Back to School Night and the First Day of School!

Well folks, its that time of year again. The school year has just begun and I can't say I'm surprised I haven't blogged in a month. It has been so hectic trying to get ready for school these past few weeks I've hardly had time for anything else.
I guess I should fill out in on what my schedule looks like this year.  Its a bit crazy!
For the first time ever I will be teaching 4 grades! AH! Doesn't that sound overwhelming. I guess I should also mention that the class sizes are really small so it is manageable, but boy am I prepping and planning like NEVER before! Whew!

So this year I will be teaching Kindergarten/First Grade (10 kiddos) in the AM and at lunchtime my kindlers go home and after lunch my firsties (3 boys) join me as I teach the 2nd/3rd graders. That comes out to a grand total of 16 students in the afternoon. Not too bad, I know :)

Needless to say, my days will be very full and I'm sure my weekends will be consumed with lesson planning as well. I am job sharing with the 2nd/3rd grade teacher so she will be teaching math and language arts in the morning and then I will teach science, social studies and bible in the afternoon. 
I find the jump from 1st grade science to 3rd grade science a bit daunting, but I've got some awesome units planned and I'm very excited to share them with you as the year unfolds.

So here is a little peak at our back to school night (last Thursday) and also our first day of school (today).

A new addition to my classroom! I am totally OBSESSED with how cute these itty bitty buckets are.

Basically when I "spy" a student being kind and filling a friend's bucket, I'm gonna fill their little metal bucket with little glitter pom poms. Isn't kindergarten magical! This is something I LOVE about my job! :)

A new way to organize my pencils. Can't get enough chevron in my classroom! 

I found the labels on TPT. Check them out 

HERE

I also snagged these very helpful signs. For years I've been trying to find the best way to teach my kinders how to tell the difference between left and right. Now they will know because I'm planning on saying "We'll go RIGHT to recess."

You can also get these FOR FREE on TPT

 RIGHT HERE

Next we come to back to school night.

I saw some very fun blog posts and TPT products that inspired me to make these signs. I had never thought of it before, but it ended up working great and I loved the way it all looked.

  

    

  

  

 

I had the parents decorate popsicles sticks to look like their child. I use these sticks in my classroom job pockets.






Step 6 asked them to fill out important forms and turn them in before they left (getting to know your child form)

This was just a fun little treat I found to thank the parents for coming.

I also had this out in the hallway for all the elementary parents :)

First Day Of School:

I always like to give both my parents and students a little something to make the first day special. I have been using this parent survival kit all 6 years I've been teaching. I love that it has scripture references as well as cute reminders. I think some of the kindergarten parents needed their goody bags more than the kids today (its so hard to watch kids grow up, because you want them to stay tiny forever)

I found these super cute tags for my kiddos and thought it would be a fun way to start the year.
You can purchase them HERE

And last but not least, I decided to go with the Kissing Hand theme since I have so many new kindergarteners this year and thought it would be a good way to help ease them into school.

Here are the fun crafts we did today:

I hope you had a fabulous Labor Day Weekend!