The first day in Kindergarten can be hectic and overwhelmingβIβve experienced it firsthand! Over the years, Iβve developed a reliable first-day plan along with some tips for newer teachers. It's important to find a balance: plan enough activities to fill the day without overloading it. Here's a detailed look at my first day of Kindergarten plans (along with a free editable version for you at the end).
The 3 Main Goals for the First Day of Kindergarten
Before we look at the first day of Kindergarten plans, let's talk about the three things you must do on the first day!
- Make your students feel welcome- Greet them at the door, listen to their stories, try to make sure you give each student individualized attention at some point. Say good-bye and “I can't wait to see you tomorrow!”
- Make sure they eat- There's always a student who gets nervous to eat or a student who won't ask for help opening something and won't eat a thing. If you aren't required to sit with them during lunch, at least make sure all your students are good before leaving. I always came back about 5 minutes before the clean up time to check on my students.
- Send them home correctly– I made this mistake my first year and it was AWFUL! If you ever make this mistake, it will be okay! After that mistake my first year, I made sure to double and triple check transportation and check my email the minute before we walk out that door. I was sent an email about 30 minutes before dismissal with a transportation change and I did not see it until after we realized my student went home on a bus and was not in the parent pick up line.
I remember our principal and admin always saying this multiple times before the first day. If you do those three things, then your first day was a huge success!
Planning for the First Day of School
Whether you are a first-year teacher or veteran teacher, making detailed first day of Kindergarten plans is a lifesaver for the first week of school! Your day will flow smoothly if you have everything detailed and planned out to the minute. I write exactly what I will be teaching/doing. For example, “Show them backpack hooks. Practice putting backpacks on the hook.” I also write down any materials so I can quickly get them ready throughout the day.
I print my lesson plans on a bright piece of paper and attach them to a clipboard. You can carry the clipboard around with you so you can refer to the lesson plans throughout the day.
Planning your First Day of School
If you want to view my First Day plans and get your own free editable template, you can grab them at the end of this post.
I also have these editable lesson plan templates in my store here! These are GREAT for a first year teacher who needs to write everything out for the first few weeks. I sure wish I had something like this my first year!
Planning a Simple Morning Activity for the 1st Day
When my students come into the classroom in the morning, it can be quite chaotic if you don't have a game plan. Depending on if you have staggered entry or not, either your entire class will come in at once or you will have a few students come in at a time. I play calming music as my students come in because it helps them calm down. I make sure to stand at the door to greet my students and then give them THREE directions. That's it. I tell them to put their backpack on a hook, and then go find their name at the table.
At their spot, I leave a ball of play dough. I tell them that they can create their favorite animal, shape, number, or letter with the alphabet until the music stops.
The play dough is the perfect activity because it doesn't use any extra supplies and it keeps their attention for at least 10-15 minutes. Once the students are inside, I stop the music and we start our day.
Teaching Behavior and Procedures in Kindergarten
Attention Grabber
The very next thing I do is teach a simple attention grabber. I call it “monkey see monkey do”. All I do is call out “monkey see” and make a monkey face where I make a bubble with my mouth and hold my ears out. My students stop what they are doing and make a monkey face. After a few times, I teach them to say “monkey do” after I say “monkey see” and then make a monkey face. This works great because students aren't talking and are looking at you. I teach the rest of the attention grabbers throughout the rest of the week.
Good vs Bad Choices in the Classroom
Teaching acceptable behaviors is a MUST the first day! If you don't teach good choices or bad choices in your classrooms, students may not understand that running in the classroom is not okay. To introduce behavior expectations, we would read the book, No David! Then, we would use this picture sort in a pocket chart. We would look at each picture and decide if the kid was making a good choice or bad choice. I would leave this up for a few days, or you could glue it and make an anchor chart visual with it! You can grab this sort here- Good vs Bad Behavior Sort. (It now includes a worksheet, digital Boom card activity, as well as multiple wordings for the headings!)
