Our Open House was last night. I really love Open House {and not only because a few of us teacher peeps go out afterwards :D}
The kids literally started screaming outside the door when I opened it… they were VERY excited. Cute, cute, cute. It may have been the streamers ocean water blowing out the door as soon as I opened it.
When the kids came in they “signed in” on the white white board in the “happy whale” drawn on the board… that earned them a penny. All but 8 families showed up. I was a little sad those other 8 didn’t make it. It’s a little upsetting when parents of young children aren’t totally involved with school. I couldn’t imagine NOT going to my child’s school functions…at least for a few minutes.
See the little clearish-ribbony things hanging above the desks? Those are jelly fish the kids made using plastic gift bags and iridescent gift bag “grass”. They look really cute, but I couldn’t get a good picture of them to save my life. {I’ll work on it and post about them later.} The kids had a blast making them. There is absolutely nothing academic about them whatsoever…shhhh.
Those are their sea dive stories under the focus wall. They created themselves as little snorkelers, created art using crayon with blue paint washed over them, and wrote a story.
That back table held some huge shells, starfish and class books.
On their desks were their “Sea How I’ve Grown” folders and the Open House pamphlet. The “Sea How I’ve Grown” folder has photos inside. One was taken the first day of school and the other was taken recently. I take them in the same place so it is very clear how much they’ve grown.
The pics also show how much they’ve changed, the loss of baby fat in their little faces, the loss of teeth in their little faces (ha!). I include their reading levels at the beginning and now as well. Under the pics are matching work samples from both the beginning and now as well as their self portraits from both time periods. They are awesome keepsakes. They parents always give tons of thanks for them.
The Open House pamphlet on their desks & on the snack table {many parents take more than one pamphlet} serves as a little guide of key things to look at as well as a thank you to my parent volunteers, and a thanks for all the donations throughout the year. The back page is a picture of the class with all of their names… so it’s a little momento, too.
Our computers sit behind the snack table (swedish fish and gold fish crackers which I did NOT run out of this year, btw). I make my kids a DVD gift for the end of the year. The slideshow I show at Open House on those computers is part of that DVD.
This is the door to the center pod area. The back of the window is covered with blue saran wrap. A net holds cuts outs of the kiddos striking silly poses. This is the first time I did this. I was worried about making the pictures too big…but these are awfully small. I will make them larger next year.
The Sea Stars were added to the Whale bulletin board.
The other two major bulletin boards were the sharks and crabs that I posted about previously. Click the pictures if you missed those posts.
I loved watching my kiddos walk their parents around and show them all their favorite things, stuff they wrote, games academic activities they play use to learn and every nook and cranny.
Parent were impressed. Parents were patient. Parents were overwhelmed. 😀
One dad turned to me with THE most worried expression and said, “She’s showing me EVERYTHING!”
So funny.
Most of the “shoppers” from Kinder were super sweet. A couple were totally shocked that we had 30 kids. “It’s so crowded!” I have no idea why they were shocked, their kinder class has just as many. Maybe because we have all the desks. IDK. A few wanted to know how I provide challenges to advanced learners. A couple actually wanted to know if there would be a combo class next year and where it would be. Parents WANTING a combo class? That’s new. We’ll definitely take it. Generally we have parents crying that their child was placed in a combo class – and I don’t blame them one bit! Our kinder teachers are awesome. Now they are up-selling combos! 😀
One of the BEST parts was the visits from past students. Many kiddos from 6th grade came to visit. Those kids were the first 1st graders at our school the year we opened. They were all so sweet and said such wonderful things. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that they have such fond and strong memories from first grade. A boy I had in 1st grade 10 years ago came and visited. I nearly cried. My eyes welled, but no tears fell… so proud of my sappy self. He towered over me. It’s so amazing. They are all still about 3ft tall in my mind…and then I see them. Time flies.
Assessments are done. (not bubbled or scanned, but done nonetheless) Today was a furlough day, Monday a holiday…. yay for 4-day weekends.
8 kiddo days left…. wow.
