Nine Parent Teacher Conferences in 1 hour!

Much like the rest of the southwest region, Albuquerque had four snow days this school year.  It was decided that instead of making up the snow days at the end of the year we would simply work on the two parent teacher conference days, the Vernal Holiday and ask the state for a pass on the fourth day.  While I thought the idea was crazy and voted instead to extend the school day by 30 minutes, the rest of the city must have disagreed with me.  

So, what do you do when you no longer have the time to meet with parents individually?  I don't know about anyone else, but I threw a little party.  I gave my parents the option of two different days and invited them to come.  Today was session 1 and it was a great success.  The kids and I spent the last half hour of the day cleaning the room and setting up the refreshments table.  I had created a power point to share with parents what the numbers and percentages on their child's report card really means.  With the help of Mrs. Salas, the bilingual teacher/saint, I was able to get some great information into my parents hands.  The kids even filled out a kid friendly report card (you can find it here) and decorated the folder that their important papers were in. 

After the 10 minute presentation I handed out each child's folder and walked around the room to talk to each parent.  I was able to spend time with those parents that had extra questions and just touch base with those that didn't.  Some parents stayed a little longer to talk to neighbors and other parents and some got on their way.  All in all it went really well.  Hopefully tomorrow's session will be just as successful.