We talk a lot about parent partnership here at FRCS and for me the foundation of a strong partnership between school and home is communication. But clear communication can be tricky.

I regularly tell my elementary parents that we won’t believe everything we hear about them if they don’t believe everything they hear about us. The perfect illustration of this point happened early in my educational career.

I was teaching kindergarten and we were in the middle of an exciting study of our solar system. I thought it would be beneficial for my students to view the lunar landing as we began our study of the moon. To help my students understand the timing of this historical event, I shared with them that the lunar landing occurred before I was born, but that my mom remembers it clearly (my mom had recently visited the classroom).

All went well (or so I thought). The students were enthralled by the video of the lunar landing, they could rattle off important facts about the moon and were excited to share all they learned with their parents. And that is exactly what happened.

That evening I got an email that went something like this…

Dear Jill,
Kayla is really enjoying the science unit on space. Today she was quite excited to tell us that your mom walked on the moon. We tried to tell her that she misunderstood you, but she adamantly refused to believe us. Can you help?

Although humorous, this story reminds me that misunderstandings occur despite our best efforts. With that in mind, let’s enter this new year with resolve to partner well through good communication. And when your child tells me that he’s moving to Antarctica next week, I promise to check with you before I start the withdrawal process.