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First Day of First Grade

Morning Meeting

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) & Community Building
9:00-9:15

take a tour

Setting Expectations & Community Building
9:15-9:30

Summer Memories Writing

Writing, Fine Motor, & Community Building
9:30-9:50

Including Others: A Lesson From Mean Jean

Literacy, Social Studies, SEL
9:50-10:15

letter from home

Community Building
10:15-10:20

snack & recess

Gross Motor Practice
10:20-10:50

What's an at home learner?

SEL & Community Building
10:50-11:00

Summer Memories Drawing

Fine motor, Creative, & Community Building
11:00-11:15

math tools exploration

Math
11:15-11:45

What is science?

Science
11:45-12:00

lunch & lunch recess

12:00-1:00

abc order

Math & Literacy
1:00-1:30

Spelling Assessment

Literacy
1:30-1:45

Special Areas: ART

1:45-2:45

end of day meeting

Community Building
2:45-3:00

flexible time

3:00-4:00

more large group related activities

flexible early finisher activity options

enrichment activities

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Morning Meeting

a community building & SEL Activity

15 minutes

Let's Take A Tour

Setting expectations & building community

9:15-9:30

Meeting with your learning pod? Be sure to take them on a tour to show where bathrooms are and where water is. Oh, and it’s a great time to talk about how to share (raising you hand). 

Whether you have a pod or not, this is a great time to have a quick conversation about expectations including bathroom and water expectations. As well as expectations regarding leaving the room/going somewhere in general. Some guidelines you may find helpful…

1) If you need to go to the bathroom and it’s a true emergency, you may of course go! Please try to ask beforehand. 

2) When we are meeting together at the carpet, this is not a time to go to the bathroom or get water. During this time, we are focusing on the lesson so if you leave, you’d miss something. If it’s a true emergency, you can go but it really has to be a true emergency. 

3)  When we are moving from one activity to the next or you are working on an activity, that’s a great time to take a bathroom and water break. 

4) I really want to hear what you have to say! It can be hard sometimes to share a lesson if people are talking, so if you want to share something and I’m in the middle of a lesson, just raise your hand and I can let you share when it’s a good time.

Note: If you do not need a tour, then this activity should only take about 5 minutes.  

This is a good time to talk about expectations in terms of relationship. Parent relationships can be different from teacher. For example, if you are leading a pod, you may find it helpful to not have your child sit on your lap. This allows a sense of equality and all children feeling important. Which is important when teaching. 

Hanging Up Our Summer Memories

a writing, fine motor, & community building activity

9:50-10:15

Learning Pod Suggestion: Transition to carpet for instructions then to work station to do this project.

Note To Parents: This is a beginning of year writing sample from which it can be seen what the student is intrinsically inclined to do. It allows you to see how the student has grown during the year. Truly, it is best to not mention spelling, punctuation or capitals, length of writing, etc. If they only want to write 1 minute, that’s fine! If they want to write more than 10 minutes, that’s great too!  Literally just saying “write about what you did this summer” is perfect.

Before they transition to their work station, this is a good time to have a conversation about what they should do when they have finished. Where should they put their work? What can they do afterwards? Their puzzle? An Anything & Everything Journal?Quiet play time with their toys – as long as they promise to quickly & immediately return when called? 

Including Others: A Lesson From Mean Jean Recess Queen

literacy, social studies, SEL, Community Building

15 minutes

Boys and Girls, today I have a very special story to read with you today. Mean Jean Recess Queen. As we read, I want you to think about how the character Mean Jean changes in the story and what it is that causes her to change. 

After reading, have students recap what happened in the story. Have students talk about how Mean Jean changed in the story. {She is mean to others then she plays with others}. Have a discussion about what caused this. {Little girl wasn’t scared and instead ASKED Mean Jean to play}. This is the importance of including others. It can make a HUGE difference. What about this can you remember when we go play out at recess today & every day?

a letter from home

community building

10:15-10:20

This is a great activity to pass out & read to the students during snack time. Prior to the first day, I ask the parents to secretly write their child a note.  These notes makes the students feel SO loved & special. It helps establish a safe environment because the parents always write something supportive. This is really important, especially on the 1st day when a student might be missing mom/dad.

For students who do not have a letter of encouragement from home, I quickly write them a letter from me. 

recess

a gross motor activity

Recess – OUTSIDE free play. Visit a park, play in backyard, etc. This can be hard if your student is an individual child. Ask him/her if they want to play with you, jump on a trampoline, kick a soccer ball around, sidewalk chalk, etc.  

