Color Code
🔴 Only you — cannot be skipped or delegated
🟢 Can run simultaneously — another adult in the room handles this while you do something else
🟡 Get ahead move — not urgent today but doing it now saves you later
Day at a Glance
🔔
Focus
Chime + all spot routines
📖
Read Aloud
No David
🎵
Music
Letter sound cards — routine only
📁
New
Folder routine + snack routine
⭐
New Routines
5 introduced today
🎯
Big Goal
Every student knows every spot and every signal
☀️
Before Students Arrive
~20 min
Set Sheep Timer — Already Running on the Rug
Sheep timer is set and visible on the rug before the first student arrives. When it goes off, they come. No announcement. No countdown. The timer goes off — they transition.
Pull Tomorrow's Materials — First Curriculum Day
Tomorrow is Day 4 — the first curriculum day. On prep today, pull: structured literacy phonological awareness songs, letter sound cards, math manipulatives for Topic 1 Lesson 1, writing paper. Have everything staged so morning setup tomorrow is fast.
⭐ GET AHEAD: Tomorrow morning you need to be at the door greeting students — not scrambling to find supplies. Stage everything tonight.
Another Adult: Prep Folders for Today's Folder Routine
If there is another adult in the room, they can have the student folders organized and at tables before students arrive. The folder routine is introduced today — having them already out makes the lesson smoother.
🎒
Arrival
9:20 — ~15 min
Greet at the Door — Third Day Feels Different
By Day 3, most students walk in with confidence. Some still need the extra second. Greet them all.
SAY: "Good morning! You know exactly what to do — find your spot and get started."
🧰 TOOLBOX: Notice which students go directly to their table spot without prompting. Notice which ones still look around for direction. Those students need more intentional check-ins during the first week.
🐑
Sheep Timer → Spots → Chime Introduction
~20 min
All Three Spots — Practice All of Them Today
Today is the day to lock in every transition spot. Students need to know all three and know them well before curriculum begins tomorrow.
1. Sheep timer → bumblebee spots (they already know this one)
2. Chime → smartboard spots (new today)
3. Chime again → table spots (new today)
4. Sheep timer → bumblebee spots (reinforcement)
⭐ ROUTINE: Bumblebee spot = rug spot for morning meeting and read alouds. Smartboard spot = rug spot for slide lessons, facing the smartboard. Table spot = their assigned table seat. These never change.
Practice the transitions in order:
1. Sheep timer → bumblebee spots (they already know this one)
2. Chime → smartboard spots (new today)
3. Chime again → table spots (new today)
4. Sheep timer → bumblebee spots (reinforcement)
🧰 TOOLBOX: Run through these transitions 3–4 times. It feels repetitive. Do it anyway. By the end of today every student should be able to move between all three spots automatically. That automaticity is what makes tomorrow's curriculum day possible.
Introduce the Chime
Pick up the chime. Ring it once. Let the sound fade completely before speaking.
SAY: "When you hear the chime, you freeze. Whatever you are doing, you stop. You look at me. You wait for the next direction. Let's practice."
Ring it. Wait for freeze. Celebrate the freeze. Ring it again during a transition to reinforce.
⭐ ROUTINE: Chime = freeze and look. This is the universal attention signal for the entire year. It works during transitions, during centers, during chaos. It only works if it is practiced now.
🔤
Letter Sound Cards — Routine Introduction
~5 min
Hold Up Cards — Just the Routine, Not the Content
Hold up 4–5 letter sound cards. Students call out the sound. Keep it fast and energetic. This is not a lesson — this is establishing the routine that happens every single morning.
⭐ ROUTINE: Letter sound cards = 3 minutes, every morning, every day, all year. The content builds. The routine never changes. Introducing the format today means tomorrow it just happens.
🧰 TOOLBOX: Phonological awareness songs instead of or alongside cards: Barbara Milne, Khan Academy Kids, Super Simple Songs. Slides and formal structured literacy instruction begin Week 3. This week is routine only.
📖
Read Aloud — No David
~20 min
Read No David — Connect to Rules
Read No David by David Shannon. David breaks every rule in the book. Talk about it.
SAY: "What rules did David break? Why do you think those rules exist? What would happen if everyone did what David did?"
Connect to the classroom rules introduced yesterday. Connect to the rug rules. This is the organic lead-in to Good Citizenship — the first social studies unit that starts tomorrow.
