We just finished our first week of K
and it was great! No...really! My K team is back and our kids were ready to start Kindergarten! I just had one runner (and yes, this old lady caught him!) No crying kids...just a few mommies. Everyone got home the correct way. No one got lost. Only one potty accident! It was great!
If you are familiar with me or my site, you know I've been at this teaching gig a LOOOONG time. Every year is similar and every year is different in some way. I thought I'd share a few things that worked with this class and a few that didn't.
What worked:
*Creating anticipation - As soon as registration is over (I mean that very day!) I send all my Ks a letter with a little treat. This year I sent one of those little, clear gel grow pills that you put in water. It was attached to an invitation to the Kindergarten picnic. We had a big turnout at the picnic, and I had so many parents tell me that their kids thought the grow pill (I really don't know what to call that thing!) was the absolute bomb!
*Open House - Our Open House was the first night of school. Yeah, I know! I was exhausted, but had to be perky for the parents. (It took more than one Coke Zero!) I sent home notes on colored paper to remind the parents about it. I think the colored paper really made it stand out. I told them we had a special surprise for them. We had a photo booth! It was fantastic. I reviewed our classroom brochure, and then turned them loose for pictures! I was free to answer questions and talk to parents. Our class was packed. We had parents from other classes come to use our photo booth! We had the highest Open House attendance in the school.
*Backback Tags - I'm sure all of you have seen Brag Tags or Backpack Tags on TpT or Pinterest. I decided to jump on the bandwagon this year. I got colored book rings (no plain silver for us) for each child to put on their backpack. We all earned our first one on the first day. We sprinkled out a few throughout the week. The kids were pretty excited about their backpack tags. I hope it helps them remember to bring their backpacks to school.
What didn't work:
*Glue Tubs - I have used glue tubs for a few years. I guess I forgot how irresistible a puddle of glue is to Ks. We had glue up to our elbows! Yes, I still love glue tubs, but we'll use glue sticks for a few weeks.
*Dismissal Tags - We used bus, car, rider, daycare, walker dismissal tags this week. I still really like them, but what a mess getting them on the first day. It took us about 20 minutes to get ready to leave. I should have been better prepared.
*School Tour Passport - We toured our school looking for Pete the Cat. We followed clues left at each spot. At each spot, we also got a small paper token to add to a school passport. It took way too long to pass out the tokens, and half of the kids lost them before we made it back to the room. Next year, we will still tour the school, but not pass out tokens. I'll have baggies for each child with the tokens and passport ready for them to make.
Every year is different. Every class is different. Things that worked this year may not next year. But, do I fret? No. In the words of Pete the Cat, "It's all good!"
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