Last week we held a successful Term 1 Parent Open Day. I’ve
read a lot of blog posts and seen a lot of pins about the different things teachers
do for their open days and all I can say is WOW! Some teachers go to great
lengths to make presents, displays and little activities for parents.
I did not go to such lengths for my open class and kept to a
‘less is more’ or ‘cheaper’ approach. I did not buy extravagant presents. I did
not have apples as gifts. I did not write cute little poems. I did not set up
treasure hunts. I planned a more realistic afternoon that took me few hours of
time rather than a weeks worth of effort. I think what I did do was not so bad.
Here’s how my afternoon ran.
- Parents were welcomed into the class and got to check out our student Guess Who wall. Students had completed a guess who page with a self-portrait and facts about them. Parents had some fun trying to guess which page was their child’s.
- On each of the students desks were some of their books to show their work so far and their recent assessments.
- I showed a power point presentation that included information about me, work and assessments covered so far, upcoming work and assessments, information about our class pet Leonardo and Buddy class from Brisbane, Homework expectations, student goals and an invitation for our first class Parent Party (more on that later).
- I also made a photo presentation using imovie with photos of the class so far and some very funky music that had the parents bopping in their seats. I love using imovie to make fun presentations that look like they took hours but in reality took little time with all of the templates available.
- Lastly I presented the parents with an envelope to take home with a copy of their child’s goals for Semester 1, a card made by their student to thank them for coming and a photo of the students first day of school. This was our present to them.
We had a good afternoon and it was a great opportunity to
catch up with families and chat to them about their child’s progress. And best
of all it did not cost a bomb!
I have the pages I used for the envelope cover page, student
card and guess who printable as a freebie for you to use in your classroom if you would like it you can download it here or check out my TPT store for freebies and other products.
Hopefully it saves you some time and money too!
I’d love to read about what other people have done for their
parent open days. Do you have any tips or ideas that save time and money?
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