The students arrange the room, and Riddle makes sure they understand that part of their job is to introduce their parents to her. One of Riddle's favorite open house displays comes from a unit in the innovative curriculum Investigations in Number, Data, and Space . In the lesson, the students take cubes and build imaginative objects that they later use to practice estimations. These creations are on display at the open house, along with students' written explanations of how they figured out the number of cubes in the object without counting all of them. Parents can really see by looking at this project how their children are working on multiplication, for instance, and that it's tied closely to what they are building.
Parents can easily see the value of the project.
The open house also provides an opportunity for parents to sign up to help with activities that require adult assistance. Actually coming into the classroom allows parents to see, face to face, what the math program is like. To involve parents who can't come to class, Riddle asks for donations of materials for classroom projects. Throughout the school year, Riddle keeps track of what parents have done to make sure that every parent has an opportunity to participate in some way. Every family participates, and I make a point of thanking the children for whatever their family has done.