Phew!

My first day has come and gone and it was FaNtAsTiC!

I think it was probably my best first day in all my years of teaching.  I was sooooo nervous though, complete with butterflies and a tummy ache!  The only time I ever get nervous like that is the morning of a (running) race, so I don't know why I got so nervous this time. I didn't overplan, we got through everything, I poured on the praise and the kids were so well-behaved!

I started with my favorite first day book, First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg.

I also ate lunch with my kiddos, which was very interesting, but it was good that I was there to help those kids who are new to our school and the whole lunch routine.

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One of the things I love about teaching 1st grade and kids so young is that you can turn anything into a game and they eat it up.  One of our former, awesome, gym teachers played this when it was time to line up and leave her class and I've adopted it for whenever we leave our classroom -AND- during group bathroom breaks: the Secret Person Game.

Before dismissing kids to line up I choose 1 boy and 1 girl to especially keep an eye on BUT I don't tell them who it is and thus, they all line up hoping it's them.  As they line up I think aloud to encourage them all to line up and stay lined up nicely (Is my Secret Boy lining up quietly and staying quiet?  Is My Secret Girl making sure there is space in front and in back of her?).  If the Secret Boy lines up nicely and stays quiet I announce who it is and he adds a gem to our 'Gem Jar' and the same thing goes for the Secret Girl.  If one or both of them does not line up correctly then I tell kids we can't add a gem, but I don't announce who it was.  This game works SO well it seems silly :-)

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Tomorrow we're going to write about our summer vacations after listening to 

So I can get an idea of my student's writing abilities.

Both of the books I've mentioned above are part of a Back-to-School Literature Activities PACK that you can find at my TPT store and it's on sale!