In this post I’ll share fun first week of school activities and ideas to use with the best back to school book ever, You’re Finally Here! by Melanie Watt.
I’ve been waiting and waiting, printing and prepping, plotting and planning for my brand new class. I’ve looked so forward to meeting them, putting faces to their names and welcoming them to second grade. The pencils are sharpened, their desks are arranged, our room is all ready but where are they? What’s taking them so long?
Meet the teacher night finally arrived.
My shiny new second graders
approached their new classroom to this…
The Best First Week of School Book Ever!
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Then something happened that has never happened before.
Every.single.child asked me about that book. No one was shy,
no one was nervous, no wanted to know where their desk was.
But everyone, with their bright little eyes opened wide, asked me,
“When can we read the book?”
And finally, after so much waiting, it was our first day!
They’re finally here!
And we read our book. The very first thing before anything else.
And then I asked…..”What took you so long?”
I know our little bunny friend was bored,
but not me. I was busy!
but not me. I was busy!
As a little getting to know you activity after
reading the book, all my new friends turned
to a neighbor and explained what took them
reading the book, all my new friends turned
to a neighbor and explained what took them
so long to get to my class. The giggles were priceless!
I have to admit, my class had some
pretty good reasons for keeping me waiting!
pretty good reasons for keeping me waiting!
We made these little booklets so they could explain.
While they were working I took some first day photos.
Later that day we played “The Bored Game” so my
new friends could connect, carry on, compare stories and
find things they had in common. Hilarious!
new friends could connect, carry on, compare stories and
find things they had in common. Hilarious!
On Wednesday, everybody chose their favorite reason
from their booklets and wrote it in a
speech balloon for our bulletin board.
from their booklets and wrote it in a
speech balloon for our bulletin board.
Then to get to know them a little better we all did this….
I make sure to ask everybody where
they’ve seen words like this before!
I cross my fingers that the answer is,
“In our writing! They’re transition words!”On Thursday, we talked about idioms and
found lots of them in our book.
they’ve seen words like this before!
I cross my fingers that the answer is,
“In our writing! They’re transition words!”On Thursday, we talked about idioms and
found lots of them in our book.
We worked in groups and roamed the room to
figure out the answers to some of these questions!
figure out the answers to some of these questions!
One of the recurring themes, and one I like
to capitalize on in this book, is time.
Our new friend the book character bunny talks about
how unfair it is that his readers keep him waiting.
As unfair as having to go to bed when you’re not tired!
So to introduce our journal writing routine and to
take a baseline writing sample I gave them this prompt.
Later on, I asked everybody, “How’s it going so far?”
I like to give my new class an outlet to express
their anxieties or excitement, and generally see how
everybody is doing. These give me insight into
where I may need to quietly intervene and help
a child socially, or give extra TLC to support them
emotionally. I make copies of these and place them
in their writing portfolios to compare to later
to determine writing growth.
On Friday, I finished our bulletin board at lunch …….
and sent everybody home with a first day keepsake card!
Besides being an absolute blast to use
with your students, this book lends
itself perfectly to a lot of thinking!
With lots of opportunities for getting
students to think back and retell forward
the events that lead them to finally being in
my class, I also want them to think ahead and
set goals for the year. So we made these
little book character writing crafts.
I then added these to our bulletin board.
If you’re not completely in love with this book yet, you will be after you watch this adorable, You’re Finally Here Read Aloud video!
If you’d like to do all of this with YOUR class
you CAN! I’ve bundled all of our fun,
into an easy to prep unit you can find {HERE}
you CAN! I’ve bundled all of our fun,
into an easy to prep unit you can find {HERE}
The unit includes many more activities not pictured
in this post, plus all the chart and bulletin board parts
you’ll need!
in this post, plus all the chart and bulletin board parts
you’ll need!
Get all of the You’re Finally Here first day of school activities and the You’re Finally Here book! These buttons will take you right there.
Happy teaching friends and I wish you the best first week ever! If you love these ideas, why not share with your teacher friends?
Go ahead and pin it for your friends and share on Facebook!
