Building Blocks - Week 1 - Meet the Teacher

Welcome to Week 1 of The Building Blocks of Back to School (B2S) link up! I'm so excited to be hosting this fun link up. I hope you get some great ideas from me and the others linking up, and I hope you'll share your thoughts and ideas with us weekly as well.

Week 1 is all about meeting the teacher. This can be telling us all about you (the teacher) or you can share ideas for Back to School Night / Open House / whatever you call it at your school :) Which is what I'm going to do!

Last school year was my first year at this school and I was completely overwhelmed. There was so. much. stuff. in my room, stuffed in closets, and so much extra furniture that it was hard for me to focus on meet the teacher night, besides just introducing myself to the families.

This year is different because it's my second year at this school (YAY!) and I kind of know what I'm doing now *haha* Since our BTS Night isn't for another 2 weeks, and since I just got into my classroom yesterday, I don't have anything set up yet (except one thing). But here are my ideas:

This is the only thing I have ready to go for BTS Night. You may have seen me post about it on FB or IG two nights ago, but if you didn't:

It's a parent handbook flip book. We've all seen the basic flip book, you can even grab a freebie version of the regular-style flip book in my TpT shop. But this one is different because it's a dual tab flip book. It's half the size of the regular flip book (hello #papersaver), but you can share twice as much information. I used a different color for each flap just to make each flap stand out, but I also think it makes it pop. I'm pretty impressed with myself that I have it ready to go already.

This idea is from Life as I Know It... and I found it on Pinterest. I'm going to use anchors or something anchor-y (since our school theme is Nautical) and write supplies the classroom needs on each one. I plan on taping them to the front board so parents can grab them if they'd like, if not, no big deal. I've never done this before, so I'm excited to see the response to it.

A few weeks ago I picked up these adorable pencil gift boxes in the Target Dollar Spot. I plan on making each of my 5 students a cute little "Welcome Back!" gift box. The only thing I have to put inside of it so far is a pencil... ... ... I know, yay for them right?! I'm not quite sure what else to add, so please share any ideas you have with me!

Even though I have the same students each year, the kids are growing up and sometimes things change. Plus I do get new students coming into first grade, or those that transfer in to the district. I absolutely love this FREEBIE from Growing Firsties and plan on giving it out to parents during BTS night. She included the editable version in the freebie, which is just amazing. I'll be able to tailor it specifically to my class!

Other than that, I just plan on getting my room set up. My paraprofessional graciously volunteered his time to help me set up most of the classroom yesterday, so it doesn't quite like a hot mess anymore... but I'm not quite ready to reveal yet. You'll just have to wait to see that ;)

What do you have planned for Meet the Teacher / Open House / Back to School Night?