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The first weeks of kindergarten means learning new routines and school rules. Building relationships and setting boundaries right away is key to a successful year of learning, so today I'm sharing some helpful hints and tricks for getting the year off to a great start! Each year brings new personalities and new challenges for an always-learning teacher. What students should know first and foremost is that when they enter their classroom, their teacher sees them as a friend, smart, amazing, special, adorable, sweet, and LOVABLE! We need to meet kids where they are and help them to grow in EVERY way, especially socially, in kindergarten!  The idea that we are a class family is largely emphasized in our classroom. To start our year, students bring in family pictures to place on our cupboards for the school year. This allows for them to "meet" each other's families and share things about the members of their families with one another. The display is used frequently, as we oftentimes make connections to the people we love most throughout our learning!  Ron Clark House System In KindergartenAt our school, we implement Ron Clark's house system. On the first day of school, students spin the wheel of Titan PRIDE to reveal their house! Students earn points for their house and are rewarded for having the most points. This system encourages making new friends, teamwork, and inclusion.  What does that point system look like in kindergarten? You guys, it's SO simple! It's paper!! I refer to them as rainbow tickets! When students do things well, they earn a ticket. They love to be able to choose their own color! They keep them in a pencil pouch at their seats, and we count them every so often...it really is that easy!! When we count them, I enter their house totals into a school wide google form, and we're ready to roll! Houses compete for quarterly rewards, such as a movie, swimming at the YMCA next door, having a dodgeball game, etc. Kindergarten kids just love to earn tickets! Read more about the ticket concept here:  Kindergarten Classroom Mascot and Making Good ChoicesThose tickets, along with SO many more magical concepts, are delivered by our classroom mascot, our unicorn! If you want to add engagement, include a classroom mascot in kindergarten! It's a complete game changer! She talks to me all day long to help motivate and celebrate!  Before you speak, think and be smart. It's hard to fix a wrinkled heart. We often refer to having happy hearts in our classroom. For example I say, "Oh, that makes my heart so happy!" when I see students sharing or using great teamwork. I also let them know when things do not make my heart happy, such as when students aren't kind to each other. We use this simple activity to demonstrate yucky parts of our day that wrinkle our hearts. When people apologize, it's like putting a bandaid on an ouchy. It still hurts, but an apology makes it feel a little better.  I also use this sequin heart pillow to demonstrate how things can make my heart both sad and happy. I flip it to gray to demonstrate broken rules and how it makes my heart feel sad.  Our rules are simple. I tell the students that when they are at school, I am their mama bear, and I have two jobs. My jobs are to keep them safe and to help them learn. We relate breaking rules to the Grinch. The Grinch does things that make others' hearts sad. This connection helps students to learn rules, and we rarely have to have true consequences. Motivation, instead, comes naturally. When students finish a classroom task, for example, they are instantly "rewarded" with a ticket and then a center activity. If kiddos continually break rules, we have classroom conversations about them with our heart pillow. It usually is just that they do not understand why it is not okay to do some things at school. Kindergarten kids are learning SO many new things with us in their first classroom experiences. They deserve so much grace.  Of course, I emphasize the opposite, making GREAT choices a LOT more than focusing on the negative. Bears in a bucket is the perfect follow-up activity after reading Have You Filled a Bucket Today? I give examples of all things that make my heart happy, and every time I give an example, I drop it in the bucket! It's like a bear hug for my teacher heart!  Using picture books and visual cues are my favorite ways to teach rules and character education overall. Raising hands and not interrupting is something that needs to be established within the first week of school. I LOVE to read Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra to get my message across to the kids. After the lesson, I keep the little chick near the front of the classroom. If students shout out answers, I just point to the chicken. They quickly remember to raise hands.  The Cat in the Hat makes such a mess in his book! I use his book and character to refer to if we have classroom messes! The kids enjoy this connection so much! If we have a mess in the room, we remind each other not to be like The Cat In the Hat!  