Here are a few Back to School Necessities. TpT’s annual BTS sale is a perfect time to stock up!

PARENT GUIDE

I start each school year with a parent night. We call it Back to School night. Parents come to school that night and we discuss what they can expect and we expect from the school year. We go over everything and give them a Parent Guide that summarizes first grade.

THE FIRST GRADE MEASURING STICK

I have several small things I ask the children to do – most of the items end up blank and that is ok. I will ask them to do these same activities at the end of the year. At that time they will be filled. The First Grade Measuring Stick is an incredible and effective tool that shows growth. Parents love this comparison of beginning and end of the year skills. It makes an amazing keepsake for the end of the year.

1st DAY FUN

The 1st Day Fun resource is just that… fun. 1st Day Fun is something that I use to fill time when I am meeting kids one-on-one, taking pictures and all the other crazy stuff that goes on during that first day. The activities are engaging, yet simple enough that they can do it on their own. Also included is a little “get to know you” game that helps the kids relax and realize our classroom is a place where we are going to have a good time.

ALL ABOUT ME ADJECTIVES

In the next few weeks we will do an All About Me – Adjective craft and all of the different activities that the resource contains. I love that we are taking something they love to talk about – themselves – and adding some rigor to our learning. Those adjectives add a lot of detail to the simple sentence structure they learned in Kinder.

HOW DOES YOUR DRAGON FLY?

I try my best to nip the question vs. statement issue as early on as possible. “Does anyone have any questions” answered with “My sister ate 4 cookies yesterday!” starts to get old real quick. How Does Your Dragon Fly not only includes an adorable craft that the kids absolutely LOVE it also includes some telling vs. asking activities.

Click here to see more images and info about How Does Your Dragon Fly

AN EXCITING NEW SCHOOL YEAR

An Exciting New School Year is another way to take simplistic prior knowledge a tiny step further. It also includes a cute craft and several activities to help students explore sentence types and complete sentence expectations.

THE GOLDEN RULER

We spend August and September discussing our social studies standards about responsibility and character. There really isn’t a better time to incorporate responsibility and character lessons than the beginning of the year. The Golden Ruler resource includes a craft and many activities and a reader to help remind students how to be kind.

MORNING WAKE UP

In addition to these resources, I introduce my kiddos very early to our daily routine. Morning Wake Up (morning work available for grades K-2) and Daily Literacy Practice (available for K and 1st) are both huge parts of our day. I am super happy with the tremendous amount of growth I’ve seen in our kiddos since we started using these two resources on a daily basis.

DAILY LITERACY PRACTICE

 

PLANNING

Of course, being organized is at the top of my sanity. Nothing is higher on my organization list than The Ultimate Weekly Planner and The Ultimate Curriculum Year Planner.

 

 

That sums up how I’m beginning my school year! I hope these resources help you begin yours, too!