Interactive Bulletin Boards to Connect Home, School and Community

Tonight was my school's open house, which we call Meet and Greet. It is very informal. The primary purposes are for the students and families to meet their assigned teachers, to unload all of the necessary classroom supplies, and to get registrations out of the way.

Meet and Greet night is also an excellent opportunity to make connections between home, school, and community. One way we did this was by hosting a reading graffiti board. Staff, parents, and students could post their favorite books they read this summer on red butcher paper. We placed recognizable texts with the display, as a visible way to reinforce the purpose of the board, as well as to highlight the importance of the mission in our elementary school.

In addition to our reading graffiti board, we also created a social media contest. Thanks to a suggestion by Missy Emler, a bulletin board was created asking for visitors to suggest an official hashtag for our school.

People passing by were encouraged to add their suggestions to the board. Our current social media outlets, including Twitter, Facebook, and Blogger, were highlighted on the board with the hope that more families will digitally connect with us.

Once we collect enough ideas, we plan on creating a Google Form to share with the school community and vote on the hashtag of choice. Right now, #howe2learn seems like the frontrunner!