One of my favorite projects of the year is our End of the Year Memory Book. It's a special keepsake for students and parents that features photos, drawings, writing samples, and more. It's a project the class works on periodically throughout the year. I love it because it shows how much the kiddos change over the year. It gives parents a memento to remember the year by, rather than trying to save everything the child brings home. #guiltyofthat This is Ellee. She was in my very first class. She just started 10th grade! Her Mom sent me these pictures of her looking back on her Kindergarten Memory Book before school started last month. It made me so happy to know that she was reliving all of the fun we had in Kinder. Crazy to think 10 years has come and gone! You can see in the photos that Word Art was all the rage back in 2007. LOL. I've made some updates to my Kinder Memory Book since 2007, and I've also created a Preschool and 1st grade version. I have some tips for creating these Memory Books that will make them manageable. 1. If you have active parent volunteers, find a parent that will head up this project. My first year in the classroom, I had 26 kids in my morning class and 25 in the afternoon. 51 memory books! Thank goodness I had an amazing aide and some super parents that helped out. 2. Two options for binding the memory books... You can copy all of the pages you need and bind them over the summer/at the beginning of the year. However, I think it's better to wait to bind them until the END of the year. To keep it all organized, I have a file folder for each student. As we complete a memory book page, I file the completed page away in the child's folder. Then at the end of the year, all the pages are in order and ready to be bound. 3. Print extra copies for potential new students or for "Uh Oh" mistakes. 4. If you forget to take a photograph of a student for a certain page, they can draw a picture instead. The combination of photographs and illustrations will make it extra special. 5. You can send a page home for "homework" every now and then if you just don't have time to get to it in class. Be sure to tell your students how important these pages are so they come back in good condition. I would recommend sending them home in an envelope or file folder so they don't get ripped, folded, or destroyed on the way home. :) 6. I've included extra pages at the end for photographs. Students can personalize it, color it, add stickers, get autographs from friends, etc. The teacher can write a special note to the child in the back of the book as well. These Memory Books will work great for Homeschool Kiddos and for the crafty Mamas out there. Just print and use the pages you need. I'm thrilled to be making one with my preschooler.
Do you teach a Community Helpers Preschool or Kindergarten Unit? You will LOVE this fun set of pretend play learning centers and no prep worksheets.
The Ultimate Busy Book For Preschoolers With 100+ Pages of Activities Over a hundred different activities for toddlers and preschoolers to explore the alphabet, numbers, counting, science, and more…
Are you looking for free preschool curriculum? This is the ultimate list of free preschool curriculum to help you make the best choice!
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New ideas for the daycare snack menu is the most common question I hear asked about food. Everyone gets bored with their snack ideas.
The ultimate guide to teaching toddlers scissor skills from the best blogs. Tips and easy practice activity ideas.
A toddler who hits can be incredibly difficult to deal with. Learn about the root reason behind your child's hitting, and exactly what to do about it.
This gorgeous Nature Watercolor Spray Art is such a fun watercolor painting idea for kids! This is a beautiful outdoor painting project for kids with brilliant results!
Here's our ultimate list of toddler lunch ideas. These recipes are sure to please any toddler from the pickiest little one to the food crazy tot!
This is a challenging 5th grade Pop Art project for art teachers wanting to infuse literacy into their art lessons. Reinforce onomatopoeia words by studying Andy Warhol's prints and Roy Lichtenstein's comic strip artwork with benday dots. Combine collage, printmaking, and hand lettering techniques into one art lesson!
Find out exactly what the tactile system is, red-flags for sensitivities and the best activities for the tactile system that kids will love.
As a parent, finding the right daycare for your child is so important. Before you interview and tour a potential daycare, read this post on the top questions and checklist for choosing a daycare. These important questions will help you make the best decision for your child and pick the right child care provider.
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“Are there any tax breaks for homeschoolers?” Carol Topp, the Homeschool CPA, answers this question in the blog post.
Minecraft Party Ideas Whether you have Minecraft crazy kids or not, this is a fun party to put on. This party was planned for two birthday boys and about 12 of their friends … and what a blast they had! It was an evening and overnight party for a bunch of nine and eleven year […] Read more...
Learn everything you wanted to know about CPR with this guide. All of the important steps about how to do CPR are listed.
