I made it through my first week as a dual kindergarten/first grade teacher! How is this normally done? I have no idea, but I am going to figure it out and do it to the absolute best of my ability this year!
As a new kindergarten teacher I have been on the web, hunting down ideas for activities to do in the classroom, doing a lot of reading up about it, and talking to friends who teach/have taught these energetic youngsters.
During my research I discovered Donna (Hi Donna!) over at http://peacelovelearning.blogspot.kr/, this is an amazing blog with great ideas.
One of the activities I chose to do on my first day was have the students draw self-portraits. I read somewhere that you could do it again in December, and then near the end of the school year (April maybe?) and see how their sense of self-image has changed. I had some students draw in detail their whole body, and I had some students draw a circle and dots for eyes. It was so interesting. I demonstrated first by telling them I was going to draw my self-portrait, I drew a circle on the white board and said, “Good. Done!” They laughed and informed me that I was indeed, NOT done. They helped me by explaining I had eyes, and a nose, and a mouth, etc. I took a picture of them on the first day of school and printed them out to hang up next to their self-portraits. If you have mirrors, give them a mirror and encourage them to examine their face closely!
I found this ideas and others over at ehow.com, here are a couple links:
Do you have a go-to kindergarten blog where you get ideas? If so please share! I need first grader ideas as well, teaching two grades is an amazing challenge— since differentiating to fit a child’s needs is what it is all about. I am absolutely LOVING pinterest at the moment, whoever invented that— pure genius.
two apples a day 