Our first day in Kindergarten was an absolute delight! The children arrived and I quickly snapped a photo of each of them to use during the school year for various projects. Once the bell rang, we headed to the Pavillion for our first Tecolote Tuesday assembly. Mr. Surber outlined his goals for these weekly assemblies and encouraged parents to attend. Students who celebrated birthdays were surprised with an all-school rendition of “Happy Birthday” and Mr. Surber gave us a special tip of the week.

Next, we went back to our classroom and I read the story The Night Before Kindergarten. We played a “getting to know you game” that the children enjoyed and discussed all the things the children did to get ready for their big day. Their answers ranged from “brushed my teeth” to “went to bed early.”

Next, the children listened to the book Chrysanthemum, a sweet story about the specialness of our names. Following the read aloud, the children traced the letters of their name in glue and then sprinkled Jello powder over the glue. They were surprised to see the Jello powder changed colors! We graphed the number of letters that each child has in his/her name. And this was all before recess.

After recess, the students created a self portrait and worked with me in the kitchen to make play dough. I have included this amazing recipe below. Play dough is a great tool for children to use to build fine motor strength, while practicing academic skills. Stay tuned for some fun and educational play dough activities.

We ended the day by singing our goodbye song on the way to car line. The children were happy to see their parents, but disappointed they didn’t have a second chance to play on the play ground….that will have to wait until tomorrow!

Today my new class stopped by for a quick hour to get oriented with our classroom. I decided to send the kiddos on a scavenger hunt! (Thanks for the idea, Mr. Surber.) The children giggled with glee, as they pulled their parents around the classroom, discovering the child friendly bathroom, moving their name on the SMART Board, and even meeting Miss Creel’s cat! (a photo, of course!) After we wrapped things up in the classroom, the children moved on to meet the Specialist teachers in their classrooms. I feel so fortunate to have true specialists teaching art, science, P.E., technology, music, Spanish, and library skills. They are a remarkable group of teachers. I’d say the scavenger hunt was a huge success on all fronts!

Tomorrow is the even bigger day, when my Kinders come from 8:15 to noon. I have so many fun things planned. Doing the scavenger hunt today frees up a lot of time for me tomorrow where we can play fun, “getting to know you” games, compare the letters in our names, listen to two stories, and make homemade play dough! (I’ll post the incredible recipe tomorrow.) I won’t have to give the students a tour of the classroom or campus because they did it themselves today! And that means less talking by me! (Last year I had a student ask me on the first day, “Do you always talk this much?” in his sweet Kindergarten voice. YAY!  With the scavenger hunt, now I won’t have to talk a lot!!)

First day, HOORAY!