Back to School Ideas

Got this excerpt from a Blog by a Teacher Heather Wolpert-Gawron:  http://www.edutopia.org/blog/checklist-back-school-night-heather-wolpert-gawron

As you think about preparing for Back to School Night, here a few good tips to think about:

A great Back to School Night can really go a long way towards the success of your upcoming school year.
So I think hard about what would make my room inviting and informative. Welcome to my classroom on Back to School Night. By opening up my room to you, I hope that it might give you some ideas to help make your own evening a successful one.

5 Must-Haves for BTSN

# 1. Sign-ins on every table: I admit it. It only took me 15 years to figure out that I need to have sign-ins on every table and not just at a single station at the front of the room. That way, there isn't a bottleneck at the door, and all families can hear the schpeel from minute one.
# 2. Brochures: I always design a brochure so parents don't have to take notes based on my Powerpoint. The sections include: about me, where to find the classroom website, the standards covered, materials students need, contact information, classroom slogan, and a few other things.

Photo credit: Heather Wolpert-Gawron

 

# 3. Classroom Constitution: I really try to have this completed by BTSN. The classroom constitution is a document that all students have a hand in creating. It sets the academic and behavioral standards that they want to see in the classroom, and it becomes a goal-setting document for me to help make that environment happen. They then all sign it. This year, it was easy to have completed by this night because I had all the table groups from each of the periods contribute ideas to a Google Document. I then edited it, combining repeating themes, making multiple simple sentences into compound sentences, and formatting it to fit the poster. This poster hangs in my room all year and I copy and paste the text from the Google Doc onto my classroom website. By having it hanging up in time for BTSN, you're also already proving that the learning has begun. # 4. Powerpoint/Keynote/Google Presentation: I have this running behind me as I do my 10-minute presentation. This includes an about me slide, a slide on the 4Cs and Common Core State Standards, a slide with a live link to my classroom website so I can walk them through the menu bar, contact information, and a slide begging for donations. Typically, I beg for the following: tissues, hand sanitizer, crayons/markers/highlighters, and reams of paper. Reams of paper are gold on my campus. Any teacher with paper becomes instantaneously popular. Incidentally, every year, I scramble trying to find the computer I created my last presentation on. Was it my personal laptop or my school desktop? This year, I created it using Google Presentations. Never again will I have to scramble!
# 5. The classroom environment: Even though it's early in the year, I still make sure that I set up an environment I know students will like, will engage them, challenge them, and make them think about what's to come. It works that way with parents as well. They want to be able to picture their own kids learning in the room. The environment itself can play a role in their yearlong support. The effort to get it ready is vital.
Good luck with your own Back to School Night. May all your parents walk away with trust in you and excitement for their child's school year. Share with us your tips and ideas for this special night in the comments section below.

Nick's thoughts: There is a lot of misinformation out there about Common Core. The information and the misunderstandings around it can cause a lot of suspicion and consternation among parents. As you address Common Core with parents keep it simple: CCSS are merely a set of grade level standards that many other states decided to adopt and then give an example from Math and ELA. Explain to parents how you break these standards down into units and daily lessons and give them a short lesson snap shot with student work examples. This simple connection has the possibility of re-informing families and demystify the work in the classroom.

TEACHERS: What other ideas, tips, and strategies are you planning for your Back to School Night! Put your