What an exciting first day!

Hello Kindergarten families!

I am so happy to have had such a positive experience with your children on our first day!  I can tell that this is going to be an exciting year and I can't wait to get to know all of our new friends along the way!

Our first day together was a big learning experience.  Our day consisted mostly getting to know our daily routine.

We started our morning by reading a book or chatting quietly with friends on the couch while we waited for class to start. 

We then moved into our Morning Meeting, where we greeted each other, read our Morning Message, chatted for a bit, and shared ideas. 

Next we practiced our Songs and Poems for this month.  I saw that some friends were reading along and even recognized some of them!  It was nice seeing their faces light up =]

Before we went to recess, we discussed what this part of our day could look like.  Friends made some great agreements about what does and doesn't work for them on the playground!

When we came back, we enjoyed a picnic style snack and discussed what was considered a snack option and what should be saved for lunch time.  We made a list of agreements for this part of our day, too.

After cleaning up, friends had a chance to explore our classroom and generate ideas about what they could do in each area (Construction, Math, Language, Science, Observational Drawing, and Painting Area).  Friends seemed really excited about some of the materials available for them to use!

We then came back to the Meeting Space to discuss more about what we saw and what a normal day in class would look like.  We also made more agreements about Lunch Time to make sure they were ready for the next part of their day.  They did a wonderful job of keeping their area free of trash and keeping our school looking beautiful!

After lunch, we checked in about our Lunch Time Agreements and saw that many friends followed the plan and it worked for them!  We then moved in to Rest and Reading Time, where friends got to invite someone to rest with them and enjoyed a good book! 

We moved into Journal Time and we had a chance to make an illustration about something we did over Summer Vacation, or about something we did at school today!  Friends were encouraged to share their ideas with two friends after they finished their work.

Before the end of our day, we had a chance to vote between two books to see which one we would read first.  "If Rocks Could Sing" outvoted "The Night Before Kindergarten." These friends are getting lots of practice in on how to be a Listener and how to be in Meeting!

We ended our day with crossing off the date on the Calendar and writing down some memories from our first day together in Our Daily Class Journal (which you can find at the Information Table near the door!).

It is so nice to meet all these new friends and see all the connections they are making with each other.  Hearing their ideas and watching their excitement about being a School Person is inspiring!  We are all still practicing being at school, but we will have more practice with each passing day!

***Thank you all for your generous contributions to our class!  And thank you to the families who volunteered their time today.  It being the first day, having a few extra bigger bodies was a great help, but having a small number of us was a nice way to balance out the energy level.  Since friends are still exploring this new part of their lives, it's nice for them to feel like school is their own space away from home and discovering that being in charge of themselves isn't so bad and can be very empowering =].  I hope that we can continue this exploration period for our friends for the first few weeks so that they can feel successful in this transition period.

Have a lovely evening!
Love, Gaby