Monday, September 10, 2012

Back to School Night

Well, I survived my first back to school night at my new school. I had so many parents this year. I suppose they all wanted to meet the new teacher.
One of my new teammates this year had a fun idea for decorating the desks. She had her kids in the past make a life-sized cut out of themselves, color them, cute them out, and tape them into their seats. So, I decided to do it this year as it sounded like a fun idea. Now, you may be thinking, "How do I fit this in?" I was thinking that too, but then I realized it would be a great beginning of the year team building activity. I assigned partners randomly (girls with girls and boy with boys so they would all be comfortable) and they had to work together to create their cut-outs. Partners traced each other and helped color each other's body.
Watching them work together for the first time gave me a lot of insight as to what kinds of personalities I have in my classroom. Some of them, of course, were a lot better at it than others. Also, it allowed me to make a mental list of things we could talk about in future class meetings during the year.
Here are some pictures:

Some of their heads kept falling over, so I had to tape rulers to the back of them to make them stand up.

Here is where I always get stuck though ...  what to give the parents when they arrive? 
There is so much information I could give them, but I only had 40 minutes. I decided to do a quick PP presentation that was an overview of expectations, discipline/positive behavior support, and curriculum. I spent the majority of my time explaining class meetings, the Daily 5, and Words Their Way. These are three things I do that most parents don't know about, and I wanted them to understand the importance of each. I also gave each parent a one page printout overview of each so they could take it with them.

I'm interested to know what all of you do for back to school night. I could always use fresh ideas for next year!

1 comment:

  1. Having the kids make themselves is so cute! I also do a power point that goes over similar things, plus special 4th grade things and grading (even though it's most of their fifth year with it, it helps to set out the school's grading system).

    I posted a bit about Back to School Night a few days ago. Come check out my blog!

    -Dani
    A Place to Thrive

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