Re: Back to School Night ideas

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My program may be very different.....I teach in a private school.

Our Back to School night is 1 1/2 to 2 hours long. As the
parents arrive, they mix and mingle and can visit / view the
various classrooms.

In my classroom, I have photos posted on the walls around the
classroom of the children playing, working, engaged in the
various activities of the day. The parents really like seeing
them, and it encourages them to move about, see the classroom,
and engage some of the other parents in conversation.

We have a welcome greeting from the director in the main room,
then all parents move to their child's classroom. (The school
is 200 children).

During the classroom time, I give an explanation of the
school's philosophy, walk them through a typical day and
describe /explain the reasons why we do things (what the
children are learning, our goals for the year, etc.)

We talk about the protocol for field trips, volunteering,
having parents share celebrations, cultural experiences or
holidays, etc.

We make sure parents know where to find things: children's
artwork, parent pockets, the communications routes when they
have questions or concerns, or if they just want to check in
with how things are going. We talk about birthday
celebrations, various celebrations the class will experience
and the celebrations where we would love to have all the
parents join us.

If you take your whole program and / or day and break it down
and look at your program from a parent's perspective....what
would you want to know if your child was in that classroom?
Then go from there.

We try to make the experience fun. There have been times when
we are talking about what children do at circle and what they
learn from it...we might have the parents join in on a movement
song. (Actually, this has been a favorite in many ways,
because the children come home singing 'something' and the
parents laugh when they hear the correct words, etc.)

We finish the evening by asking parents to ask any and all
questions they may have. I always say that while it may seem
like a silly question, I can guarantee there are other parents
with the same question!

On 8/30/11, Kris wrote:
> Please give any ideas of what to cover!! eeeeekkkkk!!!!!

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