Meet the Teacher Ideas {from Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd}

Hey hey all! It's Ashley here from Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd! I'm here to bring you a few ideas and a couple of FREEBIES, too, for your Open House/Meet the Teacher night!!!

A challenge that I always have while planning for Open House is simply the fact that it occurs BEFORE I've met my kids! I would so so so prefer to be able to have met my kids before open house, added kid work to the walls, and have the KIDDOS give the tour of the room, explain our systems and procedures, etc. However, at the school I'm at, that's simply not the case.  

Soooooo I deal! And here is how I set up my Open House "presentation".  It's all about establishing that POSITIVE relationship with the students AND parents right out of the gate, right? So, you've gotta be on your A-game!! 

A-game for me equals POWERPOINT!!  Who doesn't love a little neon that screams WELCOME TO THE BEST YEAR EVER?!?! I mean... seriously?!?!

For the last few years, I have used the freebie open house presentation by the fabulously talented Ladybug Teacher Files.  You can see a page above that I've edited and customized with my own Open House info!   She even includes a BUSINESS CARD template that you can put your contact info on and to which you could even add a magnet for parents to be able to hang on the fridge or keep in their wallet!

Included in the presentation is a little bit of everything from our schedule, to our curriculum, to contact info, etc.  My goal is always to answer enough questions before they're asked at Open House night and this power point presentation usually allows me to do just that!

In addition to the power point presentation that tells the parents all about the highlights of the MUST KNOWS at the beginning of the year about our classroom procedures and routines, I like to ask for some donations for those ARE WE OUT OF THOSE AGAIN?!?!?! status items! {expo markers, tissues, ziplock bags, etc}.  So I created this "LEND A HAND IF YOU CAN" display with which I put "hands" for the families to grab to make a donation! The kiddos usually bring those donations back on the first days of school and my school supply loving heart is FILLED as I restock our classroom shelves!    You can grab this LEND A HAND sign for FREE in my TPT store :)

And you can't forget about a little welcome gift for your kiddos, right?! 

Y'all.  I prefer SIMPLE when it comes to gifts . . . like I'm the girl who loves the family members that actually LIKE getting gift cards for their birthday, because that's the route that I love to take!! 

With that being said, I like SIMPLE packaging for gifts for my kiddos, too! And with the back to school MADNESS, who has time for anything else?!  I like to take the chance to let my new kiddos know what SMART COOKIES they are before the first day of school and I treat them with some cookies, too! :)  

You can grab the smart cookie tags above HERE in my TPT store if you'd like a simple gift idea for your kiddos!! {I've made them for PK-6th grade with 2 options for printing} 

And last but not least! We can't forget about establishing those positive relationships with our students' PARENTS right off the bat! In our non-air conditioned school, water is a MUST, so I threw together this FREEBIE WATER TAG to give to parents with a bottle of water during open house, too!

I hope that gave you a few ideas to make the MOST of your first few hours at open house with your NEW families for this BRAND NEW SCHOOL YEAR!! Happy back to school season, friends!!

You Think You Know... about Ashley Schroeder from Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd

Hey hey all! Ashley here from Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd! And I'm here to tell you a bit more about me in our "You Think You Know, but you have NO idea..." themed post of the month!!

Ok - so I am far from what you'd call an interesting person.  Ha.  I'm pretty boring - I play by the rules and I don't have too many crazy stories to tell.  In addition to boring, if there's one thing that I also am FOR SURE it's that I'm organized.  ... And I'm sure you're saying, ok Ashley, we already know this... get to the part that we would NEVER guess.  Am I right??..

Well.  

Something you would NEVER guess about me - Miss-I-have-everything-in-its-place-at-all-times - 

is that my desktop.  sadly. and embarrassingly.  looks.  like.  this.  .  .  

How embarrassing?!?!?! And I'm the organization guru?!?!? Hardly.  Oh good gravy this needs added to my to-do list STAT!!!!! :)

Sooooooo I'm ALWAYSSS looking for a blogging buddy to grab a latte and a laptop with, so why don't you come on out to Brunswick, OH and visit me?!?!   I promise I won't make us blog and create the WHOLE time you're here!!  I grew up in Altoona, PA and lived there until I got married and moved to Ohio in 2011.  But EVERY summer, my husband and I (and sometimes friends, too!) LOVE to make sure we take advantage of the fact that  Cedar Point is just an hour down the road! - you know the ROLLER COASTER CAPITAL OF THE WORLD?!