Bad weather? Then have inside recess – free choice play with toys, do an active youtube video like this GummyBear Dance.

wHAT IS AN aT hOME lEARNER?

a bEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT AND COMMUNITY BUILDING ACTIVITY

10 MINUTES

Written instructions:

Have a conversation about what an at home learner is. How does learning at home differ from learning at school? What does learning at home look like? What does it sound like? What does it feel like? 
During this conversation, fill out an anchor chart and hang it up so it is available to reference if needed. 

At Home Learner Anchor Chart - Click, print, fill in, & hang!

The below picture has example responses written in. Feel free to use these or make your own! Just click on the picture below and a PDF will pop up that you can print off and fill in yourself. 

Summer Memories T-SHirt drawing

a creative, fine motor, community buildling activity

11:00-11:15

Written instructions:

After recess, have them come back to the carpet. Review the summer vacation writing activity. Then, have them draw a picture of what they wrote about on the tshirt. I typically have students use crayons because I like to introduce 1 supply at a time, but you can do whatever you choose! I like to introduce different supplies slowly because it lets me show them how to use it – ex: glue sticks – not too much pressure, SNAP lid on, etc. 

Note: You can do the t-shirt drawing before the writing if you’d like. 

Remember: this activity is all about low pressure, observing what student does. 

Funny story you might enjoy: One year I had students do the t-shirt drawing first and then write about the vacation after recess. When we came back in from recess I said, “Okay, before recess you drew what you did this summer. Now, you’re going to write about what’s on your t-shirt.” After the students spent some time writing, I stopped by one of my sweet girls and asked her to tell me what she wrote. She wrote “A rainbow cat eating a pizza in space.” I was so confused about how that had anything to do with her drawing and her summer. That is, until I saw she was wearing a fun Lisa Frank shirt that had a picture of – you guessed it – a rainbow cat eating a piece of pizza while floating in space. THIS is the fun of working with little ones. While it wasn’t what I had intended for her to write, it worked and told me a lot about her! This was a perfect activity because it was a great assessment for what type of learner she is and what type of strategies I need to use with her. Just remember – this first activity is no pressure! 

math tools exploration

a math activity

11:10-11:30

This activity is great to helping set clear expectations. 

Written directions & Tips

Share with the students that there are different tools that we will be using this year in math to help us understand math concepts. These tools may seem like toys you will want to play with. So, today you will get to play with the tools that way when it is time for us to work with the toys later this year you will work & not be playing around with them. Note: rotations helpful if you have a pod otherwise you can decide. 

Why do I do this? Like I said above, it’s for the students to get playing around with these toys out of their system, but also for them to explore & engage with the tools in a playful manner so that they will seek them out later to help them solve problems. Also, the days are long for students & I want to ease them into school structure. This allows the students to practice the behavioral expectations while also doing something natural to them – playing. 

Depending on how much time I have available, I break that time into rotations for this exploration time. 

Helpful tip: Have more than 1 child you’re trying to work with? Are they in different grades? Introduce this activity after the puzzle activity. Then, whenever you need a bit of time so that you can work with one child or the other, use this activity as an independent activity the child you aren’t helping at the moment can do. 

What Is Science?

a science activity

11:30-12:00

Before reading, I have a whole group discussion about what the students think science is. I ask them to share out some of their ideas. During this discussion, I do not confirm or deny their thoughts. I respond “okay.” Then I share that there is this book titled “What is science?” and we will be reading it today to find out what science is – let’s see if the things we think are science actually are! 

2 Activity options

Science Journal Writing

Decorate a science lab coat to use during science experiments

Note: This lesson activity can be done tomorrow. Just combine it with tomorrow’s short activity for efficiency. 

1) Students will cut out & glue cover on their journals. Student writes his/her name on cover. 

Do this step by step with the students. Pass out each supply needed for this activity one at a time. After each supply is passed out, take the time to talk about the proper use of the supply. For example…

SCISSORS: are a privilege and should be used only for cutting paper or activity given not things like clothing or hair. Scissors should be handed to others by pointing the handles towards the other person, scissors should not be swung or run with. When not being used, scissors should lay closed not open. 

GLUE: a little bit goes a long way. It is often best to draw an X on what you want to glue and outline the item as well. Always put the glue on the smaller item. When finished with glue, make sure lid SNAPS back on. 

