This blog post is full of ideas for the First Week of Kindergarten. Includes book suggestions, activities, and links to accompanying ideas.
FREE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN ACTIVITIES It is the first day of kindergarten! What do I teach? I have taught kindergarten both in the classroom and homeschooling my own daughters. After years of teaching kindergarten, I have come up with the perfect activities for the first day. I have d
Lesson plans, resource links, and freebies for the first week of kindergarten. Great for brand new teachers or veteran teachers in need of fresh ideas!
If you're feeling a bit stuck in your planning for the first week of kindergarten, check out these tried-and-true tips and lesson plan ideas!
Celebrate a successful first day of Kindergarten or first grade with these FREE first day of school crowns!
1st Week of Kindergarten Plans & Ideas including a freebie. Teaching little learners with purpose and fun.
This is a big puzzle piece for students to fill in and cut out as a get to know you activity for the first day of school. Each puzzle piece is approximately 7 inches by 7 inches. All students are an important piece of the puzzle! Give each student a copy of the puzzle piece. They can decorate however they want. Cut out puzzle pieces and glue/tape them together to form a wonderful classroom mural. I always print extra for those they mess up. I also cut a few out in advance in case there are students who have trouble with scissors. Don't worry about your puzzle being a perfect rectangle. Print the extra puzzle pieces to fill in the missing pieces or cut blank puzzle pieces and scatter them. If new a student enter your classroom you can always add to the puzzle. It's never "complete." I typically find a big roll of paper and start with my puzzle piece in the upper left corner. Kids can share something about their puzzle piece or they can partner up and share something about each other. After sharing, they connect their puzzle piece to one that is already on the big roll and glue it down. Idea: Have paraprofessionals, Admin, custodians, classroom volunteers, etc. fill out a puzzle piece. Everyone is important!! Please check out Our Classroom Quilt for another great community building activity.
This blog post lists ten must-dos for the first day of school! I want to share some actions you may know (or may not know) to ensure you have a great first
So flash back to the end of the school year. You were high-fiving and hugging your practically first graders and sending them off for some fun in the sun. You sent them off as readers and writers, scientists and mathematicians. In that moment, it's difficult to remember how they came to you. When you met them in August, they couldn't read, write, add, tie their shoes, spell their name. Oh, and they were short. When do they get so tall?!?? The first few weeks, from what I can recall (since I block most of that stuff out) are... well... uhh... interesting. Once or twice you might find yourself asking, "What was I EVER thinking becoming a kindergarten teacher?" It's okay. You're not alone. Hang in there. It gets better... in fact, it gets SO good! I thought I'd share with you what week 1 in Mrs. Kelly's Klass looks like. Do you have a Meet the Teacher night prior to the first day of school? This is such a good way to: 1. Get the kids excited about school. 2. Meet your students to help eliminate fear. 3. Open the door to communication with parents. 4. Get yourself organized before the school year starts. Here's how Meet the Teacher works in my classroom! Here are some of the forms families complete. I do my best to stay organized - get contact information in place, know what parents are interested in helping in the classroom, know how kids are getting home. These forms help me get all that information in order, and they go in a binder with copies of the kids' enrollment cards. All of the items for Meet the Teacher night are available alone in my Meet the Teacher pack OR as part of my HUGE First Week Pack that has everything you will read about next! (Don't get both! The forms are included in the First Week Pack!) So then, school starts. The beginning of the year is a chaotic but exciting time in Kindergarten. We practice, A LOT. I set clear expectations from the very beginning and I enforce them from the very beginning. But along with these expectations, I also like to kinda dive right in, so to speak. I want the kids to start doing some of the things they will do all year long -- like printables and stations, sitting for read alouds, participating in whole group and small group activities, reading, all of it! I like my kids to learn the rules, routines, and expectations in TANDEM with the actual things they will be doing for the rest of the school year. I like them to learn what is expected of them by DOING. I refuse to spend an entire week just talking at my kids about rules. We do stations. For the first few weeks, kids participate in stations that will get them acclimated to the materials we will be using all year {unifix cubes, snap cubes, pattern blocks, dry erase markers, clipboards, play dough, etc.) I like to introduce a station whole group -- go over the instructions and expectations for using that particular material {i.e. snap cubes are NOT for building swords and/or guns and playdough is NOT meant for squishing into the carpet}. Then EVERYONE in the class does the same station. They get used to working in a group, and I don't have to worry about managing 5 different activities at the same time. Next day, new station, and so on... until I've introduced enough stations to start an actual rotation! We do printables. Kids need to get used to putting pencils and crayons to paper. I don't expect them to be writing novels, but you have to start somewhere. I can use this opportunity to teach them how to get supplies, what to do when their pencil breaks, where to turn papers in, how their mailboxes work, etc. We sit at the carpet! Two of my favorite books to read during the first week of school are Wemberly Worried and The Kissing Hand. Perhaps it's because I'm a bit of a worrywart myself. These books are so relateable and by reading them, whole group, at the carpet, we get to practice norms for read alouds. And we do whole group activities! These books make for great jumping off points for some whole group fun and small group fun! We will do a school room scavenger hunt after reading The Kissing Hand. Students will search the school for clues left behind by Chester. They get to find all the important places AND we get to practice hallway expectations. (This mini unit is included in my Beginning of the Year pack, but also sold separately!) We'll talk, chart, and write about our feelings after reading Wemberly Worried. Developing that strong classroom community early on is so important. When kids can relate to one another and open up about their feelings, they create a positive and welcoming environment. We dance! Because they are FIVE. Because they are nervous. Because they have never been asked to sit still for this long. Because they miss their moms. Because dancing is FUN. Because it's good for their sweet little brains and bodies! Above all, have fun and be happy. If you're happy, they will be happy. If you're welcoming, they will feel welcomed. If you create a structure, they will fall in place. You can pick up all the activities/printables/STUFF shown above in one nice pretty package by clicking the image below. For those who return to school next week, wishing you a happy school year! :) Grab EVERYTHING you read about today all in one place by clicking here or the image below. OH, and if you missed it before... be sure to go pick up these Dismissal Tags for FREE! I blogged about them last week. Click here to read and click the image below to download.
