Planning an Open House to WOW Your Parents

Last week I was so focused on blogging, I blogged every day! This week, well other things seem to be the focus! Here are the three things I am working on this week: Fitness, Family, and Back to School. This post shares how Megan and I organize our Open House to be sure and WOW our parents!

 Fitness

Now to say that I love working out, would be a big lie! As a matter of fact, I kinda hate it! So… many of my blogging buddies have joined this “get healthy” life style inspired by my good friend Rachelle at What the Teacher Wants.  She has also started a fitness blog, For Blogness Sake.  They are all looking so good! Now they will tell you that they are doing this to be healthy, not skinny, but I bet none of them mind the weight loss they have seen! To be quite honest, I want to be thinner! I know healthy has to be the real goal, but I will take skinny! So….Megan and I have started. We have printed out our 12 week calendar that tells us what to do each day and we are finishing our first week. I know a week isn’t very long, but it’s a start!

Family

Of course you all know that I am crazy about my Matthew and my Brody! Megan and I keep Brody every Monday and Wednesday while Ginny is finishing her masters! One more week and she will be done! This week on Tuesday I had my 3 littlest nieces and nephews. Who knew that you could have so much fun with some old badminton racket puppets. I sat them out earlier in the week to give to Ginny to put in her Home Living Area for her prek class. It was hilarious watching the girls hide behind the trees and bushes and make their character voices. We had a little play time in the water table and a shopping relay with an old shopping cart from my classroom! They spent 30 minutes pushing the cart up and down the driveway while I told them what to go and buy. I would tell them what to go and buy. They had to push the cart to the car, “buy” the food,  push the cart back and tell me what they bought. Could they remember what I sent them for? You can tell they don’t eat Brussel sprouts at their house! When I sent them to buy those, along with a few other vegetables, they came back with “pretzel plant”! We almost died laughing!

Open House

It's never too early to start thinking about Back to School Night, Meet the Teacher, or Open House. This is your first chance to make a first impression! A good first impression will serve you well the rest of the year.  Can I get an Amen?

STATION 1: The first thing we made was an Open House Folder for each child.  In each folder we place all the information that parents need...School Rules, Daily Schedule, Lunch Menus, etc. We put each child's name on one of the folders. This way we know exactly who received their folder.

Station 2: In station 2 we put the first homework project. Each parent finds the paper with their child's name. The directions tell the parents to scrapbook the paper with photos, etc to help us to get to know their child. We bind these together into a class book! It is the most loved book in the classroom.

 STATION 3: In station 2 we placed a copy of information that the parents needed to sign THAT night. We wanted each parent to sign in, tell us how their child would go home, and if they wanted to volunteer in the classroom...the three most important things to know!

Station 4: In Station 4 the parents have the opportunity to select some tags for things they would like to donate to the classroom. If you want supplies...now is the time to ask. Ask for enough to last the whole year whenever possible!

Station 5: Station 5 is the most fun station of the night. Here the parents use the props to pose for family pictures. I  leave my phone or ipad in the center for taking the photos. They love this! I use these photos all year as a way to build a home/family connection.

Station 6: In this station the adults and the children make this fun craft.  I provide picture directions so that they can do this independently.

Station 7: In the last station, the parents pick up their gifts. It's amazing how far this simple gesture gets you. Parents see you as a giving, kind person! This make them so much more forgiving when we  make mistakes!

There is also a little gift bag for the kids.
All of these ideas, as well as many more, are from our Open House Ultimate Scavenger Hunt unit.