Parents as Partners

At Katie’s Kids Learning Center (KKLC) we believe parents are the most important people in their child’s life. At KKLC we build partnerships with parents because we want to make a meaningful, positive and potentially lasting difference in a child’s life. The way to do that is to build a relationship with the child’s parents. We see the most important element of this relationship to be the quality of the daily interactions between all of KKLC teaching staff and parents at arrival and departure times.

At KKLC we commit to do the following for building Partnerships with Parents:

* To demonstrate a genuine commitment to shared decision making.
* To communicate in an on-going way to let parents know what is happening with their child while at KKLC.
* To have systems in place to solicit parents views, concerns and criticisms.
* To continuously evaluate KKLC with the goal of continuous improvement. 

PARENT CONFERENCES

Parent conferences will be held in the Spring and Fall. In addition to regular conferences, parents and teachers may request conferences at any time. The appointment should be made for a time when neither the parent nor the teacher is responsible for the child, since it is inadvisable to discuss a child in the child’s presence.

NEWSLETTER

A newsletter is available monthly to parents, staff and other interested persons. This helps keep parents and others aware of all the happenings within the Center program. Parents are welcome to submit ideas for the newsletter.

CLASSROOM PARTICIPATION

Parents are always welcome in the classroom. If you would like to visit your child or volunteer some time, we would be glad to have you. If you have a special skill or can share information with the children about your career or culture please talk to your child’s teacher. We appreciate this type of involvement. In addition, we frequently need parents to attend field trips and hope every parent can participate in this manner during the year.

SOCIAL EVENTS / FAMILY FUN NIGHTS

We find that most of our families enjoy getting together informally on occasion to meet with other families of young children and with the staff. We will hold a number of events throughout the year to help parents and staff get to know each other.

• Curriculum Nights
• Culminating Events for Families
• Coins for Kids to benefit Easter Seals
• Education Day at the Cornbelter’s Field Trip for Preschool Classrooms
• Relay for Life
• Back to School Drive to support local families in providing school supplies
• St Jude Walk
• Rader Farms Field Trip for Preschool Classrooms
• Weiner Roast
• Illinois State University Christmas Parade
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