20 Free Name Activities for the First Week of Kindergarten. Check out these amazing hands-on and fun name activities! Integrates multiple skills.
Use the Build a Name STEM activity as a get to know you activity in the first week of school. Pair with Your Name Is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow.
It is the first week of kindergarten! What do I teach? I get this question all the time! I am so excited to put together this page together for you. I’m sharing our favorite first week of kindergarten read aloud stories and the free coordinating printables I made to go with them. Plus I will s
It is the first week of kindergarten! What do I teach? I get this question all the time! I am so excited to put together this page together for you. I’m sharing our favorite first week of kindergarten read aloud stories and the free coordinating printables I made to go with them. Plus I will s
I'm Sharing My Kindergarten Lesson Plans for Week One Of School! Including Freebies: Insta-Portrait and Build Your Name Printable Activities!
It is the first week of kindergarten! What do I teach? I get this question all the time! I am so excited to put together this page together for you. I’m sharing our favorite first week of kindergarten read aloud stories and the free coordinating printables I made to go with them. Plus I will s
The back to school dreams have started, my room is almost ready, and summer has come to an end, which can only mean the first day of school is upon us! I wanted to spend some time today talking about all things Kindergarten, especially the first few weeks of school… The Good, The Bad, and...
These free first day of Kindergarten lesson plans will help you plan a successful first day of school with less stress!
Get free first-week activities for Lacey Walker Nonstop Talker. Set clear expectations with your students right from the beginning!
Jump start the new school year with several fun name activities for early learners! This includes math and literacy activity options.
Learning how to use school supplies is essential in kindergarten. Use these fun practice activities during the first week of school!
Hello everyone! It's Cori from Mrs. B's Beehive! I hope everyone is soaking up the last of their summer vacation!! Today I am sharing a blog series on lesson planning that I did for the first week of school! Scroll through to see what I will be doing day by day, and grab A TON of freebies to help you with your first week back to school! I've been wanting to do a series like this for many years. Every time the beginning of the year comes around, I think about my first year teaching. I got my position 2 weeks before school started, and to say that I was panicked and stressed is an understatement! I scoured the Internet for advice and ideas. I gathered everything that I could, and really had no idea what I was doing! I work at a school where there's only one teacher per grade level, and the pre-k teacher, along with the first grade teacher were newbies right along with me that first year! I desperately wanted someone to tell me exactly what to teach to get through the first week. After that week, our regular schedule would start, and I would begin on the curriculum that was given to me (which wasn't much of anything, but that's for another time : ) I felt that if I could make it through that first week, I just might be okay : ) I'm hoping that young teachers out there can find these resources, and that they will help to ease some of those first week nerves and frustrations. Each day in this blog series, I am going to base the resources off of a common back to school book. You can read the book to your students, and then do the FREE activities that I have provided. Today we will be talking about The Kissing Hand. I have tried so many different activities in the last 8 years for the first week of school. I have tried a center set-up, I have tried beautiful art projects that require a lot of work ahead of time on my part, and I have tried activities that require a lot of assistance the day of, as the students complete them. While I do try to incorporate some of these elements into our day, I am also a lot more realistic now about what we can accomplish, and what will keep more gray hairs from sprouting on my head! Let's be honest, as the students come in and work, you are working like a mad person to put all of the supplies away. You are also juggling those last couple of parents who won't stop taking pictures from the doorway, kids that are crying and need reassurance from you, and kids that are suspiciously eyeing the door, ready to run the minute you have your back turned (it's happened before, I suggest wearing comfortable shoes for unexpected mad dashes!) We run on a mini-day schedule for the first week, so here is what day 1 looks like. A good mix of activities, assessment, and teaching procedures. We come in and begin work on a simple coloring page. Sometimes the ability to open up a brand new box of crayons is all that it takes to give a reluctant child some peace! Next, we come to the rug, and start to go over our calendar routine, and I introduce our first classroom rule. Here is a product of mine that you can get off of TPT that gives some visual back-up to the rules. After that, we start on our routines, we walk around the school, practicing that ever elusive straight line. We have our bumpers up in front of us, and travel around to the different spots on campus that are important for them to know. At this time, I show them the bathroom and water fountain (we don't have any in our classroom), and we talk about the procedures for dismissal as well. I created this free list of procedures to help you try and remember all of those little things that you need to go over with your students at the beginning of the school year. The first week is a great time to get some assessments done, and begin to plan out some of our small group activities. On the first day I do an upper case inventory to check out their fine