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Who cut all the students' pictures out? I can't see my students being able to cut their pictures out so nicely!
Hi! I purchased the book from Indigo books. I think Linda placed a link to Indigo books in this post. It looks like Indigo is a bookstore in Canada, I ordered and received the book within a week.
So many great ideas of how to use this wonderful book. I love your bulletin board and think I just might "steal" your fabulous idea. Thanks for sharing 🙂
@ Wiley Teaching
This is so darned cute! Love your ideas!
Hi Michelle!
Yes! Apparently Scholastic is not carrying it right now but I just ordered additional copies for my classroom from the Canadian bookseller Indigo Books. You can find the book here: You’re Finally Here!
I hope this helps and your kiddos enjoy it!
Our local library does not carry it and I cannot find anywhere to buy this book. Such cute ideas. I hope to find one soon.
I found it Amazon Canada for $18 including international shipping. My local library also has a copy.
I found it Amazon Canada for $18 including international shipping. My local library also has a copy.
Thanks Linda! I checked out Indigo and am leaving that as a possibility, but I'm still gonna wait to see if I can find find it for less! One option is your local library. I checked mine and it has a copy (I hope no one from Woodland sees this! LOL) I will be purchasing your unit and I WILL be reading this book the first week of school one way or another. I will also let you know if I find it on any book sites! My summer is going great..hope yours is too!!
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Hi Tracy,
I'm with you!~ I would love to know why it is so expensive on Amazon and many other online books sites! My guess is it is currently out of stock. I just ordered some copies for a giveaway later in the summer from Indigo Books: You're Finally Here from Indigo Books I will keep watching the book sites and post on the blog as I find sources for the book.
Thanks so much for your interest and I hope you're having a great summer!
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I am having a hard time finding this book on line for a reasonable price!!! Just clicked the link to Scholastic in the previous message (#13) and the book is not there! It just says "No results found for this product" Anyone know why Amazon has it for $87?
Tracy
Oh my gosh!! I had to check Amazon and Barnes & Noble for myself because your post didn't make sense! Until I saw on Amazon that a copy of the book was going for $87!!! No way!!!
Anyway. I didn't pay that much! I bought my copy at the end of last school year from Scholastic. You can too. Just click [here]. It's only $5! I think that's what I paid, if not a little less because I ordered off of a student flyer.
Good luck!
Carrie
Make Time for Glitter!
I love this post! I just bought the book at the end of the school year last year. I already made plans to read it AS SOON AS the kids walk in my door on the first day of school this coming year. Thank you for sharing your experience with the book! It looks like you had just as much fun with it as I plan to come August!! 🙂
Carrie
Make Time for Glitter!
I think this is a great idea! The problem I am seeing is that this book is very expensive! Surely
All of you did not pay 30-40 dollars for this one book! Am I missing something? I looked on Amazon and Barnes and noble!
That's true! Maybe you could change the premise to "It's" finally here, meaning the new school year?
Hi Erin! I'm so glad you found something you can use! My kids loved this book and got the biggest kick out of the boredometers! Best of luck in your new 2nd grade classroom!
Thanks, Maribel! I hope you're having a great year!
I absolutely LOVE this idea! I've never read the book until your post. I had to run out and get it right away! Thanks for sharing! I'm returning to 2nd after a decade in 1st so I'm always looking for new ideas. I will be back to borrow more! Awesome work!
I love this book! I have the french version. I wish I could use your activities but I'm a french teacher, so I can't! ;(
This was so much fun to read. I felt like I was in your class this week as I read your post!
Thanks!
This is fantastic! You are so creative and I love the ideas you came up with. I was trying to think of how I could incorporate this into our homeschool but it is kind of hard when the kids are always here! 🙂
Linda! I love you!! You make the BEST resources!!! Now I have to pick up this book 🙂
I love this unit! It looks super duper fun. Maybe, one day, I'll use it with my own class!
The Blossoming Teacher
Thank you Kelly! The book was definitely a huge hit and lends itself so well to changing the premise to a teacher waiting for her class!
Love your board!!!! I love using photos of the kids. It looks like they had a blast with the book.