Giveaway Week 1 - Back-to-School

Welcome to week 1 of my back-to-school giveaways… this week we are going to focus on the actual back-to-school stuff!  If you’re like me, you are still enjoying your summer and don’t even want to begin thinking about open house, back-to-school night, or meet-the-teacher morning…. However, it is already July, which means we will be back in our classrooms again before we know it!! (Can someone please tell me where the entire month of JUNE went?!)  Ok, so at my school, we have an open-house the first morning of school, and parents rotate around the school to meet their students’ teachers for the first hour, while the PTA and Watch Dogs keep the kids busy outside.  This is a fun, but stressful morning! Parents have so many questions and they ALL want to talk to you about their little Johnny or Jane. 

Before you start to stress, take a deep breath and remember that it’s okay to just be “good enough” at your open house. Whether it’s in the morning, evening, before school starts, or after school starts, the lovely Christina Bainbridge has you covered.  Christina has an awesome open house packet that has everything you could ever imagine for an open house (and a few things you probably HAVEN'T thought of, like a snack table!! Brilliant.) The great thing about this packet is that all I have to do is print it, and it's ready to go. My #1 rule as a "good enough teacher" is to never reinvent the wheel.  If something great already exists, I would rather spend a few dollars on it than spend HOURS trying to come up with something on my own.  There's no shame in buying an amazing open house packet (and at $4.00, it's a steal for how great it is!!)  Oh, and did I mention that this packet is EDITABLE?! Oh yeah!!  I can type in my class information, print it, and BAM! everything is ready for open house.  Parents show up, I look awesome, and nobody knows my little secret (well, except all of you, because I just told you :) )

Here's a glimpse into this fabulous packet:

After going through this packet, I am *almost* excited for school to start again :) And, the best part about this packet is that it’s already made! Look how many HOURS I just saved myself!!  (More time to hang out at the pool and enjoy the hot summer days!)  See, being "good enough" is really GREAT!

Another fabulous back-to-school resource that I am super excited to use this year is
a set of back to school editable organizational files from teach4real.  This packet is filled with spreadsheets and other editable documents so  that you can add your own class information, print it, and you're set! The documents include student transportation info, a student information sheet, student directory, supply list, customizable welcome letter and more!  Take a look at what's included (I love the cute cover page!!):

 teach4real has offered to give THREE lucky winners this pack!!  Use the Rafflecopter below to enter!

Now, while we're already on the subject of open-house, let's discuss parent volunteers.  I already know what some of you are thinking... "parent volunteers?! How do you get parent volunteers??"  Believe me, I understand.  I have taught in many different settings over the years... I've had parents SO involved that all I had to do was show up at school and my party was all planned, organized, and supplied (which is SUPER AWESOME), and I've also been in schools where parents never step foot in the classroom and I'm on my own for every. single. party. OY! Needless to say, I've become great at simple party planning... remember, 7 year olds are easy to impress :) 

So, back to volunteers... Occasionally I have parents who are able to come into the classroom and help out, but it's not always a consistent, set schedule, and I'm sometimes caught off-guard and don't have anything ready for them. (sound familiar??) Luckily, the talented Adrianne over at "The Tutor House" has created a great binder-system to use in the classroom.  As soon as I saw her binder set, it was love at first sight! This binder has everything you need to get parents involved in your classroom: step-by-step directions to get your volunteer program up and running, volunteer sign up sheets, confidentiality agreements, reading guide (complete with a reading strategies poster and recording sheets!), word study list and games (including game boards and directions), common core math vocabulary (some of those fancy math words can be confusing!!), divisibility tips, and quick and easy math games using a deck of cards.  This binder will make my life so much easier when parents show up at the last minute and want to help.  Take a look, isn't it great?!

In addition to in-class volunteers, I've had many parents over the years who have offered to help at home, because they all work full-time, but I've never known how to organize and execute great at-home volunteering (therefore, I've never utilized parents as much as I could have, and end up bringing home WAAAAY too much stuff to finish on my own!)  This is where Becca Foxwell comes to the rescue!!  Becca has designed the most amazing parent-volunteer system called "Helping Hands", and let me just say... this is nothing short of brilliant!  I think I already everything I need to assemble my "helping hands" bags, and can't wait to get them put together.  I have not yet used this system, but am SO EXCITED to implement it in my classroom this fall.  She has written multiple blog posts about how she uses parent volunteers, so I know this system really and truly works.  Parents can sign up when they come to your open house or back-to-school event, or you can send a note home to parents who aren't able to attend those events. Look at how awesome this packet is:

Christina, Adrianne, and Becca have offered to give their packets away to 2 lucky readers... you can enter by using the rafflecopter below. The contest will run from Monday until Wednesday night at midnight.  If all goes as planned, I'll have the winners posted Friday night or Saturday :)