Back to School Nite

[nicolewi]

Is it me, or is this screwy? Just generally curious. maybe there's just no good way? How do other schools do this?

We have back-to-school night at elementary and middle school (and freshman year, too). Virtually everyone goes, as this is when kids get their schedules and locker info and drop off all supplies. It's packed. You also hear info from your kid's "house" (teacher group) about general policies/contact info/whatever. If you don't go, I imagine you have to get permission to go into the school early another day to find their locker and drop off supplies.

I have 2 middle schoolers this year. 8th grade event is 3:30 to 5...so luckily this works for me but I imagine is really difficult for many families??

6th grade starts at 5:30. So there's a 30 minute gap between programs?? You have to go within your time period to be able to meet teachers. 

[Roc A Bee]

Our Back to School Night is about 10 days into the school year. It is for parents but sometimes students go. Teachers go over their syllabi and general policies (in middle school and high school). Students here get their schedules their first day of school at drop off - again for middle and high school. My DH teaches high school and very few parents go.

Elementary schools have a meet the teacher event usually a day before where they can meet their teacher and see their classroom. This isn’t mandatory, you also get teacher assignment via mail.

[trytobearunner34]

Is parking an issue? Maybe they are leaving time for exiting so new cars have space to park?

[SusanBAnthony]

I hate BTSN. Too chaotic.

Our current district does BTS days and you can come in like 10-12 or 2-4 or 5-7. Its great because it spreads out the crowd. They also let you come in the building any time and just walk around abd get oriented and do your locker.

[thebreakfastclub]

Elementary meet the teacher is in the late afternoon and split by last names.

My son is moving to 6th grade this year. They had an open house Mon 9-12pm, a second open house from 6-8pm that night, and makeup open house Tues 9-12 and then the building was open the rest of the week from 9-3 for tours.

I work but the Monday morning open house date was advertised weeks in advance so I could make it work.

[shortstax]

Our elementary had it one day last week from 4-5pm. Many years ago when my DS was in 1st, I went to my first and only PTO meeting. They asked for feedback on it because “attendance was low”, and I shared that if it could be shifted by an hour, it could probably help working families, and I shared how I had to use vacay time for it.

The president immediately responded “no, that can’t be it. Moving on…”. No other moms spoke up to reconsider it, so I immediately knew those weren’t my people.

[Deleted]

We have two events (elementary):

1. Meet the teacher night. Sounds like what you described. Drop off supplies, fill out basic paperwork if needed, get bus info. We will hopefully know who C’s teacher is before that, if not they will post class lists. This is basically mandatory. They split up the alphabet so everyone isn’t at school at the same time because there’s not enough parking.

2. Back to School Night. Maybe two weeks into the school year, hear more about the teacher’s policies and what the year will look like. Also split by alphabet, with a long break in the middle. They have the first PTA meeting of the year in between so you can either stay for the meeting or come early.

[expectantsteelerfan]

We...don't have this. We have kindergarten orientation, and then when the kids move up to a new school, they have a day in the spring where the school takes a field trip to go see the new school and get a tour and whatnot, and then before school starts there is a 'walk through' day where they can also bring their schedule that they downloaded and walk around (there are hours during the day, and then hours in the evening, and tour guides during each slot, but no teachers present, and they don't know their locker yet).

They don't get their locker or get to meet their teacher until the 1st day. They'll get their locker and go find it during homeroom I think, or team time or something. It works fine. Ds didn't even go to the walk through for high school, he was like, I went in the spring, I'm fine.

[momin2013]

We don’t have this. We have Meet the Teacher Night a few weeks into the school year, which is basically an open house that’s a few hours long where you can pop into the classroom to check it out and meet the teacher. They also have food trucks in the parking lot (which is closed to traffic for the night) so it’s a chance to meet up with parents again too.

[abs]

Meet the teacher: this is only for elementary. It’s held from 4-6 and is come and go.

Orientation: this is only for 6th and 9th. You get your schedule, get to walk it, get info about clubs, and see friends. Some teachers are there but generally not. This is a day or two before school starts.

Back to school night: this is for parents and not kids. Parents walk their kids schedules and get info from the teachers. This is usually 2 weeks after school starts. Attendance nosedives after 6th grade but I like going.

[katfco]

My high school has meet the teacher night the night before school starts. Because it's one of the contractually required events, it ends at 6--otherwise it's a lot for teachers who start the next day.

My kids' schools have curriculum night for parents a few weeks after school starts. That is divided by grade level and scheduled to allow teachers and other school personnel to attend both if need be.

[fancynewbeesly]

We have back to school night--at 5:30. That isn't terrible.

But what is annoying me is DD2 first grade orientation is at 1:30 in the afternoon, the day before school starts for the kids--which means EVERY teacher has PD day that day--and I teach in a different district and there is no way she can go to her first grade orientation. (It is a new building for her-since kindergarten and preschool are in a completely separate school.)

