Throughout the first week, the teacher should provide students with ample opportunities to put their fears on paper. After prompting the children to draw, color or paint pictures of what they think is scariest or hardest about preschool, the teacher sits with each child and asks her to describe her picture with words. The teacher -- serving as a scribe -- writes the child's thoughts alongside the picture or helps the child use her thoughts to compose a letter addressed to Mom and Dad.
On the first day of school, children enjoy playing this silly alliteration game to introduce themselves to each other. Students sit in a circle, and each child introduces herself using the formula, "Hi, my name is...and I like..." Later in the week, the children play a variation of the name game. One child now holds a bean bag, chooses a child across the circle and says, "Your name is...and you like..." He tosses the bean bag to the second child. Play continues until each child receives and passes the bean bag to a classmate.
For this activity, the teacher reads an age-appropriate book about personal identity, such as "What Mary Jo Shared" or "Ruby the Copycat" and points out that all children have something unique to share. She encourages children to bring in special items from home. Throughout the week, when a child brings an item to share, she hides it in a box or bag and presents it as a riddle. Without calling her special item by name, the child says three things about it and gives her classmates a chance to guess what it is.
The first week of school, the teacher takes the children on a tour of the preschool room, explaining the rules that apply in each area and answering any questions the children have. She gathers the children in a circle and holds up colorful laminated pictures that represent the various classroom areas, such as the bathroom, block corner and playhouse. She asks the children to recall the rules of each area and records their responses in an official classroom rule book, which she displays prominently on a classroom shelf.