Today is my last day of Summer Break. Tomorrow I start back with 3 days of pd. My classroom is mostly done. I will put the finishing touches on things after my pd session. I will post pics when it's complete. Until then, I am working on things at home. I will focus today on some things I created at home to celebrate my students' birthdays. Please note there are some affiliate links thrown in.
These have been all over Pinterest for years. I have also seen a ton of people posting them in Instagram too. These take more effort to create than anything else. I got crayons at Walmart for 25 cents and 6 packs of pencil sharpeners from Dollar Tree. I have learned not to put glue sticks in them. They did not work by the end of the school year last year. The containers below are like the ones I found online to use as the cups.
I figure that many of my students don't get much, if anything, for their birthday. This helps them feel special.
I get a lot of students that come back and visit me on their birthdays. They want to make sure I get a cupcake! I always give them a birthday pencil or bookmark. I found this cute box at the dollar store to store these goodies. Now I don't have to dig them out when I get an unexpected visitor.
This was an idea I got from nErD Camp. You take a gift bag and fill it with books about birthdays. When it's a student's birthday, they get to pick out the read aloud book for the day. I love this idea! I am big on read alouds to begin with and now I can incorporate a way to make the student's day a little more special. (Please note: the students only pick a book for you to read, they do not keep them.)
If you are having trouble thinking of birthday books, there are a couple to get you started in the picture. I put some more below to get your started.

I have created a fun pack of birthday activities that I just put on TPT. It contains labels for the birthday cups, a spot to record all your students' birthdays, certificates, sheets to create a class book and a few other goodies. Click the pic above to check it out.

Love all your birthday ideas! Thanks for linking up!
ReplyDeleteStephanie
Forever in Fifth Grade
Ooh...I love # 2...I always have trouble coming up with something for the bday visitor when they pop in! Good ideas! :)
ReplyDeleteSandy
CUTE ideas! I still haven't quite figured out an efficient cost effective way to celebrate birthdays! I should really figure it out soon!
ReplyDeletehttps://ladyliteracy-sixthgrade.blogspot.com/2016/08/21st-century-skills-poster-freebie.html