Beginning the Year with Chaos

Hello friends! I hope all of you are settled in nicely at school or feeling put together enough for the beginning of the year! Not so much for me! The kindergarten rooms are still under construction and school starts Tuesday! Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

This is how my room looked earlier this week.
Picture it the same way, but instead of cabinets on the floor
(they are installed) the middle of the room is full of books!

I have tried not to be panicky but the closer to the day it feels the more my anxiety rises! The good news is that I have some fantastic friends and coworkers to lean on and I know we are going to be fine! We have sat down together to prepared the first couple of days and laid out the first couple of weeks. I just wanted to share a couple of books that we are going to be using. I love, love, love picture books but both of this are new to be and I am excited to get my own copies to add to my collection! 

First of all, the veteran kindy-teachers rotate back and forth between using "The Kissing Hand" and "Owen" for the start up. Last year they started with "The Kissing Hand" so this year, we will be starting our first day with the juniors with "Owen" (that will be Thursday because the juniors start two days after the seniors). 

Click on the cover picture to go to Amazon to purchase your own,
or other Kevin Henkes favourites like "Wemberly Worried." 

Owen is a sweet story about a little mouse, named Owen who loves his fuzzy yellow blanket and takes it everywhere. On the first day of school, Owen's mom has an idea to get Owen to school without dragging his blanket along, and she cuts it into a small, manageable square, that he can keep in his pocket! 

After reading this story, the little kidlets will all receive a square of fuzzy blanket to help make them feel safe on their first year of school. One of my colleagues, said some of her little kidlets brought it every day last year. 

The second story that we will be using the second week back, is a new one for all of us, but is something that fits nicely with something I now many teachers do, and that is the hunt around the school for the gingerbread man. 

So, this year, we have a variety of activities planned to go with this great book!

Click on the cover picture above to go to Amazon and purchase your own.
You can also find "The Gingerbread Man Loose on the Firetruck."

We have a whole week of activities to go with this story, but I will go into further detail next week. This week we will be sharing lots of other favourites with the kindies, including these fun stories:

What are some of your favourite reads to kick off the school year?