Happy 2016 and the first Schedulin’ Sunday post of a new year!
I know ya’ll rested and relaxed every single day of your break. You didn’t think about school or do any school work. And I know we’re all prepared and ready for a new week!
Or…we all did some work…maybe Pinterested a bit…and now we’re scrambling like crazy people trying to prepare for the week! Or maybe we’re in denial…and still in our pajamas…until the last possible second!
And I know we’re all so excited to see our kids again!!!!! I can’t wait to see how much they’ve grown and hear all about their time off! And the hugs!!!!!
As always, here are my plans for our 3 day week! We have teacher work day Monday and in-service Tuesday!
This week we’re spending our 3 days celebrating the new year and reviewing procedures and routines and expectations!
When the ‘staches arrive Wednesday morning, the classroom will be decorated for a New Year’s Bash!
We’ll celebrate with hats and confetti and noisemakers! We’ll watch the ball drop and count down to the new year!
Thanks to A Cupcake For The Teacher for the awesome free hats!
We will read Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution and make a tree map of resolutions!
Then the ‘staches will write their own resolutions!
One of my favorite new year’s activities is a community building activity! I always do this in January because it’s a great way to welcome the ‘staches back with lots of words to build them up!
Each ‘stache sits on front the smart board (or white board…or chart paper) and the students take turns sharing adjectives that describe that student!
My ‘staches LOVE this every year!
When we finish, I save the file and print it for the student and take a picture. I send the pictures home with a note explaining the lesson!
Who wouldn’t want to start the new year hearing your friends share kind words about you?!
We read David Goes To School and make a class promise chart! I write down all the things that the ‘staches promise to do and we all sign our names! Then we hang it by the door!
It’s a great reminder for all of us of the things we need to do in our classroom to be the best!
Another things I’ve done after reading David Goes To School is make an anchor chart of things we can do to be a good student!
Great visual reminders of things we can do to be successful and who doesn’t love David?!
And don’t judge my artistic abilities!
We also practice numbers and counting down as part of new year’s celebration!
We do some whole group practice starting with 10, then 15 and finally 20!
Then the ‘staches practice on their own!
And finally we end our new year’s celebration by BOUNCING INTO THE NEW YEAR!
We make our own bouncy balls!
That’s right!!! We make our own bouncy balls!!!!
It’s messy…but the ‘staches LOVE IT! This is one of my favorite Mad Science experiments because of the reaction that my students have!!!
Click the picture to get directions for making your own bouncy balls!
And of course, we celebrate with Foodie Fun Friday!
We make an edible version of the Times Square Ball Drop!
And that’s our new year’s celebration!
Here are some freebies for ya!
(These are on my freebies page…scroll down and you’ll see them!)
Here are the creations we’ll be using this week:
