Friday Letters - Easy Parent Communication

I'm always trying to think of new ways to keep parents and families in the loop about what's going on in our classroom.  I use lots of different ways to meet different parents needs -- paper newsletters, e-mails, the Remind App, but I've decided on my favorite...FRIDAY LETTERS!

students write Friday letters to parents

I still use the communication methods listed above, but Friday Letters have become one of my absolute favorite parts of our classroom routine. The process has evolved over the years, but the way it looks now is every Friday, my kids take out their Friday Letter notebook and write a letter to their parents about what they've learned in school that week, challenges they've faced, successes they've had, and just life in general. ("Can we please have pizza this weekend???") Then, and I think this is the coolest part, over the weekend, parents sit down and write a letter back to their child.  It honestly warms my heart seeing the letters that are written back and forth on a weekly basis.  Kids are telling their parents cool facts they've learned, what they are reading in class, that they are having a hard time getting the hang of multiplication, or that they've made a new friend in class.  The letters back from parents are encouraging, full of advice, pride, and love.  And sometimes reminders about sloppy handwriting! :)

Friday letters to parents
Writing about the books she read this week.
Friday Letters serve a few important purposes:
  • Kids are keeping their parents in the loop about what is going on in the classroom.
  • Students are practicing their writing with an authentic purpose.
  • Parents are able to model good writing for their students. 
  • They further build the relationship between parents and students. 
  • These notebooks serve as a chronicle of a (school)year in the life of a child.  Parents and/or students can hang on to these for years!
communicating with parents
Telling his mom what he learned from Time for Kids.

On Mondays, I do a quick check to see if Friday Letters have been completed.  We keep track with a chart on the back cover and a sticker every Monday each time a letter is written.  For every 5 stickers the kids get a small reward.  In a perfect world, every student would have a letter back from their parents every week, but I know life gets in the way sometimes! I'll send home reminders, and for most families that is effective. The student forgot to show their mom and dad, or it  was just one of those weekends.  No big deal.  We put forth every possible effort to get students' family members to write to them, but as a last resort, I will have our principal, assistant principal, or another adult at school write back to them.  

friday letter parent communication

I HIGHLY recommend starting Friday Letters in your classroom, even if it's the middle of the school year.  You'll love seeing the connection and communication between students and their parents!

UPDATED:  You can grab a copy of the 2018-19 cover page and parent letter (HERE}

16 comments

  1. I did this too..we had a fun name for it--> TWAS (This Week at School). As you say, the bond between child and parent as they wrote back each week was beautiful. I also used it as a way each week to sneak in a little word study, by copying any spelling errors into their Have-a-Go Pad, they tried out various spellings until they arrived at/were given the correct one, which they then transferred into the "Personal Brain Dictionary". It really developed the skill of editing the week of in order to lessen/avoid the following week spending time editing!!

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  2. Do you have this in your tpt store? I'd love to do this, but it would be great to have what you've already worked out. Thanks!

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    1. I'll be adding it as a freebie to this post over the weekend!

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    2. Thank you! Question what does your have a go pad and personal dictionary look like. Are they two separate booklets. Is this Friday letter activity in its own booklet as well? New to a 2/3 class this year and love these ideas. Any advice would be appreciated!

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  3. I like the idea. The only thing that would worry me is if you have parents who are not involved or don't care. Those kids would feel awful knowing no one is going to read them

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    1. That has been an issue, and my team has found some creative solutions in the past. This year I had a student write to his older brother every week, and we've also had students write to former teachers and even our principal.

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  4. OMG I love this idea! Thanks for sharing!! Amy

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  5. Love it! I am definitely going to implement this idea this year.

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    1. Great! I hope it's an awesome addition to your class!

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  6. I don't see a link for this and I couldn't find it in your TpT store. Is it still available? Love this idea!!

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    1. Hey Erin, I just added a link to what I use at the bottom of this post!

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  7. Do you have a letter that you send home to parents about your Friday Letter?

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    1. I just added a link at the bottom of the post!

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  8. Amazing idea! Thanx!
    A new 3rd grade teacher, 'feeling blessed' :)

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