Build a Classroom Community from Day One
Introduce Yourself to Parents and Students
1. Meet the Teacher Slideshow for Students
First impressions go a long way with parents and students each year. It was a tense situation and parents were hopeful to have a new kind and warm teacher for their 6 and 7 year-olds.
The very first year I started teaching, I took over for a teacher who left half way through the year. I stayed up the night before putting together a collage of pictures of myself, my hobbies, and my family to share with students.
The next day when I introduced myself to my students, they gathered around my poster and listened intently while I shared about myself. They asked questions about the monkey on my shoulder in Bali, if the picture of me as a child was really from first grade, and they shared that they too loved to go camping. We instantly bonded. The parents in the room were put at ease immediately.
Every year since, I’ve made it a point to not only have students share about themselves, but make sure they know about me, too. Now, I just do it digitally and it’s even easier. Plus, the students can see the pictures a lot better since it’s projected on our interactive whiteboard.
These are the slides I include:
- Meet Your Teacher Title Slide
- Now and Then (photo of you in school and you now)
- VIPS in My Life (add photos of family and friends)
- My Pets
- My Summer Snapshot
- What I Love About Teaching
- My Favorite Books
- Favorite Music (maybe you'd like to link your fav song, too)
- Favorite Hobbies
- True or False (give 3 statements and have students guess if each one is true or false)
- My Goals this Year (School, Personal, Health goals)
- 2 Create Your Own Slides
On the slides, I also include a discussion question so students can talk about if we have anything in common about that topic. This can quickly be a partner share or I’ll have a few students answer.
2. Meet the Teacher Letters for Parents
On the first day of school, I always send home a letter with students for them to give to their parents.
In the letter, I introduce myself, welcome them to the new school year, and include my contact info if they need to get a hold of me before our Back to School Night. In the letter, I also include the details about the Back to School Night/Curriculum Night where I give them more information about the school year.
The text is easily editable so you can change the details each year if needed.
These are my favorite ways to introduce myself because they’re so easy and I can reuse them each year. Yes please! I use these along with my Back to School Night/Curriculum Night presentation and Back to School Forms. Take a look at the entire bundle by clicking the button below.
