CI Friendly Back-to-School Night Information

Last night at Back-to-School night, I wanted to give the parents a demonstration of TPRS. However, I also wanted to show parents how to access class information and materials on my teacher webpage on the school district website, and explain class procedures and other important information to the parents, such as why there are no student desks in my room, and what novels we read. I knew that with the information that I wanted to share, I did not have the time needed for a successful TPRS demonstration.  In lieu of a demo, I gathered the papers and materials from that day's class (see photo below), taped them to the board, and explained TPRS using the visuals aids.  The following was written or taped on the board:


1. The 3 focus words for the day, with the # of reps of each word written in red.   There is a small yellow post-it note on which a student wrote tally marks to keep track of the repetitions. 


2.  A notebook paper with the details of the class story; written by a student.  (I tell students that do this job and the job mentioned in item #3, that they can write in English or Spanish.)

3. The notebook paper with questions related to the story; written by a student.

4. The sketches for the story by our very talented student artist of the day.

Those visuals were beneficial in showing the parents how words are introduced and used in context throughout the class period, and the number of repetitions needed for students to, first, recognize the word and, later, to eventually produce those words.

As parents were entering the room, I had Mike Peto's powerpoint playing on the benefits of learning a second language.  You can find and download Mike's powerpoint at his blogpost HERE. Thanks for sharing Mike. :-)

I also covered my boards with information on:  grades, output, input, and the idea that someone else mentioned on one of the forums I follow: ask parents to finish the sentence, "I had 4 years of (Spanish, French, German, etc.) in high school and I..." 

Donkey-Jote also made an appearance so I could explain the expectations for target language use.  

This blog post will serve as a file system for me to use the same information at out next Back-to-School night in February 2016.  

Scratch offs for Back-to-School Night

Scratch-offs waiting for a 2nd coat

I encourage the students to ask their parents to attend Back-to-School night because I enjoy meeting the parents of my students.  This year the parents that come to visit my classroom on Back-to-School night will leave with a (small) reward for their son or daughter.  

This summer on Pinterest I saw and bookmarked a pin on how to make DIY scratch offs and, last week, I decided to make scratch offs for Back-to-School night.  When the parents enter my room, they'll choose a card and then scratch off the silver film to see what their child has won.  The rewards are:
 - homework pass (10 pts or less assignment)
 - choose your assigned seat for 1 class period
 - 2 bonus points on a quiz
 - permission to sit on an orange swivel chair during class
 - Spanish pen
 - Spanish pencil

A surprise reward for their son or daughter is a small way to say thank you to the parents that take the time out of their busy day to come to school to meet their child's teacher.

I have a few ideas of how to use scratch offs with my students later in the year. Please feel free to share any ideas you may have on how to use scratch offs in the classroom.

Directions for making the cards can be found HERE. 
HERE is a googledoc of the file because several readers have mentioned that they were unable to download it from the file below.
  Below is the file for the cards:

Applying the silver paint