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!  :) 

   



Hope You Have a "BALL" Summer Gift For Students (& a GIVEAWAY)!

The end of the school year is hard.  I mean, on top of all the teacher stuff, like paperwork, folders, files, documentation, grades, and so on and so forth, you have the class stuff, too!  And, I'll be honest, most years it's kind of sad.  Even those tough years can get me a little blue in the end, too.  We spend 9 months in a room with 20+ kiddos, each and every day, and then, all of a sudden, they're not going to be ours anymore.  It's certainly a weird feeling that I do believe no other profession experiences. 

So, end of year activities are always fun.  We always complete a "Memory Book", do other fun Summer activities, travel to other 2nd grade rooms to sign yearbooks, and much more.  But, for the past two years, I've also been partaking in a few, special "End of Year" gifts which are both meaningful to me (and the kiddos, too!) and fun!

You can find this fun activity with more info on
what's included here on TpT!

The first fun "gift" is one the students get to participate in.  It is a neat beach ball "scoot" that ties in with my "Hope You Have a "BALL" Student Summer Gift".  Since I knew I'd be giving this little booklet out at the end of the year, what better way than to incorporate the students into it, and make/keep some memories in the process?!  Basically, each student gets one plastic, UNinflated beach ball.  I generally buy cheap ones, no more than $1.  (Last year, I got mine in the dollar section at Target, and this year, I got mine at the Dollar General-- both were $1 a piece.)

We unwrap our beach balls, and I give the students about 5-10 minutes and ONE section (generally the white one) to write the name LARGELY and doodle with sharpies.  I try to spread out the colors of sharpies, and they share at their tables.

After the students have had ample time to "doodle", we all choose one color sharpie, then play "scoot" with our signatures!  For those of you who are unfamiliar, basically we start out at our desks, then SCOOT to the next "stop" (desk), where we will sign out names, put our sharpies up in the air to signal we're ready to move, then SCOOT again!  This continues until we're all done signing and return back at our own desk.

 

After we finish signing, the balls get returned to me, I put them in a large paper bag (paper grocery bag is a great size), and store them away until I can add the rest of the "gift".  What's the rest, you ask?  Well, of course, it's the little booklet that you can find on TpT to accompany the beach ball, BUT, there's also a 2nd part to my gift each year...

 

**Want to win a free copy of my "Hope You Have a "BALL" Summer Gift"?  See if you can GUESS what else goes into the paper bags for my end of year gifts.  I'll give you a clue...there are 3 other parts!  The first 3 people to correctly guess one part (that hasn't already been guessed!) will WIN a FREE copy of my TpT file!!!  Woo-Hoo!  So, whatcha waiting for?  Start guessing!!! :)  I'll be back soon to post "part 2" of what goes in the bag!

Boosterthon Fundraiser

For the past 3 years, our school has participated in the Boosterthon Fun Run to help our PTA raise money for our playground.  What's the Boosterthon Fun Run, you ask?  Well, here's a little "blurb" from their site:

So, basically, it's a 9 day (although, this year, because of MLK Day, ours is only 8) of fun for the kids.  (Yes, I did say "the kids", and at times, you may get an eye twitch or two, but it REALLY is worth it!)

The first day starts out with a HUGE pep rally to get the students excited and to explain the program to new students who have never participated. 

It's about 30 minutes of LOUD craziness (did I mention all the teachers had to go up from and dance?!).  The kiddos get SO excited though, and thus begins our "pep" to last thoughtout the week!

After the initial pep rally, our class gets to see the Boosterthon guys each and every day for about 2 weeks.  They come into our rooms for little "mini lessons" about character, leadership, respect, etc, and also at that time, announce students who received pledges the previous day/night.  Students can get pledges from family members, relatives, family friends, etc.  Pledges can be paid on a "per lap" basis or just a flat donation.  Generally, our kiddos run 30-40 laps in the Fun Run, but I think they put a "cap" on the laps (for donation purposes) at 30.  So, Uncle Bob can say he'll pay little Jenny $1 per lap.  Jenny can enter this pledge online, and she then receives a small little prize at certain steps along the way.  Then, after the Fun Run, Uncle Bob will pay the total amount of $1 x how many laps Jenny ran (up to $30).  Or, Uncle Bob could just donate a flat rate of $10, or whatever...

WHEW!  Did I explain it all clear as mud?!   :)    Let me just say, I'm not affiliated nor do I work for the Boosterthon people, so trying to explain it got me a little tongue tied!


Anyways...it is really fun and the school really loves it.  The first year, we raised enough for a whole new set of playground equipment.  Now, we're on to raising money for a shade structure, because our poor little playground has about 2.5 tiny trees on the whole thing! 

On the day of the actual run, we all get to go outside during the set time (per grade level) and run on a set up track that the Boosterthon people bring.  There's a live DJ and the Boosterthon guys are there too.  Very exciting for the kids, who are surrounded by female teachers all day!  :)

So right now, we're in our first week of our Boosterthon.  Not only does the Boosterthon bring excitement to our classroom during the mini-lessons this year, but the excitement is also there throughout all our days so far!  (Last year, I don't quite remember my class being sooo caught up throughout the day, but hey, I could be wrong!)  My class even wants to do our shared writing about the Boosterthon:

Good thing our focus this month is on expository texts!  This made the perfect "All About..." topic!

