Back to School

There are many sites out there with September units that already cover excellent activities based on apples or the books The Kissing Hand and Chicka, Chicka, Boom Boom. On this page I will include alternative activities. I rarely do any unit or theme the same way twice as I would get bored. Most of my activites are literature based.

On the first day of school I observe the students to determine the following: ability to use scissors, ability to color and choice of colors (Does the student select realistic colors or is the student coloring faces purple? This is not a question of creativity but is the child aware of their choice being different from the norm?), left or right handedness, able to follow two step directions, able to write their name, and fine motor skills of drawing and writing. During the first week of school I pull the students aside to do a quick assessment of knowledge of letters, numbers, colors and shapes. I begin to get to know the students at this time. We read an alphabet book quietly together and sing the ABC song. I can get a good idea of the student's awareness of concepts of print and knowledge of letters.

During the first week of school I concentrate on songs about the body such as Head and Shoulders, If You're Happy and You Know It, and The Hokey Pokey. Dr. Jean Feldman has some good songs about body parts called My Hands on My Head and Tooty Ta. The Tooty Ta song is an excellent ice breaker! These songs all tie into the overall theme of the month of September which is "All About Me".

On the 10th day of school there are some different activities I like to use that focus on the number ten and numbers 1-10. Although I have not taught numbers 1-10 yet at this point I find these general activities a good introduction and they spark interest in numbers. They also give me a chance to assess the students' ability to be able to count up to ten.

To begin with Zero the Hero makes his first appearance on the 10th day because it is the first day that contains the number zero. Zero the Hero doesn't have to be fancy-the kids love him. He comes out of his house which is a decorated paper bag and tells the students about the special number of the day. He also brings a special "0" treat such as Lifesavers or donuts, etc. As we count up to the 100th day of school we add a number each day to the growing number line in our classroom. Zero the Hero visits every day that ends in zero. Zero's poem-

I'm Zero the Hero

And I'm here to say,

Hooray, hooray

On your 10th day!

Congratulations on your very first zero.

That's the favorite number of Zero the Hero.

The books Ten Apples Up On Top by Dr. Seuss and Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews lend themselves to literature based activities. With the book by Dr. Seuss I have the kids tell me their favorite character in the story. Then I give them a piece of paper with a picture of their choice for favorite and the kids draw ten apples up on top. Alternatively, the students can color, cut and glue ten apples from another worksheet I have made.

The book Ten Black Dots has pictures of various things that are illustrated using ten black dots. This lends itself to a creative activity in which the kids color, cut and glue ten dots (circles that I have drawn on a worksheet) in their own arrangement and then dictate to me what it is. I let the kids use any color they like for the dots. Some of the children have arranged them as flowers or balloons, etc. At center time the students can extend this activity by making similar drawings using the Do-A-Dot markers.

Discuss how everyone has ten fingers and ten toes. I like to take off my shoes and show the kids my toes. Review the This Little Piggy poem and read the book Piggies by Audrey Wood. Then paint the children's hands with a brush (applying with a brush comes out better than simply dipping into paint but does take longer)and have them put their handprints on paper. When dry they can count their fingers. Send home with the poem below.

Here are my hands with ten fingers in all-

My first mark in school to hang on the wall.

As years go by, I'll remember and say,

"My hands and I had a very good day!"

Read the book Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh. This story is about a snake who wants mice for dinner. He puts them in a jar and counts them as he puts them in. The mice send him off to get a big mouse who is really a rock. The mice escape by climbing out of the jar counting backwards. Use an empty wide mouthed jar and retell the story with the whole class with plain paper mice. Number the mice and put the jar into your math center for the students to practice counting with later.

My son has always loved the story of Rumpelstiltskin and I always include retelling it as a first day of school activity. I don't use a book. This way the children are really focused on me. I play it up with funny voices and movement and stomp around as angry Rumpelstiltskin. I really put on a show. Many of the children are not familiar with this fairy tale and it leaves a lasting impression on the children. The children leave the first day of school knowing that our classroom is going to be fun and exciting. Rumpelstiltkin is a great introduction to a unit on "All About Me" and names. The following day I retell the story with flannel pieces and put the pieces in a center for the students to play.

