First Day Jitters

First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg

Summary

First Day Jitters is an excellent story for students in kindergarten, first, and second grade. Sarah Hartwell worries about everything that could go wrong in school. Her concerns are relevant and familiar to anyone starting school.  The best thing about the story is the end when readers find out that Sarah Hartwell is a new teacher and not a new student!

Discussion

·         What happened in the story?

·         What was Sarah nervous about?

·         What are we to learn from the story?

·         Have you ever been nervous?

·         What did you do to help yourself when you were nervous?

Activity

·         Give students a copy of a body outline, similar to the one above.

·         Have the students color the outline to resemble themselves.

·         Give the students star stickers to place where they feel worry (head, heart, stomach).

·         Have the students cut the body outline out and place on construction paper.

·         Have the students write a positive message to themselves in a message bubble.