Second Day of School

Day 2- This lesson was created with help from Pinterest and other fabulous teaching blogs. I cited the materials that were taken from other teaching blogs.*see Kissing Hand Activity, Crazy for First Grade, and onceuponafirstgradeadventure.

The Kissing Hand Activity - At the carpet we would re-read The Kissing Hand. Together we would infer how Chester the Raccoon felt in the story and how the students felt on the first day of school. The students would then write and draw a picture about their first day of school.

      

After finishing the writing portion of The Kissing Hand activity, we would play the Ice Breaker game from yesterday. The only difference is when the students choose a question they have to answer it and then work together to remember my responses from yesterday.This is a fun way to have a friendly competition, teacher vs. students.

Next we would read aloud the story Chrysanthemum. I got this idea from the blog: fun-n-first. We would discuss how everyone's name is special. Next the students would play a name building game. The students would write each letter of their name onto letter squares, cut out each letter, and practice spelling their name and classmates. 

Next we would review our classroom motto of Bucket-filling. I would re-read the story Have You Filled a Bucket Today? Together as a class we would discuss the book,classroom expectations, and consequences of being a bucket-dipper.

*Consequences of being a bucket-dipper: In my classroom first students get a Warning. Then students are asked to go to the cool down area (Picture to Come) where the students are expected to fill out their action plan and lose 5 minutes of recess. After this the students would then receive a lunch detention and a parent phone call. If behavior is still escalating the students will lose a full day of specials and recess/lunch with their classmates, in addition to completing extra work that will be graded.

  

Incentive for being a Bucketfiller: I like to make clear the consequences, but I also like to focus on the positive. After lunch the students have 20 minutes before they go to their specials. During this time we share examples of who they saw being bucketfillers. These students receive stamps on their their buckets, along with the person who's bucket got filled. (Just like in the story).

Before bus dismissal students that did not end the day on a warning or lower receive tickets for "Pauley's Picks". On Friday we draw up to 15 tickets to win prize coupons.

Incentive for team-classroom behavior: This year I will also have a bingo board numbered 1-120. (Picture to Come). At the end of the day on Friday we tally how many students made it through the week without any warnings. Based on those numbers we receive marks on our class bingo board (every 6 students is a mark). We also receive marks for complements from other teachers.*

To be a bucketfiller students must understand friendship. I found this Find a Friend Game on the blog: theinspiredapple. After the game the students return back to the carpet to read a short story about friendship.

After the story I like review letter sounds and play a name game to help the students learn their ABC line order. First the students say their last name. Then other students guess what is the first letter in their last name. Lastly the students line up in their ABC order.

Its the afternoon now and Math is here! Like yesterday the students would review counting to 10 using their touch math cards. After practicing the students will learn their first group game. I found this game on Pinterest: Color Block Game. During this game I would check the students courting skills and encourage building classroom friendships.

 

To finish the day the students will complete The Kissing Hand activity. In the morning the students wrote how they felt on the first day of school. The students will read back their stories while I record a list of their feelings. Students will spend the rest of class finishing their raccoon. I got these ideas from the blogs: rhondabaldacchino and onceuponafirstgradeadventure.

Before the students get ready for buses and begin the drawings for Pauley's Picks, I'm going to give the students a Learning Inventory that I found on the blog: Crazy for First Grade.

Now its the end of the second day, and hopefully we will finish The Kissing Hand Activity. Hopefully my pictures and samples will look as nice as the ones I found from these amazing teaching blogs. Only one more week until the kiddos come!