Estimated read time: 3 minutes and 07 seconds

Night time is creeping in a little earlier and the sun is having a sleepier start in the mornings. It feels like proper summer, but September is almost upon us.

It would make sense for me to be returning to the classroom next week: babe no.2 is 13 months, after all. But for now, I'm going to take a real crack at making Noisy Book Club a... thing. THE thing.

I'm working on a way to bring Growth Mindset straight to you in quick, easy steps. And I'm excited about it!

In the meantime, I want to hand out one piece of advice I'd give to every parent before their child starts in a new class or with a new teacher:

SEE THE TEACHER AS YOUR TEAMMATE

I'll explain more below :-)

This week I'm talking about:  

Noisy: The Dream Team

Book: People Need People

Club: Send a Note

Noisy 

The Dream Team

Over my years of teaching, I've had a range of responses from parents. Some have had the utmost respect - almost reverential  at times. (Big ego boost in a way, but also not realistic.) Others have had little regard for me and were quite happy to keep interactions minimal. Some have been fearful and nervous - worried they will do something wrong and get in trouble. And some have been simply mistrusted everything I've said and done. Those times have been hard, though 9 out of 10 times we worked through them and came out stronger on the other side. 

Others just saw me as a regular human being, working hard at a job I loved and being extremely invested in their child. And this was the BEST way to start the year.

Why?

Because we could hit the ground running. I would always tell parents, 'We are here to work as a team'. Because our goal was the same: to have a happy, confident child who was enjoying coming to school and learning. 

So next week, I recommend this:

• Don't be shy. If you hate this sort of thing, suck it up just once. You can do it.

• Approach the teacher and any other class staff.

• Introduce yourself. (By name! You are more than just Queenie's mum/dad.)

• Give a smile.

• Let them know you're always happy to talk about anything they think your child needs to work on or needs help with.

• Make it clear that you are ready to work as a team

By doing this, you've already opened up the conversation. The teacher immediately knows that you know you're on the same side. And then conversations won't be a big deal, they'll just be a bit of dialogue.

Because you are on the same team. And taking that approach will ease you, your child and the teacher into a positive mindset to kick off the new school year. 

Book

People Need People, Benjamin Zephaniah (Orchard Books) 

People do need people. Here's a beautiful book to help us remember that. We are all a big web of individuals, interactions and relationships. When we work together, we are so much more powerful.

There's nothing like hearing a poem performed by the actual poet. Highly recommend showing your child videos of poets performing their work - they love it!

Here's the great, and sadly late, Benjamin Zephaniah performing this poem himself.

Club

Send a Note

Is someone else doing drop-offs and pickups? You're not alone; some parents I never met until parents' evening! But that doesn't mean you have to miss out on building a relationship with the teacher.

You can always send a note in. You don't have to wait until something serious happens. It can be light - and cover what I've suggested above.

Just make sure it definitely gets to the teacher... if your child is little, I'd recommend giving the note to the intermediary adult to pass on. :-)

Wishing you all a successful start to term!

Becca

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Please help spread the Noisy Book Club word by forwarding this to a friend who has a child starting a new class this September.