Kiddos really enjoy bringing in things from home. I support this by offering show and share once a week! They bring in something that starts with our special letter of the week, and we practice speaking skills. However, I do not like kids to bring other toys to school, as kids tend to trade or give them away, and sometimes items get lost or broken, which leads to hurt feelings and upset parents. I help teach this rule with Lily's Purple Plastic Purse! It's just perfect!!! It helps kids to see that I'm not trying to be a "big meany teacher" but instead want them to enjoy their belongings at home,  Do you know what's hard in kindergarten? Sitting still! I most definitely do not expect my little ones to sit still, and I encourage movement in nearly everything we do! Howard Wigglebottom helps to explain times for moving and times for sitting in a way that's just right for kindergarten, though, in his silly book!  Reading Mouse Goes to School is the way we make a connection to taking care of our classroom materials. He sits by our classroom bucket all year to help students with lost materials, and he provides sharpened pencils, too. Again, this is a SUPER simple way to keep students engaged with caring for classroom tools! Toss imagination into ANYTHING, and the concepts stick! If kids find items on the floor, they "give it to Mouse" until the owner claims it.  This next concept can be extra challenging for kiddos, but sometimes we just don't get to make a choice. I truly try to allow choice as much as possible for kindergarten kids. It's just so empowering for them! Sometimes, though, we don't get that choice, and we need to learn how to deal with that feeling. You Get What You Get is perfect for teaching this concept!  If students do not do their work, I remind them that one of my jobs is to help them learn. If they aren't doing work, the rule has been broken. I show them Daisy. Daisy is bright and sunshiny and loves to learn and play with friends. Sometimes, though, she gets wilted and lazy. She just needs a reminder that there are no lazy daisies in kindergarten, though, and she stands right back up to get to work. Again, providing tickets and center activities immediately following a classroom task helps to avoid this hiccup in the road. This is a great visual for helping kids understand their goals at the beginning of the year, though.
We read the entire No, David! series at the beginning of the school year, too! David has some trouble with following rules, and the kids just LOVE him, especially when he escapes the bathtub and runs down the street!! We tie the series in with the five senses during a kindergarten science lesson, and we go over the pages of No, David! to share what parts of his body he is using when he is breaking rules.  We love, love, love Pete the Cat in our classroom! We begin our year with Pete the Cat: Rocking In My School Shoes by James Dean. The kids love the SONG that goes with it, too! Our takeaway from this book, is "It's allllllll good!" Pete doesn't worry, and we don't have to worry either. We just try our best, learn from our mistakes, and it's all good!  Behavior Management Anchor Chart for KindergartenAnd that's a wrap! Come to school to learn and be safe, and it's alllllll good in kindergarten! Of course, going over rules doesn't stop all year! We use this anchor chart and our classroom characters in our discussions throughout the entire school year! Note the ducks... walking behind mama duck in hallway is how we walk, of course! We demonstrate this in the classroom with little rubber duckies!  LOVE THIS Classroom expectations anchor chart? It has been digitally recreated just for you!Connect with Your StudentsDo you know what kids want most? Your attention. What's a better way to connect with them than sitting down with them and coloring? This allows for their minds to wander, conversation to flow, and fine motor fun all at the same time!  Connect to ParentsMy mama heart nearly explodes when my boys bring home handprint art! If you want to connect to your parents, this is a great avenue to build a relationship with them! Let them know how much you love their kiddos with handprints for EVERY month! I promise hearts will melt!  Open House ConnectionsHave the kiddos prep for Open House by making MORE connections with families! Here are a few ideas for craft activities for your class!  Ready for some more ideas?!Are you a Krazy for Kindyland Subscriber? We will send you more ideas, about once a week, to share with your kiddos! Also, as soon as you subscribe, the subscriber password is emailed to you! You instantly gain access to our FREE Activity!  More Back to School fun!OR explore more from the collection! Primary Resources for Getting StartedHere's the foundation of where the magic begins in our classroom! These ULTIMATE bundles contain posters, poems, and coordinating resources to tie it all together for you and your students! I use ALL of these resources to teach and then review concepts all year long! Posters, poems, center activities, practice sheets, and crafts are provided for each area of learning! Materials correlate and are predictable for the kiddos, leading to independent learners! 
