End of the Year Ideas

This year at our end of the year party we had 4 centers: cookie decorating, making jewelry, perler beads (a HUGE hit but very time consuming), and decorating frames. 

When we were finished with our centers, we had our big AWARD show!! I had been discussing the 'awards' for days prior to the party and the students were all SO excited to find out what award they were going to get. I overheard discussions that went like this...

"I wonder who is going to get the tardy award"

"Oh, definitely Neil!"

"I wonder who is going to get the farting the most award?"

"Oh, that's Eric for sure!!"

"I don't know what award I'm going to get?  Probably the 'I'm good at everything award!'"

I'm not going to lie, I kind of, just a teeny bit, let those discussions continue because they were just too funny (and cute!). But, no worries, I wasn't giving any awards for farting or being tardy!!

We rolled out the super star carpet and set up a row of chairs on each side. I stood at the front to announce and the parents that were volunteering sat at the end of the carpet. I called one award up at a time and it was sooo cute!! The kids had to walk the carpet, turn around and pose with their award, then walk back down the carpet. The kids all started sticking their hands out to high five the winner!! They felt so famous!

I got the awards from Mel D. over at Seusstastic. You can check out the awards by clicking on the image below.

Shopping: Oriental Trading

I LOVE getting packages in the mail!! But then again, I'm not sure who doesn't?! I was lucky enough to receive a $50 gift card to Oriental Trading and I spent every dollar...and a little more too!

Everything I ordered was in preparation for next year. 

I ordered erasers so I could finally make the cute eraser gum ball machine I found on Pinterest. 

HERE is the gum ball machine I ordered :)

I also ordered new crayon cases for my little ones. We share crayons for the first half of the year, but in January I give each student their own crayons. This gets them ready for first grade and also makes them more responsible of their materials! They actually LOVE it! I think these cute cases from Oriental Trading will fit much nicer in my desk organizers too!

I got more clips--which we all use ALL the time!!

Then I decided to order more foam dice. I have 2 right now, but I have a bunch of regular dice in my classroom. I use these ALL the time at the beginning of the year (lots of dice games) and my kids all like the foam dice much better! I do too--look at the fun colors!! 

and lastly, I ordered more hot glue for all of my fun summer 'crafty' projects!

LOVE everything I received from Oriental Trading! The site is very easy to navigate and I received my materials SUPER fast! I will definitely be shopping there again soon!!

This review is based strictly on my opinion. Others may have a different opinion or experience with the product listed above. I was provided the sample free of charge by the company or PR agency and I provided my honest opinion. No other type of compensation was received for this review.

Reader's Theater Fun!

About two weeks ago I introduced 2 of my reading groups to Reader's Theater. I really didn't have any expectations when I introduced the cute little 'plays', I just thought this would be something different for reading groups between now and the end of the year. 

Well...leave it to students to go above and beyond! My kids loved everything about these! 

They chose a partner and then found a spot around the room to practice reading. Their goal at first was just to become more fluent.

The same day I introduced these stories to my kids, they decided to spend their 'free choice' time making puppets that went along with their 'play'.  

Keep in mind...this is probably only a fourth of all of the puppets they made...for 3 different shows!

Well, these little puppets brought Reader's Theater to a whole new level! The next day the kids were practicing their play behind the theater. This created some new goals for my kids...they had to learn how to use the puppets at the correct time, they definitely needed to practice reading louder, and they needed more expression! So this was the perfect opportunity to model these to them.

By the end of the week my kids had pretty much mastered all of their new goals :) They were totally ready for a real...live...performance!! They were SO excited!! I set the chairs up, had them quickly practice introducing themselves, and they were ready to go! It was the cutest thing ever!!

I was so proud of them! Almost before they could even take a bow, they asked me if I bought more printer ink so I could print more plays for them!! 

Thank you Kristin for creating such a wonderful pack for my kindergartners to use!! 

Between you and me...I already asked her if she was going to make more of these gems and she said yes! I would just LOVE some that are a tad easier for my beginning readers!! Yipppeeee!!

You can find her pack by clicking on the image below.

Mother's Day Crafts

Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful moms out there!! I hope you are enjoying your day with your family!! 

I am SO lucky to have the most amazing mother in the world! I love her SO much!!

In class, we made Hadar's cute Mother's Day purses and I just love how they came out! So super perfect...and easy!!

I prepped the purse for the students and they filled out the pages... pretty much independently!! They did such a good job! 

The kids also had a blast making this craft for their mom from Cupcake!

Cupcake includes so many different 'sprinkle' options and it was the cutest thing to watch the kids pick out which ones they wanted to include on their ice cream cone.

Enjoy the rest of your evening :)