Uh Oh…Gues What Day It Is?!

You guessed it…. Woo hoo!  Half way to a 3-day weekend after a long first week back!  Woo hoo! Let’s recap the week thus far, shall we?! Monday was a GREAT first day! I LOVED spending the whole day with all 18 of my little sweeties.  Yes…only 18.  A blessing indeed.  Speaking of blessings, I’m blessed to have my own two start school and LOVE it.  Shockingly, the tears on my end were minimal.  I only cried when I woke them up to get dressed.  They didn’t cry a bit! We started the year with LOTS of rules and procedures.  Not so much “you can’t do this…don’t do that…”, BUT we spent lots of time talking about our classroom environment and expectations. I had all my kids take a picture with this cute little printable I found on Yellow Bliss Road.  I’ve already started my end of year slideshow.  Can you believe it?!  I’m really *trying* to be organized and on top of things :)  We’ll see how long that lasts. Our whole pod read the timeless classic, The Kissing Hand, on the first day.  We actually found a version on YouTube, so the kids got to listen to someone else’s voice for about 4 minutes :)  We all did the same little craftivity {from Kindergarten Days} as a follow-up hands-on visual to help us retell the story and then hung them out in the hall.   Then we brainstormed a list of words that described our feelings on the first day.  {Idea from Once Upon a First Grade} Our first day feelings anchor chart was a great springboard for our very first predictable chart!  Of course, we haven’t finished it just yet.   We’re adding 4-5 sentences each day and we should be all finished by Friday!  When we’re all done, we’ll vote on a title…then we’ll add a cover and the kids will get to illustrate it.  The big book will go in the class library and the kids will get to read it as much as they want :)  Depending on it’s condition at the end of the year, I’ll auction it off, too! 🙂 No first day is complete without a self portrait, so we completed ours at the end of our very busy day…and I already added them to their Kindergarten portfolios! Who am I?!?!?!?  These self portrait printables are in my Saved By the Bell back to school packet. On our second day, we really focused on establishing routines and procedures.  I LOVE Julie Lee’s School’s in Session packet and used some of her  awesome activities that got the kids practicing their glue and scissor skills. It’s day 3 today and we reviewed…and practiced, practiced, practiced…our rules, routines, and procedures.  My kids are little rockstars and they’re getting the hang of it like nobody’s business 🙂 Today was our first day with a “normal” schedule, so I introduced them to literacy centers and started them out with a little fine motor/name recognition activity {from Deanna Jump’s Name Unit} that they meticulously worked on independently. Tearing those little pieces of construction paper was tiring work, bless their hearts! We also read this PRECIOUS book… And then made an anchor chart brainstorming ways that we can be good listeners.  Since we’ve been working SO hard on our listening skills these past 3 days, we did a little teacher directed activity where the kids got to put together a little sentence and create their own little Lacey Walkers.  It was tough having to listen to and follow directions…we so badly wanted to do it our OWN way…but they did such a great job and showed my just how great their listening ears work 😉   I posted this picture on instagram earlier and someone asked me what those little name stickers are all about in the top right corner.  I don’t always use these, but I type up a page of little name labels and make several copies to use throughout the year…just depending on the activity.  There’s really no rhyme or reason.   I usually add these to construction paper activities just so it’s easier to see their names, but they have to handwrite their names on the back of their work, too. Whew!  It’s definitely been a BUSY week and I.AM.WIPED.  I’ve passed out on the couch every.single.night this week with the phone in my hand and my shoes on my feet.  Was the first week back always this exhausting or am I really starting to show my age?!?!  Hope y’all are having a GREAT week!!!