25. What to Teach During the First Week of Kindergarten (And What Can Wait)

If you're planning for the first week of kindergarten and feeling overwhelmed by everything you need to teach, this episode is for you.

One of the biggest mistakes kindergarten teachers make is trying to jump straight into academics before teaching students how to be students. Before children can successfully learn letters, numbers, and all the other skills on your curriculum map, they need to learn how to walk in line, use classroom materials, follow routines, and understand expectations.

In this episode, I'm sharing what I actually focused on during the first week of kindergarten and why relationships, routines, and procedures matter so much more than academics during those first few days of school.

You'll also get a behind-the-scenes look at how I taught school tools like crayons, pencils, glue sticks, and scissors one tool at a time so students could build independence while learning classroom expectations.

If you're wondering what to teach during the first week of kindergarten, how to introduce school supplies, or how to set your classroom up for success from day one, this episode will give you a practical starting point.

Resources Mentioned

🖍️✏️ Free School Tools Worksheets

🔗 First Week of Kindergarten Blueprint

🔗 Show Notes: https://kindergartentoolbox.com/what-to-teach-first-week-of-kindergarten/

Transcript

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If you're worried that the first week of kindergarten is going to feel overwhelming or chaotic, it's probably because you're trying to teach kindergarten before you've taught students how to be kindergarteners. Because before you can teach letters, numbers, and all the other things on your curriculum map, you need to teach kids how to be students, how to walk in line, how to sit at the carpet, how to work with and get along with 20 plus other children in the same classroom all day. How to use their school tools, pencils, crayons, all those things. The first week of kindergarten isn't really about academics. It's about helping students to feel safe, welcomed, and confident while teaching them what school should look and feel like. And when you get that piece right, everything else becomes so much easier. In today's episode, let's chat about what I focused on during the first week of kindergarten and one simple, free resource that makes teaching expectations for those school tools easy from day one. Let's dig in. Welcome to the Kindergarten Toolbox Podcast. I'm your host, Amy Murray, here to help you simplify kindergarten with tools and strategies that actually work with real live five and six year olds. Let's dive into your shortcut to calmer days and more confident writers. And starting with academics, even just starting with what the rules are, can be too much for little people. We've got to slow down, pump the brakes a little bit, and meet them where they are. I was guilty of this when I first got thrown into kindergarten a week before school started. That's a story for a different podcast episode, but I rushed into academics. I thought we would just walk down the hallway, get to the classroom, sit down, read a story, and have a great old time. I didn't realize how much they didn't know. You can't assume that these kiddos know how school works. They've not been in a real school setting before for the most part. Some of them have had preschool, but that's not even the same as elementary school. And so we cannot start expecting that they know how to use school materials, how to stand in a line. All of these things we need to explicitly teach and actively model so that they can start to understand what our expectations really are. Because you'll hear me say this over and over again: kids cannot meet expectations that they do not understand. And our job is to make sure they understand them. So, knowing all of that, your first week isn't about teaching academics. It's not about introducing the alphabet or numbers one to five. It's about teaching kids how to be students and what school is all about, but still in a fun and engaging way. And when I say teach them how to be students, I literally mean we're teaching rules and expectations like stand in a line, stay in a line when the line is moving, walk in the hallway, don't touch the things on the wall, uh, how to sit on the carpet, not roll around, not touch your neighbor, not talk whenever you feel like it. These are all things that they may not come to school knowing. And so everything has to get explicitly taught, especially when it comes to their school tools. In the beginning of my kindergarten journey, I had a hard time with teaching them how to take care of their materials, how to keep track of all their materials and their school tools. And it was just a little bit chaotic until I discovered that I needed to teach them one tool at a time. And we always used individual supply boxes. I called them toolboxes because they held your school tools. In my classroom, each kindergartner got their very own toolbox, complete with their very own tools. But their toolbox started empty at the beginning of the year. It simply had their name and their number because, yes, my students were numbered in alphabetical order by their last name because it made my life so much easier. And remember, I was juggling morning and afternoon kindergarten, so there was a lot to juggle. So every kid had their own toolbox with their number on it. And then I would introduce the tools one at a time, but they did not get access to that tool in their own toolbox until we explicitly taught how to do it. So for instance, the first tool I usually taught were crayons because we wanted to practice with them and we colored with them and those kinds of things. So then we would teach them, these are your crayons, these are the rules with the crayons, we would show examples and non-examples. And remember, crayons are only for coloring paper. And then we would use a worksheet that I had specifically for practicing coloring and using their crayons. And once everybody practiced and showed that they could do it without coloring on the tabletop or anywhere else, then they got their very own crayon box to add to their tools. And then we would do the same thing with the pencils. I started the year with thick um Ticonderoga pencils, and they did not have erasers on the ends. I preferred it that way because erasers often get eaten in the kindergarten classroom or destroyed or whatever else. They often become toys. So they didn't get erasers at the very beginning of school. So each pencil got their number, and they had once we learned how to use the pencil, here is the pencil sheet. We're going to practice writing our name with our pencil. We only write on the paper. We do not um break the point on purpose. If the point breaks, here's how we handle it. There are sharpened pencils that you can borrow until the end of class, and Mrs. Murray will resharpen your pencil at the end of the day, and everybody gets it back. Or however you want to handle that. You'll have to think about that, of course. But we used these specific pages. Uh, one page I