Whether any of us want to admit it or not, back to school is coming. For some of us, it's here... and we can certainly smell the scent of freshly sharpened pencils. That smells makes any teacher just jump with joy, right?
(Maybe during the middle of the school year, not so much during the back to school rush, am I right?!). For others of us, don't tell me you haven't been scoping out the back to school aisles at Target! I've seen your
Instagram posts... I know!
I still have a month until Teacher Orientation starts and 6 weeks until the student's first day.
Seriously, time can stop any day now! I'm super excited to start back, but I am not looking forward to waking up early. I am a morning person, but more of a 7-8am morning person... certainly not a 5-530am morning person.
Yuck!
Slowly but surely, I've been getting things created and printed out for my new classroom. Knowing that I really want to get my parents involved this year, I needed something for Open House/Back to School Night that the parents could take home and have information at their fingertips. I saw so many pinteresting ideas on Pinterest and some cute ideas on TpT, but nothing fit me and my classroom. So I made my own!
So the first step (after making them) was printing out. I decided I wanted to use colored paper to make each tab stand out on it's own. I created a pattern with the paper before putting it into the printer, that way when I put it together it would look right.
I printed them out and the pattern actually worked in my favor. Printer - 0, Mrs. D - 1.
Next step was cutting them out. I used scissors because I have yet to order a paper cutter.
(Recommendations, anyone?)
I put the handbook in order and stapled it in 3 places: 1 on each end and once in the middle.
...and tadaaa! I was so proud of myself that I showed my mom (who is visiting/staying with us for 3 weeks), and we brainstormed this amazing idea. Why not add a sticky magnet to the back and the parents can hang it on the fridge.
Brilliant! Now my parents will have access to classroom information on a daily basis (as long as they don't throw it away). I'm so excited to debut this to my kiddo's parents!
Oh yeah, and let me just say that I am still working on what to actually say on each tab, but the general idea of it is complete! One step closer to successfully rocking out the first weeks of school.
Boom!
Want to grab this for your classroom? You can
pick it up here for FREE!
What fun activities or handouts do you have planned for Open House or Back to School Night?
Love It!! Very different and unique. (Well at least from what I've seen) I really like the idea of adding the magnets to place on the refrigerator. One thing that I would probably add is a calendar of events for class/ school calendar. Thanks for the idea!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this. I teach 5-6 special education and this will be a great way to remind them.
ReplyDeleteI used this tonight and it was perfect, thank you!!! :)
ReplyDeleteThis is genius, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this wonderful handbook! I love that it is editable.
ReplyDeleteSmiling and Shining in Second Grade
Awesome! Is there a way to edit the boxes, so you can adjust them to the width of the paper? That would cut down on cutting ;)
ReplyDeleteWhere did you find the cute FONTS to go along with this??? I love it!!
ReplyDeleteI believe I included the font names in the updated version of this on TPT. If you're looking for other cute fonts, I suggest doing a search on the TeachersPayTeachers website :) You'll find lots of great options there!
DeleteThank you! Thank you! My parent's loved this!
ReplyDeleteSo cute! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteAmazing! I'd like to create my own for high school, foreign language, or the other courses. Is there a blank template to download and then import or insert what we want to write class specific?
ReplyDeleteLove it! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI will use in my class.
ReplyDelete