The First Two Weeks of School!

The first two weeks of school are over for me, and I am exhausted. I really needed this 3 day weekend! :) I have a very challenging class this year, and I'm not sure HOW I'm going to get these babies where they need to be by May. It's going to be a challenge, but one I am up for, and one I will conquer. :) Let's go over the breakdown shall we?!

13 students (I am SO lucky!)

5 girls

8 boys

2 name writer's

2 kid's that know 95% of their alphabet

11 kid's that know less than 5 letters

13 kid's that know 0-2 sounds

WHAAA??!! I know I'm so lucky to have only 13 kids, but thank the sweet Lord that I ONLY HAVE 13 KIDS! Because I'm going to need as much one-on-one time as I can possibly get with these babies. 

After I did a few assessments I went home and cried. It is going to be such a challenge to get these kids reading where they need to be by the end of the year. I know they will be, but it's going to be a challenge. On the plus side, they are much more mathematically minded. Not a lot. But a little. So we are really going to have to focus on their reading skills. Lots of repetition, and the use of some amazing packets from amazing teachers. I LOVE TpT, and teacher bloggers. It has made me such a better teacher! There's not going to be a day to spare with these kids, but that's okay. We have the first two weeks under our belt, and we are about to GET. AFTER. IT. :)

So, the first two weeks have been full of procedures, and routine building. We have done a lot of anchor charts, and been introduced to math manipulatives. The first week I used pretty much all of the activities from Babbling Abby's Crazy for Kinders pack! It was SO fun! This was the first year I've used it, and I know I'll use it again! :) In math we worked on position words, and my kids nailed it! :) We also were introduced to our math journals. We also used Growing Kinders Alphahero's packet to get introduced to the alphabet. I'm covering 1 letter per day. I'm hoping to introduce them fast and furious, just to get them introduced to them all. I know with this group I'll be working on our alphabet recognition and sounds a lot in small groups, but this seems like a good start to me. I want to have all of my students to know their letters and sounds by November 1. Not possible for all of them, I know, but possible for most. I hope. Fingers crossed. 

The second week of school we started in on our "normal" routine. We started our calendar books, and poetry journals as well. We worked better in our math journals, and we began writer's workshop! In math we worked on sorting this week, and we used Cara Carroll's ABC pack to shake up our alphabet routine. We also talked about our families this week, and worked on rhyming words. We still have to work on rhyming words. ;) One thing that I was really proud of my kids for was how hard they worked during writer's workshop. Which, in the past had always been one of my hardest routines for my littles to master. They love to talk. However, we were able to work 7 minutes quietly!! That's huge for the second week of Kindergarten!! :)  Last week was a really good week in all! I absolutely LOVE my kids this year. They have the best personalities! All of them are so sweet, and polite. It's going to be a WONDERFUL year! :) 

And can I just tell you I was so busy I forgot to take pictures! I took maybe 3, and you can find them on Instagram. I'm kmvarnell in case you were wondering. :) I'll get better at this whole documenting thing! :) How were your first two weeks of school!?? I've got a super fun week planned for week 3. I'm hoping to be back tomorrow sometime to share my lesson plans! :)