Even teachers IN the district have PD day that day--so I feel like it is just awful for everyone.

[charlatti]

Ours is very similar to what abs said. Our elementary BTS is later, I think 5:30 to 7:30, just to drop off supplies and briefly meet the teacher. 6th and 9th orientation is done as a staggered start so other MS/HS grades aren’t there but all teachers are. Then there’s the parents-only evening thing a couple of weeks in.

[nicolewi]

Aug 18, 2024 15:35:43 GMT -5 fancynewbeesly said:

We have back to school night--at 5:30. That isn't terrible.

But what is annoying me is DD2 first grade orientation is at 1:30 in the afternoon, the day before school starts for the kids--which means EVERY teacher has PD day that day--and I teach in a different district and there is no way she can go to her first grade orientation. (It is a new building for her-since kindergarten and preschool are in a completely separate school.)

Even teachers IN the district have PD day that day--so I feel like it is just awful for everyone.

That is awful.

[loira]

Aug 18, 2024 15:10:55 GMT -5 momin2013 said:

We don’t have this. We have Meet the Teacher Night a few weeks into the school year, which is basically an open house that’s a few hours long where you can pop into the classroom to check it out and meet the teacher. They also have food trucks in the parking lot (which is closed to traffic for the night) so it’s a chance to meet up with parents again too.

This is what we have also - minus the food trucks. My dad always called it "meet the creature night" lol.

[eb777888]

David's school does a parent orientation every year where the parents come without the kids and meet the teacher and they speak about the year, what to expect, the class trips, field trips, etc. Then the next day there's a meet the teacher that parents bring the kids to. This year I just dropped him off and picked him up from this. There's no reason at this age I need to go because I just met the teacher, the school is PACKED and he's 15 and perfectly capable of going through his schedule by himself without me following him through the halls like years past. I like it like this.

[dcn]

Middle school and high school was Thursday from 3-5 and elementary was Friday from 3:30-5:30 for us. And then! They cancelled at 4pm on Thursday due to weather and rescheduled for 2:15 the next day 🤷🏻‍♀️

If you can’t make it you just send your kid to school on the first day and admin helps them.

And these are military schools where at least half of the kids are new. They figure it out!

[cereal K]

Elementary Meet the Teacher is split into two nights (k, 2, 4 one night, 1, 3, 5 another) and runs from 4-6. There’s usually an intro from the admin that’s optional, otherwise it’s just a drop in to the teachers’ rooms to meet them, drop off supplies, pick up any paperwork, etc.

Middle School open house is a more structured format - you basically run your kid’s bell schedule with 7 minutes in each classroom and a “passing period”. It runs from 3:30-5.

And this year, since DD is dual enrolled at the High School for two classes, we got to go to that one, too. It’s structured the same as the Middle School, and goes from 4-6.

For us, least week was:
- Tuesday, Middle School (we missed bc of DD’s sax lessons)
- Wed, Elementary School (DS missed bc he had a fever)
- Thurs, High School (we went, but only had to go to two classes and got out early)

I made it to all of the events at their start time, but it was a little too early and cause me some stress to be able to leave for them. I would have much preferred 5-5:30 start times for all of the events.

[W.T.Faulkner]

Mine and my son’s are on the same night this year, so I can’t go to his, and that night is my fucking birthday.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

[hbomdiggity]

Private K-8, BTS is in the evening second or third week in. There are 2 sessions back to back in case parents have more than 1 kid. Aftercare is open in case you have to bring kid, as no kids in the classrooms.

Teacher introduces themselves, goes over expectations, tips, etc. 15-20 mins.

Nearly all the parents go.

[sandandsea]

Ours is also crazy both elementary and middle school. No kids are allowed on campus during it. Then, k-2 is at one time followed directly by 3-5th grades. So if you have kids 2 years apart you likely can’t attend both or have to hire a sitter and divide and conquer. Middle school is 10 minutes per class and you rotate to meet all the teachers and there’s a whole school presentation for 30 mins so it’s 2 hours long and again only 1 parent can attend or you hire a sitter.

Everyone goes, parking is insane, that evening is crazy for our house.

[ssmjlm]

So Open House and Back to School are two different events for us.

Open House - each school group is on a different day, high school-Tu, Middle-W, Elementary-Th

They are then further broken up by either grade or last name, etc, but you are welcome to come anytime during the whole block. Staggering is mostly parking/traffic related.

Since she's starting MS this year, they have a special camp for 6th grade from 3-430, then 6th grade parents are 430-530, followed by 7th and 8th in the remaining hours.

They've done a great job staggering things and working with families that have multiple kids and/or various last names, etc. It's one of the few things they seem to do well.

[CurlyQ284]

We have "Registration Day" on Wednesday this week, it's open house style from 9-12. We get his teacher assignment/schedule. Locker assignment and combo, supply list, some other information I can't think of now, and school pictures for their IDs and yearbook. They have one grade per day, but you can come on a different day if there's a scheduling conflict.

