Back to School and Five for Friday!

Hello Friends!


We started back to school with our kiddos Thursday and Friday this week. (This is a picture of my classroom before I had the tables completely finished.) It is the first time that our school has started with full days. Usually we start with 2 half days and then jump into full days the third day. We were a bit nervous with starting with full days since we haven't done them before, but at the end of the day today, we were pleasantly surprised with how well the two days went! I think it is because we were not rushed to get things completed and had plenty of time to get our little ones adjusted to the long day.

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching Five for Friday this week, so here we go!

1.  I gave my kiddos a "Welcome to the Crop" gift when they dropped in to meet me on Monday. If you are interested in this basket, it is free in my TPT store. Click the image to take you there!


2.  We did the gingerbread man runs through the school on Thursday... lots of fun, but I didn't take any pictures! My kiddos made a paper gingerbread man, did a gingerbread glyph, looked for gingerbread shapes, and decorated a gingerbread cookie! This little one went a wee bit crazy with her gingerbread decorations! :)


3.  On Day Two, we read "The Kissing Hand" and did some fun activities with this book, too.
Here is our kissing hand "How I Felt the First Day" project. Each child drew a face that showed how they felt on the first day and then we glued them onto this paper kissing hand.

 This is a close up of some of the first day feeling papers. Click the picture to download the Google doc.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1ubUzeAYMczcm02M1BDSzVxQ0U/edit?usp=sharing

4. We made Kissing Hand paper Chesters and handprints. I precut ALL the pieces for Chester and then we put them together in a "directed drawing style" as a class. We discussed why we glued Chester on black paper instead of blue - He's nocturnal, of course! To get the Kissing Hand printable, click the image below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1ubUzeAYMczX2dSb041Zmk4UVE/edit?usp=sharing

 And here is a picture of our Kissing Hand snack - whole wheat bread, salami, and cheese sandwiches cut into a hand shape.



5.  We also made these cute "I Am Special" mirrors from the fabulous Kim Jordano. (Click the picture to take you to her wonderful website!) I took my kiddo's pictures today and when they are printed, they will be glued in the center of the mirrors. Since I teach in a Catholic School, the bulletin board where I put these mirrors will say "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Jesus Loves You best of All!"


So that's it for now! I am off to a friend's house for a last "Sit by the Pool" evening!

Until next time!

Blessings,
Cindy

12 comments

  1. Wow - you have been busy! Your ideas are so lovely and your classroom looks great too. Is it ok to pin this post? I love it :)

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    1. Thanks, Brooke! Yes, you absolutely can pin this post! Thank you!

      Blessings,
      Cindy

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  2. Hi Cindy,

    I've never seen 'The Kissing Hand' here in Australia, but I might have to buy it from Amazon because I see so many posts from teachers who use it. I love your mirror craft, I might borrow that for my classroom! This week my kidlets drew and painted some little sheep, and our display title is 'The Lord is my Shepherd'. :)

    Lauren
    Love, Laughter and Learning in Prep!

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    1. I LOVE "The Kissing Hand"! It is such a sweet book to use with little ones. It promotes a nice discussion of how it feels to begin school and there are so many nice activities to do with it. I love your idea of the little sheep and the display! I plan to remember that for later in the year!

      Blessings,
      Cindy

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  3. I love all of your first day ideas!!! Si many first day ideas are geared toward older kids who can read and write. It's hard to find good activities for kindergarten. I love these and I'm going to have to save them for next year =) Thanks!

    -Amanda @
    Teacher at the Wheel

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    1. Thank you, Amanda! You are right in saying so many back to school ideas are for older kids. We did another fun activity that I forgot to write about; hopefully I can share that later this week. Thank you so much for commenting!

      Blessings,
      Cindy

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  4. Always enjoyed reading that story. I bought a pancake mold that has a heart in the middle of the hand.

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  5. I love your Kissing Hand projects! Enjoy your weekend!

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    1. Thank you, Jenni! Same to you!

      Blessings,
      Cindy

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  6. Where can I find these activity sheets? They are fantastic!

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    1. Is it The Kissing Hand sheets that you want? I can add them as a doc here. I am off to school right now, but will load them later this evening. The mirror activity is from Kim Jordano. You can click the images to take you to her website. I also can add links and docs for the gingerbread activities if you want them!

      I'll be back soon! Cindy

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    2. The docs are uploaded for The Kissing Hand! Enjoy! Hope this is what you were wanting!

      Cindy

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