I'm terrible about them! Even when I write them down in my lesson plans, I still manage to forget by the time the students walk through the door. They will walk in and proclaim "It's my birthday!" and I'll be like..."Yes....YES! IT IS!" and by the afternoon I've completely forgotten again. I can hold a lot of information in my brain during the day, but for some reason this just seems to slip right through.
So, that being said, I don't do a ton of things to celebrate. It just sets me up for failure and them for disappointment when I totally flake the follow through.
I do post their birthdays. I do it as more of a "wall of fame" than a birthday chart. A million years ago, I found these fantastic vintage frames at a teacher store and scooped them right up. I'm glad I did, too, because I've never seen then since then (although they obviously still sell them!). I.love.them. I put them up every year.
They're awesome, right? I put a name plate underneath with their name and "date of birth". It's like a 4th grader museum. I really enjoy having their pictures on the wall the whole year as well. This actually ends up taking up more space on the wall than a regular birthday poster, but it looks more impressive and gives us classroom ownership.
So on their actual birthdays I keep it suuuuper simple. I'm not a big treat person at school (and my school isn't either), so I stay away from the cute pixie sticks that a lot of teachers do....and the twisty straws are cute as well, but then I have to go hunt for twisty straws. I'd rather make than hunt (in this case), so you have to pick your poison I guess!
I prep it all before the school year starts so I just grab and go on their special days. I just run off a few "Happy Birthday!" cards....and I make bookmarks. I love those little corner bookmarks so I make one for each student and that's it! Simple!
Once I figured out my template, this project took no time at all. Since I have a full stock of scrapbook paper for various projects in my closet, I just grab a few pages and get tracing and gluing.
One year I even made those adorable monster corner bookmarks. The kids loved them, but they were a bit more work for me.
Easy and ready to rock and roll! Now I'm all set for the year and there's no need to panic when a student reminds me it's his/her birthday. Thank goodness.
But I still haven't figured out how to get myself to just remember in the first place....Oy!
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