve It! It is very inspiring!

You can head over to my blog and check out more of my ideas for back to school as well! Click my blog button below!