From Debbie White, in Illinois:
I take Polaroid photos of every family who comes to Open House.  I prepare in advance a bulletin board that says "Open House Family Album"  or something similar.  I leave these pictures up until parent/teacher conferences in November.  I give the parents the pictures at the beginning of the conference.  It makes for a great beginning.

From MJ, in Texas:
Unless you are discussing a discipline issue, I've found the best way to start a conference is to say 'Thank you for
sharing (child's name) with us this year."  This starts things off on a positive note.

From Ana E., "Nautilus School" in Acapulco, Mexico:
I make a 15 minute video of  the children during various activities (Pre-Math, Art, Music, Science, etc).  After my meeting with the parents, I show the video with New Age music playing in the background.  I tell them, "This is what your child does in a typical week."  They love it!  Some even cry!  (It was neat because they get to see their own children in action.)

From Kathy Maxwell, Richmond, British Columbia
Keeping in touch with parents regarding their child really makes a huge difference in the support and help teachers will get from parents.  Because of our short class duration, we don't do conferences for our three year old.  However, we make home phone calls once or twice throughout the year just to say "hi" and ask if there are any concerns or questions.  The response is overwhelming.  Parents can't believe we care enough to give up our evenings and they feel we really care about their child.  I have found that parents will often share more concerns over the phone than eye to eye!
From Stormie:
    Kathy's suggestion above is actually the one I was going to write about in this section of my website as I have always favored phone conferences.  As I told Kathy, when I did them with my 4's, I called my parents three times during the school year.
    The first call for the year (around late Sept/early Oct) was an introductory conversation (tell me about your child, here are my plans/method of teaching, do you have questions, here's my home phone number -- call anytime, day or night, etc).
    In my second phone call (around Feb), I updated them on how their child was doing overall, based on having worked individually with their child, what I had observed, notes I had taken, etc.  Questions/comments might include: What does Johnny say about preschool?  Does he have favorite activities he talks about, favorite friends?  Does he talk about things he doesn't like at school?  He's doing great with____ skills but needs more practice with ____ skills, etc.
    In my third call, I would sum up how I felt the year had gone for Johnny.  (I usually had a "basic developmental skills" list in front of me, along with my notes, that sort of guided my phone conference conversations.)
    Like Kathy, I found that the parents loved (even preferred) this type of conference.  Many even expressed that they didn't like the formality and uneasy anticipation of a big "to-do" face-to-face conference -- especially since their child was just 4 years old.  I got the impression that most of them felt there would be plenty of time for that once the child entered grade school.
    And speaking personally, I find the "phone" method to be more comfortable for me as the teacher too, as I will be honest and admit that parent/teacher conferences have always given me a "nervous butterfly" stomach.
(Obviously, there are exceptions, and this method may not be right for all children, teachers, and parents.  There are times when face-to-face conferences are warranted.)

From Cindy
Hi Stormie, I used a phone format for parent conferences this year.  I found it helpful to send out a form asking parents to give me a range of times to call so I wouldn't be playing constant phone tag.  The parents appreciated my efforts to respect their time constraints.
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