Do you know what you can always count on? Playdough. Kids a little cranky? Playdough. Rain cancelled your plans? Playdough. Friends pop over unexpectedly? Playdough. I tell you playdough activities will never let you down. We love playdough so much, I thought I would share with you some of our favourite playdough activities today. Some
Superhero Straw Shooters! Turn your kids into superheroes who can really fly! A fun and easy STEAM craft with free printables to help.
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Our Easy Tie Dye Art with Baby Wipes is a fun way to explore tie dye without the worry of permanently stains! Huggies Wipes from Walmart work great!
Ready for another week of linking up and sharing ideas? I am so glad that you are stopping by today and can’t wait to see what you all have to share this
It was about this time last year I took my third graders outside for a paper airplane competition. We had spent a half hour working in te...
Are you following us on Pinterest? Last year, we finally got around to making the mud kitchen that I'd been wanting to do for ages. I think I'd been putting it off because it seemed like it would be an involved project that would take me time I didn't have. Then one day, I decided that realistically, it didn't need to be anything flash at all. In fact, I could sit an empty pot next to a mud puddle and the kids would think I was the best mum ever. So, with that knowledge in mind, I set about making the quickest and easiest mud kitchen I could. I first wrote about our mud kitchen here on Kidspot. Materials: For the structure of the kitchen we used: 24 bricks (we found these around our yard. Some were a bit broken but it didn't matter) Small plank of wood (also found around our yard. Aim for a thicker piece of wood to last longer and for added sturdiness) A few nails to hang utensils and cups on. (I'll replace these with hooks down the track) Handy Tip: If you don't have these things lying around, it's very possible someone you know does. Ask around. Many building sites/yards, factories etc often have left over supplies or off cuts that they are happy to let you have for free or for a small charge. For the kitchen accessories I got: Pots and pans (We didn't have spares so I bought them for $2 each from the thrift shop/op shop/2nd hand shop) Plastic cups and various plastic containers and bowls (2nd hand shop) Kitchen utensils (Spatulas, spoons, sieve, funnel etc. purchased from the 2nd hand shop $5) Plastic kitchen drainer to store supplies in ($1 from 2nd hand shop) I spent around $15-$20 on this project all together, which was just the cost of buying the kitchen supplies 2nd hand. Many people would have this sort of thing already lying around at their house, so it's possible to do this project for even less. Handy Tip: Ask friends or family if they have any old kitchen supplies they don't use any more. You never know what people have lying around. Handy Tip: A kitchen drainer is good for keeping your outdoor kitchen supplies in. Handy Tip: The children love adding little flowers and leaves to their mud creations and having numerous bowls and containers will prompt them to want to find and fill with different materials. To Make: Putting it together was really simple. make 2 stacks of 12 bricks each (this should give a good height for young children). Change the direction of the bricks with each level to make them more sturdy. Place a thick plank of wood sitting on top. Don't make your kitchen bench too long as it will make your kitchen less sturdy. You will need to build your kitchen on some flat, solid ground. We found that the structure is sturdy enough that it would take a lot of force to knock it down and has been played with for months and months by my kids without any needs for repair. If you wanted to make it a permanent structure, you could cement/glue the bricks in place but we didn't find it was necessary. We also like that we can dismantle and move the mud kitchen easily and quickly if needs be. Right at the front of the mud kitchen we dug up a little pit and added water to get some good mud happening! Handy Tip: If you have some space in a garden bed, this could be a perfect place for your mud kitchen complete with easy access mud pit. We built ours in the garden bed and love that it means that the dirt and mud are in the garden bed and out of the way of our regular garden use. Handy tip: Build your mud kitchen close to a tap or with access to a hose with trigger nozzle. This will let you clean up easier. Handy Tip: Don't let your children play with mud if you expect them to keep clean. It's an impossible ask of them, so expect and embrace the mess! Your mud kitchen doesn't have to go in the backyard. It's easy and small enough that you could put it lots of places. Our is in our front yard. Here it is after a long session with the kids. A quick hose down once they've finished playing and it's ready for the next time. Do you have a mud kitchen? Happy playing, Debs :) We like to play here as well. Come play with us :) New Here? Subscribe to get all activities sent directly to you Enter your email address: Delivered by FeedBurner
