End of the School Year Swag

Ahh! Finally have my first year of teaching down! It's been a challenging year to say the least. I've laughed, I've cried yet I made it! A week later, it's just now sinking in that my first-year kiddos are finally moving on to first grade. They grew so much and I am so proud of all their hard work! I'm also proud of their awesome parents who showed so much love and support. Couldn't have asked for anything else. Here are a few things I put together at the end. I wanted to end it in a meaningful way.

For the Parents: I found an awesome parent letter at Teachers Pay Teachers! (LOVE that site!) I printed it out in color, put it in an envelope and of course had to add a little touch of love with a smiley/heart sticker to seal. I then attached the flowers (I let the kids color/design these) I put together with the students pics and thanked the parents for letting me help their little ones grow! Put it all in an envelope along with a certificate and their 'End of the Year' memory books!

For the Kiddos: Of course, I have always loved little ol' Corduroy. I found these cute little teddy bears over at Oriental Trading! My para and I found a cute poem and tweaked it. She fit the text on a template of the bear and we set the template on the inside of the book. These turned out really cute! I had one student tell me that she read the story with her mother and then at bedtime she tucked Corduroy under her covers and he slept with her! Seriously? How adorable!

Tokens of Appreciation: I had to show my gratitude for my para and dean for all their support over the year. I went with the Reese's theme "I would have fallen to 'pieces' without your help and support" and put together these movie themed bags!

I have to share this awesome edible arrangement one of my students gave me on the last day of school! How awesome and delish does this teacher gift look??! I'm a chocolate freak so of course I indulged into the chocolate covered green apples right away! Yummy!!!

Well, now I'm off to enjoy the rest of my summer even though I'm already contemplating and prepping for next year! Hope everyone has a wonderful summer!

Mother's Day 2012

Here is what I had my little ones make for Mother's Day. These turned out to be a hit! I hot glue gunned colored craft sticks to make the frame. I then set up a yellow background on my board and used magnetic letters to spell out 'Happy Mother's Day' and took my kiddos pics. I did end up laminating the pics and glued them to the back of the frame. I let the kids wrap up the frames in tissue paper and decorate white paper bags to put their gifts in. I also found cute Mother's Day coupons and along with a card that read "I love you... to pieces" on good old Pinterest!

Hello!

Hello there blogging world! I'm a kindergarten teacher from the D who is inspired and full of inspiration from working with my little kiddos! I've seen so many cool teacher blogs and now that I am working full-time and have my very own classroom to call my own, I thought I'd try my hand at creating a blog to share all the amazing things I do with my little ones. Sometimes things might get a little crazy in kinder land... haha. Hope you like our swagger!