1-2-3 Come Do Some "First Day Jitters" Activities With Me

Do you read “First Day Jitters”, by Julie Danneberg?
It is one of my students’ all-time favorite back to school books.

With that in mind, I designed “Jit Lit”.
It’s a labor of love - jumbo packet (over 100 pages of fun!) that’s filled with all sorts of different & creative literacy activities, inspired by that story.

They are sure to provide lots of super-fun engagement for kiddos, that first week of school.

As always, activities come in black & white for students, as well as color, so that you can quickly & easily make an example to share.

There are graphing extensions, games, puzzles, a maze, word find, a variety of worksheets, “Rhyme Time”.

The packet also includes:

Quick, easy & fun writing prompt craftivities. You'll really like the versatility. A few of my favorites:

* “Sip Sip Hooray! How are you feeling today?” juice glass with emoji “bubbles”. 

There's a simple "color me" worksheet for little ones, as well as a "flip the flap" writing prompt, for older kiddos.

Children color the emojis that represent how they are feeling, then color the "juice" their favorite color. 

For added pizzazz & to give your bulletin board display some 3D pop, cut a slit on the dashed line and insert a plastic straw. 

The slice of "lemon" also adds that finishing touch, and a bit more dimension. Completed projects make an adorable bulletin board. 

I've included several posters to add some extra zip to your display, as well as an interesting graphing extension.  Another fun writing prompt craftivity is a ...

* “Welcome to our school!” postcard.

Children choose one of six options, then color, trim, fold up & glue.

They can write to Sarah Jane in an effort to chase her "Jitters" away, or write to another character or a real person.

* “Paper Love” cell phone-emoji message. It never ceases to amaze me, how techie even little ones are today. 

My 3-year-old granddaughter loves picking emojis on my phone, then sending them in an “I love you” text to her mom & dad at work. 

They always send her an emoji-filled text back and she’s absolutely thrilled.
This was the inspiration behind my “paper love” worksheet.  T

There are 6, “color me” worksheets for students to choose from (3 girls & 3 boys). Students color the picture then fill in the blanks,  They choose the emojis that best depict their feelings that day, then cut and glue them inside the cell phone.

* “What Were You Thinking?” Cartoon bubble writing craftivity is also super-fun. 

Students write their "I just woke up & it's the first day of school" thoughts in the cartoon speech bubble.

They add some hair & color the blank oval "head" that's peeking out from under the covers. Children can draw in eyes, but adding a pair of wiggle eyes with glue dots really adds to the cuteness factor. 

* The“Bed Head Jitters” flip-the-flap writing prompt booklet, also uses a bed pattern.

Sarah Jane pulls the covers up over her head and refuses to get out of bed. Have you ever felt like you didnt want to get out of bed either?

Students write about a similar experience on the base of the bed. The "cover" is the blanket, which flips up to reveal the completed prompt. 

Children can draw their head, or glue a photograph of themselves on the pillow.

Lots of the projects make adorable, back to school bulletin boards.

I’ve included a variety of posters to introduce the various lessons, then add them to your displays for extra pizzazz.

Afterwards, tuck them away to be included in your students’ end of the year Memory Books.

So you can cover those English Language standards, there are also lots of literacy-based activities, like parts of a book, story elements, character traits, sequencing, & retelling, plus comprehension checks.

A few of my favorites are:
* “How observant are you?” Detective worksheet
* Super-Sleuth Challenge, and my personal favorite . . .

* “Instagame!” It's a sequencing craftivity, where students color, cut & glue the "picture tiles" in the correct order. 

My inpiration was the ever-popular Instagram, so I'm sure your students will enjoy making this "cell phone" craft.

* “What’s your OPINION?” Rate & Rank the book. (Thumbs up/down & how many stars?) AND . . .

* Making Connections (“Let’s Text!”) cell phone writing prompt worksheets: text to text, text to world, text to self. 

I've also included a few "bonus goodies" that you can give your students: bookmarks, plus treat bag toppers. 

For a special little something, after you read the story, fill up ZipLock Snack Baggies with a few munchies. 

Because my students enjoy pretzels & Fishy crackers, that's what I used. Tape on a topper, then pass out to your kiddos. "Because you're sweet, please have a seat. So you can eat, this "Jitters" treat."

Finally,  as another "jitter buster" we make  "Jitter Glitter Names".

Since "jitter" rhymes with "glitter" this is my transitional activity after we do the "Rhyme Time" worksheet.

My Y5s absolutely go bananas over glitter. This simple activity coincides with practicing the "recognizes & writes name" standards, so it's a win-win.

Today's featured FREEBIE is another first week of school activity.

Do you have your kiddos draw a self portrait during the first week of school?  Do you take a photograph of their first day?

Why not hop on the "selfie" rage and use these cute worksheets for your kiddos to do their work on. 

They're sure to become a keepsake, so tuck them away for their end of the year Memory Books.

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by. 

It's another scorcher weather wise (I'm so not a 90 degrees, hot & humid person); even my poodle pup Chloe, didn't want to stay outside.

Wishing you a refreshing day with a cool breeze.

"Dear Weather. Stop showing off.  We already know you're hot!" -Unknown