Meet the Teacher Night (or Open Night / Acquaintance Night as my school used to call it) is a big deal. Parents come and meet you, check out the classroom and want to hear all about your teaching attitude/philosophy. I always feel like I need to be on point and my room needs to be above and beyond neat and tidy.

I always get a bit nervous before the parents come in. Will I ramble on and forget what I was going to say? Will I make a good enough impression? Will parents understand how much their child means to me? The reality is – parents just want to say hi and see where their child spends most of their day. I always get to the end of the night and think ‘That was actually pretty good. What was I stressing for?’

One thing I do every year that is a HUGE hit with parents and visitors, is to have the students create portraits of themselves and then attach them to the backs of their chairs. It fills the room with fun and makes it appear to make a class full of smiling faces. My students love it too as it gives them a chance to be creative and show their individual personalities.

 

HINT* Stick a ruler on the back of each portrait to keep them upright.

When the night is over, I print off student names, attach them to the bottom of each portrait and display them in the classroom entrance for the remainder of the year. Lots of smiling faces to welcome all future visitors.

If you’d like a copy of the free display so you can make your own, just click on the picture below.

 

 

Enjoy!

✏️❤️ Katie

Teaching year 2, I was after a fun way for students to reflect upon their week without being the usual boring ‘what I did this week’ kind of scenario. (I’m sure you understand what I mean)! After talking with a colleague, I came up with this design and my kiddos LOVE it – even to the point of asking to do it!

 

Here’s how it works:

Each student is presented with a half book (a notebook chopped in half).

 

Every Friday I print out a different and that afternoon I verbally review each of the week’s questions/statements with the class. Together we brainstorm a few possible answers. This helps to avoid any students from saying ‘ I don’t know what to write’.

After a set amount of time, students are then provided the opportunity to turn to their seated partner and share what they have written. The books are then stored in a small basket at the front of the room, ready for the following week. It genuinely only takes about 15 minutes but it’s a wonderful way for students to independently reflect, do a bit of creative thinking and then share these thoughts verbally with a partner.

The parent feedback I’ve had from this has been wonderful! Students love to take their books home at the end of each term and share their ideas with their family.

After a few weeks, you’ll begin to notice that students get really creative with their answers. For example, when we first started with Friday 3-2-1, to the statement ‘1 thing I wish had been in my lunchbox this week’ I was receiving answers such as ‘chocolate bar’ or ‘candy’ and now the answers are as diverse as ‘a unicorn’ or ‘a note from my mum’. Students really do begin to think differently when given the chance. After a while, students even begin to suggest their own 3-2-1 statements.

If you’d like a copy of this resource, just click the image below. The resource includes 26 different prefilled pages (plus an extra duplicated page to cater to the regional spelling of favourite/favorite) along with a blank template so you can print and write your own.

✏️❤️ Katie