It’s that time of year again! Time to dust off your teacher lanyard and name tag and get ready to meet a whole new batch of students and their families. Depending on your personality you are either super excited to meet a whole bunch of new faces in the span of a couple of hours, or the very idea of this makes you want to hide in a hole until next week when it will just be you and your students.
Either way, the secret to meet the teacher night is having a plan! To help you out, I’ve assembled a few ideas for gifts to give visiting students, information to share with the parents, and activities to have available in the room for Meet the Teacher Night.
Information for Parents
There’s no way to cover ALL the things in one Meet the Teacher Night. So decide what’s most important. Parents definitely want to see you so they can put a face with the name. And they are probably curious about your teaching style. But they might also come with questions about the upcoming school year.
To keep yourself from being drawn into a long conversation with just one parent, it’s helpful to have a list of frequently asked questions available. When you feel like a round of 20 Questions is about to start, you can politely refer them to the FAQ reference and keep yourself available for the short meet and greet the night was intended for.
It’s also a good idea to have your contact information readily available. Don’t be afraid to set boundaries by making sure you only include the forms of contact that you want to be public. For example, I don’t give out my personal cell phone number and I include the best times to reach me–during school hours.
You might also want to include a schedule of important dates for the year such as holidays, early release days, etc. This is also a great opportunity to share supply list and any classroom policies or procedures you may have in place. For example, if you use a behavior management system like Class Dojo, this would be a good time to let parents know how it works and how they can access their child’s account. You can also include the direct link to your classroom web page if this is something that you update regularly with important information throughout the year.
You will always have some families that would have loved to attend but were just unable to make it, so have a plan for sharing all this information with them as well. Either send hard copies home during the first week of school or create a digital link to the information.
A Treat for the Student
While you don’t need to give each student a gift, it’s always nice to have something on hand to give to those who stop by. Here’s a list of free or cheap items that make great Meet the Teacher gifts:
- Bag of Goldfish with a note that says “You’re o-FISH-ally a 4th grader!”
- Dollar store dice or cards for playing math games at home
- Small bag of popcorn with a note that says “Thanks for POPPIN’ in!”
- A no-homework pass
- Print off a maze puzzle with a note that says “____ grade is going to be a-MAZE-ing!
- A glow stick bracelet with a note that says “I can’t wait to see you SHINE this year!”
- A small pack of bubbles with a note that says, “I’m bubbling with excitement to start this year!”
- A bag with s’mores ingredients and a note that says, “I can’t wait to learn s’more about you!” (You could also attach this to a page for parents to share any important things they want you know about their child).
Activities to Have Available
The main activity for meet the teacher night should definitely be meeting YOU! But if you feel like having a few activities on hand to help nervous students feel more comfortable or keep excited students from running around or getting into things they shouldn’t while you are talking with parents here are few ideas:
- Cover a table with white bulletin board paper and add a note to the middle with instructions such as “Trace your hand and sign your name.”
- Have a jar full of mini erasers and have students estimate how many erasers are in the jar.
- Set out a school iPad and a small dry-erase board with instructions to take a family photo holding a sign with their name on it. These are great for you to refer back to after a long night of meeting people. (You could also add these to the “calm down corner” of your room if it helps some students refocus their energy.)
- Set out a set to get to know you task cards with a sign encouraging students and parents to use the questions on the cards to strike up a conversation with another family while they wait to talk with you.
Chances are that you’ve busted your tail getting your room decorated and organized for meet the teacher night, so set yourself up for success by taking a few hours before Meet the Teacher just for yourself. Go for a walk, take a nap, get your nails done…whatever makes you feel renewed. Then take a deep breath, relax, and just be yourself! They’re going to LOVE you!!
Next up…activities for the first week of school! Stock up on back to school activities in my TPT store.