Another great name activity that is based on literature is to read the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes and then sing a name song. See below for the name song. After reading the story I take out a gift box that I have wrapped and tell the students that inside I have the first gift that their mom and dad ever gave them. Inside I have a piece of white construction paper with their name written on it. We puzzle over what might be inside and how I could have got that in my box. Then we talk about how our names are the first gift we ever receive from our parents. The students get their name papers and decorate them with rainbow writing. For homework the students have to ask their parents how they chose their name.

Name Song (If You're Happy and You Know It)

If your name is _________ clap your hands,

If your name is _________,

If your name is _________ clap your hands!

On subsequent days of school I open the special box each day and let the children pick out their names again written on index cards. Then I write the names on sentence strips. Each step of the way I ask which letter the name starts with and what comes next. I cut the strips apart letter by letter and then we watch as each child assembles his name puzzle. If they need to they can refer to the index card. I put the index cards into a pocket chart and each day we quickly compare names to see whose name is longest, shortest, whose name starts with "M",etc. This idea comes from Month by Month Reading and Writing for Kindergarten by Dorothy Hall and Patricia Cunningham. They have more terrific activities to build literacy skills in their book. I highly recommend it.

Who Stole the Cookie From the Cookie Jar Name Game

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar? (Teacher)
_________ stole the cookie from the cookie jar. (Teacher)
Who me? (Student 1)
Yes, you. (Whole Class)
Couldn't be. (Student 1)
Then who? (Whole Class)
____________ stole the cookie in the cookie jar. (Student 1)
Who me? (Student 2) Alternative Versions: Say "Who put or took the cookie in the cookie jar?"

If You Take a Mouse to School is a new book by Laura Numeroff. It is adorable to read at the start of the year. The illustrations lend themselves to discussing school procedures regarding snack time and clean up. For printables related to this unit check out the author's site and the publisher's site.You can also find a cute decorated paper with mice and a backpack at Copycat Magazine online freebies.

We practice only one rule in our classroom-the "Golden Rule" or "La Regla de Orro" in Spanish. We phrase it as "Treat others the same way you want them to treat you".We have no other rules in our classroom. We do have procedures and manners for the ways we are supposed to do things and we role play a lot to understand the "Golden Rule". I model correct and incorrect behavior for the students.

For more on this philosophy I recommend Teaching Management in the Responsive Classroom by Ruth Sidney Charney. I have always emphasized manners and the "Golden Rule". I was very excited when I discovered the Responsive Classroom approach because it fit so well with my own thoughts and beliefs and what I was working toward.

There are seven basic principles underlying this approach:

*The social curriculum is as important as the academic curriculum.
* How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and content go hand in hand.
* The greatest cognitive growth occurs through social interaction.
* There is a set of social skills children need in order to be successful academically and socially: cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, and self-control.
* Knowing the children we teach—individually, culturally, and developmentally—is as important as knowing the content we teach.
* Knowing the families of the children we teach and inviting their participation is essential to children's education.
* How the adults at school work together is as important as individual competence: lasting change begins with the adult community.

Visit the Responsive Classroom site for more information.

From the beginning of the year we practice being quiet. We do it through several different games. Last year someone posted the game "Mousie, Mousie" online. I love it and plan to teach it from day 1 this year. This game is helpful when you have a guest in your classroom who needs to talk to the teacher. The teacher begins by saying "Mousie, Mousie, how quiet can you be? I'll close my eyes and you'll let me see when I count 1, 2, 3." Teacher opens her eyes and hands a stuffed animal mouse to a quiet student. The children pass the mouse along to other quiet students repeating the phrase.

My wonderful aide plays two different "games" with the students. The first game is "Lets's see if you can beat your record of being quiet" or "Can you be quiet for 6 minutes?" The other "game" she plays is "Let's give the teacher a surprise and let's see how quiet you can be."

Here's another cute one I saw online- If you can hear me, wink one eye. If you can hear me, wink your other eye. If you can hear me blink both eyes. By the time you get to the third one the whole class will be quiet.

A tried and true approach to getting attention is to play the clapping hands pattern game. The teacher claps a pattern with her hands and the kids must stop and repeat it. There are many similar ideas out there including many fingerplays, etc. The key is to pick one, practice it and use it consistently. When the kids start to get bored with it, then change to a different one.