You need to make sure you are teaching procedures throughout the first day and week. You don't have to cover everything on the first day, spreading them out works well! I have this FREE checklist you can use to help make sure you are covering everything! Another helpful resource I've found are these Visual Procedures posters from My Day in K! They are great for teaching procedures and hanging up in your classroom to refer to from time to time. You can read this blog post all about teaching routines and procedures here: Kindergarten Classroom Management Series: Routines and Procedures
The routines that I make sure to go over first thing in the morning:
- How to sit on the carpet/at table
- How to use the bathroom
- When/how to get water
- Lining Up
- How to unpack/pack up
- Asking permission (raising hand/hand signals/etc)
Those are just the main ones I ALWAYS go over. Of course, I go over more than just those, I think that those are the ones that should be taught first in the day. I usually do a little review in the afternoon and throw in a few more.
Community Building
All About Me Bag
Once my students know the main procedures/routines and behavior expectations, we do an All About Me bag. On the first day, I share my bag for my students to learn more about me. I put a few things that describe me into a brown paper bag, like an apple because I'm a teacher, a shell because I like the beach, picture of my family, etc. I have them guess why I would put each thing in my bag and talk a little bit about each thing.
That night, my students will take home a brown paper bag with directions and they get to make their own bag. The rest of the week, they get to share their All About Me bags to the class. You can grab a free editable download here: All About Me Bag Tag (Please make sure to download to your computer first, then open it. It will not be editable in your Internet browser)
This or That Icebreaker
This ice breaker is perfect to break up activities in our day. I would try to do one learning activity (like learning the procedures) and then a fun icebreaker type activity. This game I have my students sit in a circle and I ask them which they like more “this” or “that”. For example, dog or cat, chocolate or vanilla, pancakes or waffles. We go around in a circle and quickly say which one we like more.
Hickety Pickety Bumblebee
This is another activity we might do throughout the day to break our day up. We use this poem to practice each other's names together. You can find more name activities (or use them for sight words) from Dr. Jean here.
First Day of School Tour
Practice Transitions
Since the classroom is new to my students, I do a classroom tour. I introduce each area of the classroom and explain when we will be in each spot. This is the perfect time to practice those transitions in. For example, “We are going to walk over to the carpet now to check out the library. Can you show me how Kindergarteners walk to the carpet and sit down?” If they do not walk over or sit down correctly, I show them again and make them start over. Usually they get it right the first time though!
School Supplies
Before each activity, I talk about any school supplies we are going to use. I explain the purpose and how to use them, as well as how NOT to use them. I usually don't do any cutting or gluing activities until Day 2, just to make MY life easier, if you know what I mean!
School Tour
Before we go to Specials, Lunch, or Recess, I leave a little bit of time to do a school tour to show them where the office is, the cafeteria, playground, nurses' office, etc. Sometimes I will make it a scavenger hunt. I just wrote down a clue on an index card and put it at each place for my students to find.
First Day of School Read Aloud and Activity
My favorite read aloud for the First Day is The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. You can grab it from Amazon here (affiliate link) We read the story, do a My First Day Feelings anchor chart to discuss our feelings, and then a hand print poem you can grab here.
Independent Activity
The perfect independent activity for your students to work on is a coloring sheet! I liked to use these First and Last Day coloring sheets to show the difference from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. While students are coloring, this is a great time to sort supplies, talk with students, or set up for your next activity! These coloring sheets are available for multiple grade levels.
Free Play
Towards the end of the day, I block off about 20 minutes for free play. Usually, students are a little tired at the end of the day (some may even fall asleep), so I do free play. I have puzzles, games, blocks, math manipulatives, magnetic letters, etc around the room. My students choose (one at a time) to pick what they want to do. This is a great opportunity to talk with your students and get to know them better. I put on music and let my students just have fun!
Afternoon Meeting/Pack Up
At the end of the day, I show my students how to pack up their backpacks and let my students pack up one table group at a time. The rest of my students watch a phonics or math song on YouTube while they wait for their turn. I make sure to check their transportation one last time too! Once everyone's done, we go around and share our favorite part of the day! Then line them up and get them to their correct transportation!
First Day Tip: Write down/prep one to two activities in case you have extra time
I always have something prepared just in case I have extra time. If you don't get to them, just keep them handy for another day you may need them! I usually have a name writing or handwriting worksheet and then maybe a coloring sheet.
And that's it! I know it seems like A LOT, but that first day flies by! You will see that having a detailed plan will make your first day go smoothly. I hope this post was helpful to make your first day of Kindergarten plans!
Don't forget to download your FREE Editable First Day plans to help you on your first day!
I hope this was helpful in planning a successful and fun First Day of School in Kindergarten