After reading, ask the students that they are going to take what they learned about what science is & show it in their journals. I tell them to go to their tables, get out their journals then look at me to show me they are ready. Then I model opening my journal to the first page & have them do the same. Then I model writing, in marker, “Science” at the top of my paper. Then they do the same. Of course I walk around as they write to assist if needed. Then I tell them they need to draw & label at least 5 things that they know is science. We talk about how at least means 5 or more. I say: “Can you do 3?” {no.} “Can you do 5?” {Yes!} “Can you do 8?” {Sure!}  I model a few things so they understand what I mean & then they draw & label their own 5 things.  

For this activity, I have them do the activity for 15 minutes. They cannot be finished until the timer runs out. Then, they share with a partner at their table the things that they drew & labeled. 

Personally, I prefer this option since it combines 2 lesson activities, makes it “real to life,” and is super fun for the first graders! Just make sure you leave space on the back of the lab coat/shirt for tomorrow’s activity which will require students to write a sentence about what scientists do. 

Talk about what scientists often wear – lab coats. Give each student a lab coat to wear whenever he/she does science lessons this year. On the back have them write “Scientists Ask Questions!” in big letters. It can be as simple as a large white Hanes shirt cut down the middle or an actual kids coat found on amazon. After decorating it, put it in a place that will be easy to spy. Whenever the student does a science lesson, have them get on their lab coat! 

lunch & lunch recess

12:00-1:00

What a great time to try out a cooking lesson! 

introduction to Alphabetical Order

a math and literacy activity

1:00-1:30

Start with the video below

written version:

We are going to be learning all about sorting and organizing things in our world. We are going to start by learning how letters are organized. Have you ever seen things in alphabetical order? This can be when someone whose name starts with an A gets to be at the front of the line and someone whose name starts with a Z gets to be at the back of the line. Have you every organized & sorted things before? What have you sorted/organized? Big Question: Why do you think people sort & organize things? 

Student responds: “to make things easier, faster.” If needed, ask follow up question: Look at our classroom library. Imagine that none of the books are in bins. Instead, they are just in a big pile. Now, lets say I need to find a specific book. Would that be hard if all the books are just in a big pile – not sorted & organized at all? Or have them look at their closet and try to figure out why clothing is sorted and organized. 

This year, we are going to be learning all about sorting & organizing. I know you all learned your ABCs last year. 

Option 1: Let’s remind our brains of the order & of words that start with certain letters by reading this fun book.

Option 2: Let’s remind our brains of the order by creating an ABC chart. 

If student struggles with Abc's: read this book first then do activity. if students know abc's well: skip book and just do the activity.

activity

This week, we are going to learn all about putting big words in ABC order. To do that, we need to have something that we can all look at to help us quickly remember the order of the letters in case our brain forgets. We are going to create an alphabet!

Larger Group option (10+)

Small Group option

Model the activity by doing the letter A as a class. Then, each student gets a white square & a letter. They cut off the black line of the square and trim the edge off the letter paper. Then they draw something that starts with their letter & label with black crayon the item they drew. 

After having their work checked by their teacher, they can glue the white paper to the letter paper. 

Since there are probably not 26 students in your class, ask students who finish quickly to do another letter to help complete the remaining letters. 

Once the entire class is finished, have the students meet at carpet & bring their letter(s) with them. After hanging Letter A ask “What letter come next?” Then, hang that letter. Continue until all letters are hung. By hanging the alphabet as a class, I noticed an increase in students referring to the alphabet when they need to. 

Just have the student tell you the alphabet. As he/she says it, you write it down at the top of a sheet of paper. I’d suggest alternating colors when writing to help distinguish the letters. Then, when they do ABC order tomorrow, they have a TOOL that they helped make, can easily get out, and will be inclined to use to help them. 

Spelling Assessment

a literacy activity

1:30-1:45

This assessment gives an understanding of a students developmental spelling abilities. Are they using phonetic spelling? Semi-phonentic? Transitional? Conventional spellings?

To use this assessment, I give each level of developmental spelling a point. Precommunicative = 0; Semiphonetic = 1; Phonetic = 2; Transitional = 3; Conventional = 4. After  I give my students this spelling assessment, I score their words using the above numbers. After adding up all of a student’s points, I divide their total by 10 to find where they fit. So if a student has an average of 2.5 then they are moving from the phonetic to the transitional phase. This gives me concrete information to share with their parents.  

Why: First Graders enter 1st grade with a wide range of spelling abilities & school readiness. Some students have been in school since Pre-K, some have been in school for only 2 years, & for others, this is their first year in a formal setting as they have been in Montessori schooling prior. 

