Parent Communication: Brag Notes

I know it is summer and I hope you are relaxing and recharging.  But as teachers, I also know we have a hard time making our brains shut off from school stuff!  I have been thinking about bragging on students!  This is my Bright Idea for this month!

I needed an easy way to be able to write brag notes about my students.  For me it needs to be a way that is quick, inexpensive, and easy to manage.  I went to a craft store (Hobby Lobby this time) and picked up a package of cardstock paper that was on clearance- $2.99 for the whole pack!  

This pack had lots of pages with 6 different designs.  I want my notes going home to be colorful and different so they will stand out and hopefully parents will notice them and read them.  Also, the colorful pages jazz up the brag notes more than regular paper or Post It notes.

I measured and marked the pages for cutting.

Next, the pages were cut using the paper cutter.

One management tip is to use your class roster to go ahead and address the brag notes to the student or to the student's parents.  This is an easy way to be sure all students get notes sent home.  Relying on my memory to keep track of who all has already gotten a note and those who haven't means someone would probably miss out.  

This is what the note side can look like after adding a sticker if you wish and your note.  The front will be the colorful side.

Find a plastic container with a lid to store your brag notes in and keep them in a handy place where you can easily grab one or two and jot a quick note to send home.  Students and parents love to hear positives and this makes it so much easier to be sure it gets done!

If you want to jazz the notes up a bit, add stickers or trim the edges with fancy scissors ahead of time.  During the summer is a good time to do this while you are relaxing and then you will be ready to go when school begins!

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