Does your school host a Meet the Teacher or Back to School Night? Getting a chance to meet our little learners before they start on the first day of school is exciting! The room is all fresh and organized, you are feeling ready to jump back in- it’s back to school excitement! But, let’s not sugarcoat all the things here- Meet the Teacher type events can also be stressful for us teachers.
Meet the teacher night is the first impression. Parents and children are meeting you and figuring out how this whole preschool world that we live in works. Parents are nervous- understandably- this may be the first time their child has been in someone else’s care! We, as the teachers, have to make this a time for building relationships and making parents comfortable. It’s our show and we’ve gotta be ready for it!
So, what can we as do, as teachers, to make our Meet the Teacher night super successful? Here are some quick tips:
- Always greet each student, at their level and ask their name, introduce yourself and welcome them into the classroom. Then, introduce yourself to the parents.
- Have some center areas open for students to play in. This helps them see that preschool is enjoyable and will ease the nervousness of the first day.
- While children are playing, make a point to connect to families. Ask questions, like ‘Is this {child’s name} first time at preschool?’ or ‘How is {child’s name} feeling about coming to preschool?’. Having an open dialogue about where the child (and parents) are at can be a big rapport builder.
- Be organized. Have a sign-in sheet so you know for sure which families came. I even like to have my families give me the email addresses they want used for communication.
- Provide information that families can take with them. Have you ever been to the doctor and wish you would have wrote down all the things you needed to remember. It’s kinda the same thing. Don’t make parents try and remember what you expect for your classroom. Send them home with the info you want them to have.
- Here is what I give to parents on our Meet the Teacher Night:
- Meet Your Teacher: a little blurb about me
- Class Info: a bulleted list of important things I need them to know.
- Getting to Know Your Child Questionarre: Super helpful info on here!
- Our Schedule and Our Yearly Calendar
- Here is what I give to parents on our Meet the Teacher Night:
I usually talk to parents about the most important info from these documents (just in case they don’t read it later). Then, I always point out my contact information and encourage families to contact me if they have any questions or concerns throughout the year.
Once Meet the Teacher night is over- you’ve made your first impression! The very first step of rapport building is done- just don’t forget to keep it up 🙂
Need some Meet the Teacher forms? Snag my editable forms here!
***Please open in Adobe Reader – these forms will NOT be editable if you don’t! Adobe Reader is free program that is most likely already installed on your computer, but if it’s not you can download it from the internet.
