Open House!

Tonight my grade level had our Open House!  We called it Ohana Night!

I sent home this flyer last week.

Then sent home this half-page reminder today.

At Ohana Night, families did this fun scavenger hunt when they first came in.  My teaching partner Shannon made it!
If you live in Hawaii, or are interested in doing a Hawaiian or tropical themed Open House, you can snag all my forms for free.

Once families completed the scavenger hunt and turned in the paper with all the info on it, I had them fill out a Permission to Photograph form that I doctored up with clipart from Jen at A Teacher's Cauldron.  Click here to get Jen's editable version.

To get ready for Ohana Night, the kids drew pictures of themselves using the Guess Who page from Jessica Tobin's Open House/Back to School Night Forms.  I taped them up on my white board and the first part of the scavenger hunt was for parents to guess which one was their child.  So fun!
Via Second Grade Nest
Then, as parents finished the scavenger hunt, I handed out glow sticks with a cute tag that says "You Will Glow in 2nd Grade".  You can grab the tags for free from The Bubbly Blonde.  
Via The Bubbly Blonde
After the scavenger hunt, handing out goodies, and parents filling out the permission to photograph form, I passed out my classroom newsletter and pulled up my powerpoint on my iPad.  All the info was in the newsletter, but I wanted something visual to project while I talked.  Ladybug's Teacher Files had just the right product for me!  This is a FREE editable PowerPoint!  I just opened it up, typed in my info, saved as a PDF (because I added one of my own slides, so I wanted the fonts to stick), opened on my iPad through Dropbox, and connected to my projector with a VGA adapter.  It went so well!
Via Ladybug's Teacher Files
At the very end, I passed out a parent guide from PTA.org and my editable magnetic business cards (you can find them for free on my Back to School Projects post).  


Does your school have Open house?  What are your plans?


9 comments

  1. I love the glow stick idea! What a great one. Your blog is so much fun to visit! :) Have a great year!
    Carolyn
    Kindergarten: Holding Hands and Sticking Together

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Carolyn! I hope you have a great year, too!

      Delete
  2. I love your business card magnet Nicole. I did one last year, but I love how colorful yours is. Thanks for sharing it with us. And I love that your open house night was an Ohauna theme, so cute.

    Stephanie
    PolkaDotPalace

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love the magnetic business card idea...how cute and practical is that?!!?!

    Happy new school year!

    Holly
    Crisscross Applesauce in First Grade

    ReplyDelete
  4. Super cute stuff!

    My brain is too filled with back to school madness to really think too far ahead right now, but Open House will have to be a little different this year as I have some kiddos that looped with me. I would hate for their parents to have to hear the same thing over and over :)

    Love the glow stick idea, too!

    ❁ Kate
    Purely Paperless

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Looping is so awesome! You could see your Open House as more of a review of your expectations. Good luck with your school year!

      Delete
  5. Thanks for so many great ideas! It seems like your kiddos would have a great time sharing that time with their parents!

    ReplyDelete