You're Finally Here Activities
You’re finally here! While many people think of that first big day of school as being the first day of kindergarten, the first day of preschool is REALLY the big day! It’s the first day that kids step into a world of learning and get to meet their very first teacher – You!
As your students’ first school teacher, you introduce their young minds to exploring the worlds of math, science, and reading! And what better way to introduce your preschoolers to the wonderful world of reading than with a back to school read aloud?
One of our favorite back to school books for PreK is You’re Finally Here! By Jodi Durgan. Keep reading to see all of the amazing You’re Finally Here! Activities we created for you to use in your preschool classroom.
You’re Finally Here! Book
Before we share with you our favorite ready to teach activities for You’re Finally Here! let’s learn more about this book. In this charming children’s book, author Jodi Durgan captures the assortment of emotions that one might experience when waiting for someone.
She does this through the story’s narrator – an exuberant little bunny who is eagerly waiting for the reader to arrive. The little bunny expresses ALL the feelings that we as humans also experience while waiting: anticipation, impatience, curiosity, and joy.
As the bunny’s enthusiasm grows, the story humorously conveys the passage of time and the various imaginative scenarios the bunny envisions while waiting. The combination of exploring emotions through these humorous scenarios will engage your students and help them connect with the bunny.
After reading the book your students will have a good understanding of what it means to wait and also the joy that comes with finally being together. Moreover, it will introduce your young readers to the importance of connecting and reuniting with one another.
In addition to these ideas, there are many additional learning opportunities to develop literacy. To help your students develop their literacy skills we have created a complete read aloud that is ready to use in your classroom.
This ready to teach read aloud has everything you need to dive deeper into You’re Finally Here! Let’s take a look at all of the activities that are ready for you to use.
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Twas the Night Before PREK Thanksgiving Read Aloud, Craft & Writing
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Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving Read Aloud, Thanksgiving Craft & Writing
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Snowmen at Night Book Companion-Winter Snow Activities
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Turkey Trouble-PREK Thanksgiving Read Aloud Activities-Disguise a Turkey
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You Finally Here Lesson Plan
As with all of our read alouds the first thing you will find in our You’re Finally Here! read aloud are detailed lesson plans for every day of learning. Yup, EVERY day!
We have provided you with learning activities for not one, not two, but three days of lessons! Moreover, depending on your class schedule you may even have enough for up to 5 days of reading lesson plans. Let’s see what is included to cover a week’s worth of reading.
At the beginning of any read aloud it is important to begin with text based comprehension questions. These types of questions are important because they invite students to look at the key elements of the story.
These types of questions often address things based on the storyline, craft and structure, and words and illustrations. Here are some of the text based questions we created for You’re Finally Here!
- What is the title of this story?
- Does the title give us any clues about what the story will be about?
- Who is the author of this story?
- Who is the illustrator? What is their job?
- Who is telling the story?
- What patterns does the author use to tell the story?
- Why did the author write the words this way?
- How do you think the bunny would say, “BUT SERIOUSLY, WHERE WERE YOU?”
In addition to the questions above we have created several other text dependent questions to use while reading this book. We have provided you with three detailed lessons that range from previewing the text to revisiting it and are ideal to teach on three different days.
You’re Finally Here! Vocabulary Activities
Along with the text dependent questions you will find engaging vocabulary activities in this read aloud. These concept based words will help your students further connect with the story while enriching their language development.
You will find an assortment of vocabulary activities for both the whole class and independent learning. This includes vocabulary worksheets and anchor charts to support the learning process.
You’re Finally Here! Writing Pages
As a teacher, you know that language development is a combination of several skills, including reading AND writing. Therefore, we have included whole class and independent writing activities as well.
These writing activities can be completed as interactive activities or you can use the printable version. Choose what works best for you and your students!
You’re Finally Here! Printables
As mentioned above, there are printable activities included in this read aloud alongside the digital activities. Every activity can be downloaded and printed or uploaded into Google Slides, SeeSaw, or Easel on TPT.
You’re Finally Here! Quiz
After spending several days working with your students to understand the elements and story of this book it is time to assess them. Use our engaging and interactive quiz to assess student understanding at the end of the read aloud.
You’re Finally Here Craft
While it is important to assess student understanding it is also important to include some fun and creative activities. Especially for your young students!
Therefore, we have included a lesson based craft. This craft can be completed at the end of the unit as a culminating activity or even prior to the quiz as a review. It is also a great piece to send home so students can share what they learned at school.
Back to School PreK Activities
In addition to this read aloud we have created several other ready to teach back to school activities for the PreK classroom. These activities include everything you need to help students get acquainted with the classroom and learning.
We have everything from community building activities to academic activities. Here are several of our favorite PreK activities for back to school:
- Back to School PreK Exploration Stations
- Back to School PreK Circle Time
- Back to School Math and Literacy Centers
- Build a Crayon Box PreK STEM Activity
Each of these favorites addresses a different focus area of the PreK classroom. Therefore, we have bundled them together to make it easier to get your year started. This bundle also includes the You’re Finally Here! Read Aloud.
Not looking to use all of the items in the bundle? Not a problem! Simply pick YOUR faves and add them to what you already use in your classroom.
However you start your school year, we know it will be amazing, and we wish you and your students a wonderful year of learning.
