There are many things that will happen before you even start your presentation with your families. This is the perfect time to reintroduce yourself to your families, greeting them at the door and thanking them for coming. Once you have greeted them, give them some ideas of what they can do while they are waiting for the presentation to begin. You can even have a checklist ready to hand them, so they know what needs to be done.

Here are a few ideas:

1. Sign up for a conference time for Parent Teacher Conferences - This is the perfect time to get them to sign up while they are here in the classroom. It also gives them advanced notice so they can pick a time that works best for them. I really does relieve a lot of stress on the families and yourself!

2. Forms -- Are there any forms that they need to fill out? Have them at their child's desk ready to go and have pens and pencils ready for them to use. Also have a clearly marked bin showing them where to put all of the paperwork. 

3. Art work/ classwork -- Have the families look around for any art work or class work that their child did. They love this! They want to see what they have been doing  since the beginning of the school year. And don't worry if you don't have a lot, that's fine! You can always tell parents that you are still in the "getting to know that class routines" phase and a lot of work has been done as a group. 

4. Write a note to their Child-- If this is possible, the day of the Back to School Night, have your students write a note to their families, talking about what they have learned so far, what they like about this year, etc. Then have the parents write a note back. Now if you have a student whose family weren't able to come, you can do one of two things. You can write a note back to the student personally, or you can contact the families ahead of time, and if they are not able to come, have them send in a note to their child (they can do this through email too!), that you can print out and leave on their desk. 

5. Donations and Volunteers -- This is the time to ask for donations for additional classroom supplies. Write them down on a piece of paper that parents can take and buy to donate to the classroom. Although, I think that this year Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer will be hard to find. 

Now, once all of your families are in the class and settled, you can begin with your presentation. Each school system is different, in what they want you to present, so I will focus on what I generally present to my parents. (MAKE SURE TO SEND A COPY OF THIS TO YOUR PARENTS)

1. Talk About Yourself- Believe it or not, they want to know about you, not just your background in education, but about you personally. They want to make a connection with you and know that they are a partner in their child's education. Tell them about your family, your pets, favorite vacation spots, your favorite team. You can tell them as much as you are comfortable with. 

2. Procedures -- Tell the families about the rules of the classroom, what do do with their agendas, what to do about birthdays, transportation changes, and medication. Also use this time to stress if you are a peanut/nut free classroom. 

3. Communication -- tell parents how you are going to communicate with them. If there is a newsletter that goes home, how often will it go home and how will it get home, email or paper copy? What day of the week does their graded classwork come home? How will they know about upcoming tests? Also is your class on twitter, Facebook or Instagram? Let them know here!

4. Classroom Behavior -- Each school has a different policy here. Tell them all about your classroom management here. The more visuals the better! 

5. Schedule -- What does the schedule look like for your class? Parents want to know when lunch is and what specials they have on what day. Let them know!

6. The Curriculum -- This is where you do a brief overview of what they are going to be learning throughout the year in each subject. Don't get to bogged down in this, just a few major points in each subject area will do! 

7. A Day in the Life -- This is what the parents really want to know about. What is their child's day going to look like? Tell them about the morning greetings, the morning meeting, how Language Arts and math, science and social studies will look. They want to be able to visualize how their child is going to be spending their day with you. 

8. Reminders -- This is where you remind parents to sign up for a conference time, or ask for volunteers.  

These 8 items I have found to get the most positive response from parents. Just remember they just want to know about who their child's teacher is, and about their day in your class! Remember, send this presentation home to your parents too. They will not remember everything, it's a lot to digest! If you send them a copy, they can refer to it if they have a question, or just want to review policies. 

To listen to the full podcast on Back to School Night, check out One Basic Teacher Podcast on iTunes, Google Podcast and Spotify.