In the Fall, I focus my spelling instruction on teaching all students the phonetic rules. While I do have several students who can spell short vowel words, it is important to extend their knowledge by focusing their knowledge during short vowel week on WHY is makes short vowel sounds – CVC focus. Most of these students have just “gotten” reading – the ability came more or less naturally. The WHY digs deeper & extends them so that they can continue to have success when reading more challenging words like those found in Harry Potter. I don’t want any student to have missing gaps so in the fall I ensure everyone is exposed to all phonetic sounds – even if it’s exposure on different levels of understanding. 

Special Areas: Art

1:45-2:45

Teach your child how to pause and resume the video. For the first few minutes, you may need to do this with them as they draw. Then, they should be able to continue. This activity may not get completed in just 1 day. It may take a few days. During this time, your child may need a body movement break. When that is needed, have them play a game of red light, green light or Simon Says for about 10 minutes. 

end of first day meeting

a community building activity

2:45-3:15

Come together to close out the day. Talk about what great activities you all did. Ask what was their favorite, etc. Then, close the day with an afternoon meeting. This meeting is focused on community & setting excitement for day 2. 

During this meeting, we all get into a circle at the carpet and sing “Heeeeey STUDENT NAME, it’s the end of the first day. How are you feeling about first grade?” We go around the circle, repeating this song/chant for each student. The goal is for everyone to chant this as a class, but that can be a lot to ask on the first day. So, I teach the chant, lead the class in saying it & encourage everyone to join in as best they can. This song is adapted from the book, morning meetings. This activity really sets the excitement & stage for the next day!

Keep what the students said in mind for tomorrow. Did your child say the day was really easy? Great! That builds confidence! There will be more challenging activities to come and you want to start out easy to build their confidence! 

Did your child say the day felt too long & hard? No worries, tomorrow try to add in a little more play time perhaps with the math manipulatives. 

Afterwards, tell the students a little bit about what to expect for tomorrow. If you’re in a learning pod, talk about how what they will be expected to do when they come in tomorrow. Will they be expected to play with math manipulatives, work on their puzzle, read books??

flexible time

3:15-4:00

The time allotted to the activities planned for today are the average time it takes a student. In the classroom, students might be really engaged in the activity and so the class will spend more time on it. Throughout the day, students are pulled for speech therapy small group classes, 45 minute reading intervention small groups, math intervention small groups, and more. Also, we have transition times where the whole class has a bathroom break after recess. I did not include those times in this schedule above. Instead, I clumped all those transition times and small group intervention pull out times together and created this flexible time. 

Activities that are great to do during this time: any intervention support and reteach practice they need, complete assignments they haven’t completed yet, upload work samples to child’s classroom teacher, ZOOM meetings, student works on IPAD apps, enrichment activities, reteach lesson that student struggled with, etc. 

additional whole group activity options

The Night Before First Grade

A Community Building activity

Before reading, I tell the students that this time when they sit down, I want them to find a circle on the carpet to sit on. Some years, I have taped down lines on my rug. In this case, I tell them to find a seat on a line. Then I very quickly tell them about 1 expectation for what it is like when we are at the carpet – when I say “come to carpet, this is where you will sit – on a circle or row of your choice (I usually assign carpet spots the 2nd week once I know the students.) 

After reading this book, we have a class sharing about what we did last night. This provides an opportunity for conversation about how to get a teachers attention by raising your hand and that when one person is talking we are all listening. During this conversations, I teach them how to show if they have a connection or if something is true for them too. EX: If a friend says they ate dinner last night & you are thinking “that’s what I did!” or “I did that too!” then you use your pinky & thumb to calmly point back and forth in front of you.

forever book

A literacy & Community Building activity

We end the day with a few read alouds. Then, I share my forever book. A book that I will forever remember my dad reading to me. After, I tell them that I want to learn about their forever book via Forever Book Homework. 

The next day they bring their forever book to school. We read these books over the course of the first 2 weeks. This sets the foundation for fostering student independence, responsibility, highlighting a love for reading, & reading related homework. If a child does not have a forever book from home, I allow them to choose one from my classroom library or the school library. The students can’t wait for their Forever Book to be read. It makes them feel so special to share! 

First Day of school puzzle

a fine motor activity

9:30-9:50

Written instructions:

Work on this puzzle now, but students are not expected to finish it. Then, have this puzzle on hand for whenever there’s a few minutes during the day. This is an activity they work on throughout the day. 

Steps: 

1) Color.

2) Cut it out on dotted lines.

3) Try to put it back together! 

4) Put it in a baggie to keep it safe.

5) If there’s time after you’ve solved it once, then they can trade baggies with a classmate at their table and try to solve their friends puzzle. 

6) Take home your own puzzle at the end of the day. See if your family members are home can solve it! 

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