The first week in kindergarten really is a wild place. We had so much fun building our foundation.
I always read The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn the first day of class. We began our Memory Books. Most of my students brought in a 1 inch 3 ring binder and plastic sleeves. I will only have to buy about 5 this year with my own money. Thankfully, the Dollar Tree had them this year!! If you are interested, I have a memory book for sale in my TPT store. I am trying to be more organized this year. I am determined not to have to sort hundreds of pages into these books in May this year.
This summer I read a couple of The Responsive Classroom books. I loved The First Six Weeks of School and Rules for School. In fact, we are going to use them for our first PLC this year. I had my parents write down their hopes and dreams for their children this year at orientation. The children made their own list the first few days. Each child drew a self portrait, and I added their hope and dream to their illustration.
Next, they came up with a great list of rules to insure everyone meets his or her hopes and dreams. After all, a student needs an orderly classroom to learn and work. We consolidated the list into three main rules. Then I typed them up into posters. Everything is now hung up in our windows. It looks fantastic and the children are so proud.
I didn't get much sleep this week. I have been working long hours. I finally finished our kindergarten scope and sequence. This will be the blueprint for my lesson planning. The more detailed the scope and sequence, the easier lesson planning becomes!!
I will start the 26 letters in 26 days lessons in week 3. I have had my sweet mother-in-law and her cousin working hard to assemble books and puppets. My binder is all printed and ready to go. If you purchased my TPT unit, this is the time to get organized. I put the letter cards inside trading card sleeves with little Velcro dots. I bought the A-Z dividers and a 3 inch notebook. Behind each letter, I put 2 plastic sleeves. The first sleeve has my puppet and song. The 2nd sleeve has the letter copies.
Overall, the week was a huge success. I was able to assess my students ability to recognize letters and sounds. With this done, I was able to form my groups for the 26 letter lessons. We spent a little time learning how to rotate through stations on Friday. Keep checking back to get more kindergarten ideas.
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