Centers the First Two Weeks of Kindergarten

I jump right into centers the first week of school.  They aren't all academic, a lot are play based; however, I really want to get the kids into their daily routine, learning procedures, learning how to rotate, etc.

On the first day of school I make sure to grab students one-by-one out of their centers to snap a quick 'first day of school' picture for their memory books.  This year I used a free sign I found HERE.

In their centers they also work on a page for their memory book.  I pre-write all of the students names so it is ready for them when they get to that center.  They have to write their name and draw a picture of themselves.  This page is AMAZING to see at the end of the year when they complete this page again and we compare!

Some of their other play based (or exploration) centers were unifix cubes.

I know play-doh is always a favorite so I left out these play-doh shape cards from my August/September Math Centers unit.

They definitely enjoyed this center.  They kept asking when they were going to be able to 'do play-doh' again!

Another center was blocks.  I have blocks, legos, cards, lincoln logs, etc., but they were only allowed to use blocks.  I do one activity at a time until I know that they can clean up their centers properly :)

At another center, I left out my writing and word work cards.  These cards are something we constantly use in my classroom (at writing, for 'early finishers, and more) so I want them to know how to use these cards properly.

I always tell my kids that they can draw any picture they want on their white boards, but then they have to write the word that accompanies the picture! Eventually this leads to sentences or a little story.  

These cards help my kids become writers! They are SO proud of their work and can't believe that they 'spelled' these words!

We also learned 'Write the Room' at our writing center. 

Students loved exploring the room and finding words to write down.  Some of my students were only able to write 5 words in the allotted time and other were able to finish their entire page.

I did introduce our class library, but I didn't give the kids freedom to all of the book baskets.  I told them they were allowed to read any book from baskets 1-4.  This way they could work on putting the books away in the correct book basket.

The students worked together at one of their centers to build their 'Letter Caterpillar'.  I did not give them the activity sheet for this, I just wanted them to start learning how to work together.

Another writing activity that I introduced during the first two weeks of school was color writing.  I let students use the color page in the writing and word work cards to help them spell their color words.  I also show them where the color posters are hanging in the room as another option.

For writing one day we read No David!  Then as a class we discussed things that were a 'no' and things that were a 'yes'.  When we were finished I did a directed drawing of David with them. Their drawings came out adorable!

We also started writing in our writing notebooks.  We only did sight word sentences the second week of school just to get us started on writing.  We either did 'I see' sentences or 'I can' sentences.  The students did amazing at both. 

I walked around the room to help them sound out the last word in their sentence; however, they had to write their sight words by themselves.  (These sight words are also on the word wall for extra help). 

During writing we worked on drawing our pictures with pencil first and coloring our pictures in with the correct colors.

Poetry notebooks are also up and running these first two weeks of school! We do a poem (sometimes two) a week.  The children just LOVE these!! They take their poetry notebooks home on Fridays to enjoy with their families over the weekend.  The parents love to hear their children 'reading' (mostly memorizing right now but that's okay!) their poems. 

During poetry we highlight our sight words and we work on adding settings to our pictures! Throughout the week these poetry notebooks stay in their book bins for students to practice reading when they are in our classroom library.

I'd say we are off to a good start!

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Memory Books in Kindergarten

We start working on our memory book the very first day of school! This memory book is a 'scrapbook' from all of our favorite memories throughout the school year.  I include work samples, writing, picture writing, letters to their mom and dad, and of course memory book pages.  

When I have my 'meet and greet' the Friday before school, I ask parents to bring a 1 inch binder for their child and a pack of page protectors. You can also put 'holiday stickers' on your wish list if you want students to decorate any of their memory pages (this is optional). 

On the first day, I make sure to engage the students in some 'exploration centers' with manipulatives while I pull them quickly to take their first day of school pictures.  

We always write about the pictures that I print out (this was not written on the first day of school).  I probably print pictures once a month and try to get our 'picture writing' done once a month as well.  When we do picture writing, it is on a Friday at the 'teacher table' during literacy rotations.  This way I can be there to help them sound out their words.  After their page is done, it is entered right into the memory book binder that is left on my back counter in our classroom for the year.  

Perhaps my favorite page that we do is the page seen above.  I complete this page during the first week of school.  I write the child's name, they write their name, and they draw a picture of themselves on it.  

Why is this my favorite? They will do this exact page again in May or June and just wait until you see the difference! It is UNREAL!! 

The memory book is set up to be very user friendly.  I split the pack up by month.  So all you would need to do is download the memory book, print out the pages you need for August/September and then you are done for that month.  No need to have to remember to do this page again at the end of the year, because it will be in the May/June section as well!

In September I included their 'special apple tree' craft as well as some picture writing from the day we had our first cooking activity-our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom trees.

Again, no need to remember these suggestions or crafts, they are all in the pack as suggestions for you!! 

I don't have any pictures from October (must have been a crazy month), but in November we made these cute handprint turkeys and when they were dry, added them right into our memory book!

We love directed drawings from First Grade Blue Skies so in January we made a snowman! I actually hung these up on our bulletin board and then when I took them down, added them into the memory book!

Too cute not to save!

There are also writing topics and sentence starters to choose from each month. This page was one we did right after winter break.  Now they will have this in their memory book to look back on and to remember what they did!

For Valentine's we made these cute fingerprint LOVE prints.  The directions are included in the pack as well with the letter tracers.  I had to hang these up in the room before we inserted them into our memory books because they came out awesome!

Again, we did another directed drawing to add.  Keep in mind, each month we are also adding our picture writing and some writing samples!

Towards the end of the year we started getting in to some of the 'memory' pages.  I always love to read what they have to say about me! Haha!

We continued writing about different things that took place in our class.  This little one is writing about the day we planted our plants!

We also wrote all about our field trip to the children's museum!

Now, remember when I said this was my favorite part? 

Here is a beginning of the year sample...

and now look at the end of the year sample! It just blows my mind! I am always so excited for parents to see this! I don't think you realize until you look at something like this, just how much progress our little ones have made!

Some of our 'memory' pages included what the students' favorite things are.

Also, their favorite things about school!

Another awesome page is this one.  Love having students recall some of the new things that they learned throughout the year! I really just like to see what actually stood out in their mind--its funny to see what they remember!

Ahhh! Just have to look at this progress again! My favorite memory book pages by far :)

We included an autograph page.

Then we started wrapping up our memory books! We included what we were looking for the following school year.

A graduation directed drawing from First Grade Blue Skies.

At the end of the year I always invite parents in for a little end of the year 'awards show'.  On this day we hang up pictures that we drew of our moms and dads in our 'Mom and Dad Wall of Fame' and I also let students show their parents their memory books for the first time! The children cannot wait for this day! They ask all year long when they can take these books home!

On that day, I let parents insert their drawings into their child's books and I let them take their books home!

Every year I receive numerous emails after this event about how special these memory books are and how they are so thankful to receive them! Most parents have no idea we were even making them (printing out pictures, etc) and they are just in tears when looking through them.  

It in the BEST gift to give at the end of the year!
You can find my memory book by clicking here or on the image below :)

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