All About Me: Back to School Kindergarten Activities

Back to School Getting to Know You activities for Kindergarten, including an All About Me chart and a name practice freebie!
Each year I begin with an activity called 'Getting to Know You' .

ALL ABOUT ME ACTIVITIES IN KINDERGARTEN

All About Me getting to know you back to school activity for Kindergarten
The students meet at the carpet, facing a pocket chart that looks like this:
Back to School Getting to Know You activities for Kindergarten, including an All About Me chart and a name practice freebie!
I hold index cards that have my students' names printed on them. I make a big production in shuffling the cards, wondering aloud who the person of the day will be. The kids get so excited! After I've shuffled the names I draw a card & reveal a students' name. They come up to the pocket chart & insert their name card into the first sentence. I take my pointer & we read the completed sentence aloud as I track the print.

Using a microphone (that doesn't work--I cut off of a broken toy tape recorder), I begin to interview the child. It is SO FUNNY how the students lean in to speak into the microphone that doesn't even work :)
Beginning of the Year Getting to Know You activities for Kindergarten, including an All About Me chart and a name practice freebie! #backtoschool #allaboutme #kindergarten #freebies #names
I use index cards to record their answers, and they insert the card into the sentences on the pocket chart. We read through it together, tracking print with a pointer. The chart ends up looking something like this:
Back to School Getting to Know You activities for Kindergarten, including an All About Me chart and a name practice freebie!
Next, I print the child's name and cut it apart, as seen at the bottom of the pocket chart. I mix up the letters, then have that child try to piece their name puzzle back together again. Then, I mix it up once more and they choose someone else to try their name puzzle.

Then I have my students reach into their pockets and take out their (imaginary) pompoms so we can cheer the letters in the name. For fun, I take a second to ask them what color pompoms they brought today. Of course, there is always one person who says that he didn't bring any...so I just tell him to use his hands instead :) Then the person of the day leads in the cheering of their name, using real pompoms:
Beginning of the Year Getting to Know You activities for Kindergarten, including an All About Me chart and a name practice freebie! #backtoschool #allaboutme #kindergarten #freebies #names
When the cheering has died down, we take a look at the person of the day...what color hair, eye color, what are they wearing, etc. The students then proceed to their tables to make a picture of that person, and also print that person's name on their sheet.
Back to School Getting to Know You activities for Kindergarten, including an All About Me chart and a name practice freebie!
When they are finished, I collect all of the pictures and put them into an envelope to send home, along with this message:
Beginning of the Year Getting to Know You activities for Kindergarten, including an All About Me chart and a name practice freebie! #backtoschool #allaboutme #kindergarten #freebies #names
Lastly, their names get added to the Word Wall.

The students come into school very excited to see who will have their turn that day! It takes a couple of months to get through the entire class, but they know that they will ALL get a turn...eventually!

4 comments

  1. I love your blog! I do something very similar, but I love your pocket chart idea! Thank you for sharing this post! :)
    Cheryl
    Crayons and Curls

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love your blog so much that I've nominated you for the "I Heart Your Blog" Award! Thank you so much for touching my heart! Please visit my blog to accept your award. =)
    Sincerely,
    Rebecca @ http://teachingfirst-abc.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great idea! I'm your newest follower! :)

    -Amy
    http://krazyaboutkiddos.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. I also add to the pocket chart, my favorite color is .....

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