Beginning of the Year Recap!

As always the first few weeks of school have been a whirlwind! I wanted to share some pictures of some of our favorite activities!

On our first day of school we read the Kissing Hand and did this Chester craftivity! I love how they all turned out!

Since I am a pennant loving gal {if you don't believe me check out my room decor}, of course I had to have my students help decorate our classroom with this class pennant and fun pencil keepsake.

Some of my other favorite activities that I do at the beginning of the year come from this unit. One of my favorite includes marshmallows! If you are looking for great ideas, this product is a MUST!

Surprisingly my students this year are AMAZING at cutting! Wow! I am beyond impressed. What we have had to work on is letter formation and handwriting. I work on handwriting during my letter sound focus time. I have really enjoyed using Alphabet Directed Drawing by From the Pond. I focus on one letter a day, and review the already learned letters daily. To start the lesson, the whole class does a hands on letter sound activity which could include a sorting activity, bean bags, fly swatters, bowling, etc. After this short little lesson and review, we practice writing the new letter. After I see the students are forming the letter correctly, we complete the directed drawing and think of other words that start with the letter that we have been working on that day! I love how excited my kids get when they realize by following the picture cues and directions they created a really cool illustration! Even though we have been doing it every day for a few weeks now, it still surprises them every time! :) The best part is that during writing workshop I see my students trying to  remember some of the directed drawings we have done, and they are using them in their illustrations! LOVE IT!

Due to all of the testing that is required at the beginning of the year, we jumped right into math and reading centers. This year's bunch of students were really quick learners of how to have appropriate behavior in centers and how to work independently. I am so grateful! These are some of the centers they were working in the past few weeks!

I have been using The Moffat Girls No Prep pack for all kinds of things! It is jam packed with goodies! I use this for math extension activities and ELA practice. 

In preparation for Academic Focus Night, we have completed our Kindergarten Goal Books for August. I know that keeping portfolios on each student is quite the task, but for me and my students seeing their growth in such a simple way is AWESOME! I love sharing it with parents at the end of the year. The hardwork is worth it!

Making my students feel like our classroom is their second home is so important to me, and having them feel like their peers are their second family is even MORE important! I think that learning each others names is the first step to making a classroom family. So in the past few weeks we have done several activities with our names and also have done a study all about being friends, what makes our family special and the most important all about ME! 

If you are interested in any of the activities shown just CLICK the picture below!

        

           

       

I hope your year is off to a great start!