Y’all know I have a weakness for school supplies, right? It’s a mini addiction. It’s not as severe as my love for chocolate, but it runs a close second. So far this back-to-school season, I’ve purchased pens, notepads, crayons, paper clips, binder clips, hand sanitizer, folders…the list goes on! Even my colleagues have begun to raise their eyebrows at my stash! But I have a plan.
During the next three weeks, we’ll have five giveaways. (I think I just heard a “Yippee!” or two. 🙂 ) Each giveaway winner will receive a free book from The Mailbox and some back-to-school supplies from my stash. It’s my way of saying “Thank you for striving to be the best teacher you can be!”
So let’s get started!
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What’s your favorite first-day activity? |
Post a comment before midnight EDT Monday, August 13. Please include the grade level of your students. Then you’ll be entered in our first giveaway!
Love ya!
Diane
Congratulations to Kerri! She’s the winner of our giveaway!
I did a treasure hunt with my 3rd graders. Small groups were given treasure maps to follow. At the end they found a bag with things that we used throughout the year in our classroom. (They had read “The Seven Treasure Hunts” as a summer reading assignment).
My favorite first day activity is a getting to know you scavenger hunt. I teach 3rd grade.
One of my favorite first day activities is to say the “Hickety Pickety Bumble Bee” rhyme with each one of the kids names. My first graders love to stand up and say their names as we clap them out, whisper them together, and turn off our voices as we chant our new friend names.
Morning – just returned from vacation and now am back into the ‘get ready for school’ mode again. I am thankful to have my new class of Junior Kindergarteners entrusted to me this year.
Thanks for the encouragement to ‘be the best teacher I can be”.
Have a great day!
I love reading The Kissing Hand and Officer Buckle! I also love meeting the new students and families!
My favorite first day activity is letting the children freely explore the classroom after I have had a chance to explain each area. I love seeing their reaction to all the new toys and games they can play with. It’s like watching a kid in a candy store. It’s even better when they play with an activity and can complete it. They get very excited. I think it sets a great tone for the rest of the year!
I created a huge puzzle for my bulletin board making one puzzle piece for each student.
Each student wrote their name on the puzzle piece and drew things they liked. Then the puzzle was put together. I also did a piece. The title was “Piecing the Year Together”. Another year I bought the small blank puzzles and after each student completed their puzzle they were placed in envelopes and then given to another student to put together to learn about another classmate.
I love reading the book “Back to School For Rotten Ralph!” We discuss the things we do (and don’t do!) in the classroom. Like Ralph, we all have it in us to do our best to follow the rules. I give each child a key to write a classroom rule on and display them on my bulletin board “The Keys to a Great School Year!” I love displaying my books about autumn and school. The children enjoy reading too! It’s great to go on a tour of the school together and remind ourselves how to walk quietly in a straight line and to respect each other’s space. Back to school, with its many new sight, sounds and smells, is my favourite time of the year! It always has been! I am very lucky to do the work I do every day!
Melissa
I think my favorite 1st activity that we do together as a class is our Handbook Scavenger Hunt. Every year I make a scavenger hunt of the most important things in their student handbook that they should know. This has been a big help since many of the things in their handbook they were not aware of. We all know that we send home the school’s student handbook for the students and parents to read but do they really read it? That’s one of my favorite 1st activities to do.
Wishing everyone a FANTASTIC school year!
Denice
Grade 6 (in an elementary school)
My favorite activity is reading the book first day jitters. The book shows the children that the teacher can be nerve too. The book always gets my children laughing which is a good ic breaker.
Preschool
I teach preschoolers.
On our first day I read a hand written note from our classroom mascot. The note tells the children how excited he is to meet everyone, but he can’t find us so he goes looking for us. He leaves clues as to where he is going; now its up to us to figure out where our mascot is going. The clues lead us all around our school to places like the restroom, gym, library, etc.
In the end we find our mascot in the principal’s office. It is a great way to explore our school and learn where things are in our school.
I love to read The Kissing Hand and then we make our handprint and put a heart sticker in the middle.
I’ll be teaching special education at the elementary level (my first year!) but I plan to do a scavenger hunt around the room to familiarize my students with my classroom, as well as a few team building or get to know you activities to help me get to know my students quickly and see how they work together to help me plan out the next few weeks! Hopefully it all goes well!! 🙂
I teach 2nd grade and I love to play the game “That’s Me!” on our first day. I say a statement and if the statement is true for that student they stand up and say “that’s me!”. Statements can include: I’m 7 years old; I have a dog; I have a sister; I’m in second grade; etc. It is a great way for students to get to know each other and see what they have in common.
