Back to School Craziness!!

Oh goodness!!!

It's August! When did that happen??? I go back to work full time in 12 days!!! No more sleeping till 10 (or later!), no more lounging around the couch or the pool. It's so sad but also a little exciting. The ideas are running through my head about how to teach my new little ones all the skills needed to successfully complete kindergarten.

I took a blogging hiatus for the past couple of days knowing that I would start reading blogs and forget to relax and enjoy the end of my summer break. Reading what all you wonderful bloggers are working on makes me want to add this ..... or that.... as it is I started reading this morning (and have been doing so on and off till now) in between my household chores, which I have been seriously neglecting (there were layers of dust all over!), and I got ideas for making a new math poster for introducing the numbers 1 -10 (from Ms. Pasqua's Kinder)

 

For making a class set of number sense rings with my kiddos (from Herding Kats in Kindergarten)

And so many more that I may need to grab a notebook to keep them all straight!

I have also come across quite a few linky parties but I plan on only doing one on this post since I feel I am already running at the mouth. Jodi over at Fun in First Grade is having a great linky party so we can all share our favorite back to school activities.

I have taught so many grades that I have done many different first day or week activities.

In second grade my favorite activity was a Get to Know Your books hunt. I know it sounds a little boring but I would read aloud and give directions on note cards for a kind of scavenger hunt through their new books. (It would also help me figure out if they knew how to find pages in books and read simple directions like: Find a picture of a dragon.) At the end of the hunt each student would organize their books in their desks (timed of course) and then get treats like jelly beans or pretzels (depending ont he time of day).

In fifth, I loved having the students come up with interview questions to ask class mates and then picking five to use with an actual classmate. The next day they would interview that classmate and then introduce them to the class. It definitely breaks the ice and the better the students know one another the more interesting you can make the questions.

In first, we worked on a class book for all the things we learned during the first week of school. We would draw pictures to go along with different routines and complete a booklet a friend of mine found which reviewed the people we met, the things they liked, and their hopes for this year.

In kindergarten, my favorite activity involves drawing a self portrait using a hand mirror. I first model drawing my self portrait using the mirror (I point out drawing details you see in your face: like lashes on the eyes, eyebrows, eye color, etc.). We review rules for sharing the mirrors with our new buddies and then they create their first masterpieces! (I then repeat the activity at the end of the year so they can see how much they have grown over the year.) This year I am going to use a sheet from this packet to do the activity. :)

I need to get that notebook out for when I go see all these awesome back to school ideas from everyone at this linky! Will be back with more ideas as they pop into my head (as they often do). Let's just hope they don't pop right back out before I get them down on paper.