First Day FREEBIES and Our Lastest Giveaway Winner!

Howdy peeps! Lindsay here . . .

Well, I survived. Barely.

Our school district had its first day of school yesterday, but at my school the first day of kindergarten is the "Kindergarten Tea" and the parents and kids just come for 2 hours.

Easy peasy, right?

Well, it went really well, HOWEVER there were probably almost 60 people in my room with my 28 kindergarteners, their parents, and a few little siblings as well. And combine that with the fact that my room was probably around 95 degrees, it made for a HOT AND SWEATY first day!!

I'm proud to say that this preggo (that's me!) put on her big girl panties and survived, although not without copious amounts of sweating. And waddling.

After welcoming my kiddos and their parents, their first task was a classroom scavenger hunt - which they LOVED!!  They felt OH SO  important looking around the room with their paper and clipboard! :)

Here is a closer look at the scavenger hunt itself.  You can click on the picture below for a link to this FREEBIE in my TPT store!! :)

And of course the MOST exciting part was the treat at the end that they discovered in their cubbies . . .

 . . . Smarties for my lil smarties, of course!!!

Next I had stations at my five tables where each student rotated from table to table with their parents. Each table had an activity for the kiddos to complete (a dot-to-dot, tracing the ABCs, pattern blocks, etc. - which were all great for some informal observations as to what my kiddos can already do!) and an activity for the parents as well (sign-up sheet for volunteering, filling out my "getting to know you" student info form, etc.).

At this particular table I had the parents take a lil card and write a love note to their kiddo, which I then put into their pencil boxes.  I wish I had thought to take a picture of one of the completed notes - they were all so sweet and heartfelt!  Even though my kidlets could read their love notes on their own, they were SO excited to have a lil something from mom and dad when they got their pencil boxes today (the 2nd day of school).

If you would like to use this template, you can click on the image below to link up with this FREEBIE in my TPT store.

Aaaaaaand . . . I finally gave in and jumped on the bandwagon.  Here is my "1st Day of Kinder" frame that I used to take super cute pictures of my little kidlets with!  (I am lovin those funky letters - courtesy of the "Boho Birds" set from Lakeshore!)

And today . . . well today was our FIRST REAL OFFICIAL DAY of kindergarten.  So naturally there were some tears. And a few kiddos crawling around the floor, and some others lining up with the wrong class after recess . . . but overall, I think I have a super sweet bunch this year!

Even though we were all DYING of heat stroke, we did manage to do the cover and the first page of "My First Week in Kindergarten" packet. (Click the picture below to check out this FREEBIE in my TPT store!)  I have my kiddos do this packet at the beginning and end of every year and it is such a fun thing to put out at Open House to show my student's amazing progress! 

First my kidlets wrote their name and practiced NOT "scribble-scrabbling" on their cover page.

Then we did self portraits!  Again - such a great informal assessment to see their fine motor, what details they are adding to their pictures, etc.

And then tomorrow we will be doing writing and a dot to dot! :)

Well, that's all I have to share for now!  I hope some of these FREEBIES will come in handy for your class next year!

One more thing before I sign off . . . we have a winner for our magnet board giveaway! Drumroll please . . .

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats to Sue B!!!!  We will be contacting you soon about your fabulous prizes!!

Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday night! I'm off to raid the freezer . . . surely there is a carton of chocolate ice cream in there after my long day of teaching, right??

Lindsay

End of summer and First Week of Kindergarten!

Greetings friends!

Lindsay here . . .

Wowzers. Where did August go? Yes, I know its super pitiful that it is already September 5th and I am still lamenting the end of my summer vacation . . .

Here is how we wrapped up our summer "Messner-style":

Jack's first trip to the zoo - It was a brazillian degrees outside with 100% humidity. Seriously. 100%. Just look at Jack's red sweaty cheeks!

Jack's first carousel ride. Not sure we got our money's worth on this one, seeing as how Jack didn't even crack a smile . . .

 

Jack's first football game (cheering on cousin Jeff on Varsity - woohoo!!).

 

 

And finally . . . Jack's first birthday! Woohoo! It was such a fun day with family and friends at the park celebrating our little man. (Thank you Kerri for taking such great pictures of the day!)

He was not at ALL impressed with the "Happy Birthday" song apparently. (Please note: This is "stink face". FYI.)

However, one double-decker smash cake later, he was all smiles! Go Baby Jack!

As sad as it was for the summer to come to an end, I was ready to meet my 19 little kinder kidlets this past Tuesday . . . However, by Friday those 19 kiddos turned into 25 kiddos!   Needless to say I was running around make one more copy of this, two more copies of that, etc., etc. this WHOLE week.  :)

We stayed busy and had a blast this week in Room 17.  We made Chicka Boom trees, we learned all about our Kindergarten classroom rules, we had practice centers  (I can't even count how many times I said "You're not done 'til the ding-dong dings!!".  Probably a million.), and we had fun "showing what smart kids we are". :)

One of the activities I had my kiddos work on was the First Day of Kindergarten packet (although we really do it over the course of a week) that I do every year.  This packet has the students to a self portrait, a dot-to-dot, some drawing, and writing their name, ABCs and numbers.  When my kiddos are done I save their packets and tuck them away, and then have them do it again at the end of the year.  When I pull out the packet from the beginning of the year it makes a great side-by-side comparison for the parents to see all of their child's growth.  This packet is a great informal assessment tool also to see where your kiddos are with fine motor, letters, numbers, name-writing, etc.  in the first week!  

If you'd like to download this freebie for your kidlets, click the image below:

 

 

Here is one of the self portraits that one of my students did from the First Week of Kindergarten packet: I love, love, LOVE their little drawings!!

I have much more to come soon: pictures of the room, activities, freebies, but for now I am off to bed!  This kindergarten teacher is one TIRED lady!!  But before I go, one more freebie. . . .

During the TPT sale in August I snagged Deedee Wills' math journal prompts for the year, I am so excited to get my kids using their math journals!!  I made special covers to go on their lil composition books that we will be using, and I thought I would share. :)   Happy journaling! (Click the image below to download.)

That's all for now folks.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend full of sleep and football (yay for football season starting!!) :)

Lindsay

First Week of School Packet!!

Hello bloggie friends!

Just wanted to share one of my all-time favorite Kinder activities that I do with my kiddos every year.  During the first week of school, I have my cute little kindies complete one page a day of this "First Week in Kindergarten" packet.  The packet includes a self-portrait page, a writing letters and numbers page, a dot-to-dot, and finally a page for students to draw (a picture of mom, a tree, etc.). For some of them it is VERY challenging - it also serves as a great informal assessment of what your kiddos can do right away - but it is a great activity to keep . . . . . for Open House!  Then, right before Open House I have my kiddos redo the same packet to show how much progress they have made throughout the year on basics such as writing their name, letters, numbers, coloring, and drawing.  I use 12 x 18 inch construction paper to fold in half and staple the packet from the beginning of the year on the inside on the left, and the end of the year packet on the right, so parents and students can both see the amazing progress! 

Click the picture above to download the whole packet!

This year I revamped the packet and cutsified it a bit - and made a separate cover sheet for both the beginning and end of the year.  Remember not to send these home! Hang on to them and pull them out again at the end of the year!  You will be impressed! :)

Hope you are all getting excited to meet your new group of kidlets!!

Lindsay