I love to read The Kissing Hand and then make their little handprint with paint and let them glue a little heart in the middle for the kiss! 🙂
I have a “Find Someone Who …” activity that we always do on the first day of school. Students get to find out more about their friends – but most importantly they are asking and answering questions in complete sentences. Since I have the ESL students, that’s important for them to learn. 🙂
Hi Everyone, One of my favorite things to do on “Our First Day Of School” is to meet and greet my new students and their parents. They are so excited to come to school and it so wonderful to see their joy. I’ll read”I Like Me” and discuss some of our favorite things as we decorate paper dolls of ourselves. At the end of our morning I’ll give each child a bag of kisses with a note which reads “hugs and kisses on your first day of school” My parents will be given a treat bag with a note which reads “Thanks, you’ve survived the first day of Pre-K”
The activity that i enjoy the first of my Kindergarten class is taking my students’ pictures in front of the heighth chart. I developed the pictures overnight and post them on the bulletin board along side their self portraits drawn the first day. Then at the end of the year – for Open House- I take their pictures again and post the two pictures side by side. The students and their parents can see how much they have grown.
My favorite first day activity is actually an orientation activity. We have orientation two days before school begins. I love greeting the parents and the children, and then I have parents and the children participate in a scavenger hunt looking for different areas around the classroom. They all have so much fun! (I teach Pre-K.)
I love to read Pete the Cat, Rockin’ in My School Shoes!! We break into song all during the day according to where we are that matches Pete(library, lunch). Then we sing it on our way out to meet the grown ups who care about us. Sets us up to “do it all again tomorrow” just like Pete. Grade One – Three
Sandi
I have just gotten my first teaching job and I am very excited and nervous for my first day of school! I am excited to meet my fourth grader students and get to know each of them!
Crystal
4th grade
My favorite first day activity is to read The Kissing Hand, trace or paint each students’s hand, they glue a heart in the palm of the hand and then a Hershey Kiss. We also make a list of things that the students will miss doing with their Mommy, since they will now be in school.
Shana
Pre-Kindergarten (4 year olds)
I teach prek and one of the favorite things we do on the first day is take a picture of each child with a sign that says my first day in prek. We keep these all year and then give them to the parents on the last day of school.
My favorite first day activity starts on Back to School Night. Before school actually begins, we invite our families to come into the classroom, bringing in all their supplies. On that night I take a picture of each of my students. On the first day of school, I will have put their pictures into a book, “Our Class”. I also make a book of “Important People in School” with pictures of the staff. The class learns everybody’s names, and the book is a favorite throughout the year!
In my preschool class, our favorite first day activity is to read “The Gingerbread Man” and make cookies. When we go to the cafeteria, our cookies have run away and we have to search the building for them. We get to see the school and meet wonderful people like the librarian and the nurse. The children aren’t shy about asking, “Have you seen our cookies?” When we return to our room, our cookies magically beat us there, ready to eat! We also include art, math, and literacy activities with a gingerbread theme.
My favorite first day activity is reading “Don’t Eat the Teacher” sharing our first day jitters stories in circle time 🙂 The kids LOVE the shark in the story and they love sharing their stories. It helps me get a feel for a little of the personality of my students.
We always read the Kissing Hand and cut out hand prints to put on a paper that says ___________ (Child’s name) came to school on the first day and felt ______________ (happy, sad, excited, etc.). We bend down the fingers in to the I love you sign and add a heart.
I love starting of with a lab,since I am a science teacher. It makes them remember the scientific method and makes then interested in what is next. It’s simply yet effective because I have procedures they must follow or learn. Also effective because it makes them think, how can it be done. There are several possible solutions and many can have a good idea.
I teach a 1st- 2nd multiage room and I have the kids bring in an apple. No specifications. I get a good variety. We graph them, read our first poem of the year (about apples), do an apple craft, taste test the apples, and then sing about apples. It’s a great way for the kids to interact and for me to observe them! We have a great first day!
I love reading the Kissing Hand and completing different graphing activities with it. I teach first grade, so it’s still tough for many of them to let go.
I teach 4th 5th and 6th grade math and I have found reading aloud “Math Curse” to my 4th graders has by far been the best icebreaker for me. I leave it displayed year round in the classroom and they are still talking about it in June 🙂
Whoops! I forgot the grade level. K-2 Academic Support
I love have my kids complete a “Find a Friend” activity where they have a list of items and find someone in the class who an item is true for. It’s a great way to get the kids comfortable with talking and moving around the room. It just sets a really good tone. And it gives me a chance to get to know them and for them to get to know me (I participate, too :))
My favorite first day of school activity is to have my kinder kids draw a picture of themselves and write their name. I save this picture and then on the last day of school we do the same thing! I send both papers home on the last day of school. It is so fun to see how much each child has I proved over the school year!
My favorite first day activity is reading First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg. I teach fifth grade and every year the students love this book. Even though many of them have heard it for years, they still enjoy knowing that everyone feels a little nervous (and excited) on the first day!
5th Grade
I hope to be teaching K-5, but have not heard yet. I love to do get to know each other activities on the first day or two as well as go over the rules and guidelines for the year.
