“If you could see how proud the children and their parents are – it’s just the best thing we do!”  Barb Sagen

“As a district we addressed the issue of lack of student ownership for goal setting, self-evaluation and a lack of opportunity for parents to see their child interacting in the classroom environment.  Student-led parent conferences were the solution.”  Debbie Rowley

“Every year the conferences keep getting better.  The children really know what they’re doing.  It truly is a celebration of their learning!” Celeste Starr

“As a parent who has had two daughters participate in student-led conferences, there is no better feeling than to see your child conduct their very own conference.  The love and the pride they have at that moment is priceless.  To be able to offer this opportunity for both child and parent is one of the best things I do as a teacher.” Lisa Young

&“With some of my less-mature students, if all the parents saw was a written report, it wouldn’t mean much.  But when they see and hear their child’s pride in how much they’ve learned—well, one Mom was just in tears, she was so overwhelmed.” Jennifer Foster

Spring student-led parent conferences in kindergarten are a time to:

• Give each child ownership, responsibility and motivation for their own learning.
• Verbalize again how proud the child must feel about all he/she has learned.  “Look at my writing in September. Now look at how good I write! Aren’t you amazed at how much I’ve learned?”
• Reinforce the “parents as partners” connection with a commitment for continued reading, writing, talking, and exploring nature over summer.
• Share state learning benchmarks and remind the child and parent that they have already learned many essential skills.  Emphasize that with a continued strong home-school partnership, every child can achieve at high levels.
• Help the child reflect on their own learning.  Ask the child to share “How did you learn to read – what helped you the most?”
• Emphasize again the value of developing oral language through songs and rhymes. Encourage the family to continue to celebrate and perform language with their child.
• Review all the fascinating studies and celebrate all the child has learned.
• Set new literacy goalsfor the remainder of the year and over the summer.  “I’m going to go to the library once a week so I can keep reading every night with my dad.”  “Mom and I are going to keep a science journal of our garden projects.”   “ I want to learn about insects this summer!”