Ideas for kindergarten open house?

Question

I am a first year kindergarten teacher, and I am joining the class a few weeks into the school year. My first day is Wednesday. Open house is just one week away, and I will only be with the students for 5 days before Open House night. So I basically have less than a week to get to know the students' personalities, strengths & weaknesses, and have them do some work that can be showcased for open house. I would truly appreciate any ideas fellow teachers might have about activities or bulletin boards I can put together in a short amount of time. Thanks so much! :)

Answer 1

Self-portraits are good. Also, students can draw/paint to represent home & family; then when family members attend, you'll know who they are!  (ha ha) Another idea for open house is to give lesson demonstrations, or select a student to demonstrate the use of manipulatives, as you explain to parents what is being learned.

Answer 2

http://www.teachingheart.net/parentnight...

Answer 3

You can have your students draw their favorite animal.  

You can have a "Good Deeds" board. Whenever a child helps another like with their toy, or being kind to them, you can praise them with a 'good deeds apple' and pin it up on the board.  But if they get into trouble, then they get an apple taken away and so forth.

You can ask them what is their favorite thing to do when they go home from school? What is their favorite thing to do with their parents?

You can put some blank canvas paper on the wall of your classroom and let the kids make a mural with crayons or washable marker.

There's some artistic ideas for you. Hope this helps. I'm not a school teacher, but I do think that art has a way of bringing out the best in kids and it can also showcase their feelings, and possible reveal some weaknesses.

Answer 4

Get each of the children to draw/paint a picture of themself and write/ paint their name and do their foot print in paint and put each childs all together. Then put different children round the room.

Answer 5

The paint idea is good, except it should be done with hands.

Theme: Helping hands!

Everyone can be a helper.

Have them draw pictures helping... at school, at home, at church...at their sports activities.

Show off their writing. They can write how they are a good

helper. 'I help my mom with my baby sister, Katie.' Have them

put their names on the paper.

Good Luck!

Answer 6

Grab a video camera to film your students as they go about their day. When you are talking to them, have some other adult in the room (a teacher, aides, parent volunteer, etc.) do the filming. Then when they are doing their own classwork or playing, have them use the camera to film the other kids, as well as themselves! Encourage them to introduce themselves to the camera and have them explain what is happening as they are filming. Then after each student has had a turn, film the whole class and then have them shout out your name, the room number and finally have them say, Welcome to (your name)'s class! I hope you enjoyed our video!

I hope your Open House goes really well! Good luck and have fun!

Answer 7

Version 3: Place a large roll of paper on the floor.  In turn, have each student lay on the paper and trace around their body.  Cut these out and let each child decorate them to look as much like themself as possible.  Place these "paper dolls" in the appropriate seat where each child usually sits.  When parents visit they willl get a view of what  the room is like when full of children.  Also, have student work on display.