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added 9.18.10 |
Nathan's
First Day of School
The
Berenstain Bears Go to School ~ Jan and Stan Berenstain
School
Bus ~ Donald Crews
Miss
Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten ~ Joseph Slate
The
Kissing Hand ~ Audrey Penn
Mary
Wore Her Red Dress and Henry Wore His Green Sneakers ~ Merle Peek
My Teacher's
My Friend ~ P.K. Hallinan
The
First Day of School ~ P.K. Hallinan
Curious
George Goes to School ~ Margaret and H.A. Reys
Never
Spit on Your Shoes ~ Denys Cazet
My Teacher
is a Vampire ~ Mercer Mayers
Off
to School ~ Ann Schweninger
Pooh's
First Day of School ~ Kathleen W. Zoehfeld
A Monster
Followed Me to School ~ Mercer Mayers
A Bug,
A Bear, and A Boy Go to School ~ David McPhail
My Pet
Monster Goes to School ~ Dennis Fertig
They
Gym Teacher From the Black Lagoon ~ Mike Thaler
The
Teacher From the Black Lagoon ~ Mike Thaler
The
Principal From the Black Lagoon ~ Mike Thaler
The
Librarian From the Black Lagoon ~ Mike Thaler
The
School Nurse From the Black Lagoon ~ Mike Thaler
Little
Critter's This is My School ~ Mercer Mayer
Chrysanthemum
~ Kevin Henkes
My Teacher
Sleeps in School ~ Leatie Weiss
This
is the Way We Go to School ~ Edith Baer
Little
Kids at School ~ Jeffie Ross Gordon
Will
I Have a Friend? ~ Miriam Cohen
The
Wheels on the Bus
Monster’s
First Day at School
The
Blanket That Had to Go!
My Brown
Bear Barney
Froggy
Goes to School
Franklin
Goes to School
Morris
the Moose Goes to School ~ B. Wiseman
llama
llama misses mama ~ Anna Dewdney

Bulletin
Boards
Bulletin Board:
This is a permanent bulletin board beside my classroom door. I put
it up at the beginning of the year and it stays until the end.

|
When you
Enter this
Little room
Consider yourself
One of the special
Members of a group
who
Enjoys working and
learning |
This
is the same bulletin board from the year before when we were doing a Bee
motif in our classroom.
The hive
says:
Sometimes
looking into a classroom
is a
bit like looking into a beehive:
the
uninformed visitor might see lots of bees
moving
in many directions
with
no apparent logic,
but
the beekeeper knows what each bee is doing
and
how an activity fits
within
the overall pattern.
“We Are Quite A Flock”
Bulletin Board: Make sheep with the kids’ pictures on the
face of the sheep, arrange them in a group with a grassy background.
To make
the sheep: Use a small paper plate. Cut out two long rectangle ears
and two rectangle legs from black construction paper. Cut an upside down
V at the bottom of the leg strips-so they look like the bottom of a first
place award ribbon would look. Round off the bottom of the two ear strips
to look like ears. Then cut out an almost round face shape from gray
construction paper; cut it so that it looks more oblong at the bottom of
the face. Glue the ears on the side of the blank face, then glue the face
at the center bottom of the paper plate hanging down over the edge of the
plate. Then glue the two legs hanging down at the bottom of the plate hanging
lower than the ears. Have each child glue white cotton balls over
the top 3/4 of the paper plate. Take a picture of each child the
first day and glue the child's photocopied picture over the gray construction
paper face.
Bulletin Boards:
Kindergarten
is the place to "bee" ( tree with a hive, a pickett fence and bees with
the kids' names on them)
There's
no place like kindergarten! (large trees, yellow brick road with the kids'
names on the bricks, lots of colorful flowers)
"Welcome
to the Club" (Club Kinder - club house, trees, kids' faces poking out of
the clubhouse window)
Bulletin Board: “Welcome
to Kinder-garden” Provide the students with large size flower “heads”copied
onto different colored construction paper, stems, and leaves. Have
them cut them out, then add their picture to the center of the flower.
Display these on the bulletin board in “garden” style. You can a
fence, trees, birds, a rabbit, etc. If you save the flowers from
the board, they can be sent home at the end of the school year with one
of the poems from the May/Summer page.
Bulletin Board: This
bulletin board accomplishes a lot of tasks with one project! This
is a student created bulletin board, plus it lets you see how well your
students can color and cut. Provide each student with a BIG sneaker and
let them color/decorate it as they please. Then have them cut them
out. If appropriate, you can add real shoe laces. Display these
on a bulletin board with “We’re Off and Running!” (If you use the
shoe laces, you can also do a quick assessment of who can tie their shoes)
We “Face” the New Year:
Provide your students with a white paper plate. Either provide them
with facial features to cut out and glue on, or have them draw their own
face on the plate. Then they add yarn for hair, along with a big
construction paper bow. The boys use the bow as a bowtie, and the
girls use it as a hair bow. Display these on a bulletin board.
Have the students write their names on a half sheet of paper cut vertically,
or use pre-printed names. The names are displayed under each students’
face. This idea came from the September Bulletin Board book and it
comes with patterns for the facial features and a collar for each.
Guess Who?:
Cut a light colored piece of construction paper in half horizontally.
Holding the piece of paper vertically, write “Guess Who?” at the top with
a black Sharpie marker. Cut a piece of construction paper in a coordinating
color to a smaller size (maybe about 4 x 5). This smaller piece is
stapled onto the larger piece under the title (center it). Only staple
the left hand side; this will form a door or flap. On the flap, have
your students write or dictate words or short phrases that describe themselves.
When that’s completed, they open the flap and draw their picture underneath
the flap. Or, you could add their photos here instead. . Collect
them when they’re finished, read the “clues” and let the class try to guess
who they are. These can be displayed as a “get to know you” bulletin
board.
Welcome Back to School!
Bulletin Board: I did this bulletin board eons ago! (still
have it though, from when we use to “laminate” everything with clear Contact
paper). The pattern can be found in the September Teacher’s Friend.
Make a large “old-time” schoolhouse with your room number on it and a HUGE
handbell. On the bell write “Welcome Back to School!” All the
students’ names go on individual name plates scattered around the board.
The bell is placed in one of the top corners with the handle sticking out
over the edge of the board.
“Lettuce Introduce
Ourselves” Bulletin Board: Someone posted this on the ‘net
and I thought it was tooo cute! Cover the top section of your bulletin
board in light blue paper, the bottom section in brown. Use strips
of green corrugated bulletin board board down the middle of the brown to
form rows in the garden. Photocopy large heads of lettuce onto green
construction paper and cut out. Put a picture of each child’s face on each
head of lettuce and laminate. Place the heads of lettuce behind the
strips of border to make rows of lettuce. You could even add a white
picket fence behind the garden with some flowers and a bunny along the
bottom. Bunny’s love lettuce! This would even be a cute bulletin
board to go along with Peter Rabbit.
Pooh Bulletin Board:
Make a large Winnie the Pooh saying, “P is Pooh who welcomes you to ____
grade.” Add the students’ names on honey pots or bees.
“Putting
Your Best Foot Forward” Bulletin Board: Trace the students’ feet and add
their name, their picture, or something about them.
“Pencil Us In For a
Great Year!” Bulletin Board: Use white bulletin board paper
and add lines with a black/blue Sharpie marker to look like a sheet of
notebook paper. You also need to add the holes if appropriate.
Buy a pencil shape notepad and laminate enough pages for each student in
your class. Add each student’s name to a pencil with a Vis-a-Via
pen. Display on the bulletin board.
“A Colorful Class”
Bulletin Board: The same idea as above could be used, but
instead of using notebook paper for the background it could be a page of
a coloring book. Not as easy as the paper, but you could draw off
a simple blackline picture and even color part of it in to look as if it
were incomplete. Add the students’ names to crayons instead of pencils.
“Welcome to Kinder-Garden
(or Mrs. ___’s Garden) and Watch Us Grow!” Bulletin Board:
Just add this caption to a flower garden or a patch of sunflowers.
“Welcome to the Kingdom
of ______” Bulletin Board: Use with a castle motif.
Students’ names can be added to crowns or take each student’s picture with
a crown on and add their pictures. Both king and queen crowns can
be purchased at party stores fairly cheap.
“Quack, Quack … We’re
back!” Bulletin Board: I LOVE this idea! If I have
a bulletin board this year I think I’ll use it. Make a big white
duck with your name on it. Make enough little yellow ducklings to
put each student’s name on one. Add "wiggly eyes" to all ducks. This
would look precious in a pond scene with cattails, lily pads, a frog, etc.
