The Home/School Partnership
The Lab School is a place where children, families and staff work and learn together with the hope of enriching each other’s lives. Active parent involvement in all aspects of our program is essential to achieving this goal. When parents are actively involved in their child’s school, children feel valued and experience the security and comfort of continuity in their world. There are many opportunities for communication, collaboration and participation throughout the school year. We encourage parents to take full advantage of being part of our community…in spite of the parking hassles!
Here are some of the ways teachers will communicate with families:
A home visit or classroom visit will be scheduled for all children and their families during the two weeks before the fall session begins or prior to enrollment for families entering later in the year. The purpose of this meeting is to allow the child and parents to become acquainted with the teacher and begin to establish a trusting relationship. It also gives parents and teachers an opportunity to exchange information.
Conferences will be scheduled by lead teachers in October and February. These conferences give parents and teachers the opportunity to meet privately and share information about the child’s overall development at home and at school and to establish goals addressing each child’s cognitive, creative, social, emotional and physical development. Conferences may also be initiated by a parent or a teacher at any time during the year. Whenever possible, both parents are encouraged to attend conferences.
Daily communication can take place at drop off and pick up times. Plan to take time periodically for a brief discussion of your child’s activities at home or at school. *As the arrival and departure of children are busy times for teachers, you are encouraged to arrange a phone call, e-mail contact, or a conference for more lengthy discussions.
Weekly plans, small group news and daily announcements for each class are posted on individual classroom pages on our website and/or sent home via email, as well as posted on the bulletin board outside of each classroom.
Weekly updates are posted on classroom pages by both lead and teacher candidates. These updates include documentation of what happened during the past week and illustrate the value of the play that is the heart of our program.
Celebrating Holidays at School
Lab School staff believes that the most developmentally and culturally appropriate approach to celebrating holidays is to allow families to determine for themselves how they wish to interpret and celebrate holidays at home. We believe that preschool children need time to come to know and understand how their own family celebrates holidays and then as their experience in the world broadens and their ability to understand abstract concepts increases, they will have a personal context to interpret the significance of specific holiday stories, legends and symbolism in a way that fits into their family culture. We hope to provide a place where children and families can share what happens at home and revisit events, rather than add to the anticipation and over excitement that is typical of “holiday celebrations” at school. Therefore we do not celebrate holidays at school in a way that adds any expectations for children or families to participate in special holiday activities. **We do welcome families to share traditions and special customs that make their holiday celebrations meaningful at home. If a parent wishes to do so, we encourage them to talk to their child’s teacher in advance so that he or she may plan accordingly.