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New Kindergarten Teacher
First Impressions/Open House
Yes, your attitude, dress, and behavior are very important on that first meeting, however there are other details that are important factors as well.
Your room arrangement, classroom decorations, and environment all are important as well.
Room arrangement-
Room arrangement is important because it has to be functional but also has to make the classroom appear friendly and inviting. Not all teachers are given nice new classrooms with lots of room, but no matter what the size of the classroom, there are things you can do to accomplish your goals.
Teacher’s Desk—
The desk needs to be out of the way and neat and tidy. By out of the way, I mean it should not be the focus of the classroom. Instead it needs to be in a corner, either at the front or rear of the room. Kindergarten teachers RARELY are able to sit at their desk during the school day anyhow. You will find that only at planning time, or before/after school are your main times to get to sit. If the desk is the focus of the room, it appears that you will be sitting and teaching from your desk. Even though this is not possible in the real world, the parents will think this is the case. During the school year your desk will have clutter on it as papers and items end up there and you won’t always have time to put them in their place right away. But at open house or at your meet and greet—SWEEP that clutter in a drawer or put it in a box and slide it in the closet! If your desk appears cluttered, the parents may think you are disorganized. If you are disorganized then maybe you are scatterbrained! Again, not reality, but a perception! Also later, if a note gets misplaced or a form that the parent claims to have sent in, they will have a flash back to your messy desk and assume it is your disorganization and no fault of their own!
Student work area/desks-
In a kindergarten classroom, you do not want to have rows of desks or tables that appear to be the place the students will spend most of their day. Yes, you will need an area in the room, possibly at the front of the room, where your tables and/or desks are arranged for daily seat work. Kindergarten parents have this fear that their students are going to be sitting in one place all day and that they will be expected to be still and not move! Again, not a reality! Make sure that the desks or tables are decorated with things like the student’s names, colorful baskets for supplies and or a few cute stuffed animals or other decorations to make that area look more inviting. At the beginning of the year you really should have the student desks grouped together in bunches of 5 or 6—or the tables arranged for group work. (This is instead of all seats facing the front as in a college classroom!)
Center Areas—
Again, you want to show that your classroom has many areas within it. Not just the desk and seat work area. Later there will be a section specifically on centers on this website. Some ideas for centers are: writing center, art center, dress up or housekeeping center, math center, science center, book center, computer center etc. Depending on the size of your room, you may have to create centers in tubs that can be brought out at different times of the day or week. But try to at least set up 2 or 3 centers for the meet and greet. The centers should have definite spaces of their own. Separate them with low shelving or bookcases. Have a center sign in each area that clearly states what the center is. You can create these signs yourself and print and laminate them for display, or you can find pre-made signs on the Internet or even for purchase at school supply stores. Make these centers look inviting and child friendly! Add special touches.
Restroom—
Hopefully, if you are teaching kindergarten, you will have your own classroom restroom. If so, place a sign there so that parents are aware of it. Make sure the restroom is CLEAN. You may have to clean it just prior to the open house so that it SMELLS fresh and clean as well. Depending on the rules at your school, you may also be able to place posters on the restroom walls. Maybe a poster of the ABC’s or Numbers, or even characters. Just make it look clean, friendly and colorful. Parents will ask to use the restroom even if they do not have to go, just so they can sneak a peek! Its human nature!
Cubbie area—
Hopefully you will have a cubbie area for the children’s personal items. If not, create one! Tubs or cubbies with the children’s names on them is wonderful. The parents will run and show their children where their spot is and it shows that they have a place and they belong here. It is very important to place your student’s names around the room, not only on their cubbies, but also at their seats and on the bulletin boards. They will get their first impression that they are welcome and this is their place.
Environmental print-
Using your computer, print out names of things within the room such as, closet, cubbies, restroom, door, trash can, chair, window, wall, desk, books, etc. Then laminate these and place them in the proper places around the room. Not only does this help your students with reading, but also the parents see that you are aware of the importance of literacy.
Bulletin Boards—
You may have only a few or even several bulletin boards. At my school we are limited as to putting things on the classroom walls. We can only use the bulletin boards for displaying student work. So I do not purchase many of those cute bulletin board sets from school supply companies. However, I do have several cute bulletin board sets that I use at the beginning of the school year. One is always dedicated to displaying the student’s names. The others have school buses and /or school themed things like back to school etc. Of course, within 3 weeks of school these come down and student work is displayed on my boards. But at open house I never have blank or dull/bring boards.
Teaching area/center time area-
In kindergarten it is important to have an area, center time, or teaching area, where the students will sit together and listen to stories or have their daily review, and class discussions etc. In many rooms this is the very front of the classroom near the marker board. Some very lucky teachers have nice teaching rugs, others just create an inviting space. On the board you will want to have up items that you will review on a daily basis. A calendar, colors, shapes, alphabet, numbers, etc. Make sure this area is colorful and user friendly. Most of these items can be made by you. They do not have to be store bought! It is important to have this area up and seen during the open house. Many parents have told me that they knew their child was going to learn in my class because the room was tailored for their child.