have at the beginning of the school year is just writing lines, right? With their pencil, just practicing tracing and writing lines, anything to keep them working with their school tools in a concrete way that you can manage and you can get around to see everybody and make sure they're using them appropriately. And we would make a big deal out of each tool and all the things. Now, we talked about crayons and pencils. The other tool that they got to keep in their toolkit from me was a glue stick, Elmer's, of course, but you do you, and I numbered their glue stick and the lid with their number because those lids have this sneaky way of disappearing. So when we would teach how to use the glue stick, we would take the cap off and we would practice twisting it not too much because we don't want it to break if you put it up too high, just a little bit, and then you know, just making sure that you need enough, those kinds of things. So we would practice using the glue stick, and when we capped it, we would listen real quietly for the click. And once we heard the click, then we knew the glue stick was capped properly. Those are all the fun little things that you want to think about to help them remember how to use their school tools. So they have their toolbox with their number, they've got their pencil, their crayons, and their glue stick. And that's what they got from me at the beginning of the year. And you're probably thinking, what about scissors? Well, I never allowed my students to keep the scissors in their toolkit. I had baskets of scissors that matched their table color numbers, the handles matched, and we, I would get the scissors out of an upper cabinet where the students could not reach, and I passed them out and I collected them when they were done. Because too many things can go wrong with scissors, they are left in toolkits. Things like clothes can be cut, haircuts can be given. There are so many things that can go wrong if you have access to scissors at any given time. So I very much kept those scissors under lock and key, if you will, and they only got access to the scissors when I gave them access to the scissors. And when we practice with scissors, we would practice, you know, the scissor grips and open, shut, open, shut. That's the way we cut, cut, cut. And we would practice and practice saying scissors are only four, and then they would say cutting paper, or we only cut paper, and that's it. And they understood very clearly that the consequence for not cutting paper is losing your scissor tools. And if it was a craft, well, then they might not be able to do it the same way everybody else did. If it was one of those like sorting worksheets, they could draw lines instead of cutting. But we will lose privileges if we couldn't use scissors correctly. Scissors were a very serious school tool in my classroom. But I think you get the idea here. So that's what we used. And we introduced erasers a couple weeks into school. I would let them borrow one if they really needed it at the beginning. But once I we had a handle on these are our tools and this is how we use them, we did use those gum erasers that, you know, are it's sort of rectangular in shape about our district provided. But once again, I used a Sharpie and I wrote their number on their eraser. Everything was numbered because then when I saw it on the floor, I knew who it belonged to, and it held everyone accountable for taking care of their tools. That was a game changer for me. Explicitly teaching them how to do it and numbering things so everybody could keep track of their own things. It changed everything. And I would encourage you to try the same. If you are thinking about, okay, this sounds great, but what am I going to use to teach them how to do this, how to use their school tools and all of those things? I've got you covered. Once you go down into the show notes and click that link that says free school tools, you'll sign up to our um email list and I will send you the worksheets that I used. It comes with a first and last day uh name writing and portrait, like self-portrait that you can use. Uh, there's a tracing page, a handwriting page, a coloring page, a cut and glue page. There's all different things for you to practice using those school tools. And then I would encourage you after you've taught them how to use their school tools to celebrate at the end. You could make little badges for them or a little certificate, or in my classroom, we would make these little hats that say, Hi, I'm a school toolmaster, or something to that effect. But celebrating that they earned their badges, they know how to use their school tools and making it a big official part of kindergarten because the more weight you give this, the more excited you are about this, the more likely they are to take it seriously as well. I could go on and on about teaching the first week of kindergarten. I just love when they're so excited to come to school and all the things that go into preparing for them. And if you're sitting there thinking, like, okay, Amy, but I'm overwhelmed by all of this, you're not alone. And I understand. If you're setting up a classroom right now or just thinking about it, and you would like a complete plan for the beginning of kindergarten, I put everything into our first week of kindergarten workshop. Daily plans for the first five days, editable, routines, lists of procedures you need to teach, classroom management foundations so you're ready for whatever they throw at you, and more importantly, what to teach and when. I promise I am not here to throw more things at you to try and make life more complicated. The first week of Kindergarten Blueprint workshop walks you through what to teach, when to teach it, and how to make those first few days feel manageable and set yourself up for success for the rest of the year to come. Please remember the first week of kindergarten is not about covering all the content, although you can squeeze some content in there. It's more about building routines and positive relationships, teaching expectations, and helping kids learn how school works. When you start there, everything else becomes easier. So go down in the show notes, grab those free school tool worksheets, and if you're ready to check the first week of school plans off of your to-do list this summer, then be sure to join us in the first week of Kindergarten Blueprint workshop, and we'll do just that. Grab that link down in the show notes too. Until next time, have a great week. Thanks for listening to the Kindergarten Toolbox. I'm Amy Murray and I'm so glad you're here. Be sure to check the show notes for all the links and resources from today's episode. For even more tips, tools, and support, head to teaching exceptionalkinders.com or connect with me on Instagram at Teaching Exceptional Kinders. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow along and subscribe to the show and take a minute to leave a review. It helps other kindergarten teachers to find us too. Teaching kindergarten is tough, but you're not alone. Here's to calmer days and more competent writers. 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