Jenna Bellina 1st Grade Teacher at Hammond Westside Montessori created a "First Grade Neighborhood" bulletin board outside her classroom for Open House. Student's digital pictures are combined with their artwork to make some great "Open Houses."
Ashley Penton, 1st Grade Teacher at Independence Elementary created a "Guess Who Zoo" with her students on the door of their classroom for Open House. Students used their digital pictures and decorated their picture as animal and typed their name scrambled with a hint of who they are.

   


 

Melissa Ryan, Principal of Vinyard Elementary in Ponchatoula shared these ideas.

1. Make a PowerPoint of your class. Have each child make their own slide. They can use word art to put their name on the slide right in the middle. Then they can use text boxes to use adjectives to describe them. Also, have them take and insert a digital picture of themselves on the slide as well. Put all the slides together for your very first class power point. Put it on loop continuously and let it run as you visit with the parents.

 2. Paper Students - Have the students work in pairs to complete this activity. Roll out some butcher paper and have the students trace each other. It is fun to have them bend their legs and arms. They should then draw and color clothes on the drawing of themselves. Take a digital picture of each child. Make the picture big, as big as a whole sheet of paper. Have the children cut out their faces and glue to the head of their body drawings. Put the body drawings in each child's desk and the parents will then know where their children sit.

 3. Read the book, A House For Hermit Crab. Have the students create "House Glyphs". Each part of the house should stand for something. For example, if the child is a boy he should make a blue house...girls make pink houses. If they are a only child they have no chimney....children with brothers/sisters have a chimney. The number of windows on the house are the number of letters in their name. The color of the door is their favorite subject (Assign each subject a different color) The number of trees in their yard is the month they were born...the number of flowers in the yard is the day they were born. Make a key and hang it up next to the house glyphs. Have the parents try to guess which house belongs to their child.

 4. Body Paragraphs. Have the students write a paragraph about themselves. Tape the paper to a sheet of construction paper. Take a digital picture of each child. Enlarge it as big as the page. Cut out the faces and glue them to the top of the construction paper. Have the students make arms and legs out of construction paper.  Display the Body Paragraphs in the hall for parents to read!

 5. Bubble Maps - Have each student make a bubble map that describes themselves. Instead of writing their names in the middle of the bubble map they should place a digital picture of themselves. Instead of writing adjectives in each bubble around the picture they should use clipart to find pictures that describe them.
Colette Taillon - 1st Grade Teacher at Hammond Westside Montessori shares these ideas:

1. The teacher and students make a video of their day at school to show the parents a day in the life of a student. 

2. Looping PowerPoint with the student's picture and something he has learned so far or their favorite thing about school.

3. Classroom Scavenger Hunt--The parents find the students work throughout the classroom as well as their desk and their materials in it. The teacher checks to see that the sheet is complete. Really Cute!!!!!!!!

4. I usually have some type of brief activity that the student and the parent complete together. The student teaches the parent how to do it. The student is then proud that he is the teacher. The student gives rewards and praises to the parents.

5. Upon entering the classroom, the teacher greets the parents and hands them a map of the classroom made by their child. The parents have to use the map to find their child’s desk.  Really Cute!!!!!!!!!!!!
Denise Grigas - SpEd Technology Resource / Speech Therapist for TPSS
Pick your "orKID"-
The teacher has a big flower pot in the front of the room for displaying the "orKIDS". The kids create bubble maps shaped as flowers with words describing themselves around on the petals.  These are mounted on straws, or pipecleaners, or sticks. Open House night, the parents try and pick which "orKID" is theirs, and they put their child's photo in the center of the flower.
Kathy Prine - Instructional Technology Facilitator for Tangipahoa Parish Schools compiled 60 Open House Ideas into a document that
Amber Anthony - Loranger High School Librarian uses Open House as an opportunity to share their School Improvement Plan with parents.  She hands out that highlight the new activities that they are implementing, and includes a tear-off section that they can hand back or mail in if they are interested in volunteering for School Improvement or other parent activities. She also distributes a brochure for the library highlighting new books, ACT Prep classes and test prep websites.

This page was last updated on Friday, August 29, 2014.


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