Meet the teacher night can be exciting and scary at the same time. It’s the perfect way to quickly build connections with families, start out on the right foot, and stay organized at the beginning of the year. It’s important that you are organized, prepared, and have a system in place when families enter your classroom. Here’s what I have found successful at meet the teacher night…
Set up Stations
Think about this, you have a whole new group of students coming to see you, plus their siblings, guardians, etc. and your room is going to get crowded. You are one person. You will also have school supplies, information needing to be gathered, and questions that will be asked. Let’s make this less overwhelming for you and set up stations to ease the questions, traffic flow, and cluttered feeling. While this may seem like a lot of prep, I promise you, it will be worth it.
Setting up stations frees you from having to direct traffic, answer a million questions, and allows for you to greet each family as they come. Trust me, you’ll want to do this! These are the stations that I have set up in my room:
- Welcome
- School supplies
- Transportation
- Communication
- Find your desk
- Forms
- Food information
- Tour of the classroom
The welcome station is the perfect kick off for families, you can provide a checklist or a “scavenger hunt” for families to complete before they leave. It allows for them to know exactly what to do when they enter the room.
The school supplies station is a life saver, I promise. Have bins and organizational tubs pre-labeled with any school supplies that will be brought to your classroom. This allows for families to stay busy, organize the classroom supplies, and takes time off your hands from having to sort it all out later. If you want specific supplies at your students desks, just include that in your directions.
Transportation has always been a stressful point for me at the beginning of the year. Sometimes families like to drop their kids off and pick them up on the first day, but that may not be their routine every day. Make sure that you know how each student is getting home the first and second day of school. I have families fill out a small bracelet that lets me know how each kid will get home and we wear them on the first and second day of school. It makes dismissal less complicated and stressful.
Communication is key to building and maintaining relationships with families. Make sure you have a way to share your contact information. That can be a print out, magnet, business card, etc. This doesn’t need to break the budget, it can be super easy to make and provide! Make sure you also know the best way to communicate with families as well. Do you have their contact information? If not, make sure they write it down!
Depending on your school, you may want to have parents/guardians fill out a back-to-school survey on their child. I always send this out in google form so that I can easily access it in one place all year. I have also printed out copies of the form, just in case a family is not able to access things easily on the internet. I love hearing from the parents about their hopes, goals, well wishes, worries, etc. so it helps me get a better idea on how to partner and support them and their child this school year.
Making sure you know if students will be eating school breakfast, lunch, or providing a home option can ease the process. I always make sure that parents communicate how their child will be eating most days. This also includes any known food allergies so I can make sure that I am on top of it with school provided meals, snacks, treats, etc.
Lastly, a room tour is important. Let the students and their families explore the classroom so they feel more comfortable starting the first day of school!
Create a Slideshow
Like I’ve said, there will be a million questions that parents may have for you. I’ve created a slideshow for the most “need to know” information to help ease their worries and questions.
Included:
- A little bit about myself
- School information
- Hours of operation, phone number, etc.
- Class information
- Philosophy on education, classroom management system, how I will be communicating, etc.
- Important upcoming dates
- Days off, first day of school, changes in schedule, etc.
- Classroom policies
- Homework, dismissal, etc.
- Class schedule
You may also want to create a small back to school newsletter or hand out that will include this information for families. I have all of this information in a slideshow that I let run on repeat during the meet the teacher night and then have a handout that they can take with them that has all the information as well.
If you want to be extra…
These are not things I would highly recommend, but more suggestions you can add to spice up your meet the teacher night. I have had positive comments from parents and will continue to do these during our meet the teacher night:
- Have a small gift for students: I like to have a small gift at each students desk that they can have once they complete their meet the teacher checklist or scavenger hunt. This can be a small snack, a book, pencil, etc.
- Have refreshments: I wouldn’t go over the top with this, because we’re teachers and ballin’ on a budget. However, I had small water bottles and cookies laid out for families to take when they left.
- Have a pre-read story QR code card: This one is a HUGE hit with families. I recorded myself reading The Night before Kindergarten on loom (a great, FREE, website if you haven’t heard of it) and created the link into a QR code. I copied the code onto a small handout and let families take one as they left. During bedtime that night, I encouraged families to scan the code so they could listen to and watch their teacher read a book to them before the first day of school.
You can go big or go small, that is totally up to you. I have prepped most of these items and reuse them each year so that my meet the teacher night is a success. If you are interested in running your meet the teacher night like mine, click the image below ⬇️
