With that said though, I do not feel like I go over the top for Meet the Teacher. I try to make my room look inviting and I ensure everything is set up for easy organization. The night is busy and crazy with families coming in and I like to be able to spend time talking with the kids about their summer and upcoming school year. I do not like having to spend the whole time telling parents where to put supplies and what papers I need signed.
Here are a few pictures to share how I set up:
I picked up this Hooray balloon from Target a few weeks ago. I think it was about $5. It was super easy to blow up and just added a little bit of fun to Meet the Teacher.
On the left you can see a big crate I set up for Klennix students turn in. The black reading bulletin board is no longer there, and I'm slowly organizing the materials in those white cubbies. Oh, and I definitely moved that Target bag on the floor before parents came in.
Through the windows you can see parts of my office. Every classroom at my school comes with a very decent size teacher office. My office is currently a disaster. I basically just kept moving things in there that I did not have a location for. Oppps. I'll work on cleaning it later.
This picture (above) is just to show that it is OKAY to not be fully done in your classroom when parents come. On the far right you will notice some books just shoved in cubbies without bins. There are a lot of cubbies like this on the far left. I had ordered more bins from ReallyGoodStuff but they didn't come in on time. Guess how many parents or kids said something about this? None.
The next two pictures are overviews of my entire room.
The "Ms. Jones is reading, are you?" section is 100% different now. I tore it all off because I didn't like the way it looked. I'm in the process of creating a fake bulletin board for this section. I'll post pictures of it when I finish it.
In the years past, I've always let students pick their own seat for the first week. I have found that this makes a tad more chaos during Meet the Teacher, so I decided to assign seats this year. It make it a lot easier for students to find their seat, pick up their papers, and begin putting supplies away.
On each desk there is a sticky note name tag (because let's be real.... the seats will change once I get to know the kids). There is also a folder with all the back to school paperwork for parents to fill out. I include a simple checklist so parents can ensure they have everything done before turning it back in. We're departmentalized at my school, and my amazing partner teacher created that flip book of information for our parents.
There is also a lollipop with a cute tag from Glitter and Glue 4 k-2.
On my back table I have very simple sign in sheets for parents. (You can ignore the white paper. It was a paper from our front office informing parents of first day of school procedures.)
I did not have a fancy sign for "please leave completed bus tags here." It's okay. Everyone lived.
The last thing I do is leave large bins around the classroom for students to organize the supplies that will be used by the entire class. This allows me to put them all away before the first day of school. I also put a (not fancy) anchor chart on the board to tell students which items go inside their desk.
The anchor chart was very useful because students were able to easily (and quickly) get their items organized. The first day of school was still a bit chaotic, but at least most of our supplies were taken of.
That's a wrap for my Meet the Teacher night. It's very simple, but it works.
Do you do anything special for Meet the Teacher? I'd love to hear your ideas! Leave a comment and let me know.
Thank you for the real look at your classroom and open house. All of these perfectly decorated and labeled rooms are quite imposing. I like to see something more realistic and do-able, especially when my room needs to be done tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteDo you ever have parents complain about having community classroom supplies? I have a pencil jar for dull/sharp pencils and have had parents complain when they buy their kid some fancy designed pencils. However, I can’t have them keep them in their desk and sharpen their own in the middle of class because it’s disruptive. I’ve also had a parent mention that they bought the giant pack of glue sticks for a reason and want their kid to have those all year. It’s too crowded to put 10 glue sticks in their desk all at once!
ReplyDeleteAt my school, we request yellow pencils only. The parents learn quickly that some items go into a class sharing center. Items such as binders, folders, composition books, and scissors stay with the students.
DeleteI purchased plastic stackable mini drawers. These fit in a cabinet in my classroom. Each student has their own drawer.Each student puts a few items in their desk and their extra supplies (glue sticks, post-it notes, pencils, pens, highlighters and erasers in their personal drawer. Periodically when they need more supplies in their desk, they just ask permission to get them.
DeleteWe have a crate that holds all extra supplies. Supplies are in large ziplock bags with their name or number on them. I personally do not like shared pencils because some kids chew on them, etc. They must sharpen two pencils when they walk in and then must borrow if they forget.
DeleteI've never had a parent complain, but sometimes I can pick up on a vibe from students if they are going to be particular about pencils. It is usually when they want mechanical ones. I allow them to keep/use mechanical, but they also keep one of mine as "back up" If a student gets a "fancy" pencil (like birthday one), they leave it on their desk at the end of class and I sharpen it. Once again, if it breaks they use one of class pencils because I won't sharpen during instructional time. It's never been a huge issue :)
DeleteHey! I love your ideas and especially love the bus tags for the students. Could you please tell me where I can find them? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThese are actually from my school. I have no idea where they came from! I'll see if I can find out :)
DeleteLove this! I’m a fourth grade teacher also and trying to find new ideas for back to school night. One thing I noticed specifically are your RACE cards on the students’ desks! I would LOVE to know where you got these! Thank you!!
ReplyDeleteI love the RACE cards, too! Do you know where to find them, Katie?
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI also love the bus tags. Please tell me where to find them.
I'm not sure. Sorry! My school gives them to us each year. I'll see if I can find where they came from.
DeleteThe transportation tags are genius!
ReplyDeleteCan you post your checklist?
ReplyDeletehello, how do I get this foldable? the one featured in this post... Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI got it from a seller on TpT :) I can't remember which one at the moment, but I'll look it up! If you search "back to school foldable" a lot will show up
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