first day of school writing prompts

I Made Friends! First Day Of School Activity

1-2-3 Come Do Some First Day Of School Activities With Me

first day of school activiteisIt's been a busy week, so I just have a quick activity for this article.  I hope you can pop by tomorrow for a big classroom management packet that I've been working on, and finishing today.

I know there's a lot to do on that first day of school, but I liked to "over plan" as I never knew the abilities of my new bunch of kiddos. 

Along with the zillions of other things a teacher has to get done, there's always a few things to do that we need some one-on-one time with each child, but what do you do with your other students?

It would also be great to simply have a few moments peace to sort through forms and notes, while students quietly work on something that they can accomplish independently; independently being the "must have" here.

  back to school ideas, back to school activities, first day of school ideas, first day of school activities, ideas for the first day of school, icebreakers for school, friendship activities, coloring pages for kids, name writing activities, With these things in mind, I designed two "sanity savers" entitled: "I made lots of new friends today!" 

Use it as an autograph page for your really young students, or a writing prompt for older children. 

Need more sanity?  Extend the activity by telling students to draw a picture of themselves, with one of their new friends on the back of the paper.

Since my Y5's were learning how to write their name, an autograph page provided great practice.  If you don't have enough time for everyone to sign everybody's paper, make one master that everyone signs, and then during recess or lunch break, run off copies. 

back to school ideas, back to school activities, first day of school ideas, first day of school activities, ideas for the first day of school, icebreakers for school, friendship activities, coloring pages for kids, name writing activities, At the end of the day, pass the papers out for children to color, while you get a few last-minute things done before dismissal.  Yippee for a special keepsake that I'm sure parents will enjoy too. 

back to school ideas, back to school activities, first day of school ideas, first day of school activities, ideas for the first day of school, icebreakers for school, friendship activities, coloring pages for kids, name writing activities, If you teach older students, have them write about some of the new friends that they made.  They can color the picture as well, and if time, they could also have their new friends sign the back of their paper. 

To help practice making decisions, whenever possible, I liked to give my Y5's two choices of something, so I made two coloring pages your kiddos can choose from.  (If you haven't learned yet, offering more than two choices to little ones, is time consuming and overwhelming for some.  They simply can't decide, and you don't have the time to waste with Pokey Joes. ) Click on the link to view/download the I Made Friends Today activity. 

back to school ideas, back to school activities, first day of school ideas, first day of school activities, ideas for the first day of school, icebreakers for school, friendship activities, coloring pages for kids, name writing activities, Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  If you have a first day of school idea that's worked for you, I'd love to hear about it.  You can reach me at: diane@teachwithme.com  or post a comment here. 

I'm off to go splash in the warm puddles with my grandbaby... Wishing you a happy day. back to school ideas, back to school activities, first day of school ideas, first day of school activities, ideas for the first day of school, icebreakers for school, friendship activities, coloring pages for kids, name writing activities,

"A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning." -Brad Henry

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Writing Prompts

1-2-3 Come Make A Keepsake With Me!

I’m Surviving In School is a quick, easy and fun way to get students to practice their writing skills.
Graphic organizers are extremely beneficial for visual learners and help students organize their thoughts and think succinctly.  These mini-writing prompts are more do-able and less intimidating. Doing a page at the end of each month, is a terrific Daily 5 activity, or independent writing center. Alphabetize the booklets and number them, so students can quickly and easily find theirs to work on. These are a great addition to a portfolio or file, to share with parents, during conferences, as they should show marked improvements along the way.  Completed books make an outstanding keepsake.

writing activities, writing centers, monthly writing prompts, writing promps for fall, daily 5 activities, keepsake booklets, portfolio activities, Encourage students to use proper capitalization, punctuation, spaces, adjectives etc. and you have covered a lot of Common Core State Standards as well.  There’s a generic cover as well as covers for preschool through 6th grade.  Define what an adjective is and why using describing words are important.  Pass out markers and have students write adjectives that describe themselves, in each bubble box on their cover.  Explain that they can add more words as the year progresses.  To make this extra special, have students glue their school picture inside the bus.  You may want to make a booklet yourself, to use as an example to help explain things each month.  Students really enjoy learning about their teacher.

The pages are geared from easy to more difficult as students advance.  Later, explain to them that instead of just a list, you want them to write sentences.  You can also have them start with the header, so that they are working on a complete sentence with proper capitalization, instead of just answering the topic.  i.e. Favorite food:  My favorite food is pizza. Later, have them expand their thoughts even more, by explaining why and adding adjectives: i.e. My favorite junk food is pizza, because I like spicy pepperoni.

writing activities, writing centers, monthly writing prompts, writing promps for fall, daily 5 activities, keepsake booklets, portfolio activities, To get in more fine motor practice and add some pizzazz to the pages, have students use colored markers, pencils and crayons.  In the Me... section, students practice writing their name and drawing a self-portrait.  This is especially important for preschool and kindergarten students.  In the beginning, younger kiddo’s can draw a picture of how they feel, with a happy or sad (etc.) face.  They will be limited to 1-word answers in the boxes.  You can also opt to have students do these 1-on-1 with a helper, who writes down their answers, or send a page home as homework to be returned in a week.

