In preparation for the first day of Kindergarten, we hold a one hour open house where our kinders can drop off their supplies, see our room and meet me. Talk about a frenzy of activity! But, in preparation for them and their parents, who often need some guidance and last minute questions answered I’d like to share what I’ve got laid out.
For this open house night, I previously used a slip of paper that told parents and their kids what to do around the room. Only problems that posed for me was 1) them seeing it when they walked into our crowded room and 2) them seeing it when they walked into our crowded room.
So, this year, I simplified what I really wanted them to do and made it almost impossible to miss.
These are hung from the rafters with jumbo paper clips and are quick for me to remove once open house night is over. {Inserting a personal note of sorry for those of you who can’t hang stuff}
I lay out tubs for their supplies to be already sorted so that I can grab what is needed for day one and store the rest in the cupboards.
Do I mean to be so straight forward with these huge signs? Yes. I do that because I want my parents and kinders to feel as relaxed as possible knowing what to expect.
And then there are the papers to go home. Parents always get a packet of stuff to fill out and I attach a “parent homework” note to it so they know they can take it home. I add the child’s first day of school name tag (thanks to inspiration from my favorite teacher down the hall!) and attach our dismissal information because it is the one thing that parents tend to fret about.
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More on Back To School
- 12 Tips to Start a Successful Kindergarten Year
- Creating Responsible Kindergartners
- Communicating With Parents Via Folders
- Back to school Must Have Posters
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I LOVE those signs! I would be interested in purchasing your packet as well. Looks perfect for my needs! I’ve been a third grade teacher for ten years and……I’ll be starting my first year as a Kindergarten teacher this year! I’m so excited!!!
I would love to purchase the packet as well!!!
Thanks Emily! They are available here: http://www.teachersnotebook.com/product/KindergartenWorks/welcome-to-school-posters.
The good news is I just posted them… Hot off the press!http://www.teachersnotebook.com/product/KindergartenWorks/welcome-to-school-posters welcome to k!
The packet is almost ready to purchase 😉 Thanks for sharing your excitement!
Marielle,
Could you email me (leslie{at}kindergartenworks.com) or send me a message on fb? I’d love to have you test out these papers in my newest product to see if they’re a good fit!
– Leslie
I LOVE this site! I was wondering…where can I find the “parent homework” note and the other images found here on the bottom?
marielle
Hi Marielle and welcome to KindergartenWorks! Right now I don’t have the note or other items available since they were created for just my classroom and aren’t editable documents. Hopefully they can help give ideas!
– Leslie
Thank you for replying :). You are awesome!
what font did you use for the big signs? Love that idea!
Hi Lisa,
One font is called Miss Law Primer by Kathy from First Grade A la Carte and the other I can’t remember!
Thanks
– Leslie
You are so organized and thoughtful:) Your students and their parents are fortunate, indeed:) Have a wonderful year!
Thanks Katherine! Your words a re greatly appreciated! I hope you have an incredible year!
– Leslie
Great ideas. Have a fabulous year. Renee
Thanks Renee! You too!
How did you make those so big??
On the program I use to create stuff, I have the option of telling it how many pages by how many pages big I want it to print and it does it automatically 😉 Thanks for reading!
– Leslie
Leslie,
I have Open House/Back to School night on Thursday where I have to put on a little presentation for the parents. Do you happen to have a parent pack that I can use as a guide?? What do parents usually want to know during Open House? This is my first year of K! You’ve been such a HUGE help already! I appreciate it! 🙂
Danielle
[email protected]
Hi Danielle,
The above information is when my students have yet to meet me, so I can pass out info on parent night. Normally I’ll pass our out our first quarter standards. I also put out a sample of their child’s math journal with a marker and ask the parents to write them a note of something positive they notice their child trying to do in math. The biggest things I go over is 1. who I am and my personality 2. this year spells out responsibility and is the “new first grade” I go through the examples of how their child takes responsibility for their things, papers, classroom jobs, behavior and into that I weave labeling your child’s name on stuff, our behavior plan and the parents role in responsibility (enter the standards) as I see it. We only have about 20 mins… so I have to spit it all out fast! Most often they just want to know how “their child” is doing… 😉 Truly. So to prepare for this night – call each parent before the night of and call just to touch base – this will be a huge time saver! Just say you wanted to know if they had any questions and to let them know how “their child” is doing the first few days of school. This was the first year I called before parent night and it was the best thing I could’ve ever done! well worth the time. If I couldn’t get a hold of them I just left a message saying the same thing!
I love it Leslie! It is always a challenge to pass out papers when the room is crowded with people. I love the Parent Homework too. Dismissal is a stressfull time and anything we can do to ease the stress for the kids and parents (and us) makes for a much more successful start to the year.
Thanks Heather! Great point about dismissal being stressful and relieving any of it that we can is huge!!
Looks awesome Leslie!
Thanks!