Grandparents Day

I had Grandparent's Day in my classroom a few weeks ago. It was a huge success! The kids loved it and so did the grandparents. We made about 9 stations for the grandparents kids to rotate through. The stations were: cupcake decorating, braclet making, planting rye grass in a cup and making a plant head, clay- team building= making a bridge together out of clay, American Flag activity, read a book together, decorate a bookmark, and interview grandparent and child. The students had a "Grandparent's Day Passport" around their necks. As they went to the station they would cross it off on their passport. We originally told the children and grandparent when to rotate stations, but it went so smooth that next year I will let them rotate as they finish a station. I told the children that only 3 children could be at each station. We then explained the directions to the children and grandparents. At each station we had typed out instructions using a lot of details, so the grandparents would know just what to do. We also had our local newspaper come and they wrote an article on it. I know the paper is online, but I don't know if the articel is still on or not. The newspaper is Destin Log. I don't know what the site address is, but is probably destinlog.com. After our station time we went outside to our butterfly garden and had a picnic lunch. We had a lot of positive comments from the grandparents. It was great, I plan to do this every year.

Our school does our Grandparent's day in October. We usually have grandparents come to the classroom with the students performing a song, poem (with each student learning one sentence, do choral "reading" with students who are shy), a picture of the grandparent with a description read by the student/teacher. Afterwards we have refreshments with cookies, muffins, pastries provided by the parents. We usually have one flower (carnation)given to each grandparent by their grandchild.

Last year I read "what grandparents do best." It is a split book, I think it was written by the same author as the If you take a Mouse...., Laura Numeroff. Then all of us did a concept map "My favorite thing to do with my grandma/pa is...." Finally, I had each of them write "When I am a grandma/pa I will.........with my grandchildren. " It was very sweet, and the grandparent's loved to read all of them.

We had Grandparent's Day in September, we started out with the song "This Little Light of Mine", said alittle poem and then sang a song to the tune of Take Me Out to the Ball Game with the words ... Let's go see our Grandparent's... really cute the kids enjoyed singing and the Grandparent's enjoyed hearing it. We also made each set of grandparent's a hand print poem. This was for a Kindergarten class our PreK went first and we all had an alotted amount of time, if you want the words to the GrandParent song, or the words to the poem let me know. Good luck with your GP day!

I have a few ideas for GP's day...something that worked for me last year was to have the Grandparents share with their grandchild a special memory from when they were in school, and illustrate it. The child did the same, and then when everyone was done we shared the memories as a class. Then I collected them all and made a "memory quilt" by piecing them together and hanging it on the wall. It was so interesting to see the illustrations of the grandparents and hear them share their memories.
Something else that's fun along the same lines is to create and interview sheet for the kids so they can interview their grandparent's about their school experience. You'll be surprised by the results!
hope that helps!

At my school we have "Special Person's Day" in the Spring. Grandparents and other special people come for the afternoon.

I play "Berry Special Bingo". The kids color in strawberry markers before their special person is to arrive (keeps them calm since they are so excited). We also brainstorm a list of words to describe our special person. I put the very long list on the board.

When their SP comes in, they fill in the blank bingo board with words from the board. We then play "Berry Special Bingo". I usually buy prizes from the dollar store. Candy for the child and a crozzword puzzle book for the SP.

It is very fun and exciting. I love it because it takes time and everyone is involved.

Our school has a special Granperson's day in the spring - first the grandparents gather in the auditorium and the children sing a few songs, and then the grandparents come back to the room where there are snacks (veggies. cookie platter) and refreshments for them and the children to share. The grandparents stay for about 20 minnutes, and the kids show them around the room, share stories with them, or just chat. It is a great day for all!

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

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

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 :-)