open house

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open house
By Stefanie

At the very beginning of the year, our journal entries involve some copying from the overhead. Then we finish sentences I have written on the board, then we ease into writing on our own.

For open house, I put the following
on the board:
Dear Mom and Dad,
This is my little desk,
My home away from home.
It is where I do my best
to do my work with zest.
I hope you've enjoyed your visit
to my learning place.
Neat, isn't it?
love,
child's name
After the parents read their child's journal, I asked them to write a note back to their child,

and the note was on their desks the next morning. They were thrilled.
I know in most places, children attend open house. Ours is parents only, so this was a good activity. I hope it helps -- good luck in your first year! Be creative, dream big, and give those babies their best year ever. You can get organized later. I am on my third year. I have done great things with my classes, but I have a principal who has a different teaching style than I. She values organization and efficiency. I do too, but researching lesson plans and activities will always be more important to me. This year, since I have a good store of things I do, I am working on organization (extreme organization). My principal is very pleased with it, not that she wasn't pleased with me before. But I do not regret putting all my energy into the children rather than into shuffling files.