Combating First Day Jitters

Naturally, a few weeks into summer, I'm starting to think about the start of the school year.  Last year I created some cute welcome notes to help my students feel at ease and welcome in our new classroom.  After all, fifth grade can be a scary place!

While some of the ideas are modified from things on Pinterest, I am still rather proud of the cuteness that occurred in my classroom.  

First things first, every student needs a shiny new pencil to help them show off their best work!  So I found the image, dicut a lot of large circles, added two hole punches and stuck a brand new pencil into their treat.  Time intensive? Perhaps...I think I accomplished the whole assembly process during an episode or two of the Office.  But my students loved them and I'm glad I made them, since many munchkins forgot a pencil on their first day.

Plus a pencil...

Of course, I am not above bribery during the first week.  While I tend to wear a black dress on the first day when we read Ms. Nelson is Missing, I also make sure they feel included with treats like these during the first week:

That's right, we are bursting with excitement!  During standardized testing time, we are bursting with knowledge :)  I cut these out and attached them to a few mini packs of Starbursts.

A slightly healthier option is going with a bag of Lucky Charms :)  A nice, dry cereal snack for the first few days while everyone's tummies are readjusting to the school schedule (and needing to wait to eat!)

Good luck on your first day smartie pants!

To encourage reading, I found these cute freebies on TpT.  The image is small, but they are colorful bookmarks that say: "Hey, I just met you and this is crazy, but here's a novel, so read it maybe" 

I love the first weeks of school almost as much as I love summer :)

Ms. Vice