Your Best First Day of Pre-K, TK, or Kindergarten Part 2

Tip #2: 

This is part 2 of a 3-part series. 

You can view Part 1 by CLICKING HERE.

Plan Your "Day 1" Schedule & Activities:

Day 1's Schedule-

A simple, generic plan.

Literature:
There are the classics like
The Kissing Hand, by Audrey Penn. 
I liked starting my day with that book. 

But, keep these other two books on hand for later in the day:

I am Absolutely Too Small For School 

by Lauren Child

Click the image.

It's a cute book about how feeling 
not-quite-ready to start school. 

Or there is...
Harriet Can Carry It,
by Kirk J. Mueller

Click the image. 

 An adorable story about Harriet and her little son, Joey. She is a kangaroo who wants to spend a day at the beach. Harriet is asked by her friends to carry everything from a surfboard to a pair of swim fins. 
If you bring in a beach bag  this story can become an interactive activity as your students place graphics of the items Harriet is asked to carry into the beach bag. There is also a cute activity you can create with this kangaroo:  

CLICK HERE to grab your 

FREE Kangaroo & Beach Gear!

Click the image to grab your FREE kangaroo & beach gear. 

Or you can have your students make their own beach bag out of a paper bag:

Click the image.

Think of Harriet as 

a summertime version of The Mitten. 

Rules/Logistics/Tour the School:
I keep my rules short & sweet:

1. We use quiet voices.

2. We listen with our whole bodies.

3. We walk across the classroom.

4. We are kind.

5. We follow directions.

I even made a little poem about it.

It goes like this:
(And there are hand motions to go with it.)

We raise our hands before we talk,
(Raise right hand up.)

We listen, 
(Right hand cupped to right ear.)
we always walk,
(Fingers of right rand walk along the top of your left forearm.)

We're kind,
(Touch both pointer fingers to the sides of your mouth as you smile.)

We follow directions. 
(Clap, clasp your hands, and place them in your lap.)

Teaching logistics is easy if you explain what you want the children to do and then have 1 or 2 students model it. 

Explain how to walk to the tables, how to create the table activity, and how to use the manipulative activities at each table. Have 1 or 2 students model moving to the tables and YOU model how to create the table activity and use the manipulative activities. By the way, I place the manipulative tubs on the tables and students may play with them when they finish their work. Each day of the first week I rotate the manipulative activity tubs to the next table. That way the children get to explore different manipulatives each day. 

Here are 3 of my 5 tables.
I move the manipulative tubs from one table to the next at the end of each day. 

And take some time to Tour The Classroom & School. Take a group walk around the classroom, especially if you have a restroom in your classroom, and stop to model how to wash your hands at the sink. 

A cute idea is to find your class mascot (mine was always Boomer, the dog) by the sink. Then, tour the playground and, if you can get someone to slip your mascot on a swing or the slide, find your mascot on the playground and model the rules like walking on the blacktop or going down the slide on your bottom. (Although I have been known to go down the slide, you can have a student model that one!) I don't tour the entire school, only the parts that are adjacent to my classroom like the playground and restrooms. 

Here is Boomer! We found him by my Show & Tell Apron!
If you want a teaching apron like this one, visit http://showandtellaprons.com.

Take-home Activity:
Something simple like this hat is perfect for the first day of school because they can wear it home. 
After they cut it out and glued on the red band and white star, I called them up to take their First Day Photo. I used this laminated hat for all of the photos. 

The words on the red band:
I had a superstar day in kindergarten!

1st Day Photos-

I put up a red checkered background for each photo. 

Or you can use a frame like this one. 

Recess & More Literature:
This classic book, Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready For Kindergarten, by Joseph Slate, can be too long to read on the first day. I just start the book, focus on the letters "A" and "a", and we look for those letters in each name as I show their name cards on my SMART board by using my digital camera. On day 2, we take this book out again and focus on the letters B & b. 

We list all of the names that have an "A" or an "a", count how many we have, and fill in the first page of our class Letter-Name Book:

Click the image to grab this Letter-Name Book. 

CLICK HERE to grab my Letter-Name Book. 

It is also part of my 

BEGINNING OF THE YEAR BUNDLE.

CLICK HERE to grab that bundle. 

2nd Table Activity:

Chick-Chicka-Boom-Boom, Welcome To Our Classroom! This activity stays at school to create a cute bulletin board. 

Give students the random letters or the letters in their name. 

Isn't this a cute bulletin board?

Here is a 2D version of this activity.
It makes a great page your your memory book too!

Lunch/Fire Drill/Group Activity:
After lunch, practice a fire drill and then do a group activity like a movement song or a game.

Literature & Daily Diary:
Annabelle Swift, Kindergartener, by Amy Schwartz is a great book to end the day with. 

Click the image. 

Then, have the class help you to complete the first page of your daily diary: This re-caps the day and helps your students remember what they did in school that day so when their parents ask them, it is fresh in their minds. 

Click the image. 

CLICK HERE

to grab your Daily Dairies for the entire year!

This set is also part of my 

Beginning of the Year Bundle.

CLICK HERE to grab that bundle. 

Stay tuned for part 3 of 3 when I blog about making your First Day the BEST it can be tomorrow!