As the school day begins, ask the children to listen to the beginning of the special "start the day" song. Explain to them when they hear this song, they should push their chairs in and come have a seat on the floor. You can use any song you like. My personal favorite is the "Disney's Mainstreet Electrical Parade". It is very happy and upbeat, and children love it. Practice this procedure once or twice until they demonstrate understanding. I've also use this song anytime I want the students to come to the floor. I've also used it as a wake up song. Play one or two games to help the students get to know their classmates. Here are some suggestions: One, Two, Three About Me - Children sit in a circle. Invite the students to share one, two, or three things about him/herself. Pass around a basket of treats, maybe m&ms or goldfish crackers, while music is played. When the music stops, the child holding the basket shares one, two, or three things about him/herself and chooses that many treats from the basket. - from Celebrate the Months September -by Creative Teaching Press Make a large cube with the following pictures on the sides: a food, a color, an animal, a TV, a place, and a toy. Each student is given a turn to roll the cube. When it lands on a picture, he/she states his/her name and favorite food, color, animal, TV show, place, or toy, depending on the picture on the cube. The Beanbag Name Game - Start the game by handing one of the students a beanbag or cute beanie. Begin with this chant. "Hello (child's name). How are you? Who is sitting next to you?" The child passes the beanie to the friend next to him/her. That child says hisher name and the song is repeated until everyone has had a turn. Encourage the children to say the chant with you. Explain to the children that their classroom is like a big family. Discuss how you will all be spending a lot of time together and let the students tell what they would like for their classroom to be like in order for them to feel safe and happy. Guide the children in setting up rules that everyone agrees to follow. Brainstorm with the children and let them make a final decision (guiding them of course :0) ) Post the rules on a chart entitled, "Our Class Pledge", with each rule starting with "I promise to..." Have the children give definitions of the word promise. Read the pledge together at the start of each school day. Demonstrate the most important procedures students need to know before they come to school the next day, and practice these procedures until the students show they understand. In my classroom, we are always practicing and reviewing procedures that they are expected to perform during the year. Practice makes perfect (well, almost :) ) I have tried a number of classroom management strategies in my 8 years of teaching and I finally found what works best for me. I make sure to discuss this plan with my students on the first day of school, so they will know what is expected of them. If you are like me and need a plan that's simple with little paperwork, try this out in your room this year. Here is a link to my web page that explains the classroom discipline plan to the parents of children in my classroom. This is a
very special day,
Let's stand
up and cheer.
Continue giving them a self portrait page each month until the last month of school. Then, finish out the self portrait book with this poem: From the
first day to the last,
Here are
my hands with ten fingers in all.
Happy First Day of Kindergarten
In case you're unfamiliar with the book, The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn, is the story of Chester who is starting to school and has some reservations about leaving his mother. She reassures him by giving him a kiss on his hand, which he can put on his cheek to feel her love when he is away from her. Click on Chester the Raccoon to order from Amazon. Kissing Hand Activities (most of these activities I collected from the Kinder-L mail ring.) If
you meet with the parents before school starts, read the book to them and
tell them you will read it to the students on the first day. Encourage
parents to give their children a kiss in their hand on the first day. The
kids get very excited when you read the story and they have a kiss like
the racoon.
Click
on this link for more excellent Kissing Hand ideas.
Miss Bindergarten
Gets Ready for Kindergarten Activities
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