It’s BAAAACK! That’s right! It’s that time of year again! Schedulin’ Sunday is back because we start back to school this week! August 1st is the first day for our students but teachers report back tomorrow! So I’m kicking off the year with my 1st day plans and some great freebies! And then I’m going to curl up in the corner and have a meltdown. Back to school always makes me a hot mess…add on the pressure of a new school and I’m gonna lose it big time!
Our first day is always a half day so our day is from 7:45-11:30! So here is what I have planned for the first day!
7:45-8:15-Arrival, greet students, assist them in finding their seats. Speak to parents (comfort parents and children, clean up vomit from distraught children…it happens…3 times last year on the first day!) I also get parents to fill out a form for how their child gets home so I the information handy for our first dismissal!
As they arrive, they put away their backpack. At their seat they have 2 coloring sheets and a box of crayons.
8:15-8:30 Morning Meeting
This is when I introduce and model how to push in our chair and walk to the carpet. This is also when I introduce our clean up song. This year I am using the song “Mustache” from the Funky Monkeys! It’s HILARIOUS! I also model how to sit on the carpet.
(Our carpet procedures are criss-cross applesauce, hands in your lap and bubble in your mouth looking at Mr. Greg!)
After modeling, the ‘staches practice walking to the carpet and sitting down for Morning Meeting. If we need to, we practice it again but usually the first day we just do it once.
I introduce myself to the class. I tell them a little about what we do in Kindergarten. Then we go around the circle and everyone introduces themselves with a simple sentence: “My name is…”
8:30-8:45
After our greeting I talk about how we sing a lot in our class! Then we learn our first two songs:
Little Hands (Jack Hartmann)
Alien Alphabet (Intellitunes)
We will practice these 2 or 3 times depending on our attention span!
Now is when I read “Look Out Kindergarten Here I Come” and we talk about kindergarten. I ask them how they feel and what they want to do in kindergarten! It’s always so funny to hear them talk about what they think we’ll be doing!
After we sing we visit the class restroom and discuss the restroom rules.
I talk to the boys about peeing on the mustache. (Yes, I use a Sharpie and draw a mustache on the toilet for the boys to aim at! Trust me, it works!) We will talk about hand sanitizer or hanitizer and making sure we flush after we’re finished.
This year our bathroom is used for storage so we will have to discuss not touching anything in the restroom!
We then return to our seats and each child gets a pencil and 1 piece of blank paper. I ask them to practice writing their names. I do this so I have a benchmark to use to track their progress. After we practice our names, we get to trace our names.
BRUNCH! This means we get to practice lining up and facing forward with duck tails and bubbles! We get to practice walking in a straight line in the hallway. We also get to practice going through the cafeteria line!
After our brunch, we practice more line and hallway procedures as we journey back to our classroom!
Once we get back to our room we are introduced to our document camera! I always play with the camera so they get used to seeing my hands on the screen and I even aim the camera at the class so they can see themselves!
I then introduce our first school supply: CRAYONS! I ask the ‘staches what they crayons are for and how we use them. We discuss that they are only for our paper and not our table or other furniture. We also discuss that we don’t eat crayons or break them. Mr. Greg even breaks a crayon to show them that it’s bad. We will introduce our crayon boxes and discuss sharing.
After we’ve had our crayon discussion, Mr. Greg shows a picture of a soccer ball. Why a soccer ball? It has several sections so it’s great for practicing coloring! Mr. Greg starts to scribble all over the paper. Of course, the ‘staches make sure I know that I can do better! I then model how to color each section with different colors. After I have modeled coloring, the students get their own soccer ball paper to color.
Click the picture to download your free soccer ball coloring page!
And somewhere in all of this madness, we take pictures to use for our clip chart and class name chart! And this we’re all going to sport mustaches for our pictures!
11:15-clean up, pack up and head outside for dismissal!
And that’s our first half day of kindergarten in Mustache Land!
And now a couple of freebies!
This fun mustache shape set is FREE in my TPT shop until I go to bed tonight! Check it out! (If you download, leave me some love!)
These fun rock and roll days and months cards were created for a friend! Click the picture to download your free set!
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12 comments
Can I come be in your class? You're an AWESOME teacher, Greg! Those kiddos will LOVE the crud outta you.
Sara
Miss V's Busy Bees
ventrellasara@gmail.com
Seriously? Can' I come be a 'stache this year? This sounds like a great day in Kinder!
Jennifer Smith-Sloane
4mulaFun
Love the toilet idea.
I would LOVE to see a pic of the toilet…..and on your video tour you said there was nothing exciting in the bathroom….LIAR!!! LOL 🙂
I love your class routine. Mustache on the toilet ha ha. Your students are so lucky to have you.
Love hearing all the details of the first day! Laughed out loud at “And then I'm going to curl up in the corner and have a meltdown.”
🙂
Susanna
Whimsy Workshop
Wow – going back already! Hope your first day is great!
Kimberly
Funky First Grade Fun
I hope you have a wonderful first day back!!!!!!!! I started back on Friday, so tomorrow is day 2 for us!!!! I don't feel so alone now knowing that someone else is going back to school too!!!!
Sounds like an awesome first day to me.
Good luck!!
Heather
The Busy Busy Hive
Greg,
Thank you so much for sharing your day one plans!!! After teaching for a million years, I just WILLINGLY moved to kindergarten and feel clueless. So your plans are a wonderful gift. Thank you!
Camille
I absolutely LOVE everything you post!! You make me want to be in Kindergarten again!! i want to be a stache!!!
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