A Home Note Program to Support Positive Behavior

Examples and Printable PDFs

Mother and daughter looking at a note

John Fedele / Getty Images 

As special educators, we often get angry at parents without actually giving them a constructive means to support what happens in our classrooms. Yes, sometimes the parent is the problem. But when you give parents a constructive way to participate in supporting the behavior you want, you not only have more success at school, you also provide the parents with models for how to support positive behavior at home as well.

home note is a form created by the teacher in a conference with the parents and the student, especially older students. The teacher fills it out each day, and it is either sent home daily or at the end of the week. The weekly form can also be sent home daily, especially with younger children. The success of a home note program is both the fact that parents know what the expected behaviors are as well as their child's performance. It makes the students accountable to their parents, especially if the parents are (as they should be) the ones rewarding good behavior and doling out consequences for inappropriate or unacceptable behavior.

A home note is a powerful part of a behavior contract as it gives the parents daily feedback, as well as supporting the reinforcement or consequences that will increase the desirable behavior and extinguish the undesirable.

Tips for Creating a Home Note

  • Decide what kind of note is going to work: daily or weekly? As part of a Behavior Improvement Plan (BIP), you probably want a  daily note. When your purpose is to intervene before you need a full-blown BIP, you may do well with a weekly home note.
  • Set up a meeting with the student's parents. If this is part of a BIP, you can wait for the IEP team meeting, or you can meet ahead of time with the parents to nail down the details. Your meeting should include: What are the parents' goals? Are they willing to reinforce good behavior and create consequences for unacceptable behavior?
  • With the parents, come up with the behaviors that will be included on the home note. Have both classroom (sitting, keeping hands and feet to self) and academic (completing assignments, etc.) behaviors. There should be no more than 5 behaviors for elementary students or 7 classes for secondary students.
  • In conference, decide how the behaviors will be rated: for high school students a rating system from 1 to 5, or unacceptable, acceptable, outstanding should be used. For elementary students, a system like the one presented below in the free printable with a frowning, flat or smiling face works well. Be sure you and the parents agree with what each rating represents.
  • Decide, in conference what the "reductive" consequences and positive reinforcement will be.
  • Set consequences for failing to give the home note to parents, or returning it, unsigned, to school. At home, it could be the loss of television or computer privileges. For school, it could be a loss of recess or a call home.
  • Begin Home Notes on a Monday. Try to give really positive responses in the first few days, to build a positive baseline.
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Elementary Home Notes: Happy and Sad Faces

Weekly Elementary Home Note

Jerry Webster

Suggest to parents:

  • For each smiley face, an extra ten minutes of television or later bedtime.
  • A number of good days, let the student pick the television shows for the evening.
  • For each frowny face, the child goes to bed 10 minutes earlier or loses 10 minutes of television or computer time.

Print the PDF: Daily Home Note

This elementary level comes with the categories that most often challenge elementary students.

Print the PDF: Weekly Home Note

Once again, it contains the behavioral and academic behaviors most likely to challenge your elementary students.

Print the PDF: Blank Daily Home Note

This blank home note can have the periods or subjects at the top of the form and the target behaviors on the side. You can fill these in with the parent or the IEP team (as part of a BIP).

Print the PDF: Blank Weekly Home Note

Print this form and write in the behaviors you want to measure before you copy the form for use.

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Secondary Home Notes

Secondary Home Note

Jerry Webster 

A home program will most likely be used with students in middle school, though students with behavioral or autism spectrum disorders in high school would also really benefit from the use of a Home Note.

Print the PDF: Blank Home Note for Secondary Students

This form could be used for a particular class where a student was having problems, or across classes for a student who is having difficulty completing assignments or coming prepared. This would be a great tool for a resource teacher supporting a student whose poor grades may be more a result of a students' difficulties with executive function or with staying on task. It is also a great tool for a teacher who is supporting students with autism spectrum disorders who are able to spend most of the school day in general education classes but struggle with organization, completing assignments or other planning challenges.

If you are focusing on multiple challenging behaviors in a single class, be sure to define what is acceptable, unacceptable and superior behavior.

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Your Citation
Webster, Jerry. "A Home Note Program to Support Positive Behavior." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/a-home-note-program-3110578. Webster, Jerry. (2023, April 5). A Home Note Program to Support Positive Behavior. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/a-home-note-program-3110578 Webster, Jerry. "A Home Note Program to Support Positive Behavior." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/a-home-note-program-3110578 (accessed March 29, 2024).