With days before my first Parent/Teacher conference, I was informed that I would need to create a fun activity for the Parents and Children to do together. The school was trying to promote family relationships and every "pullout" (music, library, computer lab, and art) were going to host an activity. I have to admit, at first I was really unhappy. I had just spent two weeks compiling artwork, making notes and preparing myself for any parents that were going to question my grading rubric, etc. (Admittedly, I was also preparing for some work time. I had been told that very rarely will the parents step into our classrooms because they want to get in and get out.)
So, I decided that I would prepare some pumpkins and ghosts for the visitors to decorate. My agenda was to make things extremely easy and self-sufficient. I was determined to have my hard work out so that if any visitors came, I would still be ready to discuss their child's art work. Well, I was not prepared for the overwhelmingly positive response. On the first day I had over sixty parents sign-in and over thirty on the second. My estimation is that nearly one hundred parents visited my room. I can only imagine the number of children that came along. Not only did their children from my school attend, but siblings - older and younger were there too. My classroom at one point was so full that I had people working at my desk. It was an amazing experience, and I did get a chance to talk to several parents one on one about their child's artwork.
There were so many pumpkins and ghosts made that I was able to decorate an entire hallway for Halloween. The students took great pride in no only their own work, but the work of their family. On more than one occasion I overheard a student pointing out their pumpkins in the "patch." I hope that my school attempts something similar in the future. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the parents and being able to provide something that the whole family enjoyed.
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