The first week of school is officially under my belt! It was a great one, but of course EXHAUSTING too! I wanted to pop in today and give you a quick peek at the first week of first grade!

The week of course started with my traditional First Day of First Grade picture and photo booth! You can read a minute by minute guide to the First Day of First Grade right here!

I just LOVE their sweet pictures and I know parents do too! Our week was full of books! I think our favorite book of the week was A Tiger Tail (Or What Happened to Anya on her First Dy of School). The kids absolutely LOVED it! I even heard them pretending to have tiger tails and tiger hands at recess!

After reading the story, we brainstormed some kind things that the other kids could have said to make the main character feel better about her tiger tail. We had a great discussion about how kind words can change other people.  

(Sorry, nothing fancy here… #keepinitreal)  Next, everyone wrote four kind things you can say to be a friend and created a craft to go with the story. 

Disclaimer: The kids had the choice to cut out and create their own hair…More “normal” hair is included with the craft. We also used our imagination and created a class book! 

I create class books by just gluing a cover on the front of a three-prong-folder and hole punching the pages. EASY! You can read more tips for making meaningful class books in this post.

I just loved their ideas and they loved hearing me read the book aloud to the class. The kids smile from ear to ear when we get to the page they created. All of these activities and many more are available HERE.

Chrysanthemum is also a first week favorite book! We did lots of name activities and drew Chrysanthemum in our Reading Response Journal. We also added words to describe Chrysanthemum, I just didn’t get a picture! 

Aren’t their drawings precious? Of course we read, Lacey Walker Nonstop Talker too! This is another must read during the first few days of school.  

We created these cute Cara Carroll inspired owls and added writing about how we can be a good listener. Listening is a must have skill for school!

I hung them up on our Meet the Authors Board in the hallway. Sorry I had to blur out their pictures and biography! : ( 

We worked daily on our My First Week of First Grade Journal. I think these are a great keepsake and fun for the kids to look back later and see how much they have grown and changed. 

If you don’t teach first grade, versions are also available for Preschool, Kindergarten and Second Grade too! 

This is always my favorite page to see! This little cutie is in luck! Learning to tell time is part of first grade!  Go Noodle also got us through the week! It’s a life saver and really helps keep my kids focused all day. They sent me a fun pack of stickers and handouts.

We also loved exploring math manipulatives.  

 This weekend I have been working on my positive notes to parents. It is so important to build those relationships with your students and their families.I like to write each parent a little personal note about their child and include some of the positive things I notice about them in the classroom. I think the power of a handwritten note is HUGE!

It’s so fun to receive something besides bills and junk in the mail too. Yes, it’s time consuming and yes, it takes a lot of thought, but it is so worth it! Take some time out of your week to make sure and reach out to parents and let them know how much you love their baby!