The 알림장 is the daily note from your child's daycare: a few lines about the day, a short record of meals, nap, toilet and mood, and sometimes a request to bring something. You do not need to understand every word, and you do not need to write much back: two short lines, a thank-you and one fact about your child, make a good reply.
What the 알림장 is
알림장 means something like "notice book". For years it was a small paper notebook that travelled back and forth in your child's bag. Many daycares now use an app instead, often 키즈노트, so the note arrives on your phone in the afternoon or evening. Paper or app, the content is the same.
A daily note usually has two parts. At the top, the teacher writes a few sentences about what the class did that day: a walk to the park, painting, a birthday. Below that is a short record with the same headings every day. The ones you will see most are 식사 (meals), 낮잠 (nap), 배변 (bowel movements) and 컨디션 (how your child seemed). Some days there is also a notice for the whole class, with things to bring or a change in the schedule.
You do not have to translate the whole note. Read the headings first, then only the lines you need. Look at the record, then look for 보내 주세요 or 까지. If you see either of them, there is something for you to do.
The five lines that come up most
These five lines come up almost every week. On a real day, the record part can be as short as this:
- 식사: 잘 먹었어요.Ate well.
- 낮잠: 1시간 잤어요.Slept one hour.
- 배변: 1회Once.
- 컨디션: 좋았어요.In a good mood.
- 준비물: 물통 보내 주세요.Please send a water bottle.
Meals. Under 식사 the teacher writes how much your child ate: all of it, most of it, a little. Snacks (간식) are often written down separately.
Nap. Under 낮잠 you will see a time range such as 12:50 ~ 14:20, or a short sentence about how your child slept.
Bowel movement or diaper. Under 배변 you see how many times. For younger children the teacher may also note diaper changes (기저귀). If something looked unusual, she adds a line about it.
Mood. 컨디션 comes from the English word "condition", but here it means how your child seemed that day: well, tired, a little quiet.
Please bring. This is the one line that asks you to act. It usually ends in 보내 주세요 (please send), often with a day: 금요일까지 (by Friday). Many daycares send the nap blanket (낮잠 이불) home on Fridays and ask for it back on Monday, and ask for spare clothes after a messy day.
| The teacher writes | It means |
|---|---|
| 식사: 잘 먹었어요 | Meals: ate well |
| 식사: 조금 먹었어요 | Meals: ate only a little |
| 낮잠: 12:50 ~ 14:20 | Nap: slept from 12:50 to 2:20 |
| 배변: 1회 | Bowel movement: once |
| 컨디션: 좋아요 | Mood: well, in good spirits |
| 여벌 옷을 보내 주세요 | Please send a spare set of clothes |
| 금요일까지 | By Friday (the deadline) |
| ~할 예정입니다 | This is planned (just for your information) |
| 댓글 부탁드립니다 | Please leave a reply |
In the top part, the same information often comes in full sentences, in the -았/었어요 past form:
- 오늘 점심을 다 먹었어요.He ate all of his lunch today.1A
- 낮잠을 잘 잤어요.She slept well at nap time.1A
A notice line ending in 예정입니다 is only for your information. A line ending in 보내 주세요 or 부탁드립니다 is a request, and the day before it tells you the deadline.
In our morning class for mothers, we see the same thing again and again. A mother reads the whole note word by word, starting from the first line of the class story, and gets stuck on 배변 and on 준비물 (things to bring). What works better is the order above: read the headings first, then only the lines with 주세요 or 까지. The rest can wait. We also tell mothers that teachers really do not expect long replies, and the reply stops feeling like homework. Lesson 2 of Korean for Moms on our site walks through one real note and a reply, line by line. It does not cover every daycare's own app; those screens and menus differ from one daycare to the next.
- The lesson 2 page, scrolled slowly on a phone from the top.
How to write a two-line reply
Teachers write notes for a whole class, and they do not expect long replies. Two lines are enough. The first line says thank you, or that you have read the note. The second line gives one fact about your child that the teacher can use today, or says what you will do.
- 감사합니다. 집에서도 잘 먹었어요.Thank you. He ate well at home too.
Good facts are small and practical: how your child slept last night, whether she ate breakfast, a little cough, a change at home. The teacher can keep an eye on it during the day. Here are three model replies, and one for a "please bring" note:
- 감사합니다. 집에서도 저녁을 잘 먹었어요.Thank you. She ate her dinner well at home too.1A
- 사진 감사합니다. 어젯밤에 잘 못 잤어요.Thank you for the photos. He couldn't sleep well last night.1B
- 알려 주셔서 감사합니다. 아침에 기침을 조금 했어요.Thank you for letting me know. She coughed a little this morning.1B
- 네, 확인했습니다. 금요일까지 이불 보낼게요.Yes, I've read it. I'll send the blanket by Friday.1B
In a written reply, 확인했습니다 and 감사합니다 in the -(스)ㅂ니다 form sound a little more polite than 확인했어요. The fact about your child can stay in the -아요/어요 form. Mixing the two like this is normal in a short note.
Common mistake: a long formal reply, or too many apologies. Many mothers write a long paragraph in their own language, put it through a translator, and send very formal Korean that opens and closes with apologies: sorry for the late reply, sorry for my Korean, sorry for the trouble. The teacher has to read the whole thing to find the one fact that matters, and the extra apologies make a simple note feel heavy. Short, simple Korean is easy for the teacher to read, so there is no need to apologise for it. If you forgot something, one apology and what you will do is enough:
- 죄송합니다. 내일 꼭 보낼게요.I'm sorry. I'll be sure to send it tomorrow.1B
Asking the teacher to give medicine
The teacher cannot give your child any medicine without a medication request form, the 투약의뢰서. You fill it in and sign it on the same morning, on paper or in the daycare app: which medicine, how much, what time, and how to keep it. Send only that day's dose, in the pharmacy bottle or a small bottle with your child's name on it, and hand it to the teacher rather than leaving it in the backpack.
Then add a short note. The pattern is 약 먹여 주세요. 먹여 comes from 먹이다, to give someone food or medicine, and 주세요 makes it a polite request. Put the time in front of it, for example 점심 먹고 (after lunch). If your child was sick, say when, so the teacher knows what to watch for.
- 어제 열이 있었어요. 오늘은 괜찮아요.She had a fever yesterday. Today she is fine.1A
- 점심 먹고 약 먹여 주세요.Please give him the medicine after lunch.1B
- 약은 선생님께 드렸어요.I gave the medicine to you directly.1B
The last line is useful when the medicine did not go in the bag, so the teacher does not look for it there. Words for fever, cough and medicine are collected on the health vocabulary page, and Lesson 3 of Korean for Moms covers the clinic, the pharmacy and the 투약의뢰서 in full.
Questions people ask
Do I have to reply every day? No. Reply when the note asks you something, when a class notice ends in 댓글 부탁드립니다, or when you have something the teacher should know, such as a bad night or a cough. On other days, a short 감사합니다 now and then is kind and enough.
Can I use a translator to read the 알림장? For reading, yes, especially for long class notices. Still, learn the headings 식사, 낮잠, 배변 and 컨디션 and the endings 보내 주세요 and 까지 first. With those, you can read most daily notes in under a minute without a translator. For the reply, two short lines you wrote yourself are usually clearer than a long translated paragraph.
What if I don't understand what the teacher wants me to bring? Ask in the reply with 혹시, which makes a question soft: 혹시 물티슈도 필요해요? (Do you need wet wipes too, by any chance?) You can also ask at pick-up. Teachers are used to questions about the things to bring, and a short question is better than sending the wrong thing.