open house ideas
1-2-3 Come Make Open House Extra Special With Me
Do you have an Open House before school starts, or a Meet & Greet the Teacher Night, and are looking for ideas? Here's a super-simple & inexpensive one:
Each year for my Open House, as well as parent-teacher conferences, I put up a small table, covered it with a seasonal tablecloth and set a basket of mints on it, along with a sign that said: "Families Are Worth A Mint! Help yourself."
While doing research on the web, I came across a variety of similar ideas, including this adorable poem that was all over Pinterest in various forms.
There was no link to who the original writer was, so I decided to jazz this sweet sentiment up, with a bit of clip art and my original saying.
Add a bit more color by mounting the poster on construction paper, then laminate and file away in a folder to use each year. This is a really inexpensive way to express your appreciation, as The Dollar Store sells bags of mints year round and you can pick up all sorts of little baskets at garage sales.
For that finishing touch, and to draw attention to your basket, I've included some large mint patterns, so you can reproduce my entire display pictured in the photo.
Run the candy circles off on card stock and then tape them to long wooden skewers. I tacked on a red bow using glue dots and then stuck my "peppermint balloons" into the basket.
One of the nice things about using peppermint, is that it's definitely NOT a favorite of children, however, it is something that adults enjoy. (No worries about a few kids eating the entire basket.)
If you'd prefer a smaller "bite size" mint, Sam's Club and Cost-co sell the mini butter-mints (pink, yellow, white and green) in bulk. They have a long shelf life, so I always had plenty on hand.
Click on the link to view/download the Families Are Worth A Mint packet.
Thanks for visiting today, feel free to PIN away.
I hope you are enjoying your summer and starting to get excited for back to school. Here's to the best year yet!
"Some beach somewhere, there's a big umbrella casting shade over an empty chair. Palm trees are growing, a warm breeze is blowing. I picture myself there, on some beach somewhere." -Unknown
1-2-3 Come Make Open House Extra Special With Me
Each year for my Open House, as well as parent-teacher conferences, I put up a small table, covered it with a seasonal tablecloth and set a basket of mints on it, along with a sign that said: "Families Are Worth A Mint! Help yourself."
While doing research on the web, I came across a variety of similar ideas, including this adorable poem that was all over Pinterest in various forms.
There was no link to who the original writer was, so I decided to jazz this sweet sentiment up, with a bit of clip art and my original saying.
Add a bit more color by mounting the poster on construction paper, then laminate and file away in a folder to use each year. This is a really inexpensive way to express your appreciation, as The Dollar Store sells bags of mints year round and you can pick up all sorts of little baskets at garage sales.
For that finishing touch, and to draw attention to your basket, I've included some large mint patterns, so you can reproduce my entire display pictured in the photo.
Run the candy circles off on card stock and then tape them to long wooden skewers. I tacked on a red bow using glue dots and then stuck my "peppermint balloons" into the basket.
One of the nice things about using peppermint, is that it's definitely NOT a favorite of children, however, it is something that adults enjoy. (No worries about a few kids eating the entire basket.)
If you'd prefer a smaller "bite size" mint, Sam's Club and Cost-co sell the mini butter-mints (pink, yellow, white and green) in bulk. They have a long shelf life, so I always had plenty on hand.
Click on the link to view/download the Families Are Worth A Mint packet.
Thanks for visiting today, feel free to PIN away.
I hope you are enjoying your summer and starting to get excited for back to school. Here's to an outstanding open house!
A Simple Trick To Get Kids Excited For The First Day Of School
I think that if students count down the days til school starts, they have an opportunity to get excited.
It's also a "teachable moment" for parents to work on numbers, counting, and introducing a calendar or how to keep track of time.
A fun and inexpensive gift that helps you do that, that you can quickly make and pass out at your Open House is something that I just dreamed up.
Our Open House is the week before school starts, which is wonderful, because it gave me a chance to meet my students and help dispel any fears they might have.
Whip these kits together and toss the Baggies in a basket.
Set them on a table with A Special Gift For My Students Take One sign.
