FREE First Day of Kindergarten Activity

Handprint Craft for the First Day of School

This year I tried something game changing. You see, we always do a Classroom Scavenger Hunt at our Meet the Teacher event. We have families sign up for different 1/2 hour time slots so there's no more than 5 children at a time. The children and their parents complete the scavenger hunt, finding different things in the classroom. This is to familiarize the child with the classroom and teacher and hopefully make them more comfortable when the first day of school rolls around. What I realized though, was that by having the parents guide the students through the activity, I was missing out on precious time where I could be instructing them on basic routines, while assessing their processing speed, their ability to follow directions, their attention span and their basic socialization skills! So this year, I treated the Scavenger Hunt like a mini-lesson in Kindergarten for my students.

I started by introducing myself to them and then introducing them to each other. I built camaraderie by telling them that this was their Scavenger Hunt team and if they worked together they would complete the Scavenger Hunt and earn a prize. I then lined them up and had them walk to the entrance of the classroom where we do our Morning Greeting each day. I talked to them about picking a greeting and had each one choose a greeting and respond to me. After they greeted me they moved to a table in the room with the Scavenger Hunt sheets laid out. I asked them to write their names at the top. This was a quick assessment of pencil grip and name writing. I then walked them through the steps of the Scavenger Hunt, which coincidentally taught them: where the bathroom is, that the toilet automatically flushes, where the sink is, how to get the automatic taps to turn on, how to get the soap and where to put the paper towels when they're finished, where their drawer is with their supplies, how to get their pencil box out of their drawer and close it behind them, how to bring their pencil box to the table, how to put their pencil box away when done and close their drawer again, how to choose a spot at the carpet and turn to face the speaker (further lesson on crisscross, mountain or mermaid sitting will be covered the first week), they know where our reading center is and how to sit and look at books, they know where our math games are and how to get a bin out and then return it when done, they know how to line up at the door in a straight line when its time to leave the classroom, they know how to clean up their center when the chime rings, they know where their cubby is and where to put their backpacks and folder each day.

In just 11 steps, we covered some of the most important routines in the classroom. Of course I'll have to reteach and refine on the first day of school, but they're coming in with a baseline knowledge of how to function in the classroom. More importantly, they feel more comfortable with me and with following my instructions. I'm more aware of who is impulsive, who needs time to warm up, who is a natural leader, who is easily distracted. They're also more comfortable with each other, and have started the beginning of friendships with at least the students who were in their Scavenger Hunt group. On Monday I can group them together in those same groups, to give them a bit more familiarity and comfort.

Since I have all of those building blocks in place now, I feel like Monday won't be AS chaotic and stressful as previous years' first day of school. That means that I can add this handprint poem into the plans for Monday, and feel confident that our day will go smoothly:

This poem page is editable so you can add your students' names, your school name, location and date. You can also change the grade level, so you can use this for Pre-K, Kindergarten or any other grade level!

I hope you can use this freebie, and that you have a great start to your school year!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom STEM Activities

Storybook STEM Activities Kindergarten

I love to start off my school year with easy stem activities, to give my students an introduction to engineering concepts like identifying a problem, brainstorming ideas, sketching to communicate, selecting an idea, building a proto-type and testing it. These are all part of the problem-solving process and can be applied throughout life, not just in engineering!

While I love using Nursery Rhyme STEM activities, I also like to design STEM units around story books like "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" to create cross-curricular activities that will engage my students throughout all subject areas! Keep reading for some fun stem activities for kindergarten that revolve around "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom"!

For my "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" STEM unit, I start off with reading the book of course! I read it multiples times, until my students can chant it with me. I also set up my Listening Center with different read alouds of the book. My students scan the QR code to go to a SAFE link of a YouTube video! This way they're not exposed to any ads and they can't click any other links and fall into a YouTube rabbit hole! For example, this card has 2 QR codes - one that links to Ray Charles retelling the story, and the other to an animated version.

And of course, this is the perfect time for some vocabulary and schema building, so I also have QR codes to videos about the life cycle of a coconut tree, a coconut tree directed drawing they can practice, as well as some fun coconut songs.

For our science connection to "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" we use our 5 Senses to explore a coconut! This is a wonderful way to build vocabulary and schema! In my previous school, most students had never even seen a coconut, so this was a wonderful experience to share with them. Currently I teach on a semi-tropical island where coconuts can be found on the beaches, so my students are a little more familiar with them, but getting them to describe the coconut using a specific sense is still a powerful activity! And of course, you can't complete the 5 Senses exploration without a taste test, and taste tests are great for graphing!

Although these are whole group activities, I have students complete response sheets to help keep them on track during the discussion, and also to give them something to bring home to jumpstart conversations about what we are doing in class!

Since I teach this unit in September, this is usually our first Engineering Challenge, so I make sure this one is easy but engaging, so that everyone is successful AND learns how to go through the design process.

