Open House...Moms, Dads, and Grandmas, Oh My!

I have been teaching fifth grade for five years now, and I still get anxiety over the quickly approaching Open House or Parent Night! It's not that I don't enjoy meeting all of my families, it can just be a lot of pressure for anyone from the new teacher to the veteran teacher!  I have found over the years that there are some important qualities of a successful open house. Here are some tips that you might want to try this year to make your open house night less stressful:-)

1. Creative Displays: You probably already know this but parents love to walk around and see their child's work, but in fifth grade this isn't there first rodeo, so you should looking for unique ways to display student work! - for example fifth grade footprints:-)

***Also for my math teachers, check out this really cool way for your students to create equations about themselves! Math in Me is a creative way to get you students excited about math, and then you have an awesome open house display!

Math in Me Project Link

2. PowerPoint Presentation: I recommend taking time to have a presentation about important things that will be happening in your classroom for the year, so you are repeating the same things over and over again! I always make a PowerPoint presentation and display it on my Promethean Board.

3. Keep your parents busy:
Scavenger Hunt:
I make a scavenger hunt for my kids to take their parents around and find different things in the classroom or in the school. For example I might ask them to find their Math in Me paper and write one equation on their sheet, or find their footprint and write down three adjectives that were on it. You can do this with anything and it helps the parents find out about your classroom and keeps them busy so they are not bored.

Parent letter:
I have my students write a letter to their parents and lay it on there desks, and then there is a section for the parents to write a note back. Sometimes parents can't make it to open house, so the form I created is open ended enough that I can write not for those kids:-) Click here for a template:-)

4. Contact information:
There are lots of different ways to give your parents your contact information from brochures to handouts, but I have found that the best way is by making inexpensive magnets for your parents with your phone number, email, blog address, etc. Over the years, my parents have loved this because they put it on the fridge and your information is always handy.  Click below for template:
                                                       Open House Magnet Template

5. No shop talk: if parents want to talk academic achievement, nicely suggest they sign up for a conference. I always have a sign up sheet ready.


6. Smile & Breathe: Remember parents are excited to meet you and probably nervous too! Try to enjoy the night and start off the year on the right foot. It my sound cliche but communication with student families really is the key to a successful school year!

Footprints on Fifth Grade!!!

Looking for an awesome back to school activity, and a unique display for your classroom or hall. These fifthgrade footprints made with tagxedo.com are really cool, and your kids will love making them.  In my fifth grade classroom, the kids brainstorm adjectives and nouns about themselves and then they use those words to create a word cloud in the form of a foot print. Students don't have access to color printer at my school, so we print out in black and white and then color in with Mr. Sketch:-) I then display in my classroom as FIFTH GRADE FOOTPRINTS! This is great for incorporating technology and your students' knowledge of nouns and adjectives. It can be adapted for any grade level. For step by step instructions from brainstorming to printing out the final product for you and your students(fail proof), and a brainstorming template, CLICK HERE:-)

Welcome to my blog! I am a fifth grade teacher at an intermediate school, and I made this blog because sometimes I feel there are a lack of resources for the intermediate school teacher. Hopefully, you will find something here that you can use in your classroom, whether you are an elementary school teacher, an intermediate school teacher, or a middle school teacher!