We come back to the carpet and I give everyone their cut out name and we make a name anchor chart together. I also help students count the amount of letters, write the numbers, and then cut each name out. During this time, I walk around giving positive feedback to those students who are using our new coloring ‘tools’ correctly. I also have additional coloring pages available for students who finish their names quickly. (I have already prepped the project by using the FREE font Janda Manatee to print their name on a single sheet of paper.) I model for them how they will use the crayons to do their best coloring to color the letters in their name and then count and write the number of letters (if they can). I model for them how I say my name, how I write it, and how I count the letters. After we listen/read the book, I tell them that we are going to ‘investigate’ our names. But I also show them the book and showcase it on my bookshelf. I choose to use the audio/video version, since it’s a lengthy story and the automated version keeps their attention. Some friends may even have the same name! I then play the automated version of the book Chrysanthemum on my SmartBoard. I bring everyone back to the carpet and we talk about how everyone has a name. It’s time for some fun name practice now. Remember that repetition, modeling, and practice is the key to successful classroom management and eventual success with stations and independent learning! We read more rules & procedures books and review & practice several of our rules and procedures for our classroom. I know that there are a variety of products out there, but I just use and it’s free! Since I introduced pencils yesterday, the students have a handwriting name practice ready for them when they arrive for the school day. I’ve read many first day posts and oftentimes there is too much ‘fluff’ and not enough ‘real-life’. I feel like it is very practical and do-able. It is a thorough overview of what I do in my classroom, almost step by step. I shared what my first day of kindergarten looks like here on this post. If your students thoroughly understand what the school and classroom policy and procedures are, you will have a much easier rest of the school year!! Week 1 of Kindergarten -Day 1 All of the activities throughout the week should be centered around these very important guidelines. I have found that the most important thing to do the first week of kindergarten is to instruct, model, and reinforce the rules and procedures of the school and classroom. Do what is best for your students, but I hope you find something here in this post that will be a help to you and your class! Great! Every school and every class is different. Maybe your school is different and you can skip over some of the activities I am sharing today. I am giving this information, because it might explain why we have supply boot camp, or practice saying and spelling our names in numerous ways. A few have went to daycare or attended our Early Childhood program, but the majority have never been in an educational environment. Most of my kinders come to me, having had no prior schooling experience. We have almost 70% free lunch and were just given a grant to implement free breakfast for every student, every day. We do not have any multi-family housing zoned for our school, so our transiency rate is fairly low. I teach in a middle-class neighborhood, with some families on the higher end of middle class and many on the lower end of middle class. If you don’t know me, let me quickly introduce myself…Hi! I’m Abigail (Abbie) and I teach full-day kindergarten in Las Vegas, Nevada. These are just a few things that I do in my classroom that work during that first week of kindergarten. While I would love to say, please come back and read this post before every school year, the reality is that every group of students is different. I think we can all agree that each year in kindergarten is unique and for the most part, we as teachers do not know what is going to walk through those doors on the first day of school.
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