Meet the Teacher: Printables, Ideas, and Tips!


We all know that first impressions are important and Meet the Teacher is no exception! A well thought out and organized meet the teacher gives parents a wonderful first impression and helps reassure them their child will be in good hands.

For meet the teacher, I like to do stations this has parents spread out around the room as they trickle in instead of clustering around 1 area. When parents arrive, I hand them a poem that leads them through the stations.










Next steps
I know how hectic back to school can be and there is a lot of pressure on making a good first impression during meet the teacher. To relieve some of that stress, I have created a product that has EVERYTHING you will need for a successful Meet the Teacher night!

With this pack you can print and go or use many of the editable pages to customize signs, forms, etc. to meet your classroom's needs.

This product includes:
-A parent handout
-Station Signs
-Sign in sheets
-Transportation sheets
-Student information survey
-Teacher information card template
-A family project for students to turn in on the 1st week of school
-Volunteer sign up forms
-Apples for the teacher's wish list
-And several more ideas!

To check out this product, click the image below!




One more tip: During your presentation, encourage parents to sign up for Remind. Remind is an app you can use to text parents (either individually or as a class) without giving out your cellphone number. It saves time, paper, and is a great tool for parent communication!  There is a sheet on the website you can print out with your classroom code on it and you can include that in your folders at station 2 so parents can easily sign up! You can find out more about it here https://www.remind.com/

One more suggestion: Meet the teacher is a time to meet your students and their families, ensure students that you are not a big scary monster, and ensure parents that their child is in great hands and will be getting the best education possible this coming school year. That being said, meet the teacher is also a time to set expectations with both parents and students. While explaining all of the things you are going to do this year, don't forget to take this time to be very clear about what you expect from the students as well the parents.



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7 Engaging Ways to use Pool Noodles in the Classroom

Right now is the perfect time to stock up on a fun, versatile manipulative for your classroom... POOL NOODLES! Here are the top 7 ways I have found to promote engagement and learning using pool noodles!

Letter ID, Uppercase to Lowercase, and ABC order

WOW - with just ONE pool noodle? Such a great literacy tool. Make a Pool Noodle Alphabet Basket for Learning Letters


All you have to do is cut your pool noodle into sections and write capital and lowercase letters on them with a permanent marker.
  • To practice matching capital and lowercase letters, students can build towers stacking the capital letter on the lowercase letter.
  • To practice ABC order, students can string pool noodles on a rope in the correct order.
  • To practice letter ID, students can go "fishing" for letters. They can use a skewer, wooden dowel, thick plastic straw, or even a pencil as a rod.  Students will then try and "catch" a letter by putting their rod through the center of a noodle and lifting the letter out of the basket. Finally, students must identify the name of the letter they caught.

Building Words



For this activity, cut 2 different color pool noodles into equal sections. Write several different letters on each pool noodle section (vowels on 1 color, consonants on another) so that students can spin the letters to form new words.


Pool noodle patterns



To do this activity, gather several different colors  pool noodles and cut them into sections. Students can then copy patterns, extend patterns, or create their own patterns by stringing the pool noodle sections onto a rope.

Soring

Matching colours with pool noodles - fine motor activity and colour recognition.


To create this activity you will need a pool noodle cut into sections, toothpicks, pompoms, tweezers, and either dot stickers, markers (to color the toothpicks) or the dot printable pictured above (click the word source under the picture to access the printable). Using the tweezers, students can have fun sorting the pompoms into the pool noodle with the cooresponding color. An extension would be to count how many of each color they had or to graph the pompoms by color.



Pool Noodle Catapult



This fun activity only requires 2 pool noodles, a few rubber bands, and a pompom to catapult! Depending on the age and ability level of students, they can either design and build their own catapults or they could help give you ideas and guide you, the teacher, through creating one.

Students can modify the design, make predictions, and test different catapults to see which one makes the pompom fly the furthest. Students could also test catapulting different materials and see which one goes further.

Pool Noodle Structures


1-Engineering STEM Activity for Kids Using Pool Noodles May 20, 2015, 5-23 PM


This STEAM activity is easy to prepare and is always a hit with the kids! All you need are a few pool noodles cut into sections and a box of toothpicks. You can challenge students to build the tallest structure with a set number of pool noodle sections or just let their imaginations run free!

Pool Noodle Marble Run

Pool Noodle Marble Run Gravity Activity

With a marble, a roll of painters tape, and a few pool noodles, students can practice all kinds of problem solving and critical thinking skills! Cut pool noodles into different size sections then cut the sections in half length wise. Challenge students to use a certain number of section, start from a certain height, or see who can build the tallest or longest marble run!

I don't know about you but I cannot wait to hit up Dollar Tree and stock up on pool noodles to try out  these activities in my classroom! Have you ever used pool noodles in your room? Comment below, I would love to hear how!
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