5 more days.....

Wow, it seems like just yesterday that I was handing out kindergarten diplomas and zooming down the hill on the slip and slide for field day.  How did summer vacation go by so quickly?  This must be some kind of record!  Next Wednesday we teachers will all be back at school for preschool week, and before you know it, the kiddies will be back in the classroom!  This year we are back down to 4 kindergarten classrooms due to redistricting in our area.  Last month when we made the class lists, we each had about 17 kids, which was ideal, but now we are all up to 20 and 21.  That's a little scary when you think about kids registering after labor day, new students in the area, etc.  But, the good news is that I have an equal number of girls and boys this year, which almost never happens!  Today I worked on nametags for cubbies, my class helpers, and centers.  Most people I know think I'm crazy to get excited about labeling stuff, but I think it's a teacher thing!  And I'm so excited about my owls for the cubbies this year...I used scrapbook paper and the die cut machine.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE scrapbook paper...I'm pretty much an addict!  Anyway, I need to really work on the plans for the first 3 days of school; those are always the hardest; we don't start our reading groups until the following week, so we do whole group EVERYTHING for the first three days.  I'm looking for some new ideas, because I get tired of doing the same thing all the time.  What are your favorite back to school activities in kindergarten classrooms??