In September we will have Curriculum Night in the evening which is when we meet the teachers and see their classrooms.

[devonpow]

We don’t have ours until late September/early October (school supply requests are sent by the teachers or listed on canvas near the beginning of school). High school is all on one night and then all other grades are different evenings/some mornings. It’s more a chance to meet teacher(s) and hear what they will be learning that year. I loooove high school back to school night lol

[sdlaura]

Our BTS nights are a couple weeks into the school year and for parents only to meet teachers. Kindergartners get to meet their teacher the week before school starts, and middle schoolers had an afternoon thing as well before school started to walk around and find their classes - all of those were midday/during afternoon working hours on a weekday. Kids ages 1st-6th grade don’t go to school for anything here in advance.

[midwestmama]

In my district, elementary BTSN is in the evening and is open-house style. Middle school is in the morning and is open-house style. Freshman center we had to sign up for a time slot, and they had time slots every 15 minutes for all morning and early afternoon. For MS and Freshman center, they get their final schedule, find their locker and practice their combo, find their classrooms, and take their school picture and get their ID.

We have gone with the kids to the middle school open house, but DH and I are lucky to have more flexible jobs where we can do this. This morning, I dropped DS off for his Freshman orientation/open house and didn't go in with him. I conferred yesterday with a few mom friends who have older kids, and they said that typically parents don't go to the HS orientations/open houses. (There is an information night towards the end of 8th grade where parents can go to learn about HS.)

[penguingrrl]

Our BTS night is a few weeks into the school year and is adult only. Parents go in to hear a presentation first from the PTO and the principal on how everyone hopes to see the year go and then from their child’s teacher(s) about the curriculum and expectations for the coming year. In elementary there are 2 20-minute sessions so parents who have 2 kids can get to both. In middle and high school it also starts with principal and PTO and then there are 10 minute sessions where you go through your kid’s schedule and see each teacher.

We don’t have anything to allows kids into the building prior to the first day, no meet the teacher or anything like it. In HS the kids schedules go live a few weeks before school starts in case there are conflicts (one year my kid didn’t have an English class, which NJ requires 4 years of, so their schedule had to be entirely reworked). In middle school they get their homeroom assignments and supply lists on the last day of the year before and get their schedule during homeroom on the first day of school.

My two who have IEPs will each get to go in in the day before school starts and meet with their counselor, who will go over their schedules and walk to see where each of their classes is, but that’s only offered for kids who have IEP needs requiring it.

[hermione]

Our Back to School Night is tonight. It's 3pm-6pm. Kids bring their school supplies to drop off. Each family signs up for a 15 minute time slot in the classroom with the teacher (2 families at a time). There is a lot going on outside of this too - spirit wear sale, parent volunteer sign ups, sport info, etc.

The second week of school is Parent Night. That's when you go without kids to and the teacher tells you everything you need to know about the year. All the parents go together.

[waverly]

I've posted about ours before. They usually start around 4, so yes I do have to leave work early. DH traveled when they were little so I used to have to do both kids. One year, I got there early, stood in line becasue they don't open the school doors until 4 pm on the dot with those gigantic pre order boxes of classroom supplies from the PTO. It was 80 degrees. I love DS's 2nd grade teacher, but she had a 25 point list of how to unpack the supplies, so we spent 35 minutes in the classroom darting all over the room to unpack supplies, and then I still had to do DD's Kindergarten classroom. They had laundry baskets for supplies in the hallway for kleenex, paper towel etc.  I was running around like a crazy person and sweating my butt off. 

That was literally the worst one I ever went to, and after that I made DH help me out. Older kids were better because they said just drop the supplies off at their desk, and I stopped getting those giant boxes and just did bags, but even so it was so much to carry, so I started not bringing the kleenex, for example because it was so bulky to carry everything on that night.

This year it was much better. DS gets VIP access which starts at 3pm because of his IEP, but none of the teachers were around. It is supposed to meet his team which is case workers and OT, but they weren't there last year. This year, I was able to find them in their office, but we still had to wander the halls until the teachers showed up around 3:45. DH took DD for hers and that is regular access, so it is crowded!

We have 4 schools so they do it over 2 days and then swap the last names, so you aren't supposed to be at both schools at the same time in case you have kids in multiple schools, so the timing is actually OK. But the elementary implementation of supplies was a huge mess.  And the 4 pm start does mean that most people have to leave work early.  

Then we have curriculum night just for parents a couple of weeks into the school year.  

[candreco]

Our district is huge and I'm guessing each school/pyramid does things a little differently, but our ES does a BTS block party where you can briefly meet your teacher and drop off your supplies, people can get help registering for the various online accounts and car line numbers, and there are various community organizations/resources outside.

MS/HS do an orientation evening where kids get their schedules and can find classrooms, get a school computer issued, all the extracurriculars have tables set up, stuff like that.

Then sometime during the first month of school all schools do an actual curriculum night that's more formal about classroom policies, syllabi, testing, etc.