Donate to our class here!

Do you like our team name: The Chocolate Chippo Hilarious Hippos?  :)  Made with love by my comical class this year! 

Anyways, my kiddos have been working so hard to get pledges, and this year, Boosterthon has started a new thing where teachers can get pledges, too!  How neat is that?  So of course, I couldn't resist the urge to put it here, on my blog.  I'd LOVE any help I could get for my dear, sweet, chocolate chippo hippos :)

Want to donate even a flat $5?  (Notice how I'm not asking for any "per lap" donations??  Yeah, I'm not really much of a runner, so poor Ms. Hubbard is going to be doing a LOT of walking around the track :)   yes...a LOT of walking...)  Click here to go to my personal Fun Run page.  Any donations go straight to my class total, so they can be in the running for school wide prizes, like recess with the Boosterthon guys, Lunch Bunch, extra recess, etc.

Thanks for making it all the way through this super long post, and thanks for any donations you're willing to give! 

Oh, and if you haven't really learned enough, or want to know more about bringing this awesome fundraiser to your school, you can visit their own site at Boosterthon.com. 

Aye aye aye...It's the MIDDLE of the year?!? {Read for a FREEBIE!!}

Okay...so it's blowing my mind that it's already the middle of the year.  I'm not even kidding when I say this year has literally gone by in warp speed!!!  It's so hard to believe that I've been SO terribly busy this year, I could probably count the number of bloggy posts I've written!

AND, it's hard to belive we're 5 month in and gearing up for "middle of the year" testing...goodness...where has this year gone?  (Do I sound like an old lady?)  :)

So I know many of you all out there are in states with Common Core.  I mean, let's face it, besides the great state of Texas, and a few others, Common Core is the rule of thumb (*jealous glances*...).  Here in Texas, though, our curriculum is still based on the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills).  Starting in 3rd grade, our kiddos are tested on those TEKS.

Since I teach 2nd grade, though, we have no official, fancy, dancy state testing.  Instead, we individually test our kiddos 3 times a year (beginning, middle, and end) with a reading inventory (TPRI) and a math test (AMI). 

During the TPRI, my dear sweet class gets to patiently and independently work and learn while I give the looong individualized reading inventory to each of my 20 students.  It's totally like this:

:)  Yes, I needed to add some RG in to put a smile on everyone's face (mainly my own!)  :)

ANYWAYS...back to the point of the story...
So this time, I created a little behavior "bingo" for my class.  Instead of "BINGO", though, I substituted the letters "QUIET"....(yes, I'm so creative...I know).

I let  my students come up with their own rewards for each letter.  We had a such a fun, creative time trying to come up with prizes that matched each letter.  I gave each of my students a notecard and they had about 10 minutes to think of words or phrases for each of the "QUIET".

Then, I compiled them, picked the ones that worked, and we began!



The pile of idea notecards! 

Since they have to be so super quiet and independent during the testing, after each successful test, we draw a square.  Just like regular BINGO, once a column is full, we earn that prize.  :)

So, what do you think?  It worked well for me, and actually, it worked SO well that I'm going to pull it back out during our state standardized testing days for the upper grades.  Even though we don't have to test, we still have to be so quiet and respectful!  It'll be a great incentive, and I pretty much love it so much that I want to share with YOU!  Want a free copy?  Simply click below before Friday, January 25 and enjoy.  :)

Glad to be back and blogging.  See you soon!

ISH

Do you "ish"?!? 

I personally grew up with the word "ish" in my family's vocabulary. 
"Let's have dinner around six-ish." 
"Can you help me find that shirt that's kind of black-ish with tan flowers?" 
"Where's that one pillow that's kind of soft-ish and really squishy?"

I never really realized how special (and funny) of a suffix it was until later on in life!  Now, I use it with my kiddos during the first few weeks of school while reading one of my favorite books, that really touches on trying our best!!!  :)

Have you read the book Ish?  It's a cute, short read by Peter H. Reynolds about a little boy who loves to draw, but he becomes discouraged after his older brother laughs at his pictures.  So, what does he do?  He gets frustrated and is about to give up, when he finds out that his little sister LOVES his drawings, even if they're not perfect!  They're "ish"!  The vase isn't perfect, but it looks "vase-ish"!  The fish isn't perfect, but it looks "fish-ish"!  And so on and so forth!  Adorable story line, and an important lesson!!!

After we read the book as a class this week, we created our own "Ish" portraits.  Then, of course, we had to share!

This book (and mini-"project") not only taught us to try our best, but also to be respectful of others' work, too.  Such an important lesson during the first few weeks of building that classroom community!  (And, it gives you a fun suffix to use the rest of the year!  Your kid's will love it, and start to use "-ish" too!!!)