First Week Fun!

We survived the first week!  Here's a peek into our first week's activities. 

We spent most of the first day doing activities and games to help reinforce our rules and get to know each other.  My favorites are Simon Says, to help remember "Follow directions quickly" and  Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar, to help learn names.  We always have fun with those! 

We went on our gingerbread hunt/school tour.
I printed each clue on brown construction paper, laminated them, and then hung them around the school for the children to find.   

Gingerbread Hunt Clues

We started reviewing our numbers.  For each number we practice on the smartboard, sing the song, and practice on a paper. 

Number Writing Song

Number Pages

We ended the first day with Abby's Jitter Juice!  This is by far my new favorite first day of school activity! 

We read the poem and highlighted rhyming words.

 Then we made up our own Jitter Juice recipe.

And finally we made the REAL Jitter Juice!  It was D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S!

I bought these mini, lined whiteboards from the Target Dollar spot.  Four double-sided boards for only $1!  :) 
A brilliant teacher at my school said she uses them with her Kindergarten class to practice names.  I loved that idea, so I wrote each child's first and last name on the board with a yellow sharpie.  Now the children practice tracing their names and writing them neatly in the lines in the morning and when they have extra time after finishing their work. 

We drew our self-portraits.

We made Abby's First Week of First Grade Book. 

We ended the week with a much needed Sesame Street video about going to school.  Educational, but relaxing.  It was a fun week, but I was very glad for a long weekend to recover.  :)