Introduce myself Classroom climate/philosophy Curriculum overview-I made a PowerPoint for this Class procedures:homework, birthdays, how to contact me, volunteering, etc
That's what I pretty much talk about too. We have several teachers speaking during the meeting, so I only get about 20 minutes and it is very rushed.
I don't prepare a speech or anything since ours is a drop in type thing. I have a volunteer sign up sheet, and a fall conference schedule sign up sheet. I have a classroom "handbook" with my policies and procedures for the parents to take, I have a weekly schedule set out in case they want that too. I put out examples of curriculum too. Ours is basically a "nice to meet you!" night. helps put names to faces.
We do a PowerPoint titled "Day in the Life of your First Grade Student" Then it goes through each scheduled block and what happens during that block. Instead of opening it up to questions after, I tell them to come back to my room after to check everything out (we do the P.P as a whole grade team level), and if they have any questions they can ask me there!
This is pretty much the same thing I do. I'll admit I am still a bit nervous around parents despite having good relations with them overall. I know some teachers in my building give a lecture but I simply answer a few questions and give out handouts.
This year I did the coolest thing! (Can't take credit, though, as I found the idea online...) I "trained" my second graders to be "Tour Guides" for the evening! Since our Open House lasts for 2 hours and parents can come and go as they please, I found this to work very well for us! I decided what the kids could share with their parents and made a checklist for them to follow. I had a lot of parents come because I offered a small prize for helping me. Before the kids left for home on the day of Open House, I passed out the checklist and went over each item, then the students left the checklist on their desks so it was there waiting when they arrived. Then they took their parents around the room explaining all the important things... Parents stopped to introduce themselves and ask any questions they had, but I didn't have to give a big speech, etc. Next year I plan to make "Tour Guide" name tags or badges for the kids to wear. =) On the class computers I had the class website up, and on the front screen I had Vocabulary Words up so the kids demonstrate the game of SWAT we like to play...Here are some things I included on the checklist: *My Desk *Lunch Count *My Cubby *Pencils/Erasers Procedure *Bathroom Procedures *Books *Jobs Chart *Class Website *PAT Time games & activities *Rules and Consequences/ Behavior Plan
PAT is Preferred Activity Time. I heard about it in a training I attended, but I'm sure I'm not doing it the way it was intended because I haven't really researched it beyond the basic purpose and name... My fellow second grade teacher and I use it like this: At the end of the day, we allow students to read, draw, play computer games, or play board games (it's kind of like an indoor recess, really). Our purpose is twofold- first of all, it's part of our behavior plan. The kids enjoy it at the end of the day so much that it motivates them to be well behaved and keep working after lunch. Secondly, it's a chance for them to practice good citizenship, responsibility, and fairness in the classroom. I believe the REAL P.A.T. uses only educational activities, and that would be something we might eventually strive to do, but right now it's just difficult to plan so much, so we use lots of different choices at PAT Time, including Play-doh =)
