Meet the Teacher Night {Five for Friday}

I am officially two days in to the new school year. Things are going great so far! I have a great group of firsties and I can't wait to see what the year has in store for us. 

We had Meet the Teacher Night earlier in the week and I wanted to share some things from that, so I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday! 

I decided to do a scavenger hunt this year instead of stations. A lot of people last year just ignored the stations and weren't sure what to do, so I was hoping this would give everyone some more direction and me more time to mingle. 

Here's the sign in table. Instead of a sign in sheet I had a set of labels with each kid's name printed on them. They took a label and parents got one too. I really liked this and will definitely do it again.  It was nice to be able to call the kids by name without having to ask for it. 

The hunt directed families to different parts of the classroom. They looked at the coat closet, basket for turning in papers, mailboxes, and the place we put lunch boxes. They also sorted all their supplies, so all I had to do was put them away when the night was through - fabulous! 

On the first day kids and parents knew exactly where to turn in forms and put away book bags and lunch boxes. That made for a much smoother transition that first day. I've also already had parents helping to remind kids to turn in form to the basket - such a big help! 

I got tired of the old particle board mailboxes I had, so I bought this file organizer from Amazon. So far it has worked great! There are 27 slots, so plenty of extra for me to keep extra papers and things that need to be filed. It also seems easier for the students to use. 

I had a table set up with a volunteer sheet, Remind sign up sheet, a class brochure, a DOT binder, and a spelling homework notebook. That was a stop on the scavenger hunt, but I don't think it's something I would include again. I didn't ever really see anyone looking at the binder or notebook. 

I wanted to have the kids leave their name tags with me so I could start putting names with faces. I came up with this guessing game idea to help me and give them something to look forward to on the first day. Everyone seemed to like it, so I think it's something I would do again. 

I'm keeping it real with this chart. My charts aren't beautiful, but they are functional. 

Overall I really liked the scavenger hunt. I think the kids and parents are now more familiar with my room. I do think next year I will pair it down a little because it seemed to take a little longer than I'd originally thought. 

Are you planning on trying something new this year at Meet the Teacher Night or Open House?