Where are you today?

Kindergarten teachers,
OMG!  I am sitting in a comfy chair in my own home attending a FANTASTIC professional development!  I paused it midway just to make sure all of you know this is happening and that you are also invited to attend.  The cost? $19.95 and that includes lots of freebies that you can download.  Do these names sound familiar?  Crystal, Fran, Hadar, Krissy??  Yeap, your favorite kinder bloggers are presenting today and $19.95 is the cost for ALL four presentations.  When you add all of their presentations together it comes to about three and a half hours.  That's a lot of great information!!!  I am hurrying back to do some more viewing and learning!

Love to all,
Camille

Can't attend today?  Not to worry, their presentations are available from now on at this link.

Kindergarten Expo

Welcoming New Kindergartners

Last year I had a kindergarten / first grade combination class.  Since I had never taught kinder before, EVERYTHING related to kindergarten was new to me.  The first thing I had to deal with was our kindergarten "Meet and Greet".  The other kindergarten teachers gave me ideas (THANK YOU!!) and I was able to come up with a plan.  Our wonderful secretary sent out invitations to parents about two weeks prior to this event.  School started on Monday so on the previous Friday we had our Meet and Greet where incoming kinders (and their parents) got to meet me.  I posted a sign on the board that stated the following:

Meet and Greet
1:00-1:30     Student Time
Goal:  to help the children feel comfortable and very, very excited about starting kindergarten in Room Five

1:30-2:00   Parent Time
Goal:  to help the parents feel comfortable and very, very excited about having their children start kindergarten in Room Five

The other kinders had their Meet and Greet from 1:00-1:30, but since I was teaching a K/1 combo, I felt it was important to spend time with parents answering questions and addressing concerns about the combination so I added on the 1:30-2:00 parent component.  My wonderful principal took my kinders on a school tour and then let them play on the playground while I talked to their parents.

Here is my lesson plan for the Meet and Greet:
Cam's Meet and Greet Lesson Plan

Here is a copy of the treasure hunt paper AND the packet that I gave to parents:
Cam's Meet and Greet Packet

My hope is that this will help other kinder teachers plan their "Meet and Greet".  Enjoy!