Alphabet, Handwriting, Beginning Sounds, Sight Words, Print Awareness Bundle
$170.00
$85.00
As you teach letters and beginning sounds, sight words, and print awareness with your kindergarten class, print and go with this ultimate bundle with EVERYTHING you need for the year! Students practice fine motor skills as they complete a variety of hands-on activities to keep them engaged all year! Use our alphabet friends letter posters and poems to introduce letters! Kick off your year with letter bootcamp using letter fine motor letter activities! Dive into handwriting, and proceed with letter vocabulary craft packs for each letter study! Print emergent readers for each letter as students practice sight words, and complete your print awareness lessons with correlating sentence sheets! Throughout the year, review first sounds with letter coloring pages! Kids LOVE to color the little pictures with markers for fast finisher work! For a more in-depth review, we use the two options of color code sheets to sort beginning sounds during center time! We also use multiple choice and matching worksheets! The dauber painting, pokey pin, hole punching, and letter puzzle activities are perfect for literacy centers! Note: The cover of Krazy for Kindyland products include exact JPEG(s) of included craft(s). Our Full site is available athttps://krazyforkindyland.com/</a> What our customers are saying about our products: -provide engaging, hands-on fine-motor practice while learning across the curriculum -easily differentiated, based on student needs and allow room for teacher choice -include consistent layouts; easy for students to understand -low prep and a huge time saver; GREAT for subs Questions? Requests? Email us at [email protected] 
Number Poems, Posters, Subitizing Sheets, Mini Books, Fine Motor ULTIMATE Bundle
$43.00
$22.00
You've found your COMPLETE SET of teaching numbers for your class! Use our number, subitizing posters and coloring pages to kick off your introduction of numbers! As you complete individual number studies, have students create our craft packs. Use the puzzles, pokey pin pages, hole punching and dauber painting activities in your math centers! Then have students practice their subitizing skills with our subitizing mini books! Throughout the year, review concepts with the subitizing sorting and maze worksheets, 1-10. We also review with number hunts, which can be used as color codes or dice games. Be sure to check out our DISCOUNTED BUNDLES prior to purchasing individual products. Note: The cover of Krazy for Kindyland products includes exact JPEG(s) of included craft(s). Please see our most recent TERMS OF USE here. What our customers are saying about our products: -provides engaging, hands-on fine-motor practice while learning across the curriculum -easily differentiated kindergarten activities, based on student needs and also allows room for teacher choice -includes consistent layouts; easy for students to understand -low prep and a huge time saver; GREAT for subs Questions? Requests? Email us at [email protected] 
Color Word Crafts, Booklets, Coloring, and Dauber Pages Bundle for Kindergarten
$57.00
$29.00
As you explore colors and color words, include this variety of color activities throughout your study or throughout the year as you review. Use activities for whole-group lessons or math centers in your kindergarten or preschool classroom! Please see individual products for full details of each included pack. Bundle Contents: Color Crafts and Booklets Coloring Pages Monthly Dauber Pages Color and Sight Word Booklets Color Word Sorting Worksheets Color Word Poems and Posters Note: The cover of Krazy for Kindyland products include exact JPEG(s) of included craft(s). Our Full site is available athttps://krazyforkindyland.com/</a> What our customers are saying about our products: -provide engaging, hands-on fine-motor practice while learning across the curriculum -easily differentiated, based on student needs and allow room for teacher choice -include consistent layouts; easy for students to understand -low prep and a huge time saver; GREAT for subs Questions? Requests? Email us at [email protected] 
Kindergarten Phonics ULTIMATE Bundle: Rhyme, Word Families, CVC & Compound Words
$123.00
$65.00
One click will prepare you for a full year of NO PREP phonics lessons for kindergarten! This ULTIMATE bundle includes skill introduction and practice for rhyming, word families, CVC word, and compound words! Students practice fine motor skills as they complete a variety of hands-on activities to keep them engaged all year! Kick off the introduction of rhyming by having students color rhyming pairs with yes/no worksheets. Take it up a notch when kids are ready to cut, match, and rhyme words. Then students will be ready to play rhyming memory! As you introduce letters and sounds, also introduce word families with our craft pack! Students practice reading and writing words with this pack, too. For a review, students complete word family sheets, where they tell if the words they write are real or nonsense words! Practice CVC words with worksheets for beginning sounds, middle sounds, and