Part 2 (and a FREEBIE) of My Summer Gift For Students!

For those of you who read my previous post, I explained the first part of my summertime "gift" for my students.  Along with the beach ball and activity booklet, I add a few other goodies to their paper grocery bags.  What are they, you ask?

Well, the first is the part that actually contains the rest of the goodies...an adorable cardstock box.  My students were absolutely OBSESSED with my Silhouette this year, and every time I brought it in to use, they always loved to watch it, ask questions, see how it worked, and of course, got little cut-outs of their own.  So, what better than to make them their own little "secret box" to keep for ever and always?!  :)

Inside the box were 3 more small gifts...

 

 

1. A black & white picture with me-- Of course I LOVE to take pictures (not normally of myself, though!), and my students know it.  All year long I'm snapping pictures, so what a better way to end the year than with a picture of each student and myself?!  The reason I did black and white this year, you ask?  Partially because of my OCD, and partially because it fit my "theme" of the boxes, where everything was black/white and one color...

 

2. A "hippo forever" award-- Our school has a HUGE award assembly the last week of school, where students are recognized for "legit" awards, such as "AB Honor Roll All Year", "Perfect Attendance All Year", etc. etc.  What a more fun way to celebrate the end of the year than with a mini award reminding the students that even though they're leaving my class, they'll still always have a place in my heart (and theirs) as a hippo forever (our class "mascot", if you're confused!).  :)

 

3. A small, top open card, containing an end of year letter for my parents--

I know it's small and blurry, but you can
see it all by downloading the freebie file!

To coincide with reminding my students that they'll be hippos forever, I also place this extremely loving letter in each end of year gift for the parents of my students.  WARNING: It always makes me cry the first time I reread it each year.  I did not come up with the wording, but it's something I've used since my very first year teaching, and I believe it truly expresses the heartfelt feelings of a caring teacher at the end of each school year.

You can have a free, generic version of this letter as a PDF file by clicking here.  There are 2 pages-- one blue for boys (with the wording containing "he", "him", etc.) and one red for girls (with the wording contain "she", "her", etc.). 

I always "address" each of mine with the parents' names up top and sign my name and the year at the bottom, but you can choose to do it how you'd like!  :)

 

So, that's it!  There's the last of my "End Of Year" gifts for each of my students.  Like it?  Hate it?  Have something better?  I'd love to hear what you guys do for your own students at the end of each year!  Leave me a comment...I'll be waiting to read 'em!  :) 

   



What Teachers REALLY Want to Tell Parents!

I was cleaning out my school email this week, because I got the big MESSAGE OF DOOM, that my inbox is almost full and will not hold much more!  It was actually a great thing to do, because I forgot about how much interesting, funny, kind, and even educational things I have hoarded in my inbox! 

One of the emails I came across was from earlier this school year, sent by one of my Room Moms from LAST year!  We still talk frequently, and I see her often up on our campus.  But anyways, earlier in the year, she sent me this email with a link to the article: What Teachers Really Want to Tell Parents.  (Posted on CNN by Ron Clark).

In her email, along with the link, was a long, heartfelt appology about all the "troubles" she gave me last year (which, actually, out of all the parents, she was one of the LEAST questioning and...well...how do you put this nicely...."high maintenance")!  She ended the email with letting me know that she was forwarding this article on to every parent she's friends with, because it was such an eye-opener for her!  (Isn't it nice to have open-minded, receptive parents?!) 

Again, it's funny because she was such a GREAT parent to have last year (very helpful and involved).  And while she did ask questions and worry about her son's grades, she never doubted me or gave me any troubles! 

So I just thought I'd pass along this article, because it so "hits the nail on the head"!  Here's just a little "blurb" of the high points:

Have fun reading it in your free time (you're probably thinking, "WHAT free time?!").  It's worth it, though.  I KNOW you will definitely smile, laugh, say a few "uh-huh"!s, and even make connections to your own classroom!