Meet the Teacher Night!

This past Tuesday was my 'Meet the Teacher' night...

I can stand in front of a room and kinders and 'put on my show' day in and day out, but when it comes to a room of adults, my nerves take over!

So I try to prep everything ahead of time so I am super prepared!

This year, instead of my traditional packet, I went for a 'flip book' style handout.  It did not take long to prep and was very easy for parents to follow along during my presentation!

I minimized handouts I always give out to put on the backs of some of the pages to help save paper and keep everything neatly contained!

I had taken pictures of each of my kids on the first day of school holding a sign that stated: 'First Day of Kindergarten,' the date and the year they graduate!

So I printed/glued each picture to the front of a clothespin and glued a magnet to the back of the clothespin.

I typed up and printed this little 'poem'

and put it in each clothespin.

I told parents they can use the clothespin magnets to hold the informational flipbook and/or work that comes home throughout the year!

Another parent 'gift' was this M&M poem I created:

These were a hit!

So when each parent came in, this is what they found at their child's seat (which was easy to find because of the picture magnets!):

That morning, for morning work, I had my kinders color the bear printable and draw mom/dad a picture.  It reads: 'It 'mint' a whole lot to me and my teachers that you came tonight!' and I taped a starburst mint to each paw!

New this year were my contact list, parent/teacher conference sign up and parent volunteer sign up boards:

In the past I had parents fill out a contact slip and I would then compile them.  This year I had them sign up (if they wanted) and will copy/send home the list they filled out as the contact list- no compiling/typing for me!

I also had parents indicated a time frame that works best for conferences to minimize rescheduling!

Since we don't have teaching assistants this year (they were cut due to budget cuts) I also asked for parents who are willing to come in 1x/week to assist with centers.

To 'thank' them for coming/volunteering I had a raffle and some candy!

After signing in, they filled out a raffle ticket to try and win a gift certificate...

 ...and grabbed a sweet treat!

I usually do a 'giving tree' but for some reason it is always overlooked and I have parents mention days later that they forgot to pick something!

So this year I came up with something that was sure to grab their attention:

And it worked!  I had so many superheroes removed that night!

You can find the sign, programmed tags and editable tags HERE!

You can find the magnet poem, M&M poem and bear printable for FREE HERE!

I wish you a successful night and hope the goodies help make a very stressful night less stressful!

I know I rambled and I forgot many things I wanted to mention, but overall it was a successful night!

Until next post,