The adoption, no one will care about. I have no idea when and how the adoption would even come up in a conversation with the teacher. As far as partnering with the teacher (I am not a teacher, but my child will be going into the first grade), I say volunteer if you can and if you can not (I could not), then donate as much as possible. When donations were asked for supplies, I always gave. I never emailed, talked to the teacher (except for that conference in the beginning of the year), or anything. It was not necessary. From working with my child at home, I could tell my child was learning and progressing.