Sending newsletters home

[mlc1982]

Do you send newsletters home with your kids? If so, how often do you do them and what is all included on it?

[Spixie33]

Yup I do a newsletter probably every 6 weeks on average. Sometimes shorter sometimes longer because it depends when I have a few hours. It does take a few hours to make and it costs me $$ each time to get it printed at Staples in colour so they can see colour pics of the kids.

I usually start witha sumamry of activities or things we have been doing in daycare or learning, etc. Then I write a brief thing of what is coming up.
Then I have a reminder section....anything like be sure to dress kids for cool and warm weather or send sunscreen or snowpants etc.
I have an important dates section of any closures or upcoming important dates

My written stuff usually takes up one page
and then I have about 5 pages of pictures with about 3 pictures per page

[Sarah A]

I have been wanting to send out a newsletter every month to the parents but I haven't had the time to create a template. I have just been sending home articles and recipes on a weekly basis with thier daily reports binder.

Do you have a template that you find works for you? When do you send out your newsletter? Is it printed or emailed (or both)?

Sections to include:
- reminders
- what the kids have done this past month / pictures
- What we are doing the following month
- interesting articles on child development
Any other suggestions??

[playfelt]

Mine are sent out at minimum once per season but I aim for every other month. I used to do them monthly and it worked well when I had an older group and enough to say. With the younger ones we don't progress fast enough for a monthly newsletter. Mine is done in microsoft publisher but you could do the same with a simple word document. I make a shape and type within it and then arrange the boxes on the page. Any left over spaces are filled with a seasonal picture such as a bird, bug, flower for the spring. I always have curriculum section that tells what we have been working on and what we are going to do next. I included changes to the daycare such as children coming and going, any openings coming up, birthdays, days I am closed. I include a note about seasonal changes such as with summer please bring sunscreen or check your child's cubby to make sure they have appropriate clothes for the season that sort of thing. We celebrate things like births and news of previous children that someone in the group would still remember. My newsletter is just a one page of info and I print them on my computer - in just black and white. Nothing fancy but it does the trick.

[zen39]

Mine are done monthly and I tend to keep it simple. I put in a photo, usually a group shot and I have a couple sections. One is "Upcoming Events" for the month with key dates, i.e. fathers day, birthdays, 1st day of summer, canada day etc. The second section is "A look ahead" which outlines some important dates for the next couple of months to give parents a "heads - up" / "reminder" of dates the daycare is closed for holidays so they can plan ahead. Finally I have a short paragraph to say anything I want: i.e. reminder or thanks for providing hats, sunscreen etc. or looking for donations of plastic bags, frozen juice lids for crafts etc...And I briefly state what are themes will be. Short and sweet but gets the message across, takes me half an hour to do.

[momofthree]

For those that do newsletter what template do you use?

[Spixie33]

I actually just use word and I have a few different layouts I have done. The layouts for the pictures are always different depending on what I am dealing with and how I am grouping them.
ie I group a whole page of pictures if we celebrated a birthday with a banner at top
I group outdoor pictures and pictures of a particular toy they were all playing with and enjoying etc. i.e if blocks are a current fav and I have pics of the kids playing with various blocks on different days then I group all those pics.
I usually have the same title across the top of my newsletter but other than that I like to mix it up and make it interesting each time

[playfelt]

I just make boxes - I tend to use the square with the rounded corners because the boxes fit better together without touching. Then I type in each box - put a title in bold and underlined so they can scan the page and read the box they need if looking for info. Each newsletter is similar in the sense of the same format so it looks like a template but also looks unique as the boxes are different sizes and different arrangement. I have used templates from mailbox magazine in years past but often I needed more or less boxes or different sized boxes and started making my own.

[mlc1982]

Thanks for the ideas. I've been thinking of starting one but wasn't sure where to start. This should help!

[mom-in-alberta]

I do a monthly newsletter. One page, single sided. I use a Microsoft publishing program that came on my laptop. There was a standard template, that I customized slightly. Each newsletter has the same header, font and color scheme.
I put in important dates, hellos/goodbyes, reminders, a joke of the month (kid-friendly, of course) and a puzzle/crossword/pic to color. I don't usually have too much time to devote, and there is usually important info for the parents. Not that they seem to read them.... sometimes I wonder if I should bother.