Elementary PE Newsletter: How Physical Education Teachers Can Communicate With Parents

Elementary PE teachers are one of the few specialists who see every student in the school. A kindergartener, a fifth grader, and every child in between passes through the gymnasium. Yet PE communication with families is often minimal, limited to dress code reminders or announcements about fitness testing week.

A well-built PE newsletter gives parents a window into what their child is actually learning, prepares families for upcoming activities, and creates an opportunity to extend physical literacy beyond the school day.

What PE newsletters should cover

Physical education has curriculum units the same way classroom subjects do. Parents rarely know this. Most families think of PE as free play or generic exercise unless the PE teacher communicates what the class actually involves.

Each newsletter should describe the current and upcoming units. Is the class working on soccer skills this month? Are students beginning a gymnastics and balance unit? Is the class using cooperative games to develop teamwork skills? Parents who understand the curriculum are more likely to support it at home, discuss it with their children, and appreciate PE as an academic subject rather than a break from learning.

Include the specific motor skills and movement concepts students are developing in each unit. "We are working on throwing mechanics and spatial awareness in our throwing and catching unit" gives parents vocabulary and context they can connect to what their child describes at dinner.

Communicating fitness testing

Fitness testing generates anxiety for students and questions from parents. The FitnessGram, Presidential Youth Fitness Program, and similar assessments measure components like aerobic capacity, muscular strength, flexibility, and body composition. Families deserve to know when testing is happening, what is being assessed, and how the results are used.

Send a pre-testing newsletter a week before fitness testing begins. Explain what the tests measure, why the school conducts them, and how results are reported. Be clear about what the results are not: they are not a ranking of students against each other and they are not a report card grade. They are a health snapshot that helps teachers individualize instruction and helps families understand their child's current fitness profile.

If your school reports fitness testing results to families, explain the scoring format before results go home. The Healthy Fitness Zone scores on FitnessGram confuse many parents. A brief explanation in the newsletter prevents the phone calls that follow when results land in backpacks without context.

Adaptive PE and students with disabilities

Students with IEPs may receive adapted physical education (APE) services, and the PE newsletter should reflect an inclusive view of physical education that acknowledges this. For families of students receiving APE, a separate, more detailed communication from the APE specialist is appropriate. The general PE newsletter should not ignore adapted physical education entirely.

Include a brief note about how units are structured to allow all students to participate at their own level. Mention the types of modifications available for students with varying abilities. This communicates to all families that your PE program takes inclusion seriously, and it helps families of students with disabilities feel that their child's participation in PE is valued rather than merely accommodated.

Dressing out and equipment policies

Every PE teacher has dealt with students who cannot fully participate because they are wearing dress shoes or a restrictive outfit. A newsletter section on dressing-out policies prevents this problem and removes the awkwardness of sending individual reminders home.

Be specific about what appropriate PE footwear looks like. "Sneakers that tie or velcro securely" is clearer than "appropriate athletic shoes." Specify whether students need to change into PE clothes or whether they can participate in their regular school clothes. If your school provides PE uniforms, explain the checkout or purchase process.

Address how absences from PE participation are handled, including medical excuses and what students do on days they cannot participate fully. This is a question parents ask regularly and rarely think to ask until there is already a situation to navigate.

Connecting PE to family activity

The most effective PE newsletters extend the physical education mission beyond the gymnasium. A brief section with age-appropriate physical activity ideas for families to try at home connects what students are learning in class to their lives outside school.

If the class is working on balance and coordination, suggest simple balance challenges families can try in the living room. If students are developing aerobic endurance, recommend a family walk or bike ride with suggested times based on grade-level fitness goals. These suggestions are not homework assignments. They are invitations that work for families who want them and are optional for those who do not.

Tools like Daystage make it easy to include a consistent "Try This at Home" block in every PE newsletter. The block updates with each unit while the newsletter structure stays familiar to parents who have been reading it all year.

End-of-year PE communication

An end-of-year PE newsletter is a high-value communication that most PE teachers skip. It is an opportunity to summarize what students covered across the year, share any aggregate fitness progress (without identifying individual students), and preview the skills and units students will build on in the following grade.

Include a summer activity recommendation list tailored to the grade level. Families who receive specific, actionable suggestions are more likely to keep students active over the summer than families who receive a generic "stay active" reminder.

Why PE communication matters beyond logistics

Physical education is one of the most consistently under-resourced and undervalued subjects in elementary school. PE newsletters that communicate the curriculum, the skills students are developing, and the connection to lifelong health literacy make a quiet argument for the value of the subject every time they land in a family's inbox.

Parents who understand what PE teaches are more likely to advocate for adequate PE time during budget discussions and school board decisions. The newsletter does not need to make that argument explicitly. It makes it implicitly, every issue, by treating physical education as the content-rich, developmentally important subject that it is.