[Aurora]

I looked in the archive, but didn't find much, so I'm asking for help. Our school is going to attempt its first Grandparents' Day. From my understanding, I'm responsible for my own students' grandparents in my classroom for approximately an hour and a half. I need an activity (or 2, or 3) for students to do with their grandparents. It also needs to be something that they can do on their own (or at least something alternative for them), because I'm going to bet that many grandparents will not be attending at our school. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm really not familiar with this. And no other staff is either, so all suggestions are welcome. I'm in fourth grade, but it's a 2-5 school.

[busy teacher]

I hope I do this right this is my first post. We have had Grandparent's Day at our school for about 10 years and it is HUGE. The Grandparents love it. Each year staff members volunteer to get it all ready--they print out a schedule for each grandparent so they know which room to go to at what time. At our school, they come for about 3hours--they check in at 8am and get welcomed by our principal then they come visit our classrooms for 1/2 hour and then have a coffee break in the gym and then they come back to our room for about 1/2 hour. At the end the younger grades (they usually have the most grandparents attending) do a mini concert for them. When they are in our rooms we try to show them things we do in school now. For example--math problem solving or social studies--united states bingo. We try to do something that is fun so grandparents can interact with their grandchild while doing it. The fifth grade teacher at our school has her students interview the grandparents to find out what life and school was like back then.
Sorry this is so long
Let me know if you have more questions

[PoohBear]

Our school has done Grandparents Day for about 5 years now and each year we get a little bit better and more organized. It's fun by the PTA and is all voluteer. We start with a brunch in the gym for all grandparents. Usually a slide show is going that shows photos of the students with their grandparents (they send in the photos and someone makes a CD) After brunch, the children do a little mini-concert (a couple of songs per department) Then the grandparents are dismissed to visit the classrooms.

One very important thing to remember is that the grandparents will often have more than one classroom to visit. We usually have an optional craft in each room.....a photograph frame to decorate is a popular one---and the grandparents and children can choose to do it or not. Sometimes the children just want to show the room and their work that is being displayed (make sure you have something from every child displayed somewhere in the room)

Good luck and don't worry. The first time will be a learning experience and the grandparents just love being around their grandchildren anyway

[Aurora]

What kinds of crafts and activities do you do in the classrooms?

[4strong]

I teach in a 3-4-5 building, and each level eats at a different time. We invite the grandparents to come to the classroom ~40 min. before lunch. Student Council members meet grandparents at the entrances and escort them to the correct classrooms.

Students introduce them; we take photo. PTO takes care of printing costs for us.

I have had students prepare Readers Theater presentations. You could invite the grandparents to read along with their grandchild! I have also given students a list of questions that they can ask the grandparents....what was different about their 4th grade year, fav. subject, historical events, etc.

Grandparents eat lunch with all the students...outside if it's a nice day...they bring lawn chairs/blankets. We set up a few long tables outside as well. Some eat in the cafeteria.

We have students with grandparents invite other students to eat with them, if a grandparent could not be there.

Grandparents say goodbye after lunch......they do not return to the classroom. We usually write letters to the grandparents in the afternoon before returning to the regular schedule.

It's a fun morning. We did find that if grandparents returned to the classroom after lunch, they just stayed and stayed :-)

[PoohBear]

Do very simple crafts, things that can be done by the children alone if they don't have a grandparent there. I always just tell the children w/o grandparents (ahead of time) that they are making a craft for their grandparents and they can take/send it to them.

Decorating things --cards, photo frames, placemats, etc-- is fun and easy and everyone can be as creative as they wish. You can buy inexpensive tubs of foam shapes or have diecut shapes available.

Don't do anything too messy and be very careful of the types of crafts they have at places like Oriental Trading--they have so many little pieces! Great for small groups, a nightmare for large groups (believe me, this comes from personal Grandparents Day experience)

[Aurora]

Many of you mentioned a list of questions that the students use with their grandparents. Would anyone mind sharing a question list?

[4strong]

These are the four questions I can remember. We type the questions and give to students. They can tape to their desktop that morning. Students can ask these questions or any others.

What was your favorite subject when you were in __ grade?
What "specials" classes (music, pe, art, library) did you have?
What invention has been created in your lifetime that you would not ever give up?
How is technology different today than when you were in school?
How is family life different today?