The Owl Teach: Open House

It's the last week of our Back to School Bash Linky Series! I've so enjoyed getting to know some teacher blogger friends through this process!

This week is all about Open House/Parent Night Ideas! This year my motto for Open House was Keep It Simple! Now that I am a parent, I try to think about what I would want to know from my son's teacher, what information I would definitely need to bring home for reference, and what is really not necessary! I used to make these 10-15 page packets...those were such a stress to type, edit, put together, etc... and I'm guessing most of them were trashed soon after Open House Night! This year, I bought an editable template for the brightly colored flip books below from Chalk and Apples. These were pretty easy to put together and gave my parents a very easy reference to take home with them.

As a school, we also all put out information provided from the county about math and our assessment schedule for the year. As a second grade team, we put out our order forms for class shirts and "just right" reading bags, so that we can collect money and orders in one day.

I do present a Power Point during Open House, but it is more of a reference for parents, as after 10 years of Open House presentations, I have a pretty good handle on the typical speech/information. I like for my presentation to be to the point, but still casual and fun. I know that I hate sitting in a meeting and having a Power Point read to me...I like to be spoken to, so that's how I try to talk to my parents.

I offer many classroom volunteer opportunities during Open House and I like to simply have everything out for parents to hit at one time!

Here's a look at the WHOOOOOO WANTS TO HELP? form that I use!

Finally, I do have finalized, typed copies of my students Important Poems from the first week of school, with the kids' first day of school pictures published and in the hall for parents to see. This is always a favorite keep sake at the end of the year.