Hey Everyone, Leah here!
I wanted to chat with you about how we do our back to school/meet the teacher night.
A little about me first, and my path into my first teaching job. The first year I was hired to teach first grade, I got hired ONE WEEK before school started!!! I was fresh out of school, super excited to get my dream job of teaching first grade, and was sitting there with mixed emotions of happiness, stress, excitement, stress, because I had ONE week to prepare! I literally had no idea what I was doing, how to start, or what to do when all those first grade faces and parents walked into my room to meet me. I was terrified!
Fast forward a year later, my husband’s job brought us back to our home state of Oregon! I was sad to leave my new teacher friends, but excited to be close to family. Once again, I found myself moving back in August, and interviewing just days before school started. I was fortunate enough to land a job ONE DAY before meet the teacher night… insert panic!
Between these two experiences I quickly figured out what was important to have and to do when you meet your new students and parents for the first time. I had to put aside what I wanted to do (decorate all the things, buy all the things) and figure out what REALLY needed to get done, the other things could come later.
I found that setting up my room with stations for the parents and students to go through at their own pace works best for me. I make sure to have a station for each of the “important” forms I need filled out, while also having fun things for the students to do.
All of the forms I use can be found HERE and I will go into a little detail about what I do with each below.
I like to bundle all my classroom forms into a folder that sits on each student’s desk for them to pick up, take home, and then return during the first week of school. I simply print the folder page on a larger piece of copy paper and fold it in half to make a folder.
Inside this folder our families will find the all about me page, scholastic reading info, snack Info, movie permission slip, parent contact information card, and class information for them to read over.
I like to set-up my remaining forms as stations for the parents to go to. I make SIGNS and put them in THESE clear acrylic photo holders that you can grab at the dollar tree!
For my stations I have a volunteer table where parents can sign up to volunteer, and transportation table where they fill out their child’s transportation info, and I always hang the donation apples on my whiteboard or near my door so if they want to donate to my classroom they can take an apple.
Another fun station I like to set-up is a letter station where parents can write a letter to their child and I will put it on their child’s desk for the first day of school. You can grab our letter freebie HERE
For my students, they go to the supply drop off station where they organize their supplies by type. I do community supplies because we do not have desks, so we share supplies. You can find some free supply labels to put on bins HERE
The students also get to pick up their nametag from a station and pick their desk. The students LOVE being able to come in and pick their own seat. It gives them the feeling that they already have choice and gets them excited to come back for the first day of school. I typically end up solidifying their seats by the end of the first week, because as we all know best friends next to each other is not always the best set up…ha!
I love for my meet the teacher/open house to be a free flowing night where I can mingle with students and parents, and the jobs for them are very clearly posted so I do not have to repeat myself all night!
Now, here is one more tip I have been doing for years, and it always saves me during back to school season! Don’t stress if you didn’t do it this year, you now will have everything, so you can start for next year. At the end of the year I always print all these forms and folders off and get them prepped and put in a “Back to School” box. That way I am not running to the copy machine frantically getting everything ready hours before, instead I can do some of the other million things we all have on our to do lists at the beginning of the year!
I love how I do it so much that I made a freebie for you to grab HERE. It includes my station signs and a “Welcome Slide” for you to display for parents and students to read so they know what to do!
We also have a fun and free treat tag that you can attach to a lollipop and put on students’ desks. Grab it HERE.
You can grab all the forms I use HERE. I hope this helps you or gives you some ideas of how to set-up your meet the teacher/back to school night. I would love to hear any other tips you do that makes this night go even smoother in the comments below or you can always email us at [email protected] if you have any questions!