RL.K.1
RL.K.3
SL.K.1
SL.K.2
🧰 TOOLBOX: Let students be a little dramatic about David's rule-breaking. The silliness is the point. When they are laughing at David, they are internalizing why the rules matter. That is the lesson.
📁
Folder Routine + Morning Work Introduction
~15 min
Teach the Folder System
Folders are on every table. Walk through the system explicitly.
SAY: "This is your folder. The left side is work you are keeping. The right side is work going home. When you finish something, it goes in your folder on the correct side. When you pack up, your folder goes in your backpack."
Practice opening and closing the folder. Practice putting a paper on the correct side. Practice putting the folder in the backpack.
⭐ ROUTINE: Folder system — left = keep, right = home. Every piece of paper goes in the folder. Folders go in backpacks at pack-up. This is the system all year.
Introduce Morning Work — Journal Time
Monday morning work = journal drawing. Hand out journals. Show what a journal page looks like. Today they draw one picture — anything they want.
SAY: "Every Monday morning, the first thing we do when we sit at the table is open our journal and draw. You can draw anything. Your family, your pet, your favorite food, something you did over the weekend. You have 10 minutes. Draw."
⭐ ROUTINE: Monday = journal drawing during morning work. This is sacred time. It is also the first writing they do in kindergarten — Unit 1 Drawing begins tomorrow in earnest, and this primes the pump.
📚
Library Corner — How We Use It
~10 min
Introduce the Library Corner Rules
Walk students to the library corner. Show them how it works.
SAY: "This is our library corner. During center time and morning tubs, you can come here and read. When you take a book out, you read it and you put it back exactly where you found it. Books live in their spot. They do not live on the floor."
Have 2–3 students practice taking a book, reading it in the corner, and returning it to the correct spot.
⭐ ROUTINE: Books go back where they came from. Model it. Expect it. Hold it consistently from Day 3 forward.
🎒
Pack Up Practice — Full Sequence
~10 min
Run the Full Pack Up Sequence — Deliberately
Do this earlier today than you need to. The extra practice time now pays off every afternoon for the rest of the year.
SAY: "We are going to practice packing up. Step one: put your folder in your backpack. Step two: zip your backpack. Step three: hang it on your chair. Step four: sit back down."
Run it twice. Time the second round. Celebrate improvement.
⭐ ROUTINE: Pack up sequence: folder in backpack → zip → hang on chair → sit. Same order. Every day. Students who can pack up independently are students who do not take 20 minutes to get out the door at dismissal.
🍎
Shutdown Sequence → Specials
~20 min
Snack → Pack Up → Walk to Specials
Call 4 students at a time for snack. Sit. Eat. Do not rush.
Full pack up sequence — same as practiced above.
Hot lava line to specials.
Full pack up sequence — same as practiced above.
Hot lava line to specials.
⭐ ROUTINE REINFORCEMENT: Snack → pack up → line up → walk. By the end of this week students should be able to move through this sequence with minimal prompting.
⭐
End of Day — Back from Specials
~10 min
Build Anticipation for Tomorrow
Sheep timer → bumblebee spots.
SAY: "You survived three days of kindergarten. Tomorrow is Day 4 — and tomorrow is the day everything really starts. We are going to learn letters and numbers and write our first stories. I cannot wait to show you."
Dismiss by bus. Use the list. Do not guess.
🧰 TOOLBOX: Building anticipation for curriculum is a real strategy. Students who go home excited about tomorrow come back ready to learn. Sell it.
Prep Box — Do This on Prep Today
🔴 Must do: Pull structured literacy phonological awareness songs for tomorrow. Stage letter sound cards. Pull math manipulatives for Topic 1 Lesson 1. Have writing paper ready.
🟡 Get ahead: Write tomorrow's morning message on chart paper tonight. Post it before students arrive. They will read it when they walk in.
🟡 Get ahead: Write tomorrow's morning message on chart paper tonight. Post it before students arrive. They will read it when they walk in.
· · ·
⭐ Routines Introduced or Reinforced Today
⏰
Reinforced
Sheep timer → rug
🔔
New
Chime = freeze and look
🖥️
New
Smartboard spots
🪑
New
Table spots
📁
New
Folder system
📓
New
Monday journal
Tomorrow is Day 4 — First Curriculum Day. Structured literacy phonological awareness songs begin. Math Topic 1 Lesson 1 begins. Writing Unit 1 Drawing Lessons 1 and 2 begin (double lesson). Good Citizenship Lesson 1 begins. Everything you set up this week was for this.