It is the third day of kindergarten! What do I teach? FREE UNIT
WELCOME TO THE THIRD DAY OF KINDERGARTEN
Are you tired from the first and second day of kindergarten? I sure am!
We always start school on a Wednesday, so the third day of school falls on a Friday which is such a blessing.
I have a lot of fun things planned for today, so be sure to sign up above so all of these activities land in your email inbox.
If you signed up on day 1 or day 2 with your email address, these lesson plans and activities are already headed your way. You do not need to sign up again.
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I try to be present right at the door every single morning to greet students and look them in the eye. At least then I know that every single student was seen and acknowledged that day.
Students come in and have activities waiting to go on their desks.
This buys me time to meet parents again and tie up any loose ends that always happen on the first few days of school.
Today, I add magnetic trays to activities I have set out for students in the morning. Next week, we will start morning work each day.
WHAT DO I TEACH THE THIRD DAY OF KINDERGARTEN?
You can use these activities in any order you wish throughout your day.
If they are labeled free, these activities are headed to your email inbox, or some can be printed right here on the blog!
My goals for the third day are:
Activity #1: Environmental Print Unit - FREE
Activity #2: Countdown to Kindergarten read aloud and activity - FREE
Activity #3: Just a Dot gluing activity - FREE
Activity #4: Rainbow Names
Activity #5: Gruffalo read aloud and activities - FREE
Activity #6: Introduce Boom Cards - FREE
Activity #7 - Introduce Handwriting - FREE
Activity #8 - Alphabet craft and worksheets - FREE
Of course we also continue to work on rules, routines and expectations throughout the day.
I am also finishing up our back to school assessments.
ENVIRONMENTAL PRINT
I tell students that they already know how to read! Reading is simply constructing meaning from text, and children already recognize text and symbols in the world around us.
We work on CAP skills (concepts about print) including left to right directionality, 1:1 correspondence with our magic reading finger (I tell students they cannot read a word until their finger touches it) and of course the sight word: can
This mini unit will show up in your email inbox if you signed up for my first week in kindergarten email series (see the form at the top of this page.)
You can also read the full blog post on this activity HERE
COUNTDOWN TO KINDERGARTEN
We love reading Countdown to Kindergarten. We talk about how we got ready for kindergarten, who can tie their shoes and we practice numbers and counting.
I made this adorable activity to complete after we read the book.
Print it when it shows up in your inbox!
JUST A DOT NOT A LOT
You may want to complete this activity before reading Countdown to Kindergarten because we are learning that you only need a tiny bit of glue!
We sing, “You only need a little dot - it really is not a lot!”
RAINBOW NAMES
We love rainbow names! Before we make this crafts, I read students Your Name is a Song.
I use these to decorate our hallway and the kids love seeing their name displayed. This also practices gluing, fine motor skills, letter recognition and so much more.
I write their names out before hand on white paper and students glue little squares of paper to each letter.
Tip: cut strips of color paper and snip those into squares.
ADDITIONAL NAME PRACTICE
Summer 2023 update: I just created this Chicka Chicka Boom Boom name bundle this summer, and I am excited to incorporate these activities into the first few weeks of school.
At this time, these activities are not included in the first free week of plans I am sending you, but you can learn more about this kit on the blog HERE or purchase the bundle HERE
THE GRUFFALO READ ALOUD AND ACTIVITIES
The Gruffalo is one of my all time favorite read alouds. Your students will ask to read it over and over again!
With these adorable printables, we focus on retelling a story, sequencing, comprehension, matching and rhyming.
With ten pages in this free mini unit, you can split them up over multiple days.
A great strategy to teach comprehension and fluency is rereading. This helps so much with retelling and sequencing skills.
Sometimes I show the book first in the video above to get them super excited, and then I read the book the second time.
Plus, this book is such a hit, there is a short movie too!
The sequel, The Gruffalo’s Child is adorable too.
These activities will arrive in your inbox! I hope you love them as much as we do.
BOOM CARDS - CAPITAL AND LOWERCASE MATCHING
Have you used Boom Cards before? We absolutely love them, and they are a staple for us for the entire year.
They can be played on the computer, on tablets or even parents’ smart phones.
This capital and lowercase matching deck is FREE CLICK HERE and I play it whole group to show my students how Boom Cards work.
They absolutely love these digital task cards, so I start training them how to use them right away because we will use them all year for math, reading, phonics, sight words, writing and MORE!
I have decks for every single month that target the exact skills we work on each month!
The video below shows my Back to School Boom Bundle
“These are amazing and well done! My students are SO excited to get onto their BOOM activities. It is differentiated and has been one of the best resources I have purchased!”
“I am so happy I purchased this product. It is something fun and engaging students can use at home during independent study time to practice skills we are learning.”
“These are the best!!! Stations were very hard this year with social distancing. This was an activity I added to my literacy stations. Its fun, colorful, and easy for they kids to use on their own.”
HANDWRITING
If you have been following me for awhile, then you know how important handwriting is! I can’t stress enough how much of a difference it will make if you start the year on the right foot and teach very specific techniques.
I am sharing a free handwriting pack with you in this back to school email series, so you can try them out for yourself.
I teach letters in a very specific order based on how they are formed.
For example, once students know how to form lowercase “r” (I say little line down, push back up) it is a natural progression to then form lowercase “n” and “m”. We call these push up letters.
Bunny jump letters are where students must actually pick up their pencils and “jump” back up to the top. Capital P, R, and B follow similar patterns so I teach them sequentially.
Magic C letters always start by making a “c”.
On the third day of school, we make the craft for letter Aa - it will show up in your email inbox soon!
These are so easy and require zero prep for you. Students just color, cut out and glue on construction paper.
You can find the entire set in my shop HERE
I also start THESE worksheets today, and the one shown above will be in your email inbox soon with your lesson plans!
I CAN STATEMENTS
We love using I Can Statements every day. This is such a great way to get children engaged with their learning targets and goals.
We read them before and after lessons to reflect on what we have mastered and still need to work on.
Just switch them out when you change units and standards.
It is such a game changer to have students invested in their learning goals and targets, which is why I use these adorable goal charts too.
The chart is FREE in our freebie library (your password is in the first email from me!)
Each child gets their own adorable chart, and when they reach a new goal, they color the star and earn a personalized award.
Setting goals, and having parents and children invested in their academic goals is a total game changer.
Back to School Resources for Kindergarten
Click the resources below or CLICK HERE to visit our back to school homepage.
Ready to plan the rest of August? CLICK HERE for my free monthly plans.