Including Science in Your Elementary Parent Conferences

While there's lots to talk about in a short amount of time with your parents (reading levels, behaviors, socialization), there's good reason to include science work samples within your conferences. Science may not be taught everyday in your classroom, but it lends itself to communicating about learning and academic progress. 

Here are a few reasons on why talking about science class in your next parent-teacher conference is a good call:

Science is Cross-Curricular: while math and literacy receive a bulk of the teacher's attention in the elementary setting, science class is a time when students can synthesize those skills. Instead of showing a child's math test, what about showing a data table or graph created by the student during an investigation? A written conclusion or set of qualitative observations could be a great way to demonstrate student writing skills as well. 

Engaging Work Samples: student work samples from science class do a great job of grabbing parent attention. Parents can assess very quickly how well their child understands a topic with labeled drawings and visual models created by the student. Science also connects to life in ways that parents can understand and appreciate. When they see their child making sense of natural phenomena or designing solutions to real problems, they may relate better than talking about abstract math or language concepts. 

Science Promotes Communication: talking about science class in a parent conference is a great time to highlight the student's communication skills. Students collaborate with small groups when sharing their ideas and present their results of an investigation to a larger audience through writing, charts, and visuals. A science journal is a great way to demonstrate how the student's writing skills have changed since the beginning of the year. These are all critical skills that can translate to success in other academic areas. 

Science is Exciting: elementary science gives students the chance for hands-on, critical thinking and learning that may not be available in other subject areas. Celebrating success in science class can create student enthusiasm and a love for the topic that may carry them through high school and beyond. Foster that excitement with your students' families!

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