ending sounds. Then review with stretching out each sounds in CVC words! Introduce compound words with two sets of worksheets that include 15 different compound words. Practice last syllables, first syllables, a mix of first and last syllables, and both first and last syllables to create compound words. You might use them to teach about compound words or for review throughout the year! There are two sets, both with varying levels to add to the skill. There you have it! Pace your phonics lessons for the year with this ONE ULTIMATE BUNDLE! Note: Our Full site is available athttps://krazyforkindyland.com/</a> What our customers are saying about our products: -provide engaging, hands-on fine-motor practice while learning across the curriculum -easily differentiated, based on student needs and allow room for teacher choice -include consistent layouts; easy for students to understand -low prep and a huge time saver; GREAT for subs Questions? Requests? Email us at [email protected] 
2D Shape Activities: Crafts, Posters, Booklets, Coloring, Fine Motor Worksheets
$56.00
$40.00
As you explore shapes, include this engaging variety of fire motor shape activities throughout your study or throughout the year as you review! Use activities for whole-group lessons or math centers in your kindergarten or preschool classroom! Please see individual products for full details of each included pack. Bundle Contents: Shape Mazes Shape Coloring Pages Shape Sorting Shape Tracing, Drawing NO Prep Shape Crafts Shape Puzzles Pokey Pin Shapes Shape Dauber Pages Shape and Sight Word Booklets Shape Posters Shape Riddles and Coloring Pages Note: The cover of Krazy for Kindyland products include exact JPEG(s) of included craft(s). Our Full site is available athttps://krazyforkindyland.com/</a> What our customers are saying about our products: -provide engaging, hands-on fine-motor practice while learning across the curriculum -easily differentiated, based on student needs and allow room for teacher choice -include consistent layouts; easy for students to understand -low prep and a huge time saver; GREAT for subs Questions? Requests? Email us at [email protected] 
Back to School Craft & Coloring Pack: Monthly Journals for the Whole Year
$47.00
$24.00
As you explore writing with your kindergarten class, students color, cut, and glue craft pieces into their journals to go along with themes! Three writing choices provide you with differentiation options for students. Monthly Journal Themes: January: New Year, Winter, Snowmen, Arctic Animals February: Hibernation, Valentine’s Day, Dental Health March: Saint Patrick’s Day, Spring, Spring Animals April: Easter, Fruits, Vegetables, Earth Day May: Fairy Tale Characters, Beach, Ocean Animals, Zoo Animals Summer: Camping, Picnic, Barbecue, Junk Foods August & September: School Supplies, Staying Healthy, Apples, Farm, Fall October: Fire Safety, Halloween November: Thanksgiving, US Symbols (Election), Veterans December: Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah BONUS Themes: Pirates, Dinosaurs, Sports, Pets, Outer Space & Robots, Transportation, Safari, Dogs, Weather, Five Senses, Detective / Mystery Contents: Page 1: Cover Pages 2, 3 : Product Details Pages 4-6: lined paper options Contents for Each Month: monthly cover Additional Pages for Each Theme: thematic journal cover, craft pieces Directions: Print the cover and writing sheet of your choice. (A monthly cover is included as well, in case you prefer to do a compilation of monthly themes instead of thematic journals for each topic.) Copy the number of writing sheets you’ll need for the theme. Then copy the cover and writing sheets, double stapled, for each student. Print the craft pieces, and students store them in a gallon-size Ziplock bag at school. Throughout your theme, write about the thematic craft pieces. You might guide your students with what to write about each day during your writing lesson, or they might write on their own during center time. Students cut around the outside edges of the craft pieces and glue them into their journals. Then they add their own drawings to complete their pictures! Send journals home to share with families at the end of each theme! The kids love to share their hard work as they tell parents about what they’ve learned, and families love to watch writing skills grow throughout the school year! These journals are perfect for starting conversations about learning material at home! Note: The cover of Krazy for Kindyland products include exact JPEG(s) of included craft(s). What our customers are saying about our products: -provide engaging, hands-on fine-motor practice while learning across the curriculum -easily differentiated, based on student needs and allow room for teacher choice -include consistent layouts; easy for students to understand -low prep and a huge time saver; GREAT for subs Questions? Requests? Email us at [email protected] Looking for More?Krazy for Kindyland has LOTS of ideas to share with you to make learning MAGICAL in your classroom!
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August 2023
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