Here are some suggestions on using ICT to communicate with parents.

Your school could post an online calendar with important dates of school events recorded. The URL could be shared with parents and an email with a link to the updated calendar could be sent to parents monthly.
Individual teachers could also keep monthly calendars with assignments and due dates recorded. Many online calendars are available for free.

Slide shows or classroom technology projects could be shown during the monthly recognition ceremonies or prior to open house nights using a data projector. This is a great way to share with parents how teachers are using technology to enhance their child's education.

When parents come into the school for parent teacher interviews, computers could be set up to display multimedia projects.
One great project for meet the teacher night is to create a "My First Month in Grade...." multimedia presentation. Using Hyperstudio and the "book" background, students can write a letter to their parents telling them about their experiences during the first month of school.
Another great multimedia project that is sure to showcase your school's use of technology is to set up a 'Teachers at Our School' stack and place a computer in the lobby for parents to explore. Scan a floor plan of the school and import it into Hyperstudio. Place invisible buttons over each room which, when clicked, bring the viewer to a page about the teacher in that classroom. (Thanks to Doug Peterson for this great idea!)

Have the students keep electronic portfolios to show growth throughout the year. Art work could be scanned or digitally photographed, writing that has been word processed and dated could be saved in a writing folder to show growth, pictures of club memberships and sports participation could be saved. Portfolios could be shared during student led conferences.

A virtual tour could be set up for parents and students who are interested in attending your school and serve as an orientation. Information such as course offerings and special teams or events could be included on the CD Rom showcasing your school. This could be created by senior students in a secondary setting for potential grade nines or grade eight students for Kindergarten students and their parents in elementary schools.

On the evenings the Student Advisory Council meet, the computer lab could be opened and educational software could be available for parents to become familiar with. Perhaps, one teacher takes on this supervision as an extra-curricular assignment. If any staff members have special student projects to showcase, this could also take place on these evenings.

Host a Technology Fair. Invite parents or community members who use technology everyday on the job to come in and form a panel or set up a display to demonstrate to students how they use technology. At this time, special student projects could also be showcased. This may be planned in conjunction with the Teacher-Advisory Program team as part of the Teacher Advisory Program.

Digital images could be taken in classrooms depicting literacy circles, co-operative group work, student presentations, etc. Images could be printed and shared with parents.

Digital images could be taken during field trips. After they are downloaded and printed, the class could create a description or caption to accompany each images. Photo essays could be sent home and shared with parents.

Newsletters could be developed in desktop publishing programs, printed and sent home to keep parents informed.

The school's web site could be used to inform parents of upcoming events such as book fairs, read-a-thons, picture day, report cards, etc.

Primary teachers who send home traveling books, may consider creating a digital book and posting it to the Internet to be downloaded and shared by students with their parents at home.

Thanks to Tammy Bush and Cindy Loop-Snyder for some of these ideas!