Easy Activities to Empower the First Day of Kindergarten

It's the most exciting time of the year!  It's BACK TO SCHOOL!!!  I love meeting my new students each year!  I love the excitement all around: the stores packed with school supplies, the million and one back to school ideas you see all over the web, the setting up of a new classroom, the infinite possibilities a new teacher's planner, the excitement and anticipation of a new beginning from parents and their kiddos, this all brings me such joy! I love the feeling of "new" each school year!!

Although I love everything about Back to School now, this wasn't always the case. I was nervous my first year as a teacher! I remember having such difficulty planning my activities for that first day of school. I had a general idea of the things I needed to do, but there were so many choices out there, of things to do, that I couldn't decide which were the best ones for my class. 

This post is to help new teachers out there, who feel overwhelmed at the beginning of the school year and need a quick step by step guide about things they could do on their first day of Kindergarten.  The following things are some of the activities I've done in the past with my students on our first day of school.  
*Most times I am not able to complete these activities on the first day because in between all of these activities I teach procedures and rules. In most school years, I've taken two days to do all these activities! 


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1. I start my day by reading First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg. 

                                             

Then we work on this First Day Feelings Graph.  After graphing all the faces, we discuss the results and talk about the things we notice. You can grab this free resource to make this graph HERE

Then we make Jitter Juice to make our jitters go away. Here's a picture of the free label I've used! Click HERE download.

 To make the juice, I use 100% juice, usually green grape, diluted in water! To make it fun I add green sprinkles. 

2. Next introduce supplies: Crayons, pencils, bottled glue or glue sticks, and scissors

• Crayons: Brainstorm or make an anchor chart of DOs and DONT'S for using crayons. Then pass out the crayons and have students color this back to school coloring page to practice using the crayons.  Click HERE to get this cute freebie from creative Lessons Cafe!

                                     

• Pencils: Brainstorm or make an anchor chart of DOs and DONT'S for using pencils. Talk about when to sharpen pencils, what todo. If their pencil breaks..etc. Then practice using pencils. Pass pencils out and give students the worksheet below to practice tracing shapes. Early finishers can also color the shapes!  Click on the link under "Scissors" below to grab this printable and the cutting lines too!

• Glue: Brainstorm or make an anchor chart of DOs and DONT'S for using bottled glue. Klever Kiddos has a great freebie for practicing bottled glue and putting the right amount on the dots. Give your students construction paper pieces and have them practice tearing tiny pieces and gluing them on the dots. Grab it HERE.

                                               

• Scissors: Brainstorm or make an anchor chart of DOs and DONT'S for using scissors. Then practice using the scissors by cutting on the lines. I made this file, which includes the "Tracing and Color Shapes" above, and the "Cutting Skills Practice" below. GRAB BOTH HERE!

• Books: Read, Read!  Your kids will love listening to stories on the first day. My kids love these books! The stories are and engaging, which makes them perfect for small kids.

1. What would Danny Do? is great for introducing rules! 
2. Miss Kindergarten Gets Ready For Kindergarten
3. On the First Day Of Kindergarten
4. The Day You Begin