Rules and charts—
Make sure you have a simple rule chart somewhere in your room, maybe even on the center-time teaching board. Simple rules like keeping hands to self, raising hand, listening, walking in class, etc. I like to have my students help develop our class rules the first week of school. Believe me—they always come up with the right rules and they also follow them better as they feel they created them! But for open house purposes, I have a generic set of rules up so parents know that their child is in a safe classroom. I also have up a behavior chart. Mine uses the card system. Each student has their name on the chart and there are colored cards behind their name. Each color means something. Green—doing good, yellow—warning, orange—breaking rules, blue—breaking rules and not changing behavior-a note sent home, red—breaking rules, note already sent home—referral to guidance or administration. RARELY do students ever get a note sent home and it is even more rare for students to be referred to someone else. But parents like to know what your policies are and that you are consistent. Have this up at open house.
Counter tops, sink area, book shelves etc.—
Make sure all areas are tidy. YES you may have to place things in the closet! Just like when the mother in law comes over! Make sure your room is dust free and also odor free. You do not want to spray air freshener though, because many students/parents are allergic to fragrances. I just place a stick up under my teacher desk, and one or two behind a cabinet—the fresh air scent ones.
Be careful and follow school guidelines on this. You may just spray Lysol in the room the night before or something. Just to give the room a fresh smell but not overpowering.
During open house or the meet and greet..
Different schools do this in different ways. Some schools set up a time for parents to come in and the teacher talks to the parents for a specific amount of time reviewing important information. (We do this 2 weeks after school begins—by them parents have questions.) Some schools, like mine, have a meet and greet a day or two before school begins. There is a specific time period, like 4-5pm that parents can bring their children and meet the teacher. The time goes FAST but important things are happening.
The parents are eyeing you up! Their children are checking you out—and they both are looking at the classroom! You will meet many people in a short amount of time, as well as students. Do not think you are going to memorize names at that point!.
To make things run smoothly…
* you will want to have a sign in sheet at the door
* you will want to have signs posted letting them know what to do—fill out forms—place finished forms here—sign up for snack here—etc.
* you will want to have forms for them to fill out on the tables with pencils/pens provided
* you will want to have a teacher/classroom information folder for them to take home
* you will want to have a school information folder for them to take home
* you may want to sit out some coloring sheets and crayons too so the children have something to do while parents are filling out forms
* you will want to have an area for students to play—and choose items that are easy to clean up (if not, they will get into everything and dump everything out and you will stay after for hours cleaning up!) Block the other center areas in some way so that it is clear where they can go in the room.
* you will want to stand next to the door and personally greet each parent and student with a great big smile!
* you may want to pass out name tags for the students to wear the first day of school—I have their name, my name, and an area to mark their bus number and/or how they go home. I ask the parent at the door how they are going home and mark it on the name tag before handing it to them. They wear these the first day of school and it helps so much.
* Make sure that on your forms you ask about allergies and or health related questions.
* Make sure you ask how the child will go home the first few days, and then afterward. Many parents pick up their children the first few days and then after that the student goes home by us or to a day care afterschool.
* Make sure to ask how they will handle lunch. Same as above. Some will bring lunch, others need to pay for lunch.
* Have signs in the room that tell parents where to go to find out bus numbers, sign up for afterschool care, and to pay for lunch etc.
* Keep a notebook with you—in your hands—as some parents want to tell you specific things. I write the childs name down and what the parent tells me on the notebook. I can look it over and organize it all after they leave. If a parent wants to get into long details—about their childs health or behavior—I ask them to call me or come in for a personal conference—so others do not hear their private information, and because there is simply no time to go over that individually at that time.
* Try to say goodbye to each parent and child as they leave. This is hard as people are coming and going and the room is filled at times. But if you stay near the door—you can catch people coming in and people going out easily.
* Have an area—in the closet or behind your desk etc., for parents to place their child’s supplies. Many like to bring supplies at open house so their child does not have to tote it all in the first day of school. So I have an area for them to leave those items. I also provide permanent markers, so they can write their name on items. I CAN always sort through this stuff later after the room clears out!
REMEMBER to smile and talk and be friendly. Bend down to the student’s eye level when you speak to them. Also know that sometimes, certain children will cry or will not speak to you. Do not push it! Just smile and say, its okay— The parents will appreciate you making things go smoothly.
After everyone leaves, you can collect all the signed forms and organize them for the office and for your records. You can put the supplies where they belong, and you can tidy your room back. Often if the open house is held in the evening, I will wait until the next morning to do this, as I am so tired by the time they all leave!
IMPORTANT—Make yourself a chart—one that has the student’s names and items to check off.( Names of each form that had to be filled out—how they go home—how they eat lunch etc.) After open house you can gather items and check things off. If a parent forgot to fill out a specific form—you can gather forms and write names on them—to send home the first day of school. Also if you do not have info on lunches or how they are going home—you can make a phone call and get the info before day 1.
I will try to provide links with examples of things you can use at open house. (Coming Soon)
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Home
Start of the year
(forms and documents)
First Days
Daily Schedule
Homework
Managing time
Use of Centers
Involving parents
(communication)
Involving community
(guest speakers)
Collaboration with
Colleagues
Lesson Plans
Sub Plans
Emergency Plans
Assessments
Parent Teacher
Conferences
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