Holiday Activities and Freebies!
As you’re working on your back-to-school planning, one thing you might consider adding to your list is to have parents and guardians provide student information on printable forms. In this post, I’m going to share some free printable student information sheets, as well as tips for using this information throughout the year.
We live in a digital age, so it might seem unnecessary to gather student information on a separate sheet of paper. You have all of this information online, after all! But there are several reasons why I suggest keeping a paper copy of student information.
Even though parents review their contact information that’s on file with the school, there can be errors or changes that occasionally slip through the cracks. When parents fill out a separate student information sheet, they often include additional phone numbers than what’s on file with the office. This can come in handy when you’re trying to reach parents!
We’ve all had those moments when we need to make a sensitive phone call during prep time or recess but have students in the classroom. When you have student information on paper, you can quickly grab the binder where you keep this information and head to a more private phone location while another staff member stays with your students. No need to log in to the computer just so you can jot down phone numbers onto sticky notes!
It can be helpful to have hard-copy student information sheets when you leave for a field trip. Oftentimes, internet data can be limited in the areas where you go for a field trip. This makes it tricky to look up parent contact information online when it’s needed. A folder or binder of student information sheets can easily be tucked away in a backpack so you know that you’ll have the contact information you need in case something happens.
Field trips aren’t the only situation when you might have something unexpected come up! If you have a weather emergency that impacts your internet, you’ll be grateful to have parent contact information written down somewhere else. Or if you need to evacuate your classroom in a hurry, you can grab your binder of important student information before leaving so you’ll have everything you need when you’re ready to contact parents.
With our computers often connected to smart boards or projectors, it’s not uncommon to forget you’re connected to a second screen when looking up private student information. By keeping student information on paper, you won’t have to worry about broadcasting a student’s personal information over the projector.
When you’re accessing parent contact information in a binder, you could add a piece of paper next to each student information sheet to use as a contact log. That way, you’ll be able to easily keep track of parent contacts by having a log right there with the contact information. You’ll also have space to take notes during your conversation.
One of the things that I like to collect from parents is the information about how their child gets home from school. Having this information on paper make it easy to share with a substitute teacher!
Finally, having all of your essential student information on paper can save you time in the long run. You’ll likely find that it takes fewer steps to open a binder and find the correct page than it does to log into your computer, navigate to Powerschool, and then search for your student’s information. This is especially true if you remember a phone call you wanted to make AFTER you’ve turned off your computer for the day!
One of the biggest challenges in gathering student information is to have parents fill out and return the forms! Here are some ways that you can get student information sheets filled out:
Those are just a few ways that you could gather this information from your students’ families at the beginning of the year. No matter what you decide, I know that you’ll be grateful to have this information on hand throughout the school year!
As you collect the student information sheets, put them directly into the binder or folder that you plan to use to keep them organized. I would also suggest printing off a student list so you can check off student names as you receive their information sheets.
To save you some time on your back-to-school planning, I’ve put together a set of free printable student information sheets. These forms come in both English and Spanish, so you can use the version that works best for your students’ families.
If you’d like to take a closer look at everything included with this freebie, you can find it in the A Spoonful of Learning shop or in my TPT store.
Be sure to save this post so you can come back to it later! Just add the pin below to your favorite teaching board on Pinterest. You’ll be able to quickly find these student information sheets when you’re getting ready to head back to school.
