Sending Home Work/Art/Projects

[newtodaycare22]

How does everyone approach this? I have been sending things home daily with the kids, as long as they are dry. I kind of want to display them all over the walls...but my 3 year olds never remember the day enough to share stories with their parents. I feel like sending stuff home helps jog their memories. Otherwise, I guess I could send a daily report of what we did...but I'd rather not make more work for myself I'd love to hear what you all do!

[Jewels]

During lunch time, like right now, I do type up daily reports, But I type up one general one, and print 4 of them, And then fill in the diaper changes, and any other comments....And I send home their projects, But I know my parents love their kids projects, and they are all displayed in their homes, I hang my sons up here.
Honestly typing up the report takes, 5 minutes. If you want I can e-mail my one from today.

[DCMom]

I have a wall folder that has 10 pockets, one for each child. I put everything in there as we finish things or projects dry and send it all home on Friday or whatever day the child's last day for the week is.

Though, I have one little boy who just has to bring everything home every day and does!

[momofsix]

I like to decorate the walls with the things the kids are making, they are usually related to whatever we're learning about so it jogs the kids' memories too. And they LOVE to see their artwork hanging up (although I too have one that wants to take everything home right away) I'm afraid most of it sees the trash can at home
When we're finished with a theme, I send home all worksheets, artwork...for that theme-on the last day of attendance for the week. My parents know what's going on during the day through pictures I put on our facebook page and through the lesson plans I have posted. I found dailly reports for those over a year were a waste of my time, so I stopped doing those.

[Crystal]

My children take home their larger paintings, drawings, etc. daily. When they are finished with their "work" it goes in their cubbies.

I hang alot of stuff on the walls, much of it is work completed by the whole group. I also hang the pictures that they draw and I dictate their stories for them to hang with thier drawings.

My families come into the playroom every day and typically their children show them what they have been doing and tell them about it and I talk to them about our day every day. I don't do a written report.

[ConcernedMotherof2]

Most of it hitting the trash at home...

I like to decorate the walls with the things the kids are making, they are usually related to whatever we're learning about so it jogs the kids' memories too. And they LOVE to see their artwork hanging up (although I too have one that wants to take everything home right away) I'm afraid most of it sees the trash can at home
When we're finished with a theme, I send home all worksheets, artwork...for that theme-on the last day of attendance for the week. My parents know what's going on during the day through pictures I put on our facebook page and through the lesson plans I have posted. I found dailly reports for those over a year were a waste of my time, so I stopped doing those.

Just a parent's point of view on this one... I love knowing that my children are being encouraged to be creative at dc, but yes-most of it hits the trash when they get home. I have had daycares that send home up to six pages of coloring or artwork per day per child and I have two children, so if I kept it all, I could literally wallpaper my house with it in no time flat. It has been really cool to get to see how their writing and coloring skills have evolved over time and I've kept more than I probably should have. The coolest thing I've ever seen done were the scrapbooks my kids' preschool teacher put together at the end of every year. And just a note on that--I would have paid her extra to put them together if she would have asked.

[Preschool/daycare teacher]

I like to decorate the walls with the things the kids are making, they are usually related to whatever we're learning about so it jogs the kids' memories too. And they LOVE to see their artwork hanging up (although I too have one that wants to take everything home right away) I'm afraid most of it sees the trash can at home
When we're finished with a theme, I send home all worksheets, artwork...for that theme-on the last day of attendance for the week. My parents know what's going on during the day through pictures I put on our facebook page and through the lesson plans I have posted. I found dailly reports for those over a year were a waste of my time, so I stopped doing those.

Haha, I've found that daily reports are a waste of time, too, because most parents never even so much as glance at them before tossing them. Or they leave them in their folders (in their cubby) for weeks. When I finally physically hand them the folder a couple families bring it back the next day with all the papers and art work still in them! A notebook that you use like a journal could be an option though, for the parents who DO want to see what their child's day was like. They can read that day's entry when they pick their child up and then return it to their cubby. That way the parents can see what their child did that day, how they were, etc, but not have a bunch of loose papers around. A few of our parents love it, but some don't care, so we don't bother with their's.

[kendallina]

Currently, I send home most artwork. The rest I hang on the walls. I also update the website weekly with pictures and a description of some of the activities we've done. Also, each day I write on our white board in the entryway what the plan is for that day.

The art that we do is very process-related and not product related (like today we mixed red and blue into shaving cream) so we don't have many papers that go home. Because I do it that way, it makes more sense for parents to see photos of what the kids do instead of putting together a scrapbook/ portfolio (which I used to do when I worked in a center).

[Liliya]

I display them on a wall during the week and send them home on Fridays.