Grade 2! I am super excited about my first day plans! I will be reading Arthur’s Summer Vacation as we focus on comparing text to self. Then I will introduce a pizza glyph and key with toppings that represent things I did this summer. Together we will construct one for Arthur. Then for independent work students will create their own pizza to tell about their summer. They will partner and read each other’s glyph for closure. Finally I will use their pizzas and glyph key to decorate the wall just outside of my classroom!
My favorite first day activity is to complete a survey of the students’ favorite things. We use this, a handwriting sample, a first day picture, and a self portrait to combine into a time capsule. The time capsule is a pringles can and decorated by the students. Then the time capsule is put away until the end of school.
I teach 4 year old preschool. The children are usually nervous about the first day. We have a scavenger hunt around the school and our classroom.
I teach Pre K. I always read The Kissing Hand! At group each child gets a heart sticker for their hand — of course noting which hand it is! (It is never too soon to start that concept!). Then we all go to the table and draw a family portrait on a big heart shaped piece of paper.
I have the kids fill out a Facebook profile to add to our wall and then everyday they update their status about what they learned or enjoyed learning about the most. I teach 5th grade 🙂
I teach 3rd Grade, and for the past few years I have been starting the year with the Important Book. I read the book to the class, pausing to discuss why each item is described, but then its most important attibute is repeated. While the class works on completing a sheet telling what is important about them (following the same pattern as in the book) I photograph each student. When they are finished their photo is glued to their sheet and all the sheets are bound together to make a book. The Important Things About Third Graders, this book is then left on display for the class to read, and then the parents browse the book when they come in for Back to School Night. It is a great way to break the ice.
I like to read Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes. I have a Lily doll and she will watch over any item that I need to take away for the day.
I teach a 4 year old preschool. I enjoy reading David Goes to School and No David. The Kids LOVE that after the first few readings, they too can “READ!” They always get a kick out of David running naked too! Its nice to get those giggles and smiles going on the first day of school!
I teach a PreK class. We always take pictures of the children the first day of school. I use these pictures throughout the year for various activities, but each time we use the pictures, it reminds me of how much they have grown during the year.
In order for the students to get to know each other and learn the names of their peers (and it helps me also), I like to play the following game on the first day of school.
Who is missing? (Observation skills)
Pick one student to be “it.” Have that student sit in a chair and face away from the class, closing his eyes. You need a closet, cabinet, or wall that a student can “hide” behind and not be seen by the person in the chair. You quietly point to a student to “hide.” While she is hiding, you count to 10. The rest of the students change desks. At 10, all must sit down. Ask the person who is “it” to turn around and guess who is missing. If he guesses right, he can continue to be the “guesser”. The person who was hidden picks the next hider. If he guesses wrong, he picks the next student to hide then sits down. You can decide on a maximum number of right guesses allowed so a good guesser does not remain guesser for too long.
Preschool/Elementary
Each year, I write my students a letter that tells them about me and a few things that I did over my summer break. On the first day while they listen to the announcements and we take care of school supplies, I have them write me a letter telling me about them and what they did over the summer. It is a great way for me to get to know them and to collect a writing sample.
I have the children complete their Star of the Week posters so that they are ready to hang throughout the year. It’s especially productive because the picture taken on the first day is posted on it immediately, and the children love to see their picture later in the year just to see how they have changed, or to see if they are wearing the same shirt!
Oh, no! Forgot my grade level! Grade 3! 🙂
I teach Head Start, which contains children ages 3-5. On the first day, I have the children make handprints and help them make them in to flowers. Then, I send them home so the parents have a keepsake of their child’s first day of school, and it is titled, “Blooming into School!” Then, the last day of school, we do the same thing. We make new handprints and send them home for parents to see how much they have grown throughout the school year. Parents love the keepsakes, and they can keep track of how much their child has grown since the beginning of the school year!
I teach kindergarten and we begin the first day meeting our classes outside at the line and inviting the parents and children in together. The families get a chance to look around and work on a few activities together. This allows me to visit and meet my classroom family. It is so exciting to meet my new friends!
I love doing a rule building as a class lesson on the first day or so–we all brainstorm rules, and then we select a group that we can all agree to. This year, I’m going to have my 6th graders sign a class constitution with the rules we came up with. I think it’s really important especially for older kids, to have ownership over classroom rules–increases the buy-in factor! Thanks for the chance to win!!
My favorite first day activity is something I learned in a college class. The students each write down two false things and one true thing about themselves. Then I read each card and the others try to guess which one is the true thing. The students really love it. They really enjoy it when I read mine and they try to guess.
I teach a self-contained class of special needs children in grades 2 – 5. Almost all of my students are returning students so our first day is like a
“family reunion” where we catch up on activities and events since we saw each other at the end of the last school year. The returning kids love sharing things that they new kids can expect in our classroom for the school year. We make goals for the year as well as fill out a student memoir that we put into our classrom time capsule which we open on the last day of school to see how we have grown and changed.
I teach 3rd grade!!!! I love having a scavenger hunt on the 1st day of school. I put the class in groups, hand them a sheet of paper of about 10 things they have to find in the room. For example: find something that has wheels. Or find something that has the color red on it.the students love it and race to be the first ones done. Each group goes home with a small prize for completing the paper.
