The beginning of the school year started for us on August 13th. We just completed our first full week of school, and I am EXHAUSTED! I am also very excited to be with my group this year... They are very sweet. I snapped a few pics of activities that we completed during our first week of school. I didn't capture everything, but here are a few ideas that you may be able to use in your classroom.
We sorted numbers and letters. I wanted to see if they knew the difference. They did great!
I introduced the letters A-E. We created an anchor chart to go with those letters.
We highlighted the letters that we were practicing. All kindergarten students LOVE HIGHLIGHTERS.
We also sorted the letters that we were learning. This was a good indication of our cutting skills and awesome letter recognition practice. I always provide a paper plate for my kids to put their cut pieces on. This is a sanity saver!
I introduced the numbers 1-5 this week. I cut apart the numbers and placed them in an envelope. The students practiced ordering them. I will add to their envelope as we learn more numbers.
After we had our numbers in order, we practiced making number towers. We talked about more and less as we were making them.
My students played a game with a partner. One student took a number away while the other student closed his or her eyes. The partner then opened their eyes and tried to figure out what number was missing. They loved this!
We practiced counting with stickers. We had stickers all over our faces by the time that we were through, but the kids had fun.
I always make these name crowns the first week of school. These help my students learn the first letter of their name. We sort ourselves by our first letter and the number of letters in our name.
I always take a name sample on the first week of school. These are placed neatly in their portfolio. It is amazing how much growth is shown by these.
We love play-doh! Play-doh letters are perfect for fine motor work and letter recognition.
We practiced our name by ordering the letters. I had the letters of their name tucked inside an envelope with their name on it. They practiced putting the letters in order and naming the letters to a partner. We will continue to do these everyday, until we can all do it quickly.
We didn't forget our first day of kindergarten pictures!
