Simple & Efficient Open House Organization
I have officially made it through my first two days back to school. Last week was busy and exhausting! Teachers started Monday with our district-wide kick off assembly. Then we headed back to our respective schools where our school did a team-building activity which I led. I saw this post on Instagram by Tales from a Very Busy Teacher. Her school made collective resumes to highlight their years of experience and expertise. I thought this would be a really positive way to start the year.
Tuesday was a free prep day (hooray!). I finished my room for the most part (I will share about that in a later post.) And then, Tuesday night was Back to School Night. This was formally known as P.I.N. or Parent Information Night. Students weren’t necessarily invited and I think that deterred some families. This year, everyone was invited! So, I was thrilled that we had a much better turn out this way! Here’s how I set things up:
On each desk was a informational brochure (template by Rachel Castaneda), highlighter with gift tag (free) and a note about bringing in earbuds.
I wrote two to-do lists on the whiteboard: one for parents and one for students.
Parents:
-Sign up for a November conference time (can never plan too early, right?)
-Fill out transportation tracking sheet
-Complete a GoogleForm with contact information (I set up ChromeBooks at a table to do this)
Students:
-Color 2nd grade bookmark
-Take picture at our photo op area
-Pick your seat for the first day
(editable name tags can be found here)
Before they started on their to do lists, I did a presentation for about 10-15 minutes. I tried to keep it short since the students were there. Much of the information I reviewed can also be found in the brochure I made and on our grade level website so I didn’t feel too much pressure to go over every single detail. I used this free presentation template by Primarily Speaking.
Then, I sent them off! It went really well except for one issue with the GoogleForms. I think because I had the option to ‘edit your response’ checked, it made it hard for people to open a new form. It was a small snafu but it took some time for me to pull new forms up and everyone was lining up to talk to me at the same time.
It seemed like everyone came all at once (there are supposed to be 2 sessions but they are not clearly defined) and then everyone left. Whew! I was exhausted after such a long day. We have three contractual nights a year so my next one isn’t until those November conferences.
#1 You scour Pinterest for ideas and even have a dedicated board
#2 The preparation is overwhelming and you might question why you are doing all of this
#3 During the night, everyone wants your attention and it is difficult to talk to each person
#4 But you still try to at least greet everyone and thank them for coming
#5 When it’s all over, you are exhausted and need to sleep for a week. But the hard work has just begun.
Did you have Back to School night yet? Do you call it something else?
Happy back to school!
