Five on Friday: Open House

I have been very busy this week preparing for my new class of kinder kiddos! Our open house is on Monday and they will start school on Wednesday.

These are five of my favorite things I have ready for open house.

1.Interactive Door Display

Each student gets an owl for their name and chooses where to put it on the door. Instant ownership of the classroom. Even if they all end up near the bottom ;)

2.Student Gifts

Each student receives a book from our resource center and a bag of Jitter Glitter! I don't know who wrote the original Jitter Glitter poem, but you can find many variations of it on Pinterest. It is so cute to look down at their little heads on the first day and see some of their glitter still stuck in their hair :)

3.First Homework Assignment

I give the students their first homework assignment at open house. It is a family project to help us get to know the students. I also send home the small poster boards with them.

4."Owl" About Me Form

I ask each parent to fill out an "Owl" About Me page giving us a little information about their student and family. You can download your own version for free on my TPT store!

5. Photo Booth!

So fun! I have this up for open house and the first day of school so parents can have a little photo op.

And it includes fun props I made with my Silhouette! 

I am so excited for my new students to get here! Kindergarten Rocks!

Back to School Dollar Centers

I am so excited about all of the Dollar Tree finds I have grabbed this summer! They are going to be awesome to use during centers this year with my kinders.

Here is a look at my stash and how I plan to use them.

Chalkboards and Chalk

These chalkboards come with two pieces of chalk and an eraser. I got the  purple sandwich holder from the Dollar Tree to hold everything. I love using the sandwich holders to store just about anything! I grabbed a whole stash of them. I also grabbed some colored chalk from Michael's for a dollar to add some fun. I plan on having students use this center to practice writing letters, sight words, or write the room.

Double-sided Hero and Princess Crayons

I think my kiddos are going to love these! They are perfect for little hands and add just enough novelty to make rainbow writing super fun.

You can grab a Rainbow Write FREEBIE I made specifically for use with this center over at the Grow and Enjoy TPT store. It includes a recording page for super heroes and princesses.

Shape Storage Containers

These awesome storage containers come in one set, so you get all four for just a dollar! I immediately thought of a shape sorting center when I saw them. The pattern blocks shown are already in my classroom.

Small Plastic Containers

These small plastic containers come in a set of 10. I used six of them to hold dice and keep them off the floor, in mouths, etc. Last year I used plastic Gerber food containers and they did not hold up very well. Hopefully, these will work better! One easy way to use these is to have students roll the dice and practice writing the number it lands on. You can also have them roll and graph the numbers. I have a ton of roll and write activities that the kinders always love.

Coordinating Paper Die Cuts

I have to give Mr. Greg over at Kindergarten Smorgasboard for this awesome idea. The Dollar Tree has all kinds of different die cuts you can use for matching games. I did capital and lowercase letters with the milk and cookies and will probably do math facts on the lock and key die cuts.

Foam Counting Blocks

I don't actually have a specific use for these yet, but I can imagine lots of possibilities using them as dice, letter blocks, etc. If you have a good idea for using these, please share!

I hope you can find some of these products at your local Dollar Tree! I have also done some previous blog posts about Dollar Tree centers. Click on "dollar tree center" in the label cloud to the right for more ideas.

Spring Link Up

Well, I don't have many pictures from the classroom this week since we've had a crazy week!
Of course we had lots of Dr. Seuss Activities planned, but our week was cut short due to snow storm Thor. The picture above is from silly sock day.

The bright side of the snow day is that I have been able to finish up two new products and a freebie available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

My Spring Weather Journal Freebie is part of a giant spring link up sponsored by The Primary Pack.
Be sure to hop over there for tons of awesome products and some FREEBIES!

Also, check out the other products I finished up today.

This Spring Writing Prompts pack includes the following prompts:

 

In the Spring...
My favorite thing to do in the Spring is...
Spring see, hear, and feel
Spring acrostic poem
My Nature Walk
My mom is special because...
(Insert name) is special because...
One blank journal page  

Highlight a Sight Word

This set includes 33 different sight words for students to practice sight word identification.

 

You can purchase both products through the links above.

 

I hope you enjoy the Spring link up! I know it's getting me in the mood for warmer weather!