Our May door last year was similar to this but only had the mother duck
and a couple of little ones. The door turned out cute.
This
is the picture of the "Quack, Quack" bulletin board. I did use it
last year and it stayed up for quite a while! Kerry said that when
she used it last year, she added cows and a pasture and the cows said something
like, "Moo, Moo, We Are, Too!" |

|
“A New Batch of Smart
Cookies” Bulletin Board: Make large cookie sheets by covering
cardboard with aluminum foil, then add huge chocolate chip cookies.
Put each child’s name on a cookie. Oven mitts optional.
"We're a SHARP bunch!"
Bulletin Board: Photocopy your own pencil patterns
and color them, or use pencil shaped notepad pages. Write each
student's name on a pencil and add the title. If you laminate the
pencils before adding the names, you can reuse the pencils again.
"Mrs. ____'s Bunch" Bulletin
Board: A bunch of grapes that is. :) To form the grapes,
either use inverted small purple plates or cut circles from purple paper.
Overlap the plates or circles to form the cluster of grapes. Program
each grape with a student's name. Add a stem and a grape leaf using
green paper. This also makes a good door decoration.
"First
Grade Is a Picnic!" Bulletin Board: Use a plastic red
& white checked tablecloth for the background. Add a large picnic
basket. Add paper plates each programmed with a subject area.
Add ants programmed with each students' name or have them complete the
TLC Ant and add those to the board.
"Look Who
Followed Me To School!" Bulletin Board: I really
like this bulletin board and it would be great for someone starting out
the year with Nursery Rhymes. Enlarge Little Bo Peep on the board
and have enough little lambs following her that each could be programmed
with a student's name. If you cut Little Bo Peep's clothes from cloth
and the lambs from something "wooly" it would be tooo cute! :)
"On the Road to Success"
Bulletin Board: Use maps for the background.
Make a street using black/gray construction paper with white/yellow lines.
Have each student's name on a car.
"Twinkle, Twinkle
Little Star" Bulletin Board: This is another cute board
and perfect for the Nursery Rhyme unit as well! Cover your board
with dark blue or black paper. Add a star for each child made from
yellow construction paper, aluminum foil, or holographic wrapping paper.
Program each star with a child's name and add the caption: " Twinkle, Twinkle
Little Star, I Wished For You and Here You Are!" If you're using
the plain yellow stars, you might want to add some glitter around the edges
or on the tips. You could also use stuffed stars.
"We're Seeing Stars
in ____ !" Bulletin Board: This board can be set up
similar to the one above or the ideas mixed/matched. Splatter paint
dark background with gold paint. Add stars with students' pictures
in sunglasses. You could also use that shiny gold garland with the
stars as a border.
"A "Berry" Special
Class" Bulletin Board: Use strawberries and add the
students' names.
"Kindergarten Is a
Hands-On Experience" Bulletin Board: Either use die-cut
hands programmed with each child's name or let them add their handprint
(using paint or stamp pad) with their name underneath.
"Have You Heard the
Scoop?" Bulletin Board: Take a picture of each student
eating an ice cream cone. Staple them to the board and add
the caption: "Have you heard the scoop? This is one cool group!"
What a fun way to start out the year, and everyone will want to help you
do the board! :)
“I Couldn't Have
Picked A Better Bunch!” Bulletin Board: This is my Back to
School board for 2003/2004. Bit and pieces of this bulletin board idea
were shared on the web and I took the parts I liked and put them together.
I thought the bulletin board turned out very cute. And if it hadn't for
been having to weave the basket, this would have been a very simple bulletin
board to do. I didn't even draw off the tree, I just started cutting.
The apples were cut using the Ellison. Each apple of the tree has one of
the words for the title. The students' names are on the apples in the
basket. I wrinkled the paper for a textured look, and loosely stapled
all the tree parts. I stuffed a little of the left over paper behind the
top for more definition. The "hay" in the basket is a little raffia that
I had on top of extra paper for stuffing. *Note- someone emailed me that
their friend had created this same board using this idea, but to make it
easier had cut a basket in half instead of the weaving. I don't know
that I thought about that, but I did think about looking for one of those
baskets that was flat on one side to use.

|
"Kindergarten Treasures": This hall bulletin board belongs to the
K teacher next door. It's a take-off from "Pirates of the Caribbean".
Very cute!!! The kids' names are on the gold coins.

|
Who Do You See? Bulletin Board:
This is a board I have used each year. After I take it down, I make a book for
the class to read during the year. End of year I send each child's home with
them.
Allow each child to pick a toy (I have Clifford, Beanie baby monkey, spider man,
dolls, etc) to hold. I take a digital picture of them. Print and then
glue to center of 8 1/2 x 11 paper which has this printed on it. At the top
"Mr. Buchman, Mr. Buchman, who do you see?" At the bottom of the page is
printed "I see (child's name), looking at me?." Then I have my picture up
with "Children, children, who do you see?" "I see Mr. Buchman looking at
us" Mount sheets on construction paper to frame and do a title for the board
"Who do you see?" or something. It sets up "Brown Bear " for reading.
Great way to get all pictures up quickly.
submitted by: Bill Kindergarten Guy
* thanks Bill for sharing!
;)


Songs
Here In The Classroom
(tune:
Up On the Housetop)
Here
in the classroom where we play,
We work
hard right here each day.
Working
together happily,
Come
and see us and you'll see.
We have
fun, we all play,
Work
and learn right here each day.
Here
in the classroom we all play,
Working
together every day.
~ Mary
Flynn
From
the Songs 4 Teachers Theme
Unit "All About School"
Our Classroom
(tune:
My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean)
Our classroom
is where we will learn and ~
Our
classroom is the place to be.
Our
classroom has friends and a teacher,
This
classroom is perfect for me!
I'm at
school now,
To play
and to learn things each day, each day.
I'm
at school now,
To hear
what the teacher will say.
I bought
all my pencils and crayons ~
And
markers I got at the store.
I got
some new clothes and a backpack,
And
I know what all this is for!
'Cause
I'm at school now,
The
summer time went by so fast, so fast.
I'm
at school now,
I'm
glad that it's school time at last!
~ Mary
Flynn
Time For School
(tune:
Sing a Song of Sixpence)
When
the summer's over,
It's
time to come to school.
I will
sit right down
And
listen to the rules.
I am
happy being in my brand new class.
With
my teacher and my friends,
it's
time for school at last!
~ Mary
Flynn
From
the Songs 4 Teachers Theme
Unit "All About School"

Activities
Expo Caddy: This is one of my favorite finds! I saw
something similar on a teacher's website and of course couldn't find anything
exactly like she had. But I found this at WalMart and it works even
better! I think it's actually a letter sorter/desk organizer. It has
three sections and comes with the magnet already attached to the back. So
all I had to do was attach it to my white board and fill it with my Expo markers
and erasers. It holds two rows of markers and two erasers. And it's
high enough to keep little hands away from it! :)
click to enlarge
Time Capsules: On the first or second day of school,
help your students to make a time capsule. Have them
decorate an envelope or some other container that will hold their
mementoes. Include in the container a digital photo of them,
a tracing of their hand and shoe print, and a measurement of their
height using string, yarn or calculator tape. Then using either
dictation, writing, or recording have them complete a
questionnaire about personal info such as friends, favorite color,
foods, favorite subject, favorite thing about school, what they
think the year will be like, etc. Include the questionnaire
in the capsule, making sure to include a place on the container
for name and date. Then store these away inside a closet or
tub and before taking them out on the last day of school, have the
students complete the same questionnaire again. Then have
them open their time capsule; explore the contents and analyze and
discuss the differences.
Kindergarten School
Count Down Calendars: A couple of weeks before school starts,
you can send out Learn About School Count Down Calendars. It is a cardboard
picture of a bus, with windows and doors that open to provide information
about starting kindergarten; similar to an advent calendar. There
are 14 spots to open for the two weeks prior to school. They also have
a page translated to Spanish if needed. If you just order one
the cost is $5.99, but for 12 or more it is $2.59. These can be ordered
from:
Gumdrops
for Breakfast
10 Strathmore
Road
Wakefield,
MA 01880
Phone
(781) 245-2143
It is
a small home based operation. The buses can also be personalized for $0.15
each.
“At School We Learn
About …” book:
Page
1--At school we learn about colors. (pictures of crayons on this page)
2--At school we learn about letters. (letters scattered about on the
page)
3--At school we learn about numbers. (numbers scattered about on
the page)
4--At school we learn about shapes. (shapes on the page)
5--At school we learn about animals. (animals on the page, a bear,
dinosaur, frog, etc.)
6--At school we learn about plants. (tree, flower, vine on page)
7--At school we learn about people. (Santa Claus, Pilgrims, Indians,
etc. on the page)
8--At school we learn about places. (farm, circus, zoo, rainforest)
You can
make your book as long or as short as you’d like, changing the pages to
fit your needs.
"The First Days of
School" book: Modeled after “The 12 Days of Christmas”. You
do a new page each day. Have the text already typed on the pages
for them, and they add the “stuff” ….
On the
first day of school, my teacher gave to me, a hug and a pat on the back.
(add an appropriate picture or have them draw one)
2
candy kisses (Give them two Kisses shapes cut from aluminum foil and
a small strip of paper
to glue on and of course 2 Kisses to eat while they work! :)
)
3
Fruit Loops (give them 3 Fruit Loops to glue on and some extras to eat
while working)
4
silver paperclips
5
yummy M&Ms
6
new friends (provide the students with a list of typed names of their classmates,
have them
choose 6 names to cut out and add to their page)
7
smiling faces (cut from the Ellison machine or smiley face stickers)
8
little flowers (cut from the Ellison machine)
9
beautiful buttons
10 shiny
stars (stickers)
11 colorful
crayons (Provide them with a page of crayon shapes with color words on
them. Have them color them the correct color, cut them out, and glue
them into their book.)
12 tiny
apples (cut from the Ellison machine)
Welcome To My Class!:
Send the following items and messages home in a decorated bag with each
student the first day of school.
You're
a star in my class! (attach a Starburst)
You're
going to learn so much in school this year! (attach Smarties)
We all
need hugs now and then,
If you
need one, let me know! (attach Hershey's Hug)
Remember,
it's OK to make mistakes
That's
how we learn! (attach an eraser)
I'm nuts
about you! (attach a peanut)
Welcome Bags: Place
the items described below in a brown lunch bag and include this handout:
The
items in this bag have special meaning:
The
cotton ball is to remind you that this room is full of kind words and warm
feelings.
The
chocolate kiss is to comfort you when you are feeling sad.
The
tissue is to remind you to help dry someone's tears.
The
sticker is to remind you that we all stick together and help each other.
The
star is to remind you to shine and always try your best.
The
gold thread is to remind you that friendship ties our hearts together.
The
rubber band is to remind you to hug someone.
The
penny is to remind you that you are valuable and special.
The
toothpick is to remind you to "pick out" the good qualities in your classmates.
The
bandage is to heal hurt feelings in your friends and in yourself.
The
eraser is to remind you that we all make mistakes, and that is O.K.
The
life saver is to remind you that you can come to me if you need someone
to talk to.
Getting to Know You!:
A sackful of fun! Give each child a paper sack to take home. Tell the children
to fill their sacks with objects that tell something about themselves.
For example, crayons might say, "I like to draw and do other types of art,"
and a tennis ball says, "I'm a good tennis player." On the day the
children bring their filled sacks to school, give them a chance to share
their sacks' contents with the class. Students love knowing about their
teachers, too, so go ahead and take your own turn. It might be a good idea
to prepare your sack so you may share it with the children on the day you
pass out their empty sacks. This will help in getting the idea across
to the kids.
I don’t
know where this idea came from, but I did it a couple of years ago.
I fixed my sack first and included things about my daughter, my pet, etc.
The last thing out of my sack was a bottle of red fingernail polish.
I pulled off one of my shoes and told them that I loved to paint my toenails
red and showed them my toes! This was definitely an icebreaker, and
it helped to give the kids ideas of what they could put in their sacks.
Beginning of the Year
Addition: This activity was posted on the ‘net and can also
be used for taking attendance. You’ll need a tree large enough to
hold an apple cutout for each student and some way to attach the apple
to the tree (such as velcro). Put each boy’s name on one color apple
(red, yellow, green) and the girls’ names go on another color apple.
(You’re only going to use two colors) When each student arrives to school,
it is their 'job' to get their apple and place it on a chart. The
chart is in a horizontal line with boy apples on top and girl apples on
the bottom. (If the apples are small enough, you could use a pocketchart
for this)
Example
R= red apples (boys) Y= yellow apples (girls)
10 R R R R R R R R R R
+
7 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
------
17
During
the morning meetings/circle time/group time, a student counts the row of
red and yellow apples and writes the numeral in front of each row. (If
you’re using a pocketchart, they can choose the correct number card to
put in the chart.) Then count how many in all? By starting
this the first day of school, of course the teacher will have to model
this until the students begin to catch on.
Another Just for fun!
activity: Have your students tell you how to make a peanut
butter and jelly sandwich. Follow their directions Amelia Bedelia
style! What a lot of laughs! Afterwards, everyone can fix their
own peanut butter and jelly sandwich. They could even do this with
a partner and see if they do any better giving directions the second time
around. Warning! Be sure to check for peanut allergies before
you try this with your students.
First Day of School
Activity: Make giant monster footprints from construction
paper and have them leading around your room to the different Centers.
Then mess the centers up. When the students arrive read the book:
Monster’s First Day at School Afterwards, tell them that a pretend
monster must have visited their classroom! This is a good way to
introduce to them how the Centers are NOT to look! Then you can show
them how they’re supposed to look.
Read The Blanket
That Had to Go! on the first day of school and provide
each student a small scrap of blue flannel to keep in their pocket.
This can be a reminder for them to use when retelling the story to their
parents.
I Can Make a Book: Reproducible
in Worksheet Magazine Grade 1 Sept/Oct 1990
Activity Sheets:
School Days Long Ago reproducibles from SCHOOLDAYS, Sept/Oct 1986
(In case you happen to have access to an archives of teacher reproducibles
like we do at our school.)
School Supply List:
In the past, I’ve sent a copy of the next year’s supply list home with
the students’ end of the year report cards. My justification was
that I was giving the parents the whole summer to pick up their school
supplies, therefore not causing a money crunch at the beginning of the
school year. However, it seemed that the parents never kept up with
the supply lists, and I had to supply them again at the beginning of the
year. This year, I intend on sending a welcome letter to each student,
and in with the letter will be the supply list. I’ve finally come
to realize, that the beginning of the year is THE time to get whatever
is needed, including parent conferences. It seems as the year wears
on, the interest of some of the parents tends to wear out.
Welcome Letter/Postcard:
For the last several years, I’ve sent a postcard to my students a few days
before school started to welcome them to, or back to, my class. (I
teach SPED K-2 so I have my students several years.) The first or
second year I did this, I had a little girl’s aunt come up to me the first
day of school. She asked me if I was “the one” that sent her
niece the postcard. I told her that I did, and she told me that the
little girl had slept with the postcard every night since she got it.
It was probably the first thing the little girl had ever gotten in the
mail. Ever since then, I’ve made it mandatory that I send some form
of welcoming letter to my students.
The next
year after that story happened, I had a case worker tell me that one of
her clients received one of my postcards and that his family was so proud
of it that they put it up on the mantel. Their son had some behavior
issues, and she said that the postcard made his family feel that it was
OK that school was starting back again because someone was looking forward
to having their son in their class. If we only knew how some of the
little things we do affect others in a major way.
Anyway,
this year I’m sending a welcome letter instead of a postcard along with
the school supply list. Another year, about middle of the summer,
I sent a letter along with the shoe tying poems to all my future students.
I told them that we were going to have a shoe tying contest on the first
day of school. Every one that could tie their shoe got their name
put on a laminated sneaker (made from a notepad) and then the sneakers
were added as the shoes on a huge caterpillar on our wall. Then as
students learned how to tie their shoes, their names were added to a shoe.
Makes a cute caterpillar!
School Starts Today!
Name Tag Reproducible: There’s a page with a bus, a car,
and a sneaker on the page, with a place to write the student’s name on
each. This goes with a great idea that they gave on pinning one of
these to each student according to how they would return home. Bus
riders got the bus, walkers got the sneaker, and pick-ups got the car.
They also suggested making a big poster of the 3 graphics as well.
Each student’s name would be added to one of the 3 posters according to
how they would return home. (The posters and the student’s name tag
should match) Then the teacher could tell at a glance who should
be lining up where! This idea and reproducible came from: SCHOOLDAYS
Sept/Oct 1987
Making New Friends:
There’s a reproducible in the SCHOOLDAYS Sept/Oct 1987 for this called
“My Friends.” However, you could easily make your own activity sheet
for it. Using a graphics program, make a page with 9 activities (or
however many you can get on a page) that children like to do, with 2 lines
under each picture. Some of the graphics could be swimming, playing
ball, a dog, a bike, a book, at the beach, flying a kite, a cat, mountains,
etc. Provide each student with a copy, then have them go around to
their new friends and get them to sign their name under the pictures of
the things that they like to do. Instant ice-breaker and good for
name practice as well.
Teaching Tools:
Using a graphics program, design an activity sheet with a chalkboard at
the bottom of the page. On the chalkboard, write the words: eraser,
pencil, scissors, chalk, grade book, ruler, pen, charts, maps, books, paper,
computer. Above the chalkboard, number the page to 12 (two columns).
Beside each number type a word from the list, but scramble the letters.
Next to the word, put a line for the students to write the unscrambled
word on. This would be a good first day of school activity for 2nd
graders. You can find a similar reproducible at May Monthly Activities,
Teacher Created Materials 1989.
Writing Activity:
Supply each student with half a sheet of writing paper with the sentence
starter: I like school because … Before distributing them to
the students, staple a red apple. Ellison die-cuts are perfect for
this. These can be displayed as an instant bulletin board as
well.
Student Questionaire:
The reproducible can be found in the September, Teacher’s Friend.
1. What
do you like most about school?
2. What
do you like to do in your spare time?
3. What
are some things you know a lot about?
4. What
kinds of books do you like most?
5. What
are some things about which you would like to know more?
6. What
interesting places have you visited?
7. What
are some places you would like to visit?
8. If
you could be a famous person, who would you be?
9. Do
you like music? What kind?
10.
What are you good at in school?
11.
What do you think you might need extra help with in school?
12.
What is your favorite:
food
_________
color
_________
TV show
_________
sport
_________
place
_________
movie
________
13.
Who is your favorite celebrity?
14.
Who is your favorite friend?
15.
Complete these sentences:
I am
happiest when ____________.
I am
saddiest when ____________.
Bry-back Manor:
Activity
page 104 Fill the Bookbag
http://www.bry-backmanor.org/actpag104.html
Activity
page 160 Back to School Patterns
http://www.bry-backmanor.org/actpag160.html
Activity
Page 105 Which Way to School? (maze)
http://www.bry-backmanor.org/actpag105.html
The First Day of School
Class Book: This is a shape book and can be a school house,
an apple, a bus, etc. Each student will complete a page with the
sentence starter: Today is the first day of ___ Grade. I want
to learn all about …. The pages are then compiled into a class book.
Who Am I? Class Book:
Have each student write or dictate 3 clues about themselves onto a page.
The last line of everyone’s page should be: Who am I? For example:
I have
blonde hair.
I am
a girl.
My favorite
movie is The Little Mermaid.
Who
am I?
On the
back of each page, place a photo of the student along with their name.
Compile all the pages together to form a class book.
Giving Tree:
Have a wish list for your classroom a mile long and no funding to achieve
it with? You might consider creating a Giving Tree outside your classroom
door or somewhere inside your classroom where parents frequent. Make
a large tree from bulletin board paper and tape it securely to the wall.
Write each item from your wish list on a separate apple cut-out.
Tape the apples to the tree. Introduce the tree at Open House or
in a newsletter. Explain to the parents that if they’d like to donate
items on the tree, to remove the apple, purchase the item, and return it
to the classroom. Be sure to send thank-you notes to all parents
who donate. If you do a newsletter, then you can thank them there,
and hopefully it will spur more donations from other parents. Everyone
likes to see their name in lights!
Pocketchart Activity:
I’m
here at school
And
you are too!
My name
is ______.
How
old are you?
Write
each sentence on a sentence strip and write each student’s name on an index
to be placed in the blank. Make a second set of sentence strips to
cut up so that the students can match the words to the text. If you
alternate the sentence strip colors for each line, and then make your second
set to match, it makes it a little easier for the students to match them
up. If you need a visual, you can look at the Chocolate Bunny poem
picture on the Easter page.
Discipline Chart:
I’m going to use this idea this year for my Discipline Chart if I can find
the tree pocketchart. You’ll need one of the new tree shaped pocketcharts.
Cut out enough apples using the Ellison machine so that you’ll have one
per student. Label each apple with a student’s name; laminate.
Each strip/row of the tree will be a different rung on the discipline ladder.
Each student will start out the day in the top row of the tree. As
their behavior deteriorates during the day, their apple will be moved down
the tree. Fall off the tree and you’re heading for the office!
I haven’t sat down and figured out yet exactly what my consequences will
be or if I even need that many levels. Normally there are 10 rows on pocketchart.
I think this last year I only used 8 levels, so I could use the first two
rows for the beginning of the day or Excellent Behavior. Then my
discipline chart went to: Warning, Warning, Lose ½ Recess, Lose
Whole Recess, Parent Contact, Time Out, Possible Office Referral.
You’d probably also need a small card on row stating the consequence for
being at that level. You could use this same idea with a regular
pocketchart.
This
is the Discipline Chart I used last year. The larger apples at the
beginning of each row states the consequence. |

|
This
past year I used this same format, but I used a huge ice cream cone.
Each scoop on the cone had a different consequence and each scoop was a
different color. The children’s names were each on a “cherry”.
Everyone started out on the top scoop and worked their way down.
I put the cone up on the side of a storage cabinet and the “cherries” were
attached with magnets so they could be moved up and down easily.
School
Students
can then write their own school poem using the following frame.
I Like
School
I like
school.
I ___________________________
I ___________________________
and
play.
I like
school.
I learn
new things
each day.
I like
school.
I _______________________
I________________________
and
run.
I like
school.
It's great
to have
such fun!
Who’s Turn Is It?:
A
few years ago I read about this idea on the ‘net and it works like a charm.
You know you’re always going to have at least one student in your class
who insists that they NEVER get a turn, although you know they have.
This little trick nips that in the bud! Paint and/or decorate a soup
can. Write the name of each of your students on one end of a craft
stick with a Sharpie marker. Color the other end (both sides) with
a permanent marker. Put all the sticks with the name side up in the
can. When you need to call on a student, simply pick one of the sticks
out of the can and call on the student who’s name is on the stick.
Then return the stick to the can, but put the name side down, with the
colored end up. By coloring that end of the stick, it will save you
time when choosing a stick to pull out. You’ll know NOT to choose
a stick with the colored end up. No more whining! When everyone’s
had a turn, simply reverse all the sticks and start again.
Math Pocketchart Activity:
For
my students who are working on number concepts to 10, I like to keep up
a pocketchart activity for them to use. Usually the activity coordinates
with whatever theme /unit that we're working on . You can easily
make a Back to School numbers activity if you have access to an Ellison
machine. Cut (5) 3x5 index cards in half and program with the numbers 1
- 10. Using the Ellison machine die-cuts, cut out 55 dies.
I know they have a girl, a boy, a crayon, a crayon box, an apple
and a school house.
Line
the numbers up in random order at the left edge of the pocketchart, vertically.
Have the students count out the correct number of dies and place them in
the row beside the number. An alternate activity would be to place
the die-cuts in the rows and have the studens count them and place the
correct numbers in the pocketchart.
Open House: Have
your students copy the text to make invitations to Open House. The
invitations can be in letter or card format. After copying the information,
they can decorate the invitation or complete an art project on it such
as a torn paper apple. (Torn paper apple: give them an apple outline
and have them fill in the apple by glueing on small pieces of torn red
paper. Add a green stem and leaf.) If you include in the invitation
that refreshments will be served or door prizes will be given, you'll probably
have a better response. If you say you're going to give away LOTS
of money, success is guaranteed. :) And since the students made the
invitation themselves, they're more apt to see that their parents receive
it instead of just leaving it in their bookbag to be found weeks later.
Next,
have the students create this life-size self portrait. If you tell
them they can take it home after Open House, then they'll want to come
and hopefully bug their parents to come. :) Have each student lay
down on a piece of butcher paper. Trace around their body with a
pencil. Have the students cut out the body shape and color it to
look like themselves. At the end of the day, sit each "paper person"
in that student's chair at their desk/table. If the heads don't want
to stay up, you may have to use something such as a ruler or dowel taped
to the chair, and then tape the head to the brace. Push the chairs
up to the table/desk and position the arms there. When you're finished
and all the children have gone, you'll still have a whole class of "students"
there waiting for Open House! This is really cute when finished and
the students are excited about getting to take "themselves" home.
Classroom Rules:
I
can't remember, but I think someone posted this story as an introduction
to making their classroom rules. If not, then it can be used for
that.
When
Andy got on the bus on the first day of school, he saw a monster! Andy
was very surprised. He did not know that monsters were allowed to go to
school. But there the monster was. It was making all kinds of noise and
would not sit down. It climbed on the seats and put its head out the window.
It took up so much room that Andy had no place to sit.
"Wow, that monster sure is noisy! I'll bet it isn't even supposed to be
here," Andy whispered to Vivian.
But Andy's teacher was not at al surprised to see the monster enter the
classroom. It pushed ahead of everyone, grabbed a box of toys, and dumped
them on the floor. When Andy and the other children sat at their places,
the monster started to throw the toys.
"Stop that!" said the teacher. "Even monsters are not allowed to throw
toys."
The monster dropped the toys and stared screaming. It screamed so loudly
that no one could hear the teacher.
"Be quiet!" the teacher finally said. The monster stopped screaming, and
the teacher said, "It is time to play outside."
Everyone stood up and walked to the door- everyone except the monster.
It ran out the door without waiting for directions.
Outside, the monster continued to behave like a monster. It pushed some
children and took toys from others. It climbed up the slide the wrong way
and sat at the top so no one else could slide down.
When the students returned to the classroom, the teacher tried to read
them a story. But the monster shouted and laughed, and no one could hear.
Then it pulled the toys off the shelves again. It just would not listen!
At lunchtime, the monster grabbed other people's sandwiches. It dropped
food on the floor and spilled milk. Later, when it was time to paint, the
monster ran around the room painting big, black lines on the children's
paintings! When the children formed a circle and tried to sing, the monster
jumped around and stepped on their toes. It pounded on the piano until
the teacher had to close it. At rest time, the monster laughed and talked
and poked the children.
"Come here!" said the teacher, who was finally very angry. "You are a real
monster! Monsters are not allowed in school. Go away and never come back."
And do you know what happened? The monster burst into tears! Everyone was
astonished.
"I'm sorry!" cried the monster. "I've never been to school before. I did
not know it was against the rules to shout and run and push, or to grab
and throw things. Please don't tell me I can't come back! I will try to
learn if you will help me."
The teacher asked the children what they thought. The children decided
to make a list of rules. They would let the monster stay-if it followed
the rules. The monster worked hard to learn how to behave, and soon it
knew all the rules, just the way all the children did.
1. What
did the monster do wrong on the bus?
2. What
did the monster do wrong outside?
3. What
did the monster do wrong in the classroom?
4. What
rules could the children make so that the monster would know how to
behave
properly?
~ Author
Unknown
Will I Have a Friend?:
Read this book with the class, then have the children divide into pairs.
Photograph each pair of students and add it to a page with the sentence:
____ and ____ are friends. Add a cover and bind into a class book
with the title "I Have a Friend".
See You Later Alligator!:
I'm going to post these by my classroom door to use. My kids will
love them! :) Don't know how far down the list we'll get though.
See you
later, alligator.
In a
while, crocodile.
Bye-bye,
butterfly.
Give
a hug, ladybug.
Take
care, polar bear.
See
you soon, raccoon.
Out
the door, dinosaur.
To your
house, little mouse.
Other
possibilities:
Not too
soon, you big baboon. (we'd probably skip this one :) )
In a
blizzard, little lizard.
In a
shake, garter snake.
Time
to scoot, warty newt.
Don't
meander, salamander.
Hit
the road, hoppy toad.
Bye-bye,
butterfly.
Be sweet,
parakeet.
Give
a hug, ladybug.
See
you soon, raccoon.
Out
the door, dinosaur.
Stay
well, gazelle
Not
now brown cow
'Till
then penguin
To your
house, mouse
Manana
Iguana
Take
care, polar bear.
Give
a kiss, jellyfish,
Take
a bow, brown cow
So long,
King Kong.
Toodle-oo,
kangaroo.
Come
back and play another day.
Bye bye
butterfly.
See
you soon raccoon.
In awhile
crocodile .
Toodaloo
kangaroo.
Out
the door dinosaur.
In a
line, porcupine.
To the
bus octopus.
Finally
at your house, mouse!
Guess Who?:
Each day, put one student's name (mixed-up) on a magnetic surface using
magnetic letters. Have the students see if they can figure out who's
name it is before Morning Meeting/Circle Time. Once someone guesses
the correct answer, have that student come up and put the letters in the
correct order. Then use their name to reinforce letter identification.
Daily Graphing
Questions: I'm incorporating into my Morning Meeting a daily graphing
question in addition to daily graphing the weather. I've found out that my
students need to see these concepts very frequently, instead of monthly after
"mastery". So I'm creating lists of daily graphing questions to use for
those units that I'll be teaching. And someone just shared with me that
they have a few of their students explain "why" they answered as they did
because one of their objectives is to explain their opinion. I know that
in our 2nd grade benchmarks, they're also asked to explain their answers in
writing in Math, so this would be a good introduction to meeting that benchmark.
Questions:
1 - How did you get to
school? bus car walk
bicycle
2 - What do you like best,
recess or lunch?
3 - Do you like to read,
write, or do math the best?
4 - Which color crayon to
you like the best? red, yellow, blue, green, orange
5 - How many boys are in our
class? How many girls?
6 - How many letters in your
first name?
7 - How many letters in your
last name?
8 - Do you like your name?
yes no
9 - Do you like school?
yes no sometimes
10 - Did you want school to
start back? yes no
11 - Are you left handed or
right handed?
12 - Can you read? yes
no (this question should also give you some insight to the child)
13 - Do you like books?
yes no
14 - Who's your favorite
teacher?
15 - How many pencils are in
your pencil box?
16 - Did you eat breakfast
this morning? yes no
17 - Where did you eat
breakfast this morning? home school didn't eat
18 - What is your favorite
day of the week?
19 - Do you like music?
yes no (I meant the class, but it can be answered either way)
20 - Do you like PE?
yes no
21 - Do you like to ride the
school bus?
22 - Which book do you like
best? _____ or _____ (choose 2-3 books they're familiar with)
23 - What is your favorite
school day?
24 - Which would you rather
color with? crayon marker colored pencil
25 - How did you feel on the
first day of school? happy sad scared
mad
26 - Would you rather swing
or slide while on the playground?
27 - Do you like a loud
class or a quiet class?
28 - Would you rather go to
the Block Center, the Listening Center, or the Computers?
29 - Do you think math is
easy? yes no
30 - Have you ever been to
another school? yes no
31 - Do you think reading is
easy? yes no
32 - Can you write a
sentence? yes no
33 - Can you draw a picture
of a bus? yes no
34 - What color do you think
buses should be painted?
35 - What is your favorite
thing about school?
36 - Who would you like your
teacher to be?
37 - Was your mom glad that
school started back? yes no
38 - Did you go on vacation
during the summer? yes no
39 - Where did you go on
vacation?
40 - Do you have a best
friend? yes no
41 - Is your best friend a
boy or a girl? boy girl
42 - Do you like morning or
afternoon best? morning afternoon
43 - How many erasers do you
have?
44 - How many crayons do you
have?
45 - How many brothers and
sisters do you have that go to school?
46 - Do you have any
brothers or sisters in our school? yes no
Patterns: I'm also
incorporating a weekly pattern into my Morning Meet each day. We'll add
the next piece to the pattern each day and the pattern will change from week to
week. For the month of Aug. (when school starts back here) we'll work on
AB patterns.
Week 1: apple, bus
Week 2: boy, girl
Week 3: crayon, school
Class Newsletter:
I use to do a newsletter a couple or so years ago. I made mine in Word using a 3
column format. It started out with what we were doing in the classroom (the
theme) and asked for any donations needed or whatever, then I had a place for
the Spelling Words for the week, the Sight Words for the week, then ways the
parents could work with the kids at home. Mine wasn't specific homework, but
more like suggestions. For instance, I'd put in something that I'd read about
how children should be read to at last 20 mins. every night. This is a good way
to share very small parts of educational research that you'd like the parents to
be aware of.
You could set yours up however you needed. I also inserted colored clipart in
the newsletter at the very beginning to match the theme we were working on (or
the season or holiday) to give it some color and interest. Also, if you use this
format, the beginning is also a good place to thank parents by name who've
donated stuff that you needed. Everyone wants to see their name in print :), and
this might help you get other stuff you need as well ... especially if they know
they're going to be thanked publicly in your newsletter.
First Day of Class
Guidelines: Libby gave permission for this to be posted here. I'm a
resource teacher, so I don't have experience with a lot of this stuff.
Thanks Libby for sharing your list. I'm sure it will be a help to some of
the new teachers, and maybe a few of the "seasoned" ones as well. :)
First Day of Class
Mrs. Rhoden's
Kindergarten Class
Before they descend
·
Have name tags made. Extra's
for misspellings and students not on the list.
·
Prepare a table for
construction paper sorting by color. When teachers get the student's
school supplies on the first day of school, the construction paper is in a
multicolored package. Most teachers like their construction paper sorted
according to color. Right off I'll be able to tell which children can
sort by color.
·
Put out small strips of
construction paper for snipping paper on another table. Again a very
important kindergarten skill. Does the child hold scissors properly?
I'll be able to tell right off on day one.
·
On my third table will be
playdough. All children love play dough. This is a good first day
activity.
·
On the floor, I will have 2
gallon size ziplock bags marked with each child's name in large bold
letters. The children will empty their school supplies into the bag.
Here again I can quickly determine if the children can recognize their
names. All tissues, fresh wipes, and pump soap will be put in large
community bins.
·
P repare
a sign in sheet for the parents to give me necessary information for the
day. How will the child get home, what are their plans for lunch, and are
there any vital health information I need to know for the day. I also ask
for a working telephone number. Place classroom handbook beside the sign
in sheet. Request "received handbook" signature page be left with me.
·
Have first day paperwork in
folders--make extra
·
Have book baskets ready.
·
Make sure camera is charged and
have 2 clean discs.
·
Put up "Good Morning Children"
poem
As they descend
·
On this day only, I allow the
parents to bring them in the classroom because of the information I need
and the weight of the school supplies.
·
Greet each child, put a name
tag on each child, instruct each parent toward the sign in table. Sit
each child at a table and guide them as to what to do.
·
When all the children are in
(don't wait past 8:15--that's 30 minutes) go to each table and tell them
how to clean up their table.
·
No parents past 8:15.
Welcome students
-
Show them the class
schedule. Using a clip, show them that we are now in group time and
that in a few minutes we will be going to p.e./music.
Reassure them that I will
always pick them up from pe./music/lunch. I will stay with them for a
week in these classes, but next week, after delivering them to their
special class, I will stay in my room preparing for their lessons.
Read and discuss the story,
Little Monster Goes to School.
Bathroom procedures
-
Instruct children how to
use the soap and paper towels in the restroom.
ü
Soap--one squirt,
ü
paper towels, 5 turns of the knob.
ü
Show how to tear the towels off effectively.
ü
Instruct how to properly wash hands to remove most germs.
-
Remind them that boys lift
the seat to stand and urinate and girls make sure the seat is down.
-
Show them how to and why we
flush.
-
Show them how much toilet
paper is necessary for effective wiping.
-
Speak frankly.
-
Explain that sometimes the
floor may be wet so they need to always walk carefully.
-
Show how to sit with a book
out in the hall and to go into the restroom 3 at a time.
Go to p.e./music
-
show them where to stand
and wait for the p.e./music teacher
-
remind them that I will not
normally stay, but I want to today
-
on the way back from p.e./music
go by the cafeteria and show them how to use the cafeteria
ü
how to hold tray
ü
where to select milk and show them the difference in the
kinds of milks
ü
how to enter lunch number on the 10 key pad
ü
where we will sit
ü
how to walk with their tray to the clean up window
ü
where to line up after lunch
Introduce myself
-
Tell them my name and write
it on the board. Explain that we each have a name that we will all
learn to write.
-
Tell them a little about my
family
-
Write 3 sentences on the
chart paper about myself.
ü
I teach kindergarten at Kruse Elementary.
ü
I am married to Mr. Rhoden.
ü
I have 3 grown children.
-
Read my story and tell them
that each day we will learn a bit about each student in the room. Each
child will have the opportunity to have a story written about them just
like this.
Lesson block
-
Introduce calendar/morning
routines.
-
counting, begin number
line, begin 10's and 1's chart, begin odd/even chart
-
patterning (AAAAA.....
pattern)
-
explain more will be added
tomorrow
-
Play a game. Children sitting in a circle
on the floor. Throw a nerf ball for each child to catch. When they
catch it, they say their name and we chant it right after them.
-
Rehearse how/what they will
do when they get there in the mornings.
ü
Come in the front door,
ü
go to the cafeteria
ü
eat breakfast
ü
walk to the room and sit in the hall with a book.
ü
Introduce them to our safety patrol and let them know if
they need something this is the person that they should ask.
Clean up and lunch
-
review cafeteria card
numbers
-
Review restroom procedure
-
Review cafeteria procedure
-
Tell them that after lunch
we will have some quiet time
-
Go to restroom
-
Go to lunch
After lunch
-
Pass out book baskets.
Explain proper procedure to get and return book baskets
-
Group children in 2's at
each book basket
-
They can read only the
books in their basket, or lie down on a mat with their eyes closed.
-
Take digital pictures of
each child reading.
-
After 15 minutes of quiet
time, gather them around for story time. Mrs. Bindergarten's
Kindergarten
-
Discuss what they expected
when they first came to kindergarten
-
Tell them that I will be
giving them some plain paper to draw our classroom so they can take it
home and tell their families about classroom at school.
-
Put paper on shelf and show
them how to pick up their paper when I call their name and go to the
table where I instruct them to sit.
-
Use finger play "Whoop
Johnny" as transition
-
While children are working,
make sure I have all bus assignments
-
Mark on their name tags the
appropriate bus number, whether a walker or a car rider.
-
Show them where to put
finished papers.
Folders
-
Help them identify their
folders, make sure they all have their all the papers they need for the
first day
-
Tell them that folders need
to be returned each day even if there is nothing in their folders.
-
They should leave all
papers at home, unless their parents tell them to bring them back to me.
-
Show them where parents are
to sign each day
Rehearse/walk through
dismissal procedures
-
Usually I get ready for
dismissal at 2 but today, we will begin at 1:30
-
Show the children my list
of children and where/how they will be getting home
-
Discuss how it's important
to stay with your group so that the teachers know where you are and that
they don't miss the bus and get parents all worried.
-
Tell each child how they
are getting home. Show how each group will line up. Bus riders at the
door, walkers by the tables, and car riders by the fish tank.
-
Have bus duty person drop
by early to introduce their face to the children and explain their
duty. Determine a gesture to indicate children may go with the bus duty
person.
-
Discuss procedures for
picking up folders and bookpacks.
-
rehearse, walk to the
appropriate places and see the surroundings and pathway
-
Remind them at each
location to wait for teachers to tell them it's ok to go
-
Return to room
-
Read, Dr. Suess ABC book.
-
1 minute before bell rings
remind students what to do when they come back in the morning and review
dismissal procedures.
-
When bell rings tell
students to go to their places
Get ready for tomorrow
-
Put up "Good Morning
children" poem.
-
Print pictures and add to
"Good Morning Children" words
-
Put a picture on each
child's cubby.
-
Put supplies in closet
-
Prepare name cards and name
word board. Put a face picture on name cards.
-
Get read aloud stories
ready
-
Prepare table activities
ü
playdough
ü
name book
ü
prepare reading response journals
ü
crayon drawings on front of file folder (for portfolio) |
Matching Activity for
Capital and Lowercase Letters: This is another activity inspired by Carol
in MA. She sent me the materials to do the activity (except for the index
cards). The materials came from The
Learning Tree. You'll need a package of Brite pockets, a pack of
gingham capital letters, a pack of gingham lowercase letters, 3x5 index cards,
and rubber cement. Glue a letter card to one end of a vertical 3x5 index
card and the matching letter to a pocket. I didn't match up the colors of
the letters, because I wanted the activity to be more difficult than that.
But if you wanted to make it easier, then choose to make the capital and
lowercase letters the same color. Laminate. The students
simply match the capital to lowercase letter by slipping the card into the
correct pocket. To make it easier to check, ask them not to slide the card
all the way into the pocket. To make it self-checking, simply write the
appropriate letter on back of the card.
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If You Take a Mouse to School:
Looking for an activity to go with this read-aloud book? Well, Patti has a
class book idea for you to make!
I did a follow-up class
book "If you take a mouse to our school it might ___________". The kids wrote
a sentence and drew a picture. Some of the responses were: " hide in the
principal's desk drawer," "play computer games," "fall in the boy's room
toilet," "learn to sound out words." The drawings are always too cute. I've
done that for the past 2 years and it turns out to be our first class book.
I also do a similar activity titled " If You Take A Mouse To Breakfast."
*Thanks Patti for
sharing your idea! :)
Classroom Mailbox: I am sooooo excited about adding this to
my classroom. Kerry has shared so many wonderful ways that she and her
teaching partner have used their mailboxes, I just had to have my own. So
off I marched to Wal-Mart (where else?) to buy myself a white mailbox. I
already knew what I had in mind and I had to have a WHITE mailbox! :) So I
got the last white mailbox and it only cost $8.00. Then I had to talk my
husband into making me a stand for it. Again, I knew what I had in mind.
A wooden stand with an "x" on the bottom for support. Wellll... my husband
had another idea! He said he couldn't make the wooden one, but being a
welder in a past life, he could build me one from some lightweight metal.
Well usually when my husband builds something like this for me, it takes a crane
to move the darn thing so I was skeptical. And when he got it finished, I
still had my doubts. Then he asked what color I wanted it painted. I
finally decided on white ... but while I was deciding, he decided on GOLD!!!
Well, you see who has the most clout in this instance. So once he got it
all fixed, I knew how I wanted it "decorated", but I couldn't find what I needed
to do it. Then TODAY, a box of surprises came in the mail to me from my
cyberfriend Carol in MA. And what was inside the box but a ton of neat
stuff and one of the things was a package of school Stickety-Splits!!!
They were perfect! Exactly what I needed. So I used the Stickety-Splits
(stickers) to decorate the mailbox. This is how it all
turned out and I'm pleased as punch! We start school tomorrow (no kids)
and I so want to have this in my classroom tomorrow, but I'm going to have to
wait for my husband to take it down in the truck. And yes, it's even
lightweight enough that we won't need the crane this time! :) So here it
is ......
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I'm
going to use stick on letters to put "Mrs. Montgomery's Class" over the red
crayon mark on the other side. For those of you who'll want to know,
my husband made the stand out of aluminum. It has a piece of wood
underneath the mailbox where he attached the mailbox to the stand. The
stand is "about" 42 inches high (may be a little high for small children)
and the base is 2 feet wide. He just painted it with cheap spray paint
from Wal-Mart. It's very sturdy, doesn't seem as if it will tip over
easy, and is light enough to move around the room. I wouldn't want to
have to carry it very far though! :) I will add what I end up putting
into the mailbox and some of the details later. Thanks Kerry for
sharing your wonderful idea with us! And thank you sooooo much Carol
for being such a sweet cyberfriend. You made my day!!!! :)
Everyone should have a friend such as you.
Carol
works at a teachers resource store, The
Learning Tree. That's where the Stickety-Splits and other neat
things she sent came from. I haven't seen the Stickety-Splits anywhere
around here yet.
The kids LOVE the
mailbox and remind me that we've got mail. It's so funny to hear them
say, "You Have Mail!" So far I've had no peekers. :) We get the
mail during Morning Meeting, usually towards the end. Here's the list
of things that I've put in the mailbox so far.
* Apple tree behavior charts and stickers in the mail. A great intro into
the discipline plan.
*The book Mrs. Wishy Washy's Farm. We did a Farm Unit last year and one of
the books that we used was the Mrs. Wishy Washy books. So this was a
follow-up for some of them. They loved the book.
*The new book The Gingerbread Kid Goes to School, as part of our Back to
School unit.
*I forgot one day, so no
mail. Even I was disappointed! :)
* New pointer to use in
the classroom. It's pretty cool and came in the box from Carol.
* Treats for the treat
jar
I'm just putting in things that we can use in the classroom. When we
get the mail, I ask them what they think we can do with whatever it is we
get. For instance, on the day we got the treats, I ask them where they
thought we could put the treats. Some said in our desks, hide them, in
the treasure box, etc. No one could come up with putting them in the
Treat Jar, although 3 of the 4 students have been in my classroom for more
than a year and we've always had a treat jar.
Do We Go To Your School?:
Use these characters to teach good and bad behaviors.
http://doe.sd.gov/octe/terc/careeract/elem/kindergarten/GradeK-02-4.pdf
Back to School Downloads!
Get ready for back to school
with some crisp, new things to use ... calendar numbers with matching header and
cubby/locker tags! Print these on cardstock and laminate and you'll be
surprised at how good they'll look!
August Calendar Header
September Calendar Header
Calendar Numbers
Cubby/locker tags
Kindergarten
Kaddy: In effort to spruce up my room, and because I was tired of the mini
tubs that I'd been using taking up too much room on my table, I rethought my
plan of classroom supplies for my Ks in my resource room. Sometimes space
at our table is at a premium and I don't want the tabletop cluttered with our 4
community supply mini tubs any longer (not to speak of the squabbling over who
got which color and the sharing issues). So after some thought, I came up
with this Kindergarten Kaddy. Now all I have to do is grab the kaddy and
issue whatever supplies are needed. For my one small group it won't take
but a minute and will take up so much less space!
Glue is in a totally
different kaddy. This will also help in keeping them on task and not
playing with unneeded supplies.
The kaddy is one that I've
had in "storage" for years (the only one that I hadn't already gotten rid of),
the cups are left over from my daughters wedding celebration (the kids won't
mind the wedding bell! :) ), and the can is a tomato paste can that I've used
for years that has been covered in white paper with "Kindergarten Pencils"
written in kindergarten writing on it.
click on image to enlarge
Student of the Week:
If I ever go back to a Resource Room setting, I'm going to tie Student of the
Week in with helpers. The Student of the Week (SOTW) will have a special
desk set up with some special things, like a highlighter, Post-it notes, note
cards, markers, etc. The SOTW will be the helper for the week.
They'll do everything that needs to be done. If additional helpers are
needed each day, you can pull craft sticks from a can that are labeled with
student names. After the stick is pulled, it won't be replaced until the
can is empty and all the pulled sticks will be put back in the can.
These things will really
give more incentive for students to want to be chosen as SOTW.

For the Parent
For the Parent: Send
home this message with a cotton ball and a tea bag.
Dear
Parent,
Thank
you for entrusting your child to me. I promise to do my best every day
to be your child's companion in learning. After you have wiped your
tears, make yourself a nice warm cup of tea. Put your feet up and
relax. Then hold the cotton ball in your hand. The softness
will help you to recall the gentle spirit of your child. I will work
alongside you this year to help your child grow.
Sincerely,
Parent Survival Kit:
RUBBER
BAND: Help kids learn the possibilities and importance of having a flexible
mind, heart and body. Stretch them, but not to the breaking point.
BROKEN
PENCIL: Learning (that's the pencil) isn't just a sit-at-the-desk, paper
and pencil chore (that's why it's broken). Change the pace, garden,
cook, fish, ice skate, build a birdhouse, play a game...be creative.
CANDLE:
Celebrate life with your child. We usually celebrate birthdays and
other special occasions, but overlook a life's daily triumphs. Everyday
miracles and extraordinary effort are reason enough to celebrate.
MAP:
Life is not a television program. Instead of always watching somebody else
do things, explore the world together. Go to a sporting event, a zoo, a
museum, a concert, read, travel. Remember as they begin to chart their
own course, kids need a guiding light and a safe harbor, not an anchor.
STRING:
Think of it as kite string -- and remember to let your kids soar, but don't
let go of the string.
PENNY:
For your child's thoughts. Have a conversation, lots of conversations.
Don't just tell your child what you think or what they should think. Find
out what they think. Encourage them to think for themselves. Then listen
very, very carefully!
PAPER
SACK: Write down your hurt, disappointment, anger and stuff it in the sack.
Then stomp on it, or pop it, or throw the whole thing out. Don't hang on
to any of it, hang on to your child.
ROPE:
Before you get to the end of your rope, remember: Children function better
if they know what is expected of them. Be sure your child knows the boundaries
of behavior and the consequences of it.
PLAYING
CARD: We never know what life will deal us. Teach your child that with
every card we have a choice. The responsibility of how it is played
is entirely theirs. Remind them to never blame, play fair, win humbly,
and lose graciously.

For Teachers
Teacher Business Cards:
Before school starts, use your computer to print up your own teacher business
cards. Include your name, room number, the school phone number, and
your conference time. If you have an e-mail address, you might consider
adding it as well. I’ve considered creating a separate “teacher”
screenname just for corresponding with parents. When the parents
descend on the first day of school, start handing out those business cards!
Teacher's Survival
Kit:
Mounds:
For the mounds of stuff you teach.
Crayon:
To color your day.
Peanuts:
To get a little nutty.
Band-Aid:
For when things get a little rough.
Marbles:
To replace those you might lose from time to time.
Sponge:
To soak up the overflow, when your brain is too full.
Puzzle
Piece: Without you, things wouldn't be complete.
Lifesaver:
For when you've had one of those days.
Hugs
& Kisses: To make everything all worthwhile.
Bath
Salts: "To take you away." You deserve a quiet break.
Cup:
For when yours is overflowing.
Teacher Survival Kit:
Place all items in a brown lunch bag along with this handout:
1. When
it spills, wipe it (paper towel)
2. When
it cries or sneezes, dry it (tissue)
3. When
it bleeds bandage it (Band-Aid)
4. When
it needs a hug and a kiss, give it (candy kiss)
5. When
it rips, pin it (safety pin)
6. When
it's sour, sweeten it (pack of sugar)
7. When
it's wrong, erase it (eraser)
8. When
it pounds, soothe it (aspirin)
9. When
it hurts, grin and "bear" it (bear sticker)
10.
When it's important, write it down (note pad sheet)
11.
When it's a good day, chalk it up (piece of chalk)
12.
When it's a bad day, ask God for strength and hope for a better day
tomorrow
(nothing is found in the survival kit for this need - it comes only
from
the heart and soul of the teacher).
13.
When it's gossip, cut it out and dispose of it (word gossip on a sheet
of
paper
with cutting dashes around it)
Teacher Vitamins:
To temporally
calm your craving for chocolate, eat the BROWN one.
At first
sign of "Meeting overload" eat the RED one.
The
ORANGE one minimizes "Mental Block" during long range planning.
The
GREEN one calms your frustrations while arranging furniture.
If you
feel a headache coming while doing your lesson plans, eat the YELLOW one.
The
BLUE one reduces Bulletin Board fatigue.
Directions:
take as needed. If all symptoms occur at the same time, eat the whole bag.
WARNING:
May cause weight gain!
Welcome
Back to School Snack for Teachers:
Back to School doesn't just have to be for students! Why not treat your
teacher friends to a Welcome Back to School Snack as well. The day before
the children were to arrive, I put out food on a table in my classroom that
would hold up relatively well to not having to be refrigerated all day (some
refrigeration throughout the day was needed for some things). Then I
created an invitation on the computer and copied it onto colored paper and taped
it to each of the doors in my building. The invitation was simply a
message to drop by my classroom anytime throughout the day for a Back to School
Snack! I made sure to mention that for those who were dieting or were
diabetics that there were fruit and veggies and low cal snacks. Oh, and
don't forget to tell them ... Welcome Back to School! :)
click on image to enlarge
We had Wheat
Thin chips, Baked Tostitos, and salsa. In the other basket
we had Peanut Butter Crackers, Cheese Crackers, string cheese,
raisins, and 4 different kinds of 100 calorie snack cookies.
On the fruit tray I put seedless grapes, bananas, peaches,
orange, 2 different kinds of apples, strawberries and fruit dip.
There were 2 kinds of muffins: banana nut and blueberry.
For later I had veggies and veggie dip in the frig. I had
cherry tomatoes, celery, carrots, and broccoli. And for
those not dieting ... double stuffed Oreos! :)
In the frig
were mini Cokes, Diet Coke, and water to be pumped up with
Crystal Lite individual packs.
The
teachers were in and out all day snacking and seemed to really
enjoy it. And we even had some left over so I can share it
all over again tomorrow after the kids are gone! :)
Back To School Kit:
This
Back To School Kit includes necessary items to guarantee you a terrific
school year.
Pipe
Cleaner ~ Flexibility is important for a successful school year.
Rick
Rack ~ This year will be full of ups and downs, but eventually everything
will smooth out.
Matches
~ For those days when you feel you need to light a fire under someone.
Wiggly
Eye ~ Keep an eye on our students to discover how best to help them. Or,
for when you
wish you had eyes in the back of your head.
Battery
~ Like the Energizer Bunny, to help you keep going, and going, and going.
Animal
Crackers ~ Eat these when you think your class is a zoo.
Jingle
Bell ~ Ring for help if you need it, we're here to help each other.
Present
~ Remember our students are a gift to us.
Candy
Bar ~ Use this whenever you need a "Sweet Escape".
Smiley
Sticker ~ Try hard to wear a happy face.
Snowflake
~ When all else fails, pray for a snow day.
Flower
Pot ~ We are here to plant the seeds of knowledge.
Clothespin
~ Hang in there!!
Hole
Reinforcers ~ Don't forget to reinforce the efforts of each other.
Pen ~
You are a priceless part of (PLACE YOUR SCHOOL NAME HERE) School.
Orange
~ "Orange" you glad you are a part of the best school in YOUR TOWN OR CITY
GOES HERE!!

Emergent Readers at The
Teacher's Bookbag
http://www.teachersbookbag.com/school.html
School Days Bingo
http://www.teachersbookbag.com/school.html
Crayon Colors book (too
cute!)
http://www.mrsstoutsclass.com/crayons.htm
Shapes At School (printable)
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/class/pdfs/2005F/050902_bp8.pdf
Time To Eat (printable)
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/class/pdfs/2005F/051209_bp4.pdf
Who's In School? (printable)
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/class/pdfs/2005F/050902_bp3.pdf
How I Go to School printable
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/class/pdfs/2004F/040910BP3.pdf
How Kids Go to School graph
(printable)
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/class/pdfs/2004F/040910BP4.pdf
Welcome Back Bingo
(printable)
http://www.nuview.k12.ca.us/nes/?q=system/files/Welcome+Back+Bingo.pdf
September
Back to School Links
http://www.themeunits.com/September_c.html
Introducing
Young Children To The School Setting
http://www.kodak.com/cluster/global/en/consumer/education/lessonPlans/lessonPlan043.shtml
A
to Z Teacher Stuff
http://atozteacherstuff.com/themes/backtoschool.shtml
Sam
and Gram and the First Day of School
http://www.maginationpress.com/4415626.html
Back
to School
http://www.kinderkorner.com/back.html
Back
to School page 2
http://www.kinderkorner.com/back2.html
Can
Teach: School, Welcome, Back to School
http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/songspoems5.html
Tips
For Teachers: Back to School
http://www.teachnet.com/how-to/backtoschool/tips.html
Bulletin
Boards:
http://www.teachertools.org/bulletinboards_dynam.asp#b2s
Fall
Bulletin Boards/ Classroom Decor
http://www.teachnet.com/how-to/decor/fallbbs070699.html
Can
Teach - Good Morning
http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/songspoems68.html
First-Day-of-School
Ice Breakers:
http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson131.shtml
Advice
For First Year Teachers:
http://www.education-world.com/a_admin/admin124.shtml
It’s
Time For Back to School
http://www.bry-backmanor.org/backtoschool.html
Getting
to Know You Beginning of the Year Activity using The Rainbow Fish
http://atozteacherstuff.com/lessons/rainbowfish_backtoschool.shtml
Back
To School Time
http://www.geocities.com/heartland/fields/7444/back_to_school.htm
Back
To School Bears!
http://www.abcschoolhouse.com/back_to_school.html
Back
To School
http://teacherhelpers.homestead.com/BackToSchool.html
Ultimate
Back to School Site for Teachers
http://www.teachingheart.net/backtoschool2.html
Some
More Great Books to Read the First Day of School
http://teachingheart.net/backtoschoolreading.html
Classroom
Management
http://www.kimskorner4teachertalk.com/classmanagement/menu.html
Beginning
Teacher Tips
http://www.inspiringteachers.com/tips/index/index.html
Bulletin
Boards Across the World
http://www.gigglepotz.com/bulletin.htm
Fourteen
MORE Activities For the First Day of School
http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson073.shtml
Beginning
of Year Assessment
http://www.kinderkorner.com/assess.html
First
Day Checklist
http://www.kinderkorner.com/chklist.html
Back
to School Kit - Teachers/Staff
http://www.cbv.ns.ca/sstudies/activities/1rstday/2.html
First
Day Activities
http://www.cbv.ns.ca/sstudies/activities/1rstday/6.html
A
Warm Welcome Activity
http://www.cbv.ns.ca/sstudies/activities/1rstday/5.html
Tips
for Teachers: Back to School
http://www.teachnet.com/how-to/backtoschool/tips.html
First
of Year Letter to Parent
http://www.cbv.ns.ca/sstudies/activities/management/2.html
Letter
to Parents
http://share4.esd105.wednet.edu/gregoryg/lettertoparents.htm
Back
to School
http://www.ed.gov/Family/agbts/
Back
to School Coloring Pages
http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/school/color.html
Welcome
Back to School Coloring Pages
http://www.janbrett.com/welcome_back_to_school.htm
Back
to School Books
http://www.mrsmcgowan.com/books/backtoschool.htm
The
K-Crew's School Unit Page
http://thekcrew.net/schoolunitliterature.html
Back to School
http://www.nuttinbutkids.com/backto.htm

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6/01
updated 9.18.10 |

visitors since 11.11.03 |
