first few day ideas

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first few day ideas
By karen

My 1st graders always bring in a box of kleenex-if yours do as well, then have them sit in a circle w/all the boxes in the middle. Tell them you are going to sort them (put them into groups) and see if anyone can figure out
why they are grouped the way they are. I usually do a couple different ways and then let someone else do it. If your kids are young, you may want to have them whisper/tell you what they are doing and you can 'guide' them so that it will make sense to the others.
If lots of kids forget theirs on the first day, then just save them and do this activity when you have a larger number.
Another

activity I like to do is to give everyone a small square piece of paper and have them write their name on it and draw their face w/as many details as possible. (Correct hair color, earings,
eye color,glasses, freckles etc.) Take a big piece of paper and tape it to the board and label the top
I am the oldest in my family.
YES NO
K-1 can usually already read these 2 words and so one by one you call them up to tape their picture under the right column. It is interesting to see how your class is made up and you can talk to each child for a couple min. as they come up and find out where they are in the family line-up. The other kids enjoy hearing this as well. Remember to make a picture of yourself and include it on this graph. Put in the hall!

Another simple but necessary activity is to actually talk thru how to put things inside their desks and what you mean when you say clean your desk or keep it neat.

Sit in a circle and model/demonstrate how to and how not to use glue(Do not cut off the tops when it doesn't come out!!) glue sticks (what happens when you turn them waaaaay up....) markers-amount of pressure, putting the caps on till you hear a click, and any other supplies. It sounds obvious, but these are the little things that drive a person batty when 15-20 of them are doing it later on.You'd be surprised how many don't actually know how you want them to take care of their things.

Pick up a cheap pail of sidewalk chalk and take everyone outside if it's really warm in your room or save it for a Friday. Have them write any words (ones ok for school) they know or draw a summer picture, numbers, abcs, etc.

Good luck and enjoy! It won't be long before you are saying, I can't believe it's Halloween already!