I teach 2nd grade. One of my favorite 1st day activities is making the rules with the kids. We brainstorm needed rules and they always come up with a huge list. Then we try to connect them and summarize them into only a few rules. Kids then work in groups to make rule posters that are hung up and stay there all year. Its great because the kids have the ownership of them. Its a great way to start year.
I always read The Kissing Hand. Then we paint our nanotubes and glue a heart shape in the middle!
One of my favorite first day activities is to have each Kinder student make a self portrait of themselves using a small paper plate, yarn, markers, crayons, glitter and material scraps. I use these portraits as our first class made bulletin board. It’s always a big hit. I save all the portraits and at the end of the year have each of the Kinders do another self portrait. Fun to see that they now draw more details like eyebrows! I put both of these self portraits on a large sheet of construction paper with a poem in the middle and the dates and present these at the end of the year school graduation. It’s a great memory keeper. I love being a Kindergarten Teacher!
I love to read Frist Day Jitters with my kids and then we talk about our jitters about starting school.
I teach kindergarten in SC and I always read The Kissing Hand the first day of school. It almost always makes me tear up and I have to fight through it, but seeing how engaged the kids are with my read-alouds that first day is such fun! I then give them each a raccoon to color. While they are coloring, I bring two students at a time back to the art center and I paint their hands so they can make a hand print. Then they get to choose a heart sticker to place in the middle and that is their first day project that goes home with a little poem attached for the parents!
I teach in Head Start and a favorite acitivity is to sing name songs so the children can get to know each other.
I teach special needs and will be teaching a new and very different grade level this year, so I love reading all the first day ideas. I may incorporate several into my first week.
I have always done a project with the students’ names- In my 3 yr old class, it was the students bingo dotting to fill in a cut-out template of their name. In this year’s 4th-5th grade class, I am planning to do mirror images of their names. These then hang on a bulletin board and we add other info (Bday, Favorite things writing sample, and they have a space to add thier favorite work product of the week and photos they may bring from home or homeroom class activities.
I teach Kindergarten. We used to do the Kissing Hand but I am leaning toward Pete the Cat In My School Shoes for the first day. I also read Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten – we go through the names and I change them to my kids names – I also show the kids pics of my class before it is setup – I take pics of them the first day of school and then again on the last day to put in a card for mom/dad.
My first day this year will be very different! I have taught middle school 15 years and am moving to ages 3-5 special needs. I am planning Kissing Hand, and games to ‘get to know each other”, have snack time, and get them ready to go home! Our class is three area districts merged together so the kids don’t know each other or me.
This is my first year teaching 1st grade. I’m still working out my first day plans but I’m looking forward meeting my students. One get to know you game I plan to play is where each child will introduce themselves and then do an action and we have to repeat the name and action. I think it will be fun and help the kiddos loosen up and be silly.
I am a children’s librarian now and mostly deal with toddlers/preschoolers, but when I taught Kindergarten, we would do a scavenger hunt to familiarize students with the school. They always had so much fun.
I have a really old copy of the activity, “The Mailbox” wrote about “Teddy Bears Go To School.” This activity goes well with Preschoolers coming to school for the first time because they get to bring a favorite teddy bear with them to school. I have extra bears just incase they forget or do not have one. I follow activites in that article but have also added a little extra. We have two class bears, named Bubba and Bella Bear who are missing on that first day so we have to go on a bear hunt to find them. This allows us to explore and talk about each center as we search for Bubba and Bella Bear. When we find them outside, they have teddy bear cookies to share with all there new friends. Oh and before we go look for the bears, we read the story “Going on a Bear Hunt.”
I teach third grade and am always excited at the beginning of the school year. Even though I know all of my incoming students it’s always exciting to introduce them to my classroom. Each year I am looking for new and fun activities for the first week. This year we are going to do some Olympic flags based on the different countries that are represented in our school which will also make a great decoration for Open House.
I teach kindergarten and I read the Kissing Hand. We them make our own hand and put a heart in the middle. I have a poem that I found on a blog explaining what we read. Then the parents have a keepsake from the first day of kindergarten to keep forever.
I teach 4th grade and my favorite back to school activity is tell me about yourself. I give the students a blank paper puzzle piece and I have them decorate it. We then take turns telling each other about our pieces. I will then take all the pieces and put them together on the board with the caption “You Fit Right In”. The idea being that we are all in this together and we’ll work together so we can all succeed this year.
I am a Pre-K teacher and I have always loved the Kissing Hand. However, I really get a kick out of “My First Day of School Portrait”. The kiddos have to make a portrait of their first day of school face. They get to tell me with their drawing if they were happy, sad, nervous, excited, etc. I give them another opportunity about a month or so later so that they can compare them. It is fun to see if they have changed and how they are feeling about school at that time.
