The first 2 weeks of school

We spent a lot of time teaching rules, routines, and procedures. This is critical when managing a classroom full of 24 kiddos. We learned right away how to walk in a hall. This is our hall chant we repeat to remind us how to walk in a line. After we built the anchor chart and modeled what a good line looks like and sounds like I had the kids glue the hall chant into their poetry journal and illustrate what a line looks like.

 

 We also learned how to use glue bottles. We practiced making raindrops and not rain puddles. We sang this cute song to remind us how to use glue. They also glued this into their poetry journal.

 We read Chrysanthemum and talked about characters. I made this little anchor chart and gave each child a mini anchor chart to glue in their reader's workshop journal.

 After reading Chrysanthemum we did the wrinkled heart activity. While reading the story we thought about the character's feelings. Every time someone said unkind things to Chrysanthemum we wrinkled the heart. When the story was over we opened up the heart and tried to smooth it out. We talked about always using kind words. Everyone put a Band-Aid on the heart and glued a mini heart in their reader's workshop journal.

We graphed how many letters are in your name.

Here are some anchor charts we completed.

I love the way Life in First Grade did her number anchor charts.

  You can find the Chrysanthemum activities here.

Another week down and two freebies

I love it when the kids finally start to get a hang of all the new routines and procedures. Makes life so much easier. Here is a look at some the activities we did last week.

 

Another all about me graph. We graphed the color of our hair.

 We did our first science experiment. Do you think a coconut will sink or float? We graphed our hypothesis. The idea came from Deanna Jump.

 

Here is a recording sheet we completed. Click below to download. It was a little tricky for my kinders but they loved asking their friends and going through the process.

 

 We also explored a coconut using our five senses. They kids loved it when I cracked the coconut open with a hammer. Chart idea is also from Deanna Jump.

 
This little interactive writing activity goes great with Pete the Cat Rocking in my school shoes.

The school buses are from Deanna Jump's fun with names unit.

Here are my birthday balloons. This year instead of giant pixy stixs I am using crazy straws. So much cheaper and just as fun for the kids. You can download the balloon from What the Teacher Wants.

 

We started using Kim Adsit's Reading workshop unit. It is a must have. Here is our journal for anchor charts.

This is one of the anchor charts we made together.

This is my hall chant I sing with my kids before we go into the hall. If you would like to make one just click the picture below to download.

Click below to download