motor skills and letter formation. I cover some more routines concerning recess and the fire alarm, which just so happens to be conveniently located in our snack area. After we finish with that, I read them The Kissing Hand, and I do a quick check of their color knowledge. I teach some more routines, and then we move into math. I want to get a quick sense for which students have the basics down when it comes to number recognition and counting. Next up is a quick art project that aligns to The Kissing Hand. After the art project is all cleaned up, we talk about dismissal routines, and we pack-up and go! Every year I plan more activities then I will get to. Things never go according to plan, but if you have all of your materials organized ahead of time, and are over-prepared, it brings your stress level down, and you can enjoy your new little people, and really start getting to know them! Here is a quick breakdown of all the resources you can find in this post: Kissing Hand Activities - Google Drive Classroom Rules Coloring Book - TPT Back to School Procedures List - TPT (Freebie) Check out the rest of my Kindergarten week in these blog posts! DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5
Scissor salad is a fun way to practice how to use scissors and build fine motor scissor cutting skills. Get free labels and worksheets!
Click here for All About Me backpack activity for back to school, first day of school, first week of school for preschool, kindergarten, 1st!
It is the first week of kindergarten! What do I teach? I get this question all the time! I am so excited to put together this page together for you. I’m sharing our favorite first week of kindergarten read aloud stories and the free coordinating printables I made to go with them. Plus I will s
Get ready for the first day of school with these Kissing Hand activities. These back-to-school printables are perfect for preschool and kindergarten classrooms!
20 Free Name Activities for the First Week of Kindergarten. Check out these amazing hands-on and fun name activities! Integrates multiple skills.
It is the first week of kindergarten! What do I teach? I get this question all the time! I am so excited to put together this page together for you. I’m sharing our favorite first week of kindergarten read aloud stories and the free coordinating printables I made to go with them. Plus I will s
Now that my new air conditioner is installed and up and running (YES- I lost air at the start of the summer! EEK!), and I've gotten my fair ...
Howdy peeps! Lindsay here . . . Well, I survived. Barely. Our school district had its first day of school yesterday, but at my scho...
I've planned the entire first week of Kinder or First Grade for you!
Handing little learners a pair of scissors for the first time in a classroom can make teachers a little uneasy. Spend time focusing on how to cut with scissors, as well as, seeing what tool learners are ready to use is important. What Scissors to Use? There are many levels of development a child needs
Let me help you plan your first day of kindergarten! Learn how I teach students to use supplies and more, plus grab a free first day of K coloring page.
It is the first week of kindergarten! What do I teach? I get this question all the time! I am so excited to put together this page together for you. I’m sharing our favorite first week of kindergarten read aloud stories and the free coordinating printables I made to go with them. Plus I will s
First Day day of kindergarten printables are essential tools for capturing your childs major milestone..
Teaching behavior expectations in kindergarten is important, especially in the first few weeks of school. This often sets the stage for your class for the entire year. For students to fully understand what is expected of them, it is important that teachers address and teach these expectation. I usually spend a lot of time during the first weeks of school teaching student expectations and classroom behaviors. We complete sorts of good choices and bad choices in the classroom and discuss what makes them good and bad choices. We complete these sorts whole group and students also complete individual behavior reflection sheets. These work great during the first few weeks of school or when students may need a review. These include different levels of difficulty beginning with students simply deciding if an actions is a good or bad choice, to a student sort of good and bad choices (this is a freebie at the end of the blog post) to finally illustrating or writing good or bad choices. Also we color an emergent reader reviewing some of the classroom expectations. These can also just be used as little coloring pages when a classroom expectation is introduced. In your classroom, you may want to challenge your students to focus on a certain expectation for a week. Included are posters that would work great for this: These provide a visual and focus for students when expectations are being taught. You can make it a game and provide an incentive if students can meet this expectation a certain amount of times in a week. Once these expectations are taught it is important to keep students accountable to their actions. I have been using a visual think sheet in my classroom that is perfect for this. It is very appropriate for your early learners in pre-k or kindergarten or special ed because it includes pictures for students to show what they did. Students simply color in the choice they made and a better choice they can make. These are great reflections for students, communication for parents and documentation if necessary. You may also want to post these cool down methods where students can reflect on strategies to cool down, instead of getting upset. You can find this entire Behavior Think Sheets and Activities in my TPT store and the Free Good and Bad Choices Student Sort here:
Once every student has a baggie of Magic Dough on his or her desk, I pass out a copy of the Magic Dough Lab Report. We talk about what it means to