I teach PreK and the very first day I bring out my bee puppet named Mrs DoBehave. We then talk about how she worries when she sees rules being broken. We then discuss what are rules and what rules should we have in our class. After our class rules are written down and posted Mrs. DoBehave buzzes and will give anyone who wants one a hug.
Because this is PreK I review the rules with Mrs Do Behave often.
My favorite first day activity is Me In A Bag. The kids bring in decorated bags that I have previously given them that are decorated to represent themselves. They place 3 objects from home in the bag and introduce themselves to the class using the bag. We then can focus on talents, similarities and differences and get to know each other’s names.This can also be used with Shel Silverstein’s wonderful poem “What’s in the Sack?”
I will be teaching second grade next year, and one of my favorite activities is to have the students come up with rules of the classroom. Then I make a big poster of the most important rules and the class signs the poster. It allows them to “own” the rules and understand more about why rules are important.
I always read The Kissing Hand and Miss Bindergarten Got Ready for kindergarten. We create a book the first day called We Got Ready for Kindergarten. The children also begin the the first page of a montly book called Our Class Stories. They draw/write on a legal size printer paper (whatever they can do–it’s Kindergarten, after all!). As the year goes on, they can see allof their improvements in both writing and drawing.
I forgot to say that we also come up with our class rules.
In second grade we usually read aloud and discuss “First Day Jitters” to calm some fears.
I also like to have students make a small self-portrait on a card-sized piece of cardstock. After they are laminated, we use these throughout the year to show their choices on graphs, etc.
The first day is all about getting to know each other and the room.
One lesson I do is for each center before the kids use it, and we go over each center’s rules every day for the first few weeks. The first day of school, I split the class in half. My assistant takes half to the housekeeping center and I take half to the block center (afterwards, we switch). We show them where everything goes, and we explain safety rules. The next day we do this with two more areas and build from there.
Friendship Flower is a activity I do to help children get to know each other. When the kids meet each other, have them place their handprints onto a friend’s paper. Have them sign their papers or the teachers help those who need it, as they add a stem to the handprint to look like a flower. Great first day preschool activities! Everyone goes home with a list of the classmates.
We also read the Kissing Hand, it’s about a little raccoon who is a little bit scared about his first day of school and his mom helps him feel better about it. We then discuss the book and I let them tell about how they felt before they got here today. We also make a kissing hand.
The first day is always a little hectic, but I like to read My Summer Vacation. We talk about what they did over summer and they have their first writing activity. This gives me a good idea of where everyone is as far as writing goes. We also discuss rules and expectations for 2nd grade.
I have my 4 year-olds paint small paper plates yellow. Then they stick on yellow and orange crepe paper stips as rays of the sun. We make suns to help them remember that they go to preschool at Sunshine Preschool.!
I like creating a “classroom puzzle” with the theme of “We All Fit Together” because it gives the students a sense of unity. Everyone gets a large, blank puzzle piece I have cut out of cardstock. They put their name on it and then decorate it to show their personality, likes, and so on. When put together as a bulletin board, it shows that even though the students have traits that are unique to them, together as a class, we “fit” together.
I teach Kindergarten and this is my first year starting out at the begining of the year, so I’m not sure what I will be doing or what my favorite activity will be.
I teach 5th grade and my favorite first day activity involves toliet paper. At the beginning of class I walk around and tell students to grab as many squares as they want. They usually look at me like I’m crazy and there is always one student who will grab a ton. Then I announce that for every sqaure you have, you must share a cool fact about yourself. The students love it and there are many laughs along the way!
I love to read the Kissing Hand! I teach 1sr grade.
I love making our “Everyone is Unique” poster each year with my students. We stamp our thumb prints onto the poster and sign it. We pledge to understand and support each other during the school year. Everyone is unique and has different ways of learning. We are all special!
/////As a pre k teacher the first thing I do is have a friendship week.We talk about our three rules and what they look like in the different areas of the room. We make a friendship quilt with a part representing each child Make sure they have a picture iof themselves on the door and ones of their families in their cubbies. We also make a kissing hand and have their moms kiss it in lipstick so they can always have a kiss from mom when they need it. Thats just a few of the things we do to make them feel more comfortable
We cover rules, expectations, procedures, and our schedule. Once those are covered we have get to know each other activities and read alouds. I love read alouds-I enjoy the books as much as the children! I work with grades 3-5 self-contained classroom for children with behavior problems.
So many favorite first day activities it is hard to choose. I guess I love teaching with Miss Bindergarten Books… So I take photos of my room before school starts and I unpack. They are always shocked how it looks before. I then go into our expecations of keeping our room neat and tidy along with other classroom rules.
I will be teaching Third Grade this year. I am excited to do a scavenger hunt with my students where they have to find classmates which have certain traits!!!
I teach Pre-K 4 year olds. I usually do activitis with the “Kissing Hand”.Some of my children are upset when there parents leave. I take pictures of them with their parents. We make a book titled “Our First Day of School”. I attach their picture on the page with the caption ” My first day of school I was ___________________. The children loves to look at thereself on the very first day of school,especially at the end of school. The parents enjoys looking at the picture’s of their child. We also draw the childrens hands on foam. We let the children glue a heart in the middle of the hand. Then we attach a magnet on the back so the paents can hang it on the refridge.
I teach second grade and our first day of school getting to know you activity this year is completing an alien glyph and writing activity. Students will use the key and create their own alien. After the aliens are finished, students trade aliens and write about the alien they have. An example would be, “I know Susan is an only child because her alien has purple shoes. She is a girl because her alien has a bow on her head.” They will look so cute and have met the rigor of creating a medium showing data and interpreting data by writing about them.
I teach preschool and have done toddlers through fours. My favorite project to do on the first day is to make a first day placemat. I have the children color a piece of construction paper, I take their picture and make their handing and put them both on there. Then write “name’s” first day in “name of the class” then have the kids decorate it with back to school stickers. Finally I lamina
te it
Yippie! I love the first day of school..new supplies and Mailbox books with so many wonderful ideas! I teach 1st grade and my favorite thing about the first day of school is just being with the little ones who will be a wonderful part of my life for the next 9 months. Have a super first day everyone!
my back to school is doing back to school like apple collage and also pencil like differnt kinds of back to school with toddlers
I work with 2-5yrs. I have worked with children for 20yrs. I work for St.John’s Lutheran Preschool in ElCajon, ca. This is my 2 1/2yrs.here. My first day I always like to start with, is at circle time read The Kissing Hand. Then at lesson time we work on the letter A and paint some apples.
I teach 3rd grade. Because I have an ocean theme in my classroom, I try to find a first day of school activity that goes with the theme. Last year, the students enjoyed completing a fish glyph so I think I will try it again. 🙂
I am going to be using Whole Brain Teaching this year and am excited to implement it beginning in the first minutes.
Before school starts, I send a paper bag to each child with the instructions to make it into a puppet representing themselves. They are to place three items inside that tells something about themselves. These are displayed on the wall. I also read the Kissing Hand and the children trace their hand and place a kiss stamp inside to give to their parents. I teach VPK.
I teach pre-K at a day care and on the first day of school, I like to take a picture of each of my children and I will use it for a craft. I also like to read The Kissing Hand and the children make a handprint then add a heart sticker in the middle!
I teach preschool for the Head Start program. On the first day we sit in a circle and and the children introduce themselves and share something about themselves or their family. Each child then draws a picture of what they shared and I write what they dictated/described on their picture. The pictures are hung on a large tree I have made from craft paper and paperbags. We label the tree “Our preschool family tree”.
I love love LOVE reading everyone’s ideas. I have decided to open my own preschool this year and we will have 2 classes that we’ll be getting ready. I was planning on some kissing hand activities as well, but was searching for some other new and exciting ideas. I love the old mailbox ‘Bears’ idea and am planning on doing some picture taking and hand writing comparisons as well.
Keep these great ideas coming!
I teach 4th grade. I always read Crysanthemum (Henkes) and have the students make a name glyph. We share and find out who has the longest name, shortest name, etc. For homework, students have to find out how they got their name and add to the back of the glyph to share the next day.
I teach kindergarten. On the first day of school, I love to take a picture of each child holding a chalkboard saying “1st Day of Kindergarten” We also read “The Kissing Hand” and decorate our names.
I teach Kindergarten and one of my favorite first day activities is to read Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready For Kindergarten. After reading the story I tell the kids that Miss Bindergarten has visited our school and has left paw prints around the school that we need to find. I place the paw prints at important places in the school- main office, nurses office, library, art/music room, gym, cafeteria etc. As we go on our paw print hunt we visit important places and meet some of the important people in our school. The kids love looking for the paw prints and then when we come back to our room “Miss Bindergarten” has left each child a surprise at their seat ( a pencil, or other small treat).
I make get to know me glyphs with my students. This year my theme is owls. So each student will get an owl pattern and coloring according to the key. For example: EYES: Color blue is you are a boy pink if you are a girl WINGS: number of siblings assign a color to only child, 1, 2, 3, etc.
I teach a Pre-K class and when the new children come into the class we go over the rules for the class and we read Miss Bindergarten gets ready for Kindergarten. All the children really love this story and want to read it over and over. We also take pictures for the children’s cubbies.
This will be my second year as as second grade teacher. But this year will be different and will be more challenging. In our school, we will be implementing the Special Ed Reforms. And in the second grade, I will be collaborating with another teacher. It’s just a blessing that I’ll be working with a nice and smart special ed teacher. Being that, we will have a very interesting second graders, my favorite first day activity is on rules. From experience, I found out that it is a good way to involve the kids in making the rules. There’s ownership and the kids become more responsible because they’re part of the process. But remember, as the teacher, you need to be the facilitator. It is always good to get our kids engaged; but as teachers we need to manage effectively every situation in the classroom.
