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!

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!

Kindness Should Be Free!!!

So I don’t know about other schools or districts, but for our school, the few weeks before Spring Break are CRAZY!  We have Book Fair, Open House, AND grades are due (and for some lucky teachers, like myself, TELPAS training and STARR training)!  Oh, and there’s the fact that all children act a little kooky right before a break from school!

Well, here’s a little story about my wild chaotic weeks, and the goal it has made me create for myself!  The Thursday before the week before Spring Break (does that make sense?!), I was out sick.  There was some virus going around our campus that caused about 5 teachers to absolutely lose their voices!  So, I took a day off, thinking it would give me time to rest and recoop.  (Well, I didn’t end up getting my voice back 100% until this past Tuesday…about 2 weeks later!)  So on this Thursday when I wasn’t at school, the PTA posted sign-up sheets for our school Book Fair.  Teachers needed to pick 2 slots for their class for the next week (one on Monday or Tuesday for “Preview” & one on Wednesday or Thursday for “Purchasing”). 

Needless to say, when I got back on Friday morning, almost ALL the spots were taken, except one spot first thing on Tuesday morning.  And BOY-- I thought this was amazing fate! Many of my students this year come in and out throughout the day (going to different classes, like Speech, Resources, OT/PT, etc.), but I DO have all my kiddos in my room first thing in the morning for about 45 minutes!  How perfect this was all working out!

And then, I realized I should have known better before I celebrated this small blessing….because that Tuesday, I would be out AGAIN for lovely Jury Duty.  And, I would never want to leave my sub (no matter how talented or how well she knows my students) with the chore of Book Fair Preview! 

A fantastic and kind Kinder teacher had the same time slot scheduled for Monday, so I called her up (with my barely audible, raspy voice) and asked if we could switch slots.  She happily agreed, I switched our names on the sign-up sheet, and we both went on our merry way!

Well, later that afternoon, I saw that the Kinder teacher had swapped her name to yet another time slot.  Turns out, she had a prior “engagement” for her class that Tuesday morning.  Instead of telling me “no”, she was sweet enough to just give me her Monday time slot and make due with scheduling one of the “less desirable” time slots left.  How thoughtful was she!!!

Over the weekend (after these 2 days of scheduling woes), I realized that while I was nice to that wonderful Kinder teacher, I never REALLY gave her an appropriate thank you for what she did!  I couldn’t believe how I acted!  I swear, I really do try to be kind and gracious!   

So Monday morning, first thing, I jotted down a little 3 line note about how much I appreciated what she did, and how that small “favor” showed me just how kind and flexible she is!  I snuck it in her box and went on my way.

Later on in the morning, that Kinder teacher and I got to talking.  She went on about my note and how it made her morning (even though it was only a few lines written on a scratch pad!)  And I must say, it made me feel good, to make her feel good, for making me feel good (is that confusing?!).

Moral of the story:  Although I think I’m pretty nice and appreciative, I realized I can show my gratefulness to those around me more often and in other ways than just verbal compliments.

This leads me to my goal for the rest of the school year:  I’m going to try to write at least one kind note a week to an adult around me.  It can be my team mates, intervention teachers, ESL teachers, paras, volunteers, etc.! 

To help with my goal, I have created a few cutesy notes to print out and use at school.  Here are some examples:

I have posted these for FREE on TpT!  Please download them and join me in my goal!  And, I wanted to add an extra bonus for YOU!  Print them out and use one in the next few days!  Come back here, and leave me a comment with how you used it.  For doing this, I will get in contact with you and create you a CUSTOMIZED cutesy card FOR FREE!  Because, you never should have to pay for kindness! :)

Some examples (I just had to show, especially since I could take a picture of them on my brand new, beautiful birthday platter!)

Have fun spreading kindness!