What Worked and Didn't Work at Open House

Well, tonight was open house.  It went awesome!  The parents were friendly and my students were super nervous to move into middle school.  It was great to be able to encourage them and let them know they could come to me if they ever had a question.  Reflecting on tonight, there were definitely some things that went well and some things I will change for next year.

What went well? First, I had my students' seats marked with colored sticky notes depending on their period.  When students walked in, I could tell them to find where they sit so that I won't have to worry about that tomorrow. Also, I labeled each station so that parents knew where to go.  Another aspect that was received well was the graphic syllabus that I blogged about last time.  I had several parents thank me for making
it easy to read.  Lastly, my homeroom kiddos loved the little highlighter gift I placed at each of their desks.  I loved
giving out a gift so much, that I'm already
brainstorming ideas for next year!

What I do I need to change?  I, definitely, planned too much!  I printed out sheets for my parents to sign up for Remind, but many didn't look at the signs and those that did, didn't have their cell phones with them.  I also set out sample interactive notebooks, but they were in a different section so parents and students were not aware that they could look at them. 

I think that next year the focus needs to be on the basics.  If I need to send more information out, I can through email. The parents and students were already overwhelmed with entering middle school for the first time, and then to flood them with how my classroom works was just a little too much. 

Words for the future:  Less is More...unless less is chocolate, then the saying does NOT apply! :)