Back to school night (or meet the teacher night, or open house) is such a fun, special, and meaningful school event for teachers, students, and families. This is a common tradition of welcoming parents, caretakers, and students. It’s an exciting time where everyone gets to meet one another, students get to see their classroom for the first time, and it can set the tone for the school year. It is a great way for students to see their classroom and teacher before the first day of school.
So, that’s why you want to be prepared, and organized, and make it count. But how? Don’t worry- this blog post with back to school night tips will help you with that! We have the ultimate checklist for you to make sure you do not forget anything for your back to school night to get ready for the upcoming school year!
Back To School Night Sneaks Up On You
Even though I always had June and July to prepare mentally for school to start back up, I was always surprised when Back To School Night approached. Where did the summer go and why is my classroom not ready for this? One year, families were showing up in my classroom as I was putting out buckets to collect school supplies. Another year, families were showing up as I was putting out nametags.
Here’s the thing: I don’t want this to happen to you. There is no good feeling that comes with being unprepared. So, I’m here to help! Keep reading!
Imagine you have the ultimate checklist for back to school night
Don’t you think if you had a checklist to help you out that you would get everything (mostly everything) done and ready? Every year I told myself that I need to write down what I do to get ready so that the next year I’m not sitting there, looking around my classroom, trying to figure out what I forgot. This checklist is broken down into what to do before back to school night, what to do during back to school night, and what to do after. This will help you stay organized.
Before Back To School Night
There are a lot of different things on your plate during this time of the school year. The start of school is exciting but overwhelming. We created this checklist to help you stay organized and on top of things. Here are some things to think about as your are preparing for back to school night:
- Label supply boxes and cubbies (where students will be putting different supplies they bring in)
- Create a transportation list for you to check off
- Prepare online information
- Create a class list
- Organize how you want families to move around the room (scavenger hunt, escape room, etc.)
- Set up a station for caregivers to leave a note for students for the first day of school. This does not have to be fancy; it can be something simple like sticky notes.
- Set out nametags
- Organize student desks
During Back To School Night
You will want to make sure you have a checklist for this part specifically. This is the time to gather a lot of information and you only have so long to do it! Here are some ideas of what to do duringL
- Take pictures of students and families
- Gather transportation info (double-check with each family to make sure kids get home the right way on the first day of school!)
- Check who comes to back to school night so you can reach out to the new families that did not attend
After Back To School Night
Time to organize all the school supplies everyone brought in! Getting organized before the first day of school is always a good feeling for the start of a new school year.
- Organize school supplies
- Organize and read through the forms you received. Pay special attention to allergies, phone numbers, etc.
- Organize and read through transportation. Create a transportation list so you know how everyone is getting home during the first week of school.
How To Prepare For Back To School Night
When preparing for Back To School Night, I like to use a scavenger hunt for students’ parents to help students get to know their classroom, find their desks, and put school supplies away. This is a fun way for students to see their classroom, especially if you are busy talking to other families. That way, no one is standing around waiting for you to give them directions. I use directional signs around the classroom to direct students and families around the classroom.
Here are some ideas of what your directional signs could include (this is what mine are in this resource):
- Start Here: Please Sign In. Parents sign in with their name, child’s name, email address, and phone number so that I can easily reach them. This way I know I have the most up-to-date way to reach them as well.
- Fill out how your child goes home. Again, this is so I can make sure I have the most up-to-date transportation for each child.
- Would you like to volunteer? The best way to know you have parent volunteers is to ask!
- Find your desk. On this sign, I make sure to include what they need to do at their desk. Do they need to put supplies away? Do they need to take papers with important information home?
- Please put supplies in the appropriate bins. This way, I am not sorting through the community supplies at the end of the night.
On the reverse side, I appreciate when everything is laid out this way as a parent. When I’ve attended back to school night as a parent, I have appreciated having something that told us where to put things so that their teachers were not having to run around to everyone.
Some things to think about when planning for back to school night:
- How will you communicate essential information like your contact information, field trips, volunteer opportunities, classroom rules, or important dates?
- Will you use a powerpoint presentation to answer general questions that parents may have at the beginning of the year?
- Will you have a classroom donation center or wish list?
Use This Checklist To Help You Plan
Guess what?! You can get the ultimate back to school night checklist right here! This checklist is jampacked with things you might need to get done to get your big event ready. It’s editable too so that you can delete what you don’t need (because no one needs clutter) and add in what maybe I forgot! I hope you enjoyed these back to school night tips!
Plan Your Back To School Night With Ease
We have two different resources for you to use to make sure you have a successful back to school night. You can use these for any grade level, but there were specifically designed for kindergarten, first grade, or second grade. You can set up your back to school night to set yourself up for the entire year!
Back To School Night (Donut-Themed): This resource includes directional signs, supply labels, donation center, thank you notes, forms, checklists, and treat tags.
Back To School Night (No Theme): This resource includes directional signs, supply labels, bookmark-making station, estimation station, donation center, thank-you notes, forms, checklists, and treat tags. This resource also has digital forms.
Plan your first week of school!
In addition to preparing for Back To School Night or Meet The Teacher Night, you also need to plan for your first week of school! Don’t worry- we have you covered for the upcoming school year! Use these resources to have a good start to a great school year!
- First Week of First Grade Ultimate Bundle: This resource includes many different back to school activities, such as a school scavenger hunt, classroom scavenger hunt, name crowns (an alternative to the original name tags), color by code sheets with phonics and math skills, classroom rules booklet, all about me writing craft, The Kissing Hand activities, and so much more!
- First Week of Second Grade: This comprehensive pack includes get to know you games to build classroom community, playdough mats, classroom scavenger hunt, school scavenger hunt, classroom rules activity, no prep worksheets, The Kissing Hand book companion activities, We Don’t Eat Our Classmates Book Companion activities, and dismissal bands.
Check out these other back to school night blog posts:
