What a fun week this has been! Here is Friday’s question.
| What is the first activity you’ll do with your students on the very first day of school? (Please include your grade level.) |
Answer this question, and your name will be entered in our one-week, back-to-school giveaway! Deadline for entries is midnight August 22. Click here for more details.
Have a great weekend!
Diane
I teach 5th grade and I will do a get to know you/name game!
I have a note card with each child’s name on it and they have a sheet of stickers to decorate it. I rely on responsive classroom strategies so the kids haven’t learned about crayons or other supplies yet so I had to find something to keep them busy while I talk with parents and wait for kids to trickle in (I teach kindergarten so parents with worry are common). I then gather parents and students and read The Kissing Hand. I have the parents give their child a kissing hand and send parents on their way before gathering students for our first morning meeting.
I teach 3rd grade and we will gather for our first morning meeting and sing some fun songs.
We did getting to know you bingo.
I teach fifth grade and while I’m greeting students who are arriving, the rest of the kids will be making name tags for their lockers.
The first thing I do is read “First Day – Hooray” Then we sit in a circle and pass around a koosh ball to learn everyone’s names. The best thing about this activity is we do things a lot with the koosh ball throughout the year, so I teach the procedure right away. The only person that can talk is the one who has the koosh ball during this type of activity. They love it!
I get to test kids in math and reading, so I spend the first two days helping out and just talking to kids about all the things they have done. It’s a great time for me to get to know the new students in the building and make them more comfortable when I test them.
We make our September Placemats for snack. I teach Early Childhood Special Education (ages 3-5)
I teach preschool, so the first thing we are going to do is learn our welcome to school song!
My students, most with parental help, put their coats, backpacks, supplies, lunches away. After 10 minutes I sing Here We Are Together to get them all to the rug. I read The Kissing Hand, then tell students to tell parents goodbye and remember to get your hand kissed.
Later that day I paint their hand, put their print on decorative paper with the Kissing Hand poem on it, let them dry, then put heart stickers on them and send them home.
Parents help them get buckets coats hung up – steer them towards fun activities set up on tables, like games on some manipulatives they have never seen before. Then we go to the carpet and I introduce myself again to them and say, can I tell you a secret? I am always scared on the first day of school, but maybe if we all work together we can have a lot of fun and make alot of new friends. We read the kissing hand and then collage items like yarn, tissue paper felt onto a raccoon shape cutout.we put a little heart sticker on the raccoons hand.
We read the Kissing hand and then make kissing hands by tracing the child’s hand and having them place a kiss or heart sticker on it. We also have any Children who missed Meet the Teacher make their name mats for circle time.
I teach prek and our first day is an only an hour.
I teach preschool and I always draw chalk hearts with their names inside all over the sidewalk in front of the school, so they see them when they come in on the first day. I send the parents out with a first day badge and a baggie with candy kisses labeled “Preschool Parents’ Survival Bag”. Then the children and I always take a little walking tour around our school.They can see where all the important things are, like the guinea pig, the toilets, the sinks, the toys, the climbers. Before we go on our walk, each child glues a little paper apple tree on their paper (which has a message to their parents telling them to ask about what they learned at preschool). At each “stop” on our tour, they get a red sticker (apple) to put on their tree. It’s a great combination take-home craft and a way to familiarize everyone and ease their jitters of “what if I don’t find the bathroom!” Then we have “moose lips” for snack. It’s always a special day.
The first activity we do as a class in my pre-kindergarten classroom is circle time. We learn names and routines.
With the 5 yr olds we do a series of name games, making name tags… so the children have labels for their spaces and materials and get practice with their own names as well as their classmates.
PreK- We usually do an assortment of name games and welcome to school activities.
I teach in a blended 3rd grade classroom….once kids come in and get settled/empty backpacks etc. the first activity we do together is talk about what it means and what it takes to be a team. Discussion about how a team works together and we brainstorm those ideas which then become part of our classroom daily guidelines to follow!
I kind of change it every year. I have a whole list of things to do on the first day and whatever feels right I do first. One of my go-to’s is I do a little game where everyone sits on their desks and plays catch with a beanbag and they have to introduce themselves and pass to someone else. It helps them get comfortable and learn names!
I used a room scavenger hunt.
Fourth Grade – After we sort out school supplies, we do a peer scavenger hunt where the students find classmates that meet a certain description. (i.e. has brown eyes, is left-handed, has been on a boat, etc.)
My students will participate in a scavenger hunt! They will be finding new items and reviewing new and old places and sections within the school library. They will work in pairs and it will be a timed activity. They will leave the library with rules and expectations and reading goals for the new school year!
We do the “Who Took the Cookies from the Cookie Jar?” activity. I put the students’ names in a cookie box, pull them out one at a time, and we do the song/chant to learn each others’ names. The students love it! 🙂
I teach 1st grade and we have a get to know you scavenger hunt. I have pictures of things like a dog, a sister, loves chocolate cake, can play the piano, enjoys reading, etc. The students have to find a friend that can answer yes, then tat child writes his/her name on the paper. It’s gets them to know each others names and get out those first grade gitters. I sign some
I teach 1st. I have kids make a name tag on a sentence strip. I have them put their first and last names and pictures of things they like. It is a quick assessment for me to see who knows their name and I can quickly look to see who needs handwriting help.
Our first activity with my 4th/5th grade class will be to play a true/false game. Each student will write two sentences about themselves on an index card. One sentence will be true, and one sentence will be false. They will introduce themselves by saying their name and reading the two sentences. The other students have to guess which sentence is true and which is false. I will lead with an example such as this: I have lived in five states. I was born in New York.
Then, they will guess which statement is true/false.
The great part about this activity is that it will be an ice breaker for the students to open up about their lives and get to know each other better.
My kindergarten class will take a tour of the school after circle time, welcome song and name rhyme.
The first thing i like to do is name games to learn everyones name and have a chance to introduce ourselves, i teach preschool
We have a snow ball fight! My students write facts about themselves on a sheet of paper, without their names. They crupple them up and throw them – a snow ball fight… they love it. Then everyone finds one and we read it out loud and guess who it might be.
I teach kindergarten. We play name games and read The Kissing Hand and make our own kissing hands.
The very first activity I have with my kids is the night before school starts. I meet with students and parents in families. This has been the number one activity I do to establish positive relationships with parents. As families enter the room they unpack their school supplies. While parents fill out important paperwork I read Little Brown Bear Won’t Go To School by Jane Dyer. This is a positive book that reminds students that they have a lot of things to learn and the importance of being at school to learn so they can have jobs they dream about. After sharing the book students play at a table with books to read and manipulatives and legos. While they play I review my first grade handbook and curriculum with students. This is a wonderful evening for everyone! Students are VERY excited to go to school the next day and a positive relationship has been started between me and their parents. This is definetly worth the extra time!
I teach fifth grade. This year I have several students with special needs in my classroom. One of them looks a little “different” than the other kids. We are going to learn about how we are all unique and how we have to protect each other just like a family. We will talk about how we accept each other just as we are. We are doing an activity to determine our similarities and differences. I want kids to learn something special about each person.
I teach second grade. We will open by introducing morning routines and morning meeting on day 1.
The first day of school in my Kinder/1st grade combo, we read a book about starting Kindergarten, learned some classroom rules/routines, painted our hands for the first page of our memory book, and got our picture taken. On the second day we had a watermelon theme day.
After we put supplies away, we will draw self-portraits that will hang on the wall for open house.
I teach Pre-K and the first thing we do on the first day of school is a good morning song!!
I teach First Grade and after we put supplies away we play a “get to know me” game. Each student picks out a blown up balloon that has question on a piece of paper inside the balloon. The student pops the balloon and asnwers the question about them self to the rest of the class. They love trying different ways to pop the balloon.
This school year I will be teaching Pre K. Our first activity will be listening to a story.
I am a preschool teacher with a mixed aged grouping of three and four year olds. We are a full day program. One of the first activities I have available as new children enter is string fruit loop cereal to make a necklace. This eye hand coordination activity and color sorting activitity is a yummy start for chilren who are new and as they string the cereal they munch instead of cry as their parents leave for the day. Then we read “Owl Babies” because they can relate to Bill who says, ” I want my Mommy!” we make owl baby paper bag puppets and a tree for the owls to rest in until parents arrive later in the day.
4th grade
I pass around a roll of toilet paper and have the students take as many squares as they like (I take my couple of squares before passing the roll. I have them keep them attached and I don’t tell them what it is for either). Some are conservative 1 or 2 squares and some get very bold and take 7 or 8. Afterwards I quickly go around the room asking each child how many squares they took. Then I tell them that the number of squares they took is the number of facts they have to tell us about themselves. I go first so they have an idea. Then I pull popsicle sticks so that the order is random. I try to make it interesting and unusual facts.
I teach Kindergarten. We read Wemberly Worried and then make a list of things we all worried about before we got to school and then we draw a self portrait of how happy we are to be at school with friends :o)
Well, we will do all of the usual stuff like go over rules, organize supplies, tour the building, etc…Then, I found a really neat get to know you sheet online. You have to ask others questions and fill in their name where it belongs on the sheet. Such as, ___________likes ice cream. fill in the blank or ______________ has blue eyes. I think this will be a wonderful ice breaker for fourth grade. Since I teach social studies our first activity for the week will be to make a time capsule using toilet paper rolls. This activity also meets our state standards so that is a bonus!
I teach preschool and we do an art craft where we make a bus out of an egg carton then we hang them on the wall so we can enjoy everybodys work.
I always begin with a great song and a story. Our beginning theme is farms (we live in the middle of a huge agricultural area), and I have a big stash of good farm books and songs…Later in the day we will go to the messy room and do play dough and sponge paint our wall decor – a huge barn.
I teach 2 year old preschool. We start the year with a name game si they know my name and i know theirs.
I will be teaching 1st grade this year. I plan to start the year reading a simple autobiography that I’ve written to introduce myself to the children. It is in picture book format with photos from my childhood and even an old class picture. The kids love seeing what I looked like when I was their age, and it leads into an opportunity for each of them to share their names, interests, etc.
The students will read a letter about me while I sort their things out. Little do they know that the letter contains clues/answers to a quiz about me! What an easy way to see who really reads and looks for details. The quiz isn’t graded at all it’s just a way to remind them that everything that they read must be read for understanding. I teach 4th and 5th grade
On the first day of Pre-K we sing a getting to know you song, go over class rules, etc. and decorate the folders that will be holding their “important” papers until the end of the year.
we are going to work on an all about me craft/page. It will be worked on all through out the year.
I am debating between two activties. I want them to make their own decoration for the bulletin board this year. I also want to make a “I know I can…” or a “I think I can…” train to put in the hallway.
The very first thing we do, besides the usual introductions and rules is make a very special handprint craft that has a poem about starting school for the first time! I teach prek so the parents love to see the handprints and the kids love getting messy and It really helps break the ice. Its followed by reading the kissing hand.
There are so many awesome activities to do to get ourselves aquainted for the year. I like to set up a scavenger hunt/treasure hunt around the school. making sure that new students are grouped with others not new to the school. This gives students a time to interact with each other and they problem-solve as we begin our journey of learning together. There is always treasure for everyone but the first group in does get recognized as well. As a large group we talk about what worked in the group and what didn’t work. Gives me some quick insight into personalities as well.
I also like to give the students a true and false questionaire about me. They like to get to know me and this makes it about topics that are conforatble for me too- 🙂
The fist day of school for preschoolers ages 2and 3 will be A Buggy Preschool Welcome ideal from the September Issue of Mailbox. I will introducing each other and make ladybugs with color constuction paper I laminated the papers, and than center the paper on a plate that makes the ladybugs. Each childs name will be on one. The larger ladybug is Me. Than I will read a book about ladybugs. And than each of us wil be heading out for a scavanger hunt on ladybugs.
Elizabeth Garcia
Besides going over Rules,Safety,Manners,and Friendships We will be working on making our own Ladybugs out of paper plates, and contruction paper. Than we will be displaying them for everyone to see.
My preschooler will be learning about the color RED because the next project will be Apples.
Elizabeth Garcia
Decorating a t-shirt to fit their personality. It will be hung on a clothes line saying, “Look who is hanging out in 4th grade.”
We always play a “name game” the first day of school. We gather in a circle and say a person’s name, and throw the beanbag to that person. Then we freeze our feet and try to catch the bean bag without moving. Kids love it!
I teach kindergarten and on our first day we only go for an hour and a half. The parents come with the students and they come in and complete a poster that tells interesting things about them. These get hung in the hallway for everyone to see. We then take pictures and do a couple things like meet the principal, practice going through the lunch line for the next day, and answering parent questions.
I give the kids an index card with their name on it and I let it decorate it. I use this as their desk name tag.
I make homemade playdough the night before. I leave it plain (beige) colored and put about 10 drops of food coloring inside. As my first graders come in and get their supplies organized, the others are playing with their playdough. The more they work it with their hands, the food coloring changes the color of the clay – first looking marbleized, then eventually turning the whole thing into a “magic” color. They have no idea what color they will get until they start working with it and it is so much fun to see how amazed they are to see it changing color. They keep this playdough in the baggie along with a “clay board” in their chair pack for the year. Whenever they are done early, they can always get their “magic playdough” out for a few minutes quietly. It is a super thing to keep everyone busy on the first day of school when there is so much going on for the first part of the morning and a nice fine motor activity.