writing activities, writing centers, monthly writing prompts, writing promps for fall, daily 5 activities, keepsake booklets, portfolio activities, Click on the link to view/download the I'm Surviving School, monthly-writing prompt booklet. If you're looking for another fun keepsake book, that students can write in monthly, check out The Very Hungry Student.  Children write what they learned each month.  Of course they are still hungry for more, so they move on to the next month... The rhyming text makes it a fun read-aloud. There's a page in the back for students' autographs. It's also a nice way to review the names of the months and a super way to show progress/improvement to parents. Click on the link to view/download The Very Hungry Student.

writing activities, writing centers, monthly writing prompts, writing promps for fall, daily 5 activities, keepsake booklets, portfolio activities, I also have an entire year's worth of writing prompts.  Each month's writing prompts are based on popular stuff that's going on during that time frame. Click on the link to view/download the Monthly Writing Prompts packet.

writing activities, writing centers, monthly writing prompts, writing promps for fall, daily 5 activities, keepsake booklets, portfolio activities, Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  To ensure that "pinners" return to THIS blog article, click on the green title at the top; it will turn black, now click on the "Pin it" button located on my menu bar.  If you'd like to take a look at all of the awesome educational items I spend way too much time pinning, click on the big heart to the right of the blog.

"Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton asked why!" -Bernard Baruch

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Using Kiddie Lit To Teach Standards: The Kissing Hand

back to school lessons, back to school activities, first day of school activities, first day of school lessons, first day of school ideas, back to school ideas, the kissing hand activities, the kissing hand ideas, the kissing hand lessons, first day jitters activities, first day jitters lessons, first day jitters ideas, common core lessons, common core activities, back to school writing prompts, the first day of school writing prompts, parts of a book activities, retelling a story activities, compare and contrast activities, question word activities, feelings activities, graphing activities, parts of a book lessons, retelling a story lessons, compare and contrast lessons, venn diagram lessons, compare and contrast lessons, question word lessons, feelings lessons, back to school lessons, back to school activities, first day of school activities, first day of school lessons, first day of school ideas, back to school ideas, the kissing hand activities, the kissing hand ideas, the kissing hand lessons, first day jitters activities, first day jitters lessons, first day jitters ideas, common core lessons, common core activities, back to school writing prompts, the first day of school writing prompts, parts of a book activities, retelling a story activities, compare and contrast activities, question word activities, feelings activities, graphing activities, parts of a book lessons, retelling a story lessons, compare and contrast lessons, venn diagram lessons, compare and contrast lessons, question word lessons, feelings lessons,

1-2-3 Come Do Some Kissing Hand Activities With Me

Since the first Kissing Hand Activity Packet was such a huge success, I decided to make another packet designed specifically around Common Core State Standards.

This packet will reinforce: Common Core State Standards: RI.K5,RI.K6,RI.K9,RI.K10,RL.K2, RL.K3,RL.K6, L.K1d, RI.1.9, RL.1.2, RL.1.3

It has a variety of fun reading and writing activities to go along with Audrey Penn's adorable story The Kissing Hand, about a little raccoon who doesn’t want to go to school. This is one of my all-time favorite back to school books.

This packet, is the first in a series of quick and easy common core packets, where I use kiddie lit to teach standards.  I'll be posting and blogging about these FREEBIES for the next few days.

The Kissing Hand Packet includes:

  • A beginning-middle-end story map that will help students retell The Kissing Hand
  • A "favorite part" retelling "writing prompt" bookmark
  • A compare and contrast Venn diagram where students compare The Kissing Hand to another of my favorite first day of school books, First Day Jitters!
  • Character, Setting and Event cards. (Laminate, put magnets on the back and put them up on your white board. Write down students' answers under the cards.)
  • "My Feelings" discussion, skill sheet, and graphing extensions.
  • 1st day writing prompt
  • Kissing hand poem introducing rhyming words.
  • Question Words activity sheet, reinforcing the who, what, why, when, where, how words.
  • Cover of book to label book parts + review author and illustrator

back to school lessons, back to school activities, first day of school activities, first day of school lessons, first day of school ideas, back to school ideas, the kissing hand activities, the kissing hand ideas, the kissing hand lessons, first day jitters activities, first day jitters lessons, first day jitters ideas, common core lessons, common core activities, back to school writing prompts, the first day of school writing prompts, parts of a book activities, retelling a story activities, compare and contrast activities, question word activities, feelings activities, graphing activities, parts of a book lessons, retelling a story lessons, compare and contrast lessons, venn diagram lessons, compare and contrast lessons, question word lessons, feelings lessons, Click on the link to view/download The Kissing Hand Packet 2   It will be FREE for an entire year.  After that, it will become part of a big literacy packet in my TpT shope.

Stay tuned for a similar packet for First Day Jitters. For lots more activities forThe Kissing Hand click on the link to zip on over to that section ofTeachWithMe

back to school lessons, back to school activities, first day of school activities, first day of school lessons, first day of school ideas, back to school ideas, the kissing hand activities, the kissing hand ideas, the kissing hand lessons, first day jitters activities, first day jitters lessons, first day jitters ideas, common core lessons, common core activities, back to school writing prompts, the first day of school writing prompts, parts of a book activities, retelling a story activities, compare and contrast activities, question word activities, feelings activities, graphing activities, parts of a book lessons, retelling a story lessons, compare and contrast lessons, venn diagram lessons, compare and contrast lessons, question word lessons, feelings lessons, I'm off for a swim to cool off! (90's today.) Hope you're enjoying a sunny summer day as well!

“Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway.” –John Wayne

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