3 Ways to Freshen Up Your Classroom Newsletter
A few months into the school year, drafting your weekly classroom newsletter may feel like another task added to the top of your ever-growing pile of teacher responsibilities. I’ve been there and I understand the hassle. I would constantly think, “Do parents actually read this?” and “Do newsletters support student learning at home?”. The answer is YES! Sending a weekly or monthly newsletter can be incredibly helpful to caregivers. While nurturing your relationship with families, you are also building the home – school connection, providing information about community events, and encouraging academic practice at home. I’m so excited to share my top 3 ways to freshen up your classroom newsletter and lighten your teacher load!
Stick to a Template that Works
Stop trying to recreate the wheel each time you sit down to write your classroom newsletter! Use a classroom template with 2-4 sections, ideally 3 for your own sanity! Keep the sections consistent and concise. We want our newsletters to be helpful and provide insight into school happenings, but it doesn’t need to be a novel. Check out these free newsletter templates in my freebie vault! Editable classroom newsletter templates are easy to use. Decide which sections would be the most beneficial to your students’ families. I like to include the following sections: Community events and announcements, ways to practice at home, our learning (topics covered during a specific week or month), and student news – more on this in the next section!
Add a “Student News” Section
Alleviate some of the stress about reporting what you did last month or last week – give this responsibility to your students! I started a “Student News” section with my third graders during my third year of teaching. It was a total game-changer!! Not only did families look forward to reading my weekly newsletter, but it also helped my students take more responsibility. We had more reflective conversations as a class about their learning and their day to day activities. Some weeks, I was so surprised to read about their favorite part of the week, or the activity that left the biggest impact on their learning. I also had students write about an exciting life event that occurred outside the classroom. My students LOVED this and read our newsletter every week. I couldn’t believe it! The truth is, their excitement was contagious and added some happiness back into the weekly task.
Use Seasonal Templates
Can we all agree…sometimes tedious tasks are more fun when we have something pretty to look at? Using fun seasonal newsletter templates with pretty graphics makes your newsletters more visually appealing. My students could not wait to see what cute clipart was on our monthly newsletters! I’ve even had parents make comments about it. You can find some classroom newsletter templates in my TPT store. Click here for the seasonal retro classroom newsletter bundle, and also take a look at the modern classroom newsletter bundle! These editable templates will make your newsletter writing a breeze and keep things fresh from season to season.
Newsletter Refresh
Hopefully, this post has given you some ideas of how to freshen up your classroom newsletters! Don’t forget to download your free newsletter template! If you try any of these ideas, I’d love to hear how they worked out for you and your students! You can find me on Instagram @bloomwithbridgette. What are some of your favorite ways to refresh your classroom newsletters? I’d love to know!
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