Makeovers & First Day of Kindergarten Linky Party!!

Let me start with this!! I am so very excited that I got a bloggy make over today! =) Alicia from Dreamlike magic has the cutest templates it was hard to pick one but I decided on this one. YAY for make overs !!!

Anyway, I am teaming up with Rachel from Teaching with Z on her first day of kindergarten linky party! I have been browsing around reading what other bloggers do on their first day and it's so interesting to see all the different ideas! You can join the party too by linking up-- just click the picture below....

So Let me begin by saying this-- my team and I start our work way before the little ones come walking into our rooms. The thursday night before school starts our entire school has out "Back to School Bash" where we meet the kids and their parents, get their transportation information & are completely overwhelmed and hardly remember who we meet are so great at remembering each and every precious child's name, need, and interest!! Thank goodness for my trusty iPad/check lists...right?! 

Following that night, literally...back to back... on the Friday before the first day of school we have a Kindergarten Parent meeting. We go over all the "to do's" for our parents, what to bring/not bring, uniform, lunch, schedules, personal independence (going to the bathroom alone!!!!) etc. We hold off on curriculum because we don't want to overwhelm... we like to save that for September Open House! Of course, the parents you typically NEED to be there, are not...but it helps some. 

On the first day I plan A LOT, knowing that I most likely will not get through it all but it's better to be over prepared! =) My day looks something like this (this is a ROUGH sketch!)

7:40-8:00 Meeting students at door. Once they come in the room they can color on the coloring page. 

8:00-8:20 Morning Meeting (Get-to-know you: pass tiger/name game)

8:20-8:30 How/where do we line up?? 

-practice walking in hallway

8:30-8:40 Calendar

8:40-8:55 READ miss Bindergarten

9:55-9:05 Bathroom

-practice lining up (where, what it looks like)

-where are bathrooms/behavior in bathroom/what do we do after

9:05-9:40 Math Workshop

-how many people are in our class? 

-Intro to MWS Rules/Procedures

-manipulative exploration

-clean up/check in

9:40-11:00 CATCH/RECESS/Lunch

11:00-11:40 WWS: 

-Read: Look out kindergarten here i come. 

-after reading talk about how we felt the night before. 

-Complete first day of kinder page. ***COPY FOR PORTFOLIO****, then make a class book.

11:40-12:00 DEAR TIME--- I will be taking first day of school pictures at this time. 

12:00-12:15 ABC song

-ABC punch

- Can you write your namE?! Have kids write name on Large piece of paper save for mosaic activity. 

12:15 split class for specials. Line up by color group. practice going to teachers door. 

12:30-1:15 SPECIALS

1:!5-1:30 bathroom break

1:30-1:50 Read the kissing hand. & 2 ways to read a book

-Launch daily 5: read to self. 

-book manners. 

-kissing hand activity? 

1:50-2:30 Read the Crayon Box that didn’t get a long. 

-Discuss how we treat our friends.

-Above the line/below the line.

Friendship chain.

2:30-2:55 pack up, dismiss EARLY to make sure all students have tape and are in place.

PHEW--- again, those are a rough outline. I will be posting my first week plans here in a week or so when I have **fine tuned**.

Hope you found some of this useful. I will leave you with this freebie that goes along with the book "Look out Kindergarten, Here I come"-- you can download by clicking the picture!

First Day Jitters {A few weeks early}

Well, I stumbled upon this linky this morning, and thought it was a super neat idea! Fierce in Fourth is hosting this linky party and it is all about the things that you are nervous about for the first day of school!

Just reading the few blogs that linked up alone make me smile at the fact that even us experienced teachers STILL get nervous about the first day of school. I know I have a hard time falling asleep that night before because i have crazy thoughts going through my head... for example-- the ever common one---am i going to hear my alarm!?! HOW AWFUL would that be, I mean...really??

Anyway, this year is going to be a definite new adventure for me, and it is causing some major jitters. Not for the reasons you would necessarily think of either....
1. I guess my BIGGEST uneasy feeling comes from seeing my ex. I dated our PE coach for 3 years (yes, lesson learned...do not date someone you work with!!) Long story short, things have ended..it was hard. I mean I thought I was going to marry the guy. So listen, I love my school...I was there first... I didn't want to leave, although probably the best decision. I did however, apply places to try to get out of the situation...alas no luck! So anyway, I have had the summer away and am SO nervous about seeing him every day! EEKKKKK.

2. Now for normal people reasons I am jittery! Every year I have been at my school with the exception of 1, we have had to hire a 6th kinder teacher because of numbers. Our class sizes are usually insane that first week before school starts. I believe last year I had over 30 kids on my roster. Our district will not consider hiring another teacher (even though 30 is WAY over state allowance of student-teacher ratio) until the bodies are in the desks on the first day of school. Ridiculous??? YEP! So, first day/week of kindergarten is exhausting to begin with but you throw this situation in on top... its just insane!

3. This year our principal retired. We had a HUGE turn over in teachers at our school. We have 1 new teacher in Kindergarten (plus the one well hire 2 weeks into school). I will be responsible in keeping them up to date with stuff, helping them plan, etc. It's overwhelming!!! I am NOT the most organized person in the world and I feel like this year this has to change. Our school departmentalizes... so in kinder we have 5 teachers. So 2 LA, 2 math and 1 self contained (which is ME!! and I wouldn't have it any other way). Anyway, I feel a huge responsibility on the LA side with these teachers because they both will be LA teachers!!

Regardless of all this, I am so looking forward to this year! I think it's going to be a great one. =) Anyway, if you haven't already-- go link up!! Ease some ones nerves or just vent your anxieties!