Does your school do them? If so, what are somethings you do or have done for them. We are having one this year. My school hasn't done them since I have been there. This year we have decided to do one and I am not sure what to do for it. It will be during I believe our third week back to school. If it was right before school started or the week school started I think it would be a little easier for me to plan.
Ours are for parents only and we talk about what we learn in kindergarten (or whatever grade) and classroom/school policies and procedures. What are the end of the year reading expectations, what does that level book look like, how can they help the kids get there. What are the behavior procedures, not turning in homework, etc...
Back to school nights have evolved into presentations of expectations for the students and the parents. It is usually an adult-only event. In the past, some time would be spent giving the parents some information about yourself (the teacher) and your beliefs about how children learn. The parent would get to know you a little, although not one-on-one. It's not a time for mini-conferences. At my school, we have to leave 5 minutes for the PTA to remind parents about donation opportunities. To make it more personal, it's good to have the students do something to welcome the parents. Write a letter to them, or put their self-portrait at their seat. If you have any work examples posted or available on the desks, parents appreciate seeing what kind of learning is going on. HTH
I agree with having the students write a letter to their parent and providing paper for the parent to write a letter to the student. It's a great little task to occupy the parents before the presentation starts or while they are waiting to talk to you for a few minutes.
For the first parent night, I had the kids decorate paper plates with magazine pictures that represent their interests. Then I had the parents try to guess which was their child's plate. They were called Personality Plates.
We have ours the week before school starts, and I would rather have it a few weeks into the school year. I feel like we're throwing a ton of information at the parents, and it would be nice to do it when they've had a chance to see some of the routines and ask questions about them!
Ours is before school starts, so it's a little different. The kids come and drop of supplies, I give the parents the mountain of paperwork that needs to be signed, and answer any questions they have. Since yours is after school starts, I would be sure to have student work posted from every student. Greet the parents, ask if they have any questions, let them walk around the room. Ours is drop-in style, so they rarely stay more than 5-10 minutes in order to make it to the siblings classes as well.
We have a Meet the Teacher curriculum night and BBQ during the third week of school. It's quite an informal evening--we gather outside on the tarmac for the first hour, enjoying hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken, sausages (all pre-ordered by families) and mingling. The building is open during this time, but the classrooms are locked. After an hour, we go inside and parents visit classrooms. We are asked to prepare a short (15 minute) presentation that we repeat after half an hour or so. We are not expected to discuss individual student progress.
We have a meet the teacher as well, it is informal and the kids drop their supplies off, see the room, and find their seats. A few weeks later we have parent orientation where we do the stuff I mentioned above.
We do a curriculum overview. The rules and procedures are sent home previously so we do refer to that newsletter very briefly, but we like to use the bulk of our time outlining our curriculum, and then mainly cover our writing program. In my district 3rd grade is a huge transition year with more writing, sci/SS, etc., so we work to alleviate any anxiety they have when starting the year.
