I spent last week teaching my students how to be a kindergartener and next week I will meet with all of their moms and dads to teach them how to be a kindergarten parent. There is just SO much information that I have to squeeze into a 25 minute presentation. Those poor moms and dads tend to walk away with their heads spinning, so I give them a convenient and colorful parent flip book to take home that will help them to reference the most important information from the evening. It’s their go-to-guide for all things kindergarten.
I know your days are jam-packed right now, so I’ll show you how I set up my parent flip book, share a free editable template with you, AND give you a chance to win a box full of Astrobrights paper for your classroom. Settle in and get ready to have a great resource for your classroom parents.
Thank you to Astrobrights for sponsoring this post. I also included affiliate links in this post and I receive a small commission each time someone makes a purchase through one of my links. However, all opinions stated are my own and I only promote brands and products that I love.
How to Create a Colorful Parent Flip Book
It’s simple to prepare the materials for the parent flip book. You’ll want to start by customizing the text on each page to suit your classroom needs and expectations. The template is set up for you to share 8 pages of information. I choose to highlight the following areas:
- my contact information
- calendar of important kindergarten dates
- start and end times, as well as our specials schedule
- my kindergarten class rules
- birthday celebration guidelines
- information about learning to read in kindergarten
- reminder about the kindergarten dress code
- my classroom homework policy
Once the content for each page is edited in the template, copy each page onto a different color of Astrobrights paper. The pages are formatted to be cut vertically in half so you only need to make half as many copies of each pages as you have student in the class.
Colored paper is fun, but it’s even better when you can conserve resources and have more paper to use later on!
I used all of my favorite Astrobrights colors to create my parent flip books:
Lift-Off Lemon™
Cosmic Orange™
Rocket Red™
Pulsar Pink™
Outrageous Orchid™
Lunar Blue™
Vulcan Green™
Solar Yellow™
You can also find many of these colors in the Cheerful and Neon paper assortments on Amazon.
Once my copies were made, I trimmed the pages on my paper cutter using the cutting guide lines that are printed onto the pages. This creates a series of pages with varying heights for the flip book.
Once the pages are trimmed, it’s time to assemble! Layer each page with the shortest on top and the longest on the bottom. I add a sheet of Astrobrights Eclipse Black cardstock that’s been cut vertically in half to the back of the book for a little added durability.
Have you ever seen such a colorful display of information?
Once the pages for the parent flip book are arranged, the final step is to attach the pages into booklet form. I used my school’s comb binding machine (you can find a similar model here) to add a nice finish to my books. I also just discovered this sleek like coil binding machine that creates more permanent books on Amazon and I am completely intrigued.
Of course, if you don’t have access to a binding machine, that is OK!
Just add a few staples to the top and it works just fine 
Download a FREE Parent Flip Book Template
Now that you’ve seen how simple it is to create a colorful flip book for parent night, I’m going to make the process even easier for you. You can grab my flip book template for FREE! Just click the image below to get your free flip book template. It’s completely editable so you can change the page title to suit your own classroom needs. I pre-filled the template with the text I include in my own classroom to give you a peek at some of my classroom expectations.
How to Download and Install the Font
NOTE: I used the font KG Why You Gotta Be So Mean for my page titles. You will need to download and install this font on your computer for the flip book to match mine. You can download the font for free on Teachers Pay Teachers.
If you’ve never installed a font on your computer before, I promise it’s super-easy. I created a video that walks you through the process on a PC and another video that demonstrates how to install fonts on a Mac. Click to watch the video that suits your needs. I mention my Classroom Library Labels in each video, but the font and instructions are the same for the template.
WIN Astrobrights for Your Classroom
Now for the really fun part! You already know how much I adore using color in my kindergarten classroom and you’ve seen how easy it is to bring vibrant color to your classroom documents with Astrobrights paper. One lucky reader will win a whole box of Astrobrights paper for their classroom this year, which is a lot of paper. Astrobrights is even going to throw in extra amounts of your three favorite paper colors. I am so excited because this contest is a chance for you to show off how you use color in your classroom.
The contest begins today: Sunday, September 4, 2016 and ends Saturday, September 10, 2016. One winner will be chosen and announced on Sunday, September 11, 2016 by 8:00pm Eastern time on my Facebook page and Instagram account.
How to Enter the Contest
All you have to do is follow these super easy instructions for your chance to win!
| STEP 1 |
| Snap a picture depicting your Back To School Ready Classroom. |
| STEP 2 |
| Now post that picture on your Facebook page (either your personal or business-it doesn’t matter). Here’s the important part . . . tag me @kindercraze and tag @Astrobrights. |
| STEP 3 |
| Also use hashtag #colorizeyourclassroom in your post. This is super important, because this is how we will be able to identify your post as being an entry to the contest. |
I can’t wait to see what you share! It’s always a treat to sneak a peek at other classrooms. So get out there, start snapping photos and be sure to share them on Facebook. I’ll be on the lookout!
More Chances to ENTER
My contest will close on Saturday, September 10, 2016; but that’s not the end of the fun. There will still be two additional chances for you to win Astrobrights paper for your classroom. Keep an eye out for the my Bright Minds friends Jodi and Reagan in the next few weeks. They will have other great ideas for getting a bright start to your year and they will each host a contest too!
Sept. 11th–Fun In First
Sept. 18th–Tunstall’s Teaching Tidbits
Inspiration to Colorize Your Classroom
For more colorful ideas, check out what Differentiated Kindergarten, A Modern Teacher and First and Kinder Blue Skies have been up to. Click any image to read more.
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I’m looking forward to a very COLORFUL year in Kindergarten!
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