Back to School Apples

I found this cute poem online last year and I used it to make tags to attach to apples. I put the apples and my class handbook on each student's desk at back to school night.  Last year I used real apples, but this year I used mini decorative apples from Michaels.

 

                 The poem says: An apple for the teacher... 

it's really nothing new. 

Unless you remember, 

parents are teachers too!

The apples help remind parents that we are working together to help their child succeed in school.

Back to School Postcards

It is the third week of summer vacation and I am already getting ready for next year. Each year I send postcards to my incoming students. I found these cute postcards at Lakeshore Learning Store and wrote a message to each of my incoming students. I just took them to the post office, so my students should get them soon!

Kindergarten Graduation

This post is long overdue, but here is Kindergarten Graduation 2013! I created two bulletin boards. The first bulletin board had pictures of the students from different activities throughout the year. 

The second one was of our Kindergarten memories.  I took pictures of the students in their formal Mass uniforms and then I put a quote about their favorite Kindergarten memory under each picture.

This is the refreshment table. I did not get a chance to take a picture of the cake, but it was adorable.

This is the stage set up with a chair for each student.

The room moms decorated the chairs with satin sashes.

I decorated the hall with the students' hand prints and a list of their favorite things.

The room moms set up a photo booth.

 

The parents got to take home their child's art portfolio and Kindergarten graduation pictures.

It was a wonderful celebration!

Room Mom Gifts

I wanted to give my room moms a thank you gift at the end of the year. So I bought bottles of Two Buck Chuck at Trader Joe's and decorated them with material from our school uniforms. I also added a class picture on top of the material (not pictured). 

I also had the students decorate wooden frames and then I put a class picture in each frame. The students layered their fingerprints on the frame. I forgot to take a picture of the frames, but they came out really cute. The room moms loved their gifts.

Rainbow Crayons

On Monday, I recycled my students' used crayons to make rainbow crayons. First, I had a parent peel the crayons.

Then, I broke them into little chunks and put them in silicone cupcake molds.

Next, I baked them in the oven at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. When the crayons were completely cooled, he I popped them out of the molds.

I passed the crayons out to my students at graduation. They loved them!

Cooking in the Classroom: Butter

Last Friday, my students made butter. We used baby food jars and heavy whipping cream.

The students filled their jars half full with heavy whipping cream. 

Then they shook their jars for about ten minutes.  Eventually, they ended up with soft butter. They put it on crackers and ate it. They loved it!

Some of the kids said that it was the best butter they ever tasted.

Home Made Board Games

I made board games to help my students review what they have learned this year. They were extremely easy and cheep to make.

I used a tri-fold display board, adhesive vinyl in various colors, dot markers (not pictured), a 1.5" circle punch, and stickers (not pictured). I spent $16 and made six board games. I also used white card stock to make the cards for the game. The students used counting bears as game pieces. I think this game turned out the best. It is a letter sound recognition game. A student picks a letter card out of the bag and says the sound it makes. If the student says the correct sound, the student gets to choose a dot card out of the bag and move their game piece to the first dot on the game board that matches the color dot on the card (think of modified Candy Land).

 In this game the students practice nouns and verbs. 

In this game the students practice the sight words we have learned this year.

  In this game the students practice subtraction.

  In this game the students practice addition.

  In this game the students practice color recognition.

The students also get to practice being good sports and playing by the rules. It is a great activity to help the students work on social skills.