Click on the link to view/print one.
Making these "count down necklaces" help students count, use their fine motor skills, review all of the basic colors, follow a color pattern, + get excited about coming to school as they count down the days!
My Y5’s also had to learn to count backwards from 10-0 as a report card standard. (I call this blasting off.) This is simply another fun way of doing that.
What a nice keepsake for them to have of this special time in their life!
Here's how to make the necklace kits:
- In a snack Baggie include 10 pony beads (one of each of the following colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, white, brown and black) and an 18-inch length of white yarn.
- Tape the end into a point, with a piece of Scotch tape, so that it is easy for young ones to string their beads.
- Include the following poem:
Click on the link to print the back-to-school necklace poem.
Thanks for visiting. Feel free to PIN anything you think might be helpful to others.
Be sure and check back tomorrow for another easy countdown idea that not only nails report card standards, but helps get your students excited about school, as it chases away any anxiety first-timers may be feeling!
Do you have a back-to-school tip that you'd be willing to share with us? I'd enjoy hearing from you: diane@teachwithme.com
"A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn, is hammering on a cold iron." -Horace Mann
I sent Welcome To School Packets to my Y5's the 3rd week of August. We don't start school in Michigan 'til the Tuesday after Labor Day. (Wahoo) for there's no air conditioning in my school. 
Here's what to do:- Keep your list short and simple.
- Think of the things you really want your students to be familiar with and write them down.
- Revamp your list.
- Type it up.
- Make it bulleted with hollow bullets so that students can either add a sticker or color in the dots as they "find things".
- My Y5's aren't familiar with the term scavenger hunt, but they know what a treasure hunt is, so I label this as a treasure hunt.
- Once they find all of the things on their check list, they can claim their treasure, which is a goodie bag from me. If the plastic supply boxes go on sale really cheap, I'll buy those and fill them.
- I fill treat bags or boxes in an assembly-line fashion, putting one of everything, one at a time, in each bag. It goes really fast that way.
- I always make at least 3 extra bags, for parents sometimes take them for a younger sibling even tho' I post a note that these are only for my students. I also have new students show up as well.
Make up an invitation to your open house and include information that their child will go on a treasure hunt to find things, like their locker, their teacher, their name on the bulletin board, their desk, cubbie, their open house-take-home packet etc.
You can have a basket of stickers and a basket of Treasure Hunt Check Lists on a table at your open house, or you can send them in the mail so they can look at them ahead of time and get excited with the perusal.
- I've done both. Parents have been very good about remembering to bring both check list and stickers with them and there was not a crowd waiting to pick things up, or wasting time reading things when they got here.
- I did have extra's there for the parents who did forget, or for the ones whose mail was returned.
- Positive feedback was so tremendous for this, and the students have enjoyed it so much, that I have continued to do a treasure hunt every year.
- In fact, most of the other elementary teachers in my school have also adopted my treasure hunt idea and done some type of scavenger hunt for their open houses as well.
- To give you an idea of what I have on my list, click on the link to view/print my letter, invitation and treasure hunt check list.
- You can use these things as a guideline to tweak and dream up your own. It's just nice to have a "skeleton" of "something" to jumpstart you in the right direction.
- Just a "heads-up": One of the most important things I added to my checklist was that little note after "check out our room"....but don't haul out and play with any of the tubs of toys..."
- I highly recommend you add that, especially if you plan on being in the hallway part of the time, like I was; greeting parents, talking, answering questions etc.
- My first year, I came back into the classroom to find it an utter disaster! Toys were everywhere and it took me 'til almost 11 at night to get everything cleaned up.
- I was in tears and exhausted driving home. That simple sentence has done the trick EVERY year since. My room was always ship shape from just that one gentle reminder.
Thanks for visiting. Feel free to PIN anything you think others might find helpful.
Do you have an activity that you do for Open House? I'd enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com or leave a comment here. Thanks in advance!
I hope you can stop by tomorrow for more back to school ideas.
"Use what talent you possess: The world would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best." -Henry Van Dyke
