But does it have to be this way? I am here to say that it does not! We do not have to slide from this school year into summer with little notice and no celebration. These babies may have been in our classes for three fourths of a year, but they will be held in our hearts forever. So let's get out our party hats and see what we can do to sprinkle a little magic while bidding this year school goodbye.
If you have been a teacher for any amount of time, you know that teachers love to see what other teachers are doing so they can, well, get ideas for their own rooms. Sometimes you can just take an idea and run with it or other times, you tweak the idea to make it your own. There are thousands of teachers on YouTube, Pinterest, posting on blogs, on The Gram or even Facebook. If you spend enough time there, you could come away feeling inadequate, but just remember you are not seeing the day-to-day, but the highlight reel. This is the best of what they do in their rooms and while it can be magical, just remember, it is NOT the day-to-day. We all have magic in our classes if we stop to look around.
With that being said, I love looking for new ideas around, especially on Instagram. One of my friends and coworkers is known as Learning With Mrs. Fresh. I love her idea of putting together little bags for her students. She included a letter to each student as well as a class picture. She added in some fun touches (candy, pen, glow stick). How easy is that? And what better way send the class off on summer break and let them know that you care? Also, her school did a virtual school spirit week, which I adapted and am using during the last week of school. Let's bring the fun engagement. We can STILL do it, despite being separated by distance. Here is a look at what we are doing on the last week of school.
My whole school is not hosting a school spirit week. But what's to stop me from doing that in my class? Nothing at all! I am most excited about our Taco Tuesday. In class, we have regular lunch bunches. Students look forward to coming to sit and eat lunch with me on Fridays. I always bring treats for the students who are in lunch bunch. A lot of times, I have made homemade chocolate chip cookies for them. I took this idea and decided to enjoy lunch with my class on Zoom. What I was trying to figure out was a treat for them. Then I had the idea to send them home (after our last pick-up) with a bag of ingredients so they could make their own cookies. So, that is just what I did. I made each of them a bag of supplies and passed it out to them. I am uploading a quick tutorial on YouTube so they can bake the cookies at home with their parents and then have them for the lunch bunch on Tuesday. I cannot way. And neither can they. I keep getting questions about when they can bake the cookies. This is going to be fun!
Another idea that I loved on Instagram was these affirmation flowers. I saw them on Pencils Top Pigtails. I loved this idea so much that I decided to create some of my own.
The only thing was, that I sent my husband out to Dollar Tree to snag some of these for my project and they only had Fourth of July themed ones. That was fine, but I had my heart set on these bright ones with multiple colors that were so beautiful. I went to another store and it was the same story. I just could NOT find the ones I wanted anywhere. A week later, with nothing, I decided that I would just get the patriotic ones and the kids would not know the difference. I went back to not one, but two stores and just found three of them total. I decided to go to one more store that I had not been to previously and I hit the jackpot and was able to get enough for my whole class in the colors that I wanted. I was so excited! I am planning to do a drive by, not sure if you would call it a parade, but at least to plant a flower in the yards of my students and spread a little love.
Whether you do something "big" or "small" teacher, you are amazing!
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