Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Open House

















Welcome to Open House at Chets Creek. At our school Open House means more than just meeting the teacher and looking around the room. Open House is a time to learn about their childs' day.

In our classroom, we do everything we can to motivate the students to come to Open House. We talk about what we are going to share with the parents. We discuss we want to show off (this year it was a song with the months of the year). We talk about how excited we are for the parents to see our work and our classroom.

This year we began with a song. Once we were done the kids stayed on the floor and read our Mem Fox books (this is our current author study). Then we presented a short powerpoint presentation about key information to help first graders be successful. Then the fun began. Each student was given a map of Australia with 7 different activities (ex. read the standards board with your parent or find two word family charts to read). One of the activities was to complete the skllls sheet that was an example of what we do in class. The final project was to name 3 out of the 7 states (or territories) that are included in Australia. This was a previous homework assignment from the week prior. The kids were calm but the parents were sweating bullets! Finally the kids came up, shared with us the great job they did with thier parents, and received a treat.

It was a great Open House. We love getting to see our kids with their families. I only hope that each parent walked away with positive thoughts about first grade.

4 comments:

Melanie Holtsman said...

Mrs. Harbour,
I love the way you did your open house. I know it must have been a lot of work for you, but what a pleasurable experience for your parents and so much fun for the kids!

Anonymous said...

Mrs. Harbour,
My family really enjoyed your open house! Normally an open house is a chore to be endured. Yours was a treat to be savored. Thank You for letting us visit your world. You are definitely making a difference.

Meli O'Leary said...

What program did you make your handout in? I love it!

Debbie Harbour said...

Thanks Meli! It was super easy. I went on-line and found a map of Australia and copied it into word. Then I used the auto shapes arrows and text boxes to add on what I wanted. Fun, quick, and easy. Hope that makes sense?
Debbie