I will be teaching first grade. My first year was a total whirlwind since I was only hired 3 days before the first day of school. I honestly don’t even remember a favorite first day activity from last year (my second year). This upcoming year I want to try an activity that helps the students and I get to know each other. The students will sit in a circle (me included) on the carpet. We will go around the circle and everyone will say their name. Then we will go around again and answer a different question such as how old are you, your favorite thing about school, etc. We will see how it goes!
I teach second grade .We use the book “First Day Jitters” and discuss our feelings about how we feel about the new school year.We also discuss ways to handle difficult situations we will encounter this school year.
I will be teaching 3rd grade for HomeSchool. Pictures will be the first thing. I am trying to find fun things to do the first week. I am so excited.
I teach kindergarten and often do The Kissing Hand. We trace hands and add a heart in the middle. I also show them pictures of my family, our vacation pictures and our family pets to introduce myself. They in turn will bring in pictures of their families and pets, etc. to share and kick off our first unit: “About Me”.
Teaching how to become a classroom community is very important in our fifth grade class. I begin by showing what our character counts pillars look like, sound like, and feel like. I use specific picture books to launch each pillar and this helps set clear expectations from the entire class. This takes a good amount of time but it is imperative in order to have a positive learning environment.
I’ve taught fourth grade for many years and always used Stringbeans Trip to the Shining Sea as an opening book to read. String Bean visits many different parts of the country on his travels and sends post cards to his family telling about each adventure. After reading this, I have the kids create a post card of one of their favorite places to be . Since not all of the kids travel, I tell them that it could be a favorite spot in their yard, or a favorite friend’s house and retell their most fun activity.
I am a first year kindergarten teacher and am loving all of these ideas! I am planning on having the students do a self portrait & a teacher portrait on the first day. Should be fun! We will also read The Kissing Hand.
I am a new K-3 pull-out learning support teacher. This will be my first, first day of school! My students will only visit me for a little bit during the first day, but I plan on having a scavenger hunt around the room to introduce them to the set-up!
My favorite activity for the first day of school is a scavenger hunt to familiarize the students with the teachers/staff and building. It ends ups in the cafeteria with the students finding popsicle treats!
I teach Special Day Class k-3. My favorite first day activity is the name game. The students say their name and pick a food that starts with the letter f their first name. They have to remember the previous names and food item that goes with that name
My favorite first day activity is make a cube about the student. Give them six sides and have them decorate the panels all about them. They can add photos and images. Then dispaly different sides different months.
My favorite first-day activity is to read “The Gingerbread Kid Goes to School.” It really holds the students’ attention, and it’s a story that gives the kids a laugh. 🙂
My favorite first day activity is make a cube about the student. Give them six sides and have them decorate the panels all about them. They can add photos and images. Then dispaly different sides different months. I teach special ed students K-6
We will be reading Chicka, Chicka, Boom Boom and we will create a Chicka, Chicka, Boom Boom tree with foam letters in their names.
I teach first grade. I take a picture of each of my students and post them on a bulletin board. We play a guessing game about which student I am descibing. The students guess and the student that I was describing stands up and we welcome them to first grade. They get to share a special item that they brought to school to show the other students.
I teach first grade and kindergarten. My favourite first day activity has to do with the book: The Kissing Hand. I always read this the first day followed by a variety of related activities like: doing a Kissing Hand Anchor Chart:_____ felt _____ on the first day of school; then counting and graphing how WE feel on our first day; making hand print sugar cookies to eat for our snack and take home; and finally making a scrap book page with our hand print. OOpps not to forget that I ALWAYS take a FIRST DAY OF school picture with whoever brought them to school that day and by themselves.
I teach First Grade and a favorite activity that we do is each student gets to pop a balloon and in that balloon is a question about themselves that they share with the rest of the class. Some examples of questions are: How many children are in their family, what is their favorite color, ect.
I teach 3rd grade and I like to have them design their own name tags with pictures of what they did over vacation, their favorites, their families etc. It is a great ice-breaker! I can walk around and talk to them about their pictures to get to know something about each student right away!
On the first day we use play doh to make 3 things that represent ourselves and then share with the class. The kids enjoy chatting with each other while doing the play doh. They don’t even realize they are getting to know each other!
Wow so many great ideas!!!!! My first day with the 2’s will be with some who are already familiar with me, mixed in with some new faces. This year one of my students has some special needs so incorporating his needs into our activities will be a challenge My goal, after reading everything here is to incorporate the We all fit together classroom puzzle…Thank you Christy Setzke!
I teach Pre-K, and I have my students to draw a picture of an activity the did on the first day.
I teach preschool.I will be doing activites with the kissing hand. I also take eack childs picture.I will use the pictures for bulletin boards and placemats.
I teach preschool.I will be doing activites with the kissing hand. I also take each childs picture.I will use the pictures for bulletin boards and placemats.
I teach preschool. My favorite 1st day activity is going around the room doing a little scavenger hunt. We look for things that have to do with each center. The kids love this and we discuss how each center works.
I teach 3 and 4 year olds and I also do the story “The Kissing Hand”. We then make a handprint picture and poem to take home and we bake hand shaped cookies with a Dove chocolate heart in the middle. We also search our school for hidden frog cut outs and learn about our building and the people who work there. Its a busy day and is usually very exciting for the children. They always look forward to coming back the next day.
The first day of fifth grade, I read aloud How I Spent My Summer Vacation by Mark Teague. We then play 2 Truths and a Lie. Each student writes down 2 true things done during summer break and 1 “sorta believable lie.” We then guess which one is the lie. This gets the students speaking in front of the class right away – the atmosphere is relaxed and we learn a little bit about each other. Their homework assignment is to go home and tell their parents that they “lied in school today.” All done in jest…..
I teach infants to five years. We will be making name placemats. The children will be decorating a placemat with markers and stickers. It will be laminated and they will use it for the first few weeks.
I am a daycare teacher and teach preschoolers and love love love love my job. It is sooooo rewarding….
Our first day activity planned is emotion puppets! Each child can create a story of what and how they “feel” happy, sad, excited, surprised, and so on by each puppet they make. It sure does make the kids feel less nervous!! We are all Happy On the first day…..
I teach 4th and 5th grade resource; my favorite first day activity is to have a “classroom tour”, featuring the different centers
I teach basic skills k-4. First day activity is making puzzle pieces about themselves and putting them up to display on the bulletin board. Its a great getting to know you activity.
My favorite first day activity is having the students complete a handout “All About Me in Numbers”. There are 6 “balloons” that students need to write a description of themselves that correlates with the number they have selected. For example, student picks number 3, explanation might be “I have 3 siblings.” This number exercise shares lots of “get to know you” info even for students that are friends.
I am a home visitor and during the first home visit, I bring things that tells parents and children about myself such as family picture,my favorite book for the beginning of the school year “The Day the Teacher Went Bananas” and then I asked them to find something at home that represents them and we talk about it. Families tend to enjoy it!
On the first day of preschool we day a scavenger hunt of all our centers indivdually with each child and talk about the center
My favorite first day activity is making t-shirts (paper) with drawings by the children about themselves. It lets me get just a glimpse of who they are. Kindergarten is so fun!
I teach 2nd grade, and as a character/class family building exercise, I like making “rotten banana” fruit salad with my class on the first day of school. As we assemble the salad, we compare the pieces of fruit to qualities a good classmate might have. Then I pull out my rotten banana and try to add it to the salad. Amidst a chorus of “No’s,” I explain how one rotten banana can spoil the whole fruit salad(or classroom game/activity). As they enjoy their snack(without the rotten banana), they also complete a color/writing page of a bowl of fruit. The students must label each piece of fruit with a word/definition/sentence of a positive characteristic they will try to exhibit or that they will look for in their classmates. The students always love it.
I teach threes and fours and always take a picture of each student when they come in on the first day. This picture is used for many activities throughout the year. We also sing and play name games throughout the first week. I enjoy reading Spot Goes to School by Eric Hill because we can compare our school to Spot’s and the children enjoy lifting the flaps.
I love playing People Bingo on the first day. It gets my high school kids up and moving and getting to know each other.
Reading the kissing hand of course!Favorite book – I still get tears in the back of my eyes – and this year I am sending my first born to college for the first time. Whole new meaning to the “first day” this year for me. My first day is also my youngest’s first day of high school, my daughter’s first day of her senior year, and my oldest son’s first day of college – I exhausted already!!! Oh and nervous – I love my job but that first day I am a bunch of nerves!!!
My first day activity is a getting to know you activity- this year we will make a pie graph using their birth months. We are going to have so much fun!
Oh, I teach third grade
I always make a “friendship” salad on the first day of first grade for our snack. I get various fruits that each students gets to add to a large bowl. As they add their fruit they talk about what makes a good friend. At the end one students adds whipped cream (or yogurt) and we mix it all together. While mixing I talk about how being a good friend isn’t just one of their ideas, but all of them mixed together.Just like one piece of fruit wouldn’t taste as good as all of these together. It is enjoyable for the students and works really well in giving them social skills language.
I teach Pre-K in an integrated classroom. I hand out All About Me white lunch bags at an Open House prior to our first day. The bag contains a few Welcome ‘goodies” like a pencil and apple stickers and include directions for families to decorate the bag and fill it with 3 items that will tell us about their child. We then will share our bags the first week of school. The highlight is when the teachers share their ‘All About Me” bags. What fun and a great way for little ones to feel welcome.
Today was the first day of school. I teach preschool special needs in an elementary school. I enjoy the story The Kissing Hand. The students’ hands are then traced and each child decorates their hand (today was using markers-could be heart stickers, paint etc.) and brought home to their family.
My favorite first day activity is student interviews. Students pick a partner and then they interview each other with specific questions. After the interviews are over, the students present their partner to the entire classroom.