Back-to-School for Students and Teachers

Back-to-school time is always approached with excitement as well as a sense of sadness that summer is ending too quickly once again. Students and teachers alike need to prepare themselves for the up-coming school year.

Teachers Need to Prepare Also
We so often think only of students when it comes to back-to-school, but teachers also need to find some creative ways to prepare for the new school year.

Teachers will be meeting an entire classroom (or in some cases, several classrooms) of new students. It takes time to learn all the names of these students and to learn something about the many personalities and learning styles of each student. It is also important to start off the year with a sense of authority in order to head off any problem students that might be searching for any sign of weakness in the teacher. (Yes, kids will do that!) Every teacher knows that maintaining an orderly classroom is much more conducive to learning. Teachers will also need to find some creative ways to get their students involved in the learning process and also ways to keep parents informed of the students' progress. Here are just a couple of ideas to start off the new school year:

Hosting an Open House
By the end of the first grading period, most elementary schools host an Open House. This is a great opportunity to involve students in decorating their classroom as well as displaying the work that has been done by the students during the first weeks of school. One really good way to involve students in the Open House is to have them each design a personal invitation for their parents. Elementary school children will enjoy doing this and the parents will treasure their invitation as a keepsake. In case some of those invitations should get lost between school and home, it might be a good idea to actually mail them out to the parents. It would also be helpful to have a prepared sign-up sheet for parents to volunteer their services in the classroom. The Open House would be a very convenient place to gather that information.

Mark the Milestones of this School Year with a Scrapbook Project
Scrapbooking is a very popular way to keep special mementos together in an easy-to-view book. At the very start of the school year, have each student design and assemble their own scrapbook. As each milestone is reached in the classroom, students can add their prized pieces of work into the scrapbook along with stickers and smiley faces for added emphasis. This will not only preserve the students' work but will also encourage creativity as they develop their own scrapbook. You could also include the child's hand print and height/weight charts showing physical growth throughout the year. The scrapbook could be taken home and shown to the parents and then brought back for further additions as the year progresses.

Source:
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/