My 1st day with kids and Must Have Monday

Boy, am I one tired teacher!  Today was my first day with my new bunch of kinderkids and we had an awesome day!  They are too sweet!  I'm posting a few of the things we did today and at the bottom of this post I'm linking up with Blog Hoppin's Teacher Week for 

Must Have Monday!

 My favorite book to read on the 1st day of school to teach my students about rules and being peacemakers is David Goes to School by David Shannon.  It's the perfect book to introduce how to behave appropriately at school.  Plus, it's just too cute.

We make David on our 2nd day of school (pics to come) and you can check out this little packet here.

Next, I brought out the mystery bag to talk about being a good listener.  They went bananas over this fun little activity and were so in to what was in my bag.  I let them make predictions of what was in it and had some great guesses.

Here's what was in the bag.  First, I pulled out the shoes part of Mr. Potato Head.  They figured out that these belonged to Mr. Potato himself so I showed them the potato head with nothing on it but his nose.  We talked about what else might be missing and what he needed to be a good listener.  I told them that Mr. Potato Head is the smartest toy there is b/c he uses his listening ears, puzzle hands, looking eyes, criss-cross legs, and his Thinking Cap!  

(This fun idea was adapted from my friend Deanna's Mr. Potato Head rules which you can read about here.)

We did lots of other things, but our last thing was to read First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg.  This book is adorable!  If you don't have it, it's a must for the first day of school.  So cute!

 I made this large poetry card using the poem Jitter Juice by my friend Abby.  Thought it turned out cute...can you see the fizz bubbles made with iridescent glitter?  Under the blue paper is a copy of the poem.  You can find out all about Jitter Juice in Abby's Crazy for Kindergarten packet.  I also think it's available in a couple of her other packets.

Here's our Jitter Juice jug...empty!  The kids loved it!  

 One last thing...If your kiddos are like mine, a lot of them do not know how to write their name coming into K.  The first few days/weeks can be very hectic so I always have tons of name labels on hand to put on their work.  That doesn't mean I don't ask them to try writing their name or that we don't begin working right away to learn it, but it sure saves tons of time when you don't have any.  You can see the name label at the top of this paper.  

I print out several sheets of their names in different fonts.  These are great small projects especially since K's tend to write their name huge.

Okay, Bravo if you're still reading this very long post!  Here's my Must Have Monday link-up with Blog Hoppin'.

Personal Scotch laminator from Wal-Mart...don't know what I did before I bought this last year.

ELMO document camera...use every. single. day. of the week!  

Royal Reading & Writing Center from Copernicus Education...it holds everything I need basically for whole group lessons.

 Here's an inside view...as you see it's stuffed with, well, "stuff".

Promethean Interactive White Board...I vinyled my whiteboard with lots of dots!

Vera Bradley Lanyard

I got this jewel at Lowe's a few years ago....not sure if they still make them...LOVE

Scentsy Candle Warmer!!  

Personal Paper Cutter...use every single day of the world.

Thirty One teacher bag!

And, finally, a Mt. Dew Fountain Drink...I have one every single day of the world...including Saturday and Sunday!

Thanks so much for reading this post and my blog!  Hope you find something useful!