First Week of First Grade

by Hollie Griffith

on August 24, 2014

Yep! I’m pretty much exhausted! So exhausted that I didn’t participate in THE Blog Hoppin’ Teacher Week! But… I definitely got some great ideas from reading posts from my favorite bloggers each night!

And… to add to my back to school exhaustion that happens every year… THIS happened!

Whoever said moving was easy… LIED. We sold our old house the first day of school and had to store our stuff in this truck We finally closed on our new house three days later! Shew… I’m still walking through a house full of boxes!

Anyway, I am so excited about my new class of firsties! This new school year brings excitement, a new eagerness to learn {myself included}, and a new batch of kiddos who are already forming that family like bond! I just love the first few weeks of school!!!

We have actually been in school 7 whole days already!!! Thank goodness our district always eases us into the transition! We went three days the first week, and four days the second. Here’s to hoping that we will all make the ENTIRE five whole days next week…ha!!

Here are a few snapshots of our first few days…

{I’m not sure why this picture is so bad! But…. our classroom IS becoming colorful with student work! We have been reading a bunch of Kevin Henkes books and learning to apply “good” reading strategies. Kevin Henkes books are just PERFECT for those first few weeks back to school! My kiddos made text-to-self connections with Chrysanthemum by explaining what makes them wilt and bloom. We also learned about character traits with Chester ‘s Way. I just love these cute pea pod crafts. My students had to list character traits around the characters.

My kiddos have also been learning to find the central message of a text with all of the Howard B. Wigglebottom books. We have learned about teamwork, good listening skills, bullying, and following your heart by doing what you love. We have had a BLAST with Howard. B!!! The soccer balls in the picture below were from learning about teamwork!!!

These are few other books that we read on the first day… I just LOVE back to school books! Actually, I love ALL books!!!

Of course, we had some jitter juice to take those jitters away on the first day!

My kiddos had a blast learning about me! I really liked looking at their pictures!

We learned about a Venn diagram. It was interesting watching the kiddos complete this sheet. I let them ask me any questions that came to their mind when completing this sheet! THAT was interesting! My kiddos were amazed with what we all have in common!