BACK TO SCHOOL

BACK TO SCHOOL

Back to school time is fun and exciting. The first six weeks of school each year are an adjustment for the students as well as the teacher. After each day I am exhausted. I hope some of the back to school suggestions, materials, and links provide some new ideas to implement in making your classroom learning experience joyful.

Beginning a new school year can be an anxious time for students and even master teachers. There is excitement in the air as well as that heavenly smell of new crayons. The impression you want to leave after the first day is important since it will create a tone for the entire school year. The following activities are suggestions that can be used in your back-to-school planning. Additional information for letters, forms, classroom management, etc can be found at the back to school menu. The resource book below is available through this site and Amazon.com. Click on the cover with the mouse and learn more about this resource.

Scholastic Resource Book - Back-To-School

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

The following are suggestions to use in preparation of your student class list and getting to know the students.

1. Before school starts, send a post card or letter to your students welcoming them to the _______ grade. Samples of these letters are in the back to school section.

2. Write each student's name on sentence strips. Put the names in a pocket chart. I use a pocket chart that is a garment rack with wheels. This is rolled outside of the classroom door. The names of all of my students are placed in the pocket chart in alphabetical order. Parents can pass by the door and read the names, etc.

3. When students enter, have them take their name from the pocket chart. This will give you a visual as to the students who are present as well as the no shows. Make extra laminated sentence strips and leave them blank. These can be used for new additions to the class.

4. Use the name cards for games and activities for the first day. After the first day, the name tags are placed on the word wall. These are our first words of the year.

Activities using name cards:

When students are sitting on the floor for the morning meeting, sing a song about names. Some suggestions may include:

Tune: If you're Happy and You Know it

* If your name starts with ( letter name) wave hello

* If your name starts with (letter name) stand up tall

* If your name starts with (letter name) clap your hands.

In our class, the Pugsters, a stuffed pug dog is our mascot. The students sit on the floor in a circle. We pass one of our mascots around singing a song (Good Morning Song is easy to learn). When the song stops, the student can say something about their favorite color, pet, etc. Since many students are shy, giving them a topic to tell about usually produces more of a response. The character is passed around again and the game continues.

Getting to Know You Game

This idea is from Mailbox September issue of monthly ideas. The activity is called, "Get the Scoop".

This matching game is a way for students to get to know one another. Using 9" x 12" sheets of tag board, make templates of an ice-cream cone and a scoop of ice cream. Provide one cone and one ice-cream template, two 9" x 12" sheets of construction paper (one brown and one pink), two small index cards, scissors, crayons, glue, and a pencil for each student.

Group the students into pairs. Have each student trace and cut out a brown cone and a pink ice-cream scoop. Ask each student to interview his partner and write a few descriptive words or sentences on an index card. For students who are not writing yet, they can draw a picture, orally retell, or have an adult write for them. The interviewer draws a picture of the partner on the index card. This is glued to the ice-cream scoop. They write their partner's name on the back of the ice-cream scoop. The teacher collects all of the projects.

To play the game, choose a cone and read the description. to find out who has the picture of the selected student, ask "Who's got the scoop?" If the name matches, they have the answer correct.

Give me a Hand Activity:

This activity is easy to do but may take some adult help for early learners. Each student traces their hand on construction paper. The shape is cut out. Glue the hand on another piece of construction paper of a contrasting color. On each finger, the student can write or draw something about themselves (good helper, love to eat pizza, etc). The hands are then placed around the bulletin board or door. This activity also helps build community when shared in group.

There are three books that I would recommend for oral language, early literacy, and center work. The books are called A POEM IN MY POCKET, Teacher Created Materials, Publishing Company. There is a book for Fall, Winter and Spring. To review the books, click on each cover. This link will take you to Amazon.Com.

I copy the poem, color the pictures, and glue this to the cover of a pocket folder. Inside of the folder, I have the activity sheets for the center work, poem book, and other tasks for the students to work on for the week. There is a homework component already made for each activity in each book. Save time and do not reinvent the wheel. The kids really enjoy working together to put the word cards in order creating each sentence of the poem as well as sharing their poem book with their families.

Here are some additional books that you can use to make books with your children. Each book is a manipulative type of book. I use the ABOUT ME book as well as the SCHOOL BUS book the first weeks of school. For our color review, I have the kids listen to "Mary Wore Her Red Dress" and they make this book. We add to the book using the blackline of a person from the book to keep a class book about the Room 35 Pugsters. To review each of the books, click on the individual covers.

This book has the ABOUT ME paper bag book.

Each child takes their paper bag (lunch size) home to fill with things that tell about them. The bag is attached to the person shape and book. Here is one I made for my students about me.

Another great book is called SUPER FILE-FOLDER BOOKS. There are 10 interactive books that students make and read. During the first week of school, we discuss bus safety. As we learn about being safe on our journey to and from school, the kids make a bus book using a file folder.

The other book is called SUPER MANIPULATIVE BOOKS. There are ten interactive books for kids to make and read in this set.

Below are examples that I made for Mary Wore Her Red Dress from this book.

The pieces for each activity go into the plastic bag. As the children read/sing, they can attach the pieces to the figures using velcro.

For 2- seasonal art activities and projects, Scholastic has an easy book for K-2 kids. If you are working with bus safety, there is a following directions activity in this book.