Here we are last summer outside of the Gate Keeper!! FAVORITE ROLLER COASTER EVER!!

Soooooo what are you waiting for?! Come on out to join us this summer!! :) 

A teacher tradition of mine that I absolutely LOVE to do on the last day of school each year is that I write my kiddos an end of the year poem.  

Each year, I write them a fun poem that rhymes, that calls each of them by name - noting something that I am going to miss most about each of them - and it recaps the highlights of our school year together.  I write a different poem each year, and I add it to the last page of their end of the year scrap books that we make so that they have their own copy to take home on the last day.  I love this tradition and hope to do it every single year of my career!

The first time I remember wanting to be a teacher was helping out my Aunt Susan to set up her classroom for back to school.  

I was the kiddo that always WANTED to go back to school after summer.  I was EXCITED to go pick out my new school supplies and a new notebook or two.  And Aunt Susan would always take me with her to set up her 5th grade classroom before the new year started.  I knew that I wanted to someday have a classroom of my own to be able to set it up just right before that new group of kiddos walked in the door for the new year!    There have been SO many people who have inspired me as I have found, practiced, and fine tuned my passion - TEACHING. I'll share a video with you as well to tell you who inspires me most to always be the best teacher I can be! :)

If you have been following me for any amount of time... you know I live by 2 words...

BE YOU!! 

I try to live by those two words each and every day.  I'm dorky, I'm emotional, I'm intense, I can be a little over the top, I'm anxious, I'm a workaholic... but I'm me.  And I am me every day all day.  Whether you're reading this as a first year teacher, as a TPT seller getting started, or even just as a teacher who has had a rough day... BE YOU.  Being the best version of yourself will lead you EXACTLY where you need to and are ultimately supposed to be :) Keep on being you.  You're the best one for the job :) 

Thanks for reading!

Favorite Children's Author: Doreen Cronin

Hey hey all! It's Ashley from Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd! I'm excited to be blogging today about one of my most FAVORITE authors that has a few of my most FAVORITE read alouds -Doreen Cronin !! 

Don't you all just LOVE Click, Clack, Moo?!?  I LOVE it.    I love that read aloud (and her others) SO so very much and LOVE to use to teach about the parts of a friendly letter!!

I engage the kiddos at the very beginning of the lesson by reading the read aloud, Click Clack Moo, AND by telling them that by the end of today's lesson that they will have a mission.  They will be able to tell me what part(s) of the friendly letter the cows were missing!

They LOVE being on a MISSION throughout the lesson! I come back around at the end of the lesson to have them correct the cows' letter! They LOVE being able to tell me what they need to fix!

Throughout this lesson using my Doreen Cronin read alouds, I model and practice with other friendly letters! I also have the kiddos label a friendly letter as guided practice before completing their MISSION prior to the end of the lesson!

We used the labels above to label a similar letter (not shown) that didn't already have the 5 parts labeled! **I printed the friendly letters using the POSTER size on my printer which made it PERFECT for teaching!  See how big it is?! LOVE.  Hello anchor chart!

Check out those friendly letter labels a little closer below!

ANY time I'm able to tie in a read aloud - especially a Doreen Cronin one - my lessons just seems to CLICK so much better than days that I don't use literature to connect to my objective!   And in this lesson, my kiddos were able to NAIL their mission! They even found the missing commas in the greeting and closing!! WOOT WOOT!   

Would you like to try a few pieces and parts of this lesson out above?!?!?

Wellllll I have a FREEBIE for you!! Click the image below to snag the friendly letters, the lesson intro, and the friendly letter labels that I've shown in this post! Your kiddos will LOVE it!

ANNNND.... Did you know?!? EE is celebrating our SIX MONTH BLOGIVERSARY?!? We would LOVE to celebrate with you by having you enter our giveaway below to win a TALLAHASSEE SUNDAY PENCIL!!

We are giving away a pencil  to TWO lucky winners!!

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