I first saw this idea on Facebook. Learning in Wonderland had shared the photo below and I fell in love!
Katie Mense from Little Kinder Warriors created the inserts for these mugs. I found the file in her TpT store for $5. I'm purchasing my mugs from Hobby Lobby (mainly because I have gift cards to this store). They are $.87 a piece. That would make them $10.44 for a dozen. Many people were purchasing theirs from Oriental Trading, but I saw they were $16.99 a dozen. As you can see in the top picture, the one from Hobby Lobby worked just fine. I simply threw the inserts that came with it away and printed off one from the file, cut it out and viola... a super cute gift! They'd make a great Christmas gift with a packet of hot cocoa, I missed that window. Even thought about Valentine's Day, with the cocoa and a card that says "You make my heart melt...". But I think my students would also appreciate them as End of the Year gifts. What do you think?
This week I decided to focus on student birthdays. This past year I gave students a card and a gift certificate to the local Sweet Frog frozen yogurt shop. It was pricey, but super easy... when I remembered to go buy them. This year I decided to scale back a bit.
Each student will receive a Happy Birthday Brag Tag to add to their chain.
I ordered these Happy Birthday Wristbands from Teacher Created Resources. Well technically I ordered it with my supply money from school.
I saw this class student birthday card from Teaching Maddeness. I decided to incorporate this idea into my classroom this year. I'll have a class set of these sheets run in color at the beginning of the school year. The day before a student birthday I'll have classmates sign the card so I can have it waiting on their desk the morning of.
This idea came from Doris Young at Third Grade Thinkers, she had cute Smile Treats waiting for her students during Open House. I already had my Welcome Gifts but thought this would be a great inexpensive birthday gift. You can find them at your local Wal-Mart.
In addition to the 1-Brag Tag, 2- Class Birthday Card, 3- Birthday Wristband and 4- Smile Fruit Snacks, we also do the Go Noodle Koo Koo Kangaroo Birthday Hooray during morning meeting.
That's how I'll be celebrating my students this year. We start school in September so I spend the 1st week recognizing August Birthdays. The last week of school I recognize July Birthdays. What do you do for your students on their birthdays?
Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting my new teammate. My principal asked me if I would mentor her and I'm super excited to mentor a brand new teacher. Two years ago I mentored a teacher who was new to the district but she was coming with 3 years of experience so that didn't involve much. I wanted to do something nice for her but I only had a 3 day turnaround so I had to think of something quick. Then I remembered a basket I put had put together before. This time I included...
Water
Eos Lip Balm
Lotion
Cupcakes
Orbit Gum
Mr. Sketch Markers
Envelope with a Target Gift Card
Last time I created this for a student teacher I was hosting.
Our grade level changes every year, the year I came we had 3 new teachers to the grade level, the next year we had 1 new teacher to the grade level, the year after we had 2 new teachers to the grade level, last year we had 1 new teacher to the grade level and this year we have 1 new teacher to the grade level. Our team is a constant revolving door, but only two of my team members have left to go to other grade levels in the building, all the others have transferred out of the school. Maybe one year we'll actually have the same team from one year to the next... at this point I'm the veteran third grade teacher on the team and I've only been there four years!
I'm super excited... my student teacher starts tomorrow! I'm being trained by Virginia Commonwealth University to be apart of their Clinical Faculty. Which basically means their student teachers will teach in my room and I will coach/mentor them. I had my first training yesterday and I'm really excited about this step in my professional career. I've never had a student teacher before and look forward to learning from her as she learns from me.
I was racking my brain on what to do for her and of course I took to Pinterest. I saw a cute ABC Basket where there was an item for each letter of the alphabet. I knew I couldn't pull that off in one day so then I thought about doing the same thing but with the word "WELCOME." So after church I went to Walmart, Target and Bath and Body works for all the items I needed for my basket.
W- water E- esos lip balm L- lotion C- chex mix (thought about chips, cheese its or a cupcake) O- oreos M- muffins (thought about M&Ms) E- extra gum (thought about eclipse gum too)
