More First Day Stuff!

I just wanted to share a few things that got me through those very first few days with the children.  Every year, and every group of children is exciting and different.  Being flexible is probably one of the most important attributes a Kindergarten teacher needs – or maybe that is patience – or sense of humor – or love – or endurance!  I think you need a big dose of all of them!

The teachers in my building always went outside to greet the buses as the children arrived that first full day of school.  Some were also dropped off by parents.  It took awhile for all the buses to arrive in the confusion of all the new schedules, and sometimes we waited outside for 10-15 minutes.  I found that it was really helpful to bring a puppet with me, and I chose to bring Calvin because I could still hold a child’s hand, high five, or hold onto a paper if I needed to, and still make Calvin look like he was interacting with the children.

Calvin helped me count the children as they arrived, and generally set the tone of fun in those first moments of school.

Here is a very basic schedule of how I planned that day:

Wednesday

One of the activities I always included that first day was asking each child to draw a self portrait and write their name.  These gave me lots of great information about fine motor skills and following directions.  I usually gave each child a small mirror to study his/her reflection before drawing.  Here is the paper I used:
 

I kept these and we did the exact activity in June.  I mounted both pictures on folded paper to compare their drawing and name writing.

Here is the Sept. page to print:

How I look

We asked parents to send in a sack lunch for awhile to give children time to get used to the lunch room before they bought hot lunch, but we sent home a list of hints to make lunch go more easily.

Lunch Time Hints for Parents

I made this sign for the classroom to help children remember our 3 most important rules.

Be safe

Almost everything is covered by those 3 rules.  Of course there were lots and lots of rules about how to use materials around the classroom, how to walk in the hall, play on the playground, etc.  But I treated all of these as routines that I taught rather than rules to be followed.  Instead of saying – No throwing blocks, we talked about exactly how we used and put away blocks.  I tried to concentrate on what I wanted the children to do, not what I did NOT want them to do.

We talked a lot about how many choices they would make every day.

No one is bor1

Here is a cover I used for our Drawing and Writing book at the beginning of the year, following the program Talking, Drawing, Writing.

Drawing cover

I also posted a chart of Goodbye sayings.

goodbye sayings

Sometimes my mind would go blank during those stressful first days – that’s why I wrote out a lesson plan that I could follow if needed, and I also kept a list of songs the children were likely to be familiar with handy – in case I needed to give them a chance to move around, or come together!

Song ideas

We usually made a simple cut and paste bus project.  We sang the song The Wheels on the Bus and acted out riding on the bus by putting about 6 chairs in 2 x 2 rows.  I called on different children to be the driver.  We sang the chorus, then the driver decided how many children would get on the bus (1-4).  I had labeled popsicle sticks with each child’s name.  I pulled out that many sticks and those children sat in the chairs.  Then we sang the chorus again, the bus “stopped” and the driver said how many more children got on – we turned it into a simple math problem, just orally.  It went right over some children’s heads, others got the idea – but they all loved the activity.  Then we started again with a new driver until all children got a chance to participate.

Through the years I often heard parents or the children themselves say that they were excited to go to school so they could learn to read.  I made this very simple little fold up book so the children could take home a book they could read that very first day.  We read it together several times during the day so all the children would remember the names of all the items.

Along with the printable version, here is a reminder of how to fold up these small books – I folded them all ahead of time.

school book

folding books

One more activity that I liked to do at the very beginning of the year was to help the children find a partner and “interview” their partner.  Of course I modeled exactly what they would be doing and was right there to help if needed.  It was a great way to introduce the idea of turning to talk – or “eye to eye, knee to knee.”  You could make partners by passing out ribbons of different lengths and colors and the children need to find the person with a matching ribbon.  You could ask them to find a partner who is wearing the same color as them, or has the same color hair as they do.  There are lots of ways you can turn making partners into a game, but sometimes you might just want them to talk to their neighbor.

Each child wrote his/her name on top of their paper before they sat facing their partner.  Sometimes I gave them each a clipboard to write against.

1st day interview

Each child asked his/her partner which item they liked best –

Rainy days or sunny days?

Ice cream or cupcake?

Cat or dog?

They circled their partner’s preference on their own paper.  Then they traded papers and wrote their own name at the bottom of the partner’s paper.

One thing I liked about this interview activity was that parents so often ask their child if they met any new friends at school that day.  This format gives each child a chance to individually talk to another child and to take home the name of another child in class – which can open up a conversation at home.

I always tried to remember to teach the children the word friend in sign language.

You probably won’t have time to do all these things that first day, but I hope this helps you a little through those first tiring days at school!