This is my own sweet little guy when he was in my kindergarten class!

Best year ever!

One of the ways I get my students engaged in an engineering project is to clearly state the problem by reading them a challenge message. I have them examine the materials they're allowed to use, and then draw or write about their idea in a booklet.

Once everyone has completed the challenge (and this one is short, because we know attention spans in the beginning of the year aren't the longest!) I gather everyone together to discuss how it went - what went well, what was a difficult, what they would change for next time. We complete the last page in the booklet, drawing or writing about how the challenge went. Then I hand out the Challenge Certificates! Students love being able to take these home to show their parents they were successful in beating the challenge! I also add the materials for this challenge into our STEM Center, so that if they want to revisit it during their free-play time it is available - and they tend to use the materials for weeks afterwards, coming up with ever-more-fantastic ways to build!

Of course, I have to integrate "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" into our Math centers too! At the beginning of the year we're still working on 1-1 correspondence and number recognition, so counting activities are a must!

The coconut ten frame mats are a favorite - honestly, any activity where you can add fun manipulatives is automatically ten times more engaging! Students simply choose a card, and then build that number on the tens frame with manipulatives - in this case, those little flat glass gems! To differentiate, there's a mat for 0-10 and one with 2 tens frames, so students can go to 20. This also helps with place value and teen numbers, for those that are ready.

I absolutely love Roll & Cover games, so I always have them as a Math Center option. The key here is that once students understand how to play, all you have to do is change out the mats to renew their interests, without having to spend valuable time teaching them a new game format! For this unit I made a mat for 1 dice, so students can practice counting and number recognition from 1-6 (this is also great for subitizing!) then there's a mat for 2 dice so students can count or add to 12!

Pattern blocks are also an "always available" Math Center staple. Some students can create intricate, symmetrical designs, and some prefer to have some guidance. For those students, a coconut tree mat helps them get some practice with 2d shapes, while the response sheet lets them count and write how many of each shape they used!

Finally, we create a class book. This is exciting for my students, because they each get their own personalized page with their name! Check out how cute the cover is:

This page is EDITABLE, so you can change the name and year at the bottom!

Then, you simply type in all of your students' names and how many letters are in them and you get precious pages like this:

I have my students color them and then add stickers or stamps to spell their name!

My students always love reading the class book over and over again in our Reading Center! Some years, when I'm feeling extra, I even add the student's photo to the top of their page before laminating it and binding it in the book! This book stays in Reading Center for the whole year and continues to be a favorite!

And then finally, once we've finished with "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and are ready to move on to our next storybook (this is usually after 1-2 weeks) we create our crowns to wear home:

"Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" is an amazing book that is perfect for the beginning of kindergarten because it lends itself to so many fun activities across the curriculum while still instilling concepts of print. This "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" STEM unit is one of my favorite units to teach, and I hope it will be one of yours too!

Random Acts of Kindness Ideas for the Classroom

Random Acts of Kindness Calendar for September 2022

Incorporating kindness activities into your back to school lesson plans is one of the most important things you can do to build classroom community and practice positive classroom management! Rather than spending your days redirecting and reacting to behaviors, you can build connections with students by encouraging kindness in the classroom. One of the best ways to do this is to MODEL kindness and help your students find ways to be kind themselves.

A fun way to start of the school year is to do a Random Act of Kindness every day. I created this FREE calendar for September 2022, with ideas for random acts of kindness acts that you can do with your students in the classroom, as well as simple kindness acts they can do on the weekends too!

You can display the full color version in the classroom:

Or send home this b&w version so students' families can follow along at home!

Either way you choose, these simple (and affordable) ideas will soon have your students thinking about ways they can kind every day!

Here are some links and ideas for the acts marked with a red *:

September 12th: Check out my Pinterest Play Dough Board for recipe ideas for the homemade play dough. The apple pie play dough is perfect for September!

September 20th: If you need a quick way to make bookmarks for your library, check out my Pinterest Free Bookmarks Board for lots of FREE, fun options! Just print your choice, and then have students color and cut out!

September 29th: Kindness stones are so fun to make - in the classroom, I paint the rocks a solid color with acrylic paint (available in any Hobby store) and then let students write positive words, flowers, hearts and stars on them with paint markers or Sharpies.

Or join the #share100smiles movement by painting happy faces on your rocks!

You can also check out these fun resources in my TPT store to help spread the kindness even further!

FREE Kindness & Character Songs - Songs & Chants to Teach Kindness & Character Traits - 8 easy-to-sing songs for teaching kindness, respect, honesty, manners, and fairness. Use these songs during your morning meeting and throughout your day to help build your classroom community!

Spud-Tastic Behavior Management System - this system makes positive behavior management EASY and FUN! Students will love building a Potato Head by following the classroom expectations!