Materials Needed:

• 48 Piece Blank Puzzle (Community Puzzle 48 piece)
• Colored pencils and/or markers
• Self Adhesive Wiggle Eyes (#CFT71)

Key Words for Lesson:

• Beginning of the Year
• Get to Know Your Students
• Classroom Puzzles

Students will be able to:

• Recognize qualities in their classmates that are similar or different than themselves.
• Connect with their class peers on the first days of school.
• Create a hands-on puzzle piece to be included in the classroom puzzle.

Procedures for Lesson:

Begin the lesson by reading aloud “Amanda Pig, School Girl” by Jean Van Leeuwen. “I have been waiting my whole life to go to school,” declares an exuberant Amanda Pig as she prepares for her first day of school. And what a day it turns out to be! Up before the sun, Amanda can barely contain her excitement as she puts on her new purple dress, eats breakfast, and kisses her mom and dad good-bye. Once on board the school bus, she eagerly plops down in an empty seat for her first adventure of the day–befriending a frightened little girl who won’t tell anyone her name.

Take one of the puzzle pieces and as a class, decide on what could be drawn to represent your school and its theme. Have that piece drawn to represent the school as a whole so that you have an example of how to color in the whole piece of puzzle.

Provide each student with one set of wiggle eyes. On their puzzle pieces, they are to draw their own face around the wiggle eyes and then write their first name and then color in the remainder of the piece of puzzle.

Follow up Activity:

Place all puzzle pieces in a large Ziploc bag and have the students take turns taking the puzzle home, working it with their family and then writing a response about the puzzle and what it means to them in their writing journals.

Wrap-Up:

Once all classmates have taken home the puzzle, you can either put it together and have it glued permanently and displayed within the classroom, or include the puzzle in the Language Arts center as they continue to practice spelling and writing one another’s names throughout the year.

How to Reward Students when they lose a tooth

When a student loses a tooth at school, give them a tooth holder to keep their tooth safe until they get home. To make the event extra special, you can present them with an award and post their name on a classroom Tooth Chart. Students get so excited for the recognition that you would think it was their birthday!
Idea submitted by 2nd Grade teacher at East Central Elementary

Suggested products -

#SCH115 - I Lost A Tooth Award

#SCH1204- Lost a Tooth Award

#TN - Tooth Necklaces

#LCLB - Lost Tooth Club Sticker

#SCH318-Who Lost a Tooth Chart

#TCH613-Tooth Tally Pocket Chart

Time Required: 1 Lesson (1 Lesson per student when shared with their peers)

Materials Needed:

• Decorate “ME” bag with various items representing the teacher inside

Key Words for Lesson:

• Beginning of the Year
• Get to Know Your Students
• First Day Jitters
• Writing Journals

Students will be able to:

• Recognize qualities in you that they have the same or different.
• Connect with you on the first day of school.
• Create their own “ME” bag to share orally with their peers.

Procedures for Lesson:

• Begin the lesson by reading aloud “First Day Jitters” by Julie Danneberg. This cute story leads the reader to believe that it is a student who is scared to go to school on the first day, when in reality it is the teacher.

• By using your pre-made “ME” bag, begin introducing your students to you by pulling each item out of the bag and telling what it represents for you.

• Display each item as you explain them and at the end of your introduction, see if they can remember what each item represents about you.

Follow up Activity:

• Allow each student to present their “ME” bag throughout the next several weeks. Keep a running list of each student and their items and at the end of all presentations, you could give the students a “quiz” to see what all they remembered about their peers.

Wrap-Up:

Have students write a brainstormed list in their journals of items they have at home that they could place in the “ME” bag that would represent themselves. Assign a date for each student to take home the decorated “ME” bag and fill it with items to represent themselves that they can bring back to school and share with their classmates.

Everyone looks forward to that special day of cake and gifts, but it is even more memorable for children. SmileMakers offers economical ways to celebrate their special day - from classroom décor and stickers to gift bags and much more, we have everything you need to say happy birthday.

Suggested products -
#HAPK - Happy Birthday Kit
#NTY582 - Birthday Tattoos
#ST069 - Make Your Own Birthday Cup Cake Stickers

#TCH560 - Birthday Celebration Hats

Five Ways to Say Happy Birthday

• English - Happy Birthday
• French - Joyeux Anniversaire
• German - Alles Gute zum Geburtstag
• Italian - Buon Compleanno

Spanish - Feliz Cumpleaños

Decorate for Back to School with the focus being around your new students. Decorate one wall with a bulletin board that allows you to post each student’s name. Then, on the first day have each student write and draw something about themselves. One by one, have the students get in front of the class and present their picture. When they are finished, they can post their picture beside their name. It inspires creativity and gives the students a feeling of ownership in their new classroom.

Suggested products -

• SCH746 - Welcome Quilt BBS
• SCH604 - Welcome Back Schoolhouse BBS
• SCH1174 - Ahoy, Mateys Weclome BBS
• SCH741 - Clifford Welcome BBS
• CFT105 - All About Me Star Cards Kit
• CRAY-9 – Crayons