How Not to be Terrible About Student Birthdays

...I'm terrible at student birthdays.  I even blogged about it last year.   I don't mean to be.   It's not on purpose.  I just get caught up in everything else and then suddenly at the end of the day a student says "Today was so-and-so's birthday!" and I'm all "I KNOW!!! Happy birthday to them!  Let's...sing...right now!"  Luckily I have a plan in place.

This year I am going to be great at student birthdays.  I am.

Here are my tips for not being a birthday flake:

1. PREP all birthday "stuff" ahead of time- classroom display, student cards, student gifts (if you do that), and have a plan for what you do on student birthdays.  My classroom display is the Birthday Hall of Fame, where I have monthly cards and I put these "vintage" frames underneath each month with student pictures.  I make student name plates with their name and birthday underneath.   Then I put together my student birthday cards and student gifts (more on that at the bottom).  Be sure to write student birthdays on your planner or calendar.

 

2. ORGANIZE cards from the teacher or other materials in birthday order, so the next birthday is always on top.  PRO TIP:  Write the birthday in the upper corner so it's easy to see and remember.  If you're really on top of things, place the half birthdays in their correct location based on when they will be celebrated in school.  This way the next birthday is always at the top of your card pile.

3. ASSIGN student helpers to be in charge of birthdays.  I have these students put the Birthday Monkey (it's a monkey, it sings, it's all around distracting) on the student's desk, place the birthday sign next to that child's picture, and most importantly, remind me.

4. KNOW your school's policy on treats.  Or just birthdays in general.  My school does not allow them.  Treats that is.  They do allow birthdays.  I love my school.

5. CELEBRATE!  With a birthday monkey (or whatever you do for birthdays!) on their desk, a card ready with a nice corner bookmark (see below!), sing a song or do what you do to make birthdays special!  I like to have a Paper Party- I cut construction paper in four pieces (I try to use scraps in the work room before I cut regular paper because I really don't care if they are straight or perfect rectangles) and each student decorates one card for the birthday child.  The I hole punch one corner of each and put them all together on a ring.  PAPER PARTY!

When I student taught, one of my cooperating teachers always played the Beatles "Birthday", so sometimes we do that now, too.  {I kind of love this version}

The best part is, all of this only takes about 10-15 minutes, so it's not a super time sucker at school.  Excellent!


Student Cards + Gifts
This is what I've been working on prepping this week.  Well, more than just this, but I got this all ready and prepped.  Names written, dates on them, corner bookmarks folded/glued/placed on cards.  Everything in order.

I make my students corner bookmarks as their "gift".  They are easy.  They are inexpensive.  My students use them all year.  It is still thoughtful.  Here's what I do.  {These bookmarks, cards, and the poster set is from the RTL store here or using the link above}

Start with your template (it's really just a square with two triangles off the sides), then follow these picture steps to make your bookmark corners!

DONE!  How do you celebrate student birthdays??


Also, don't forget the TpT Sale on August 3/4!  The RTL Store will be 20% off of everything, for a total of 28% off when you use the code BTS15 at checkout!  Start making that wish list!

            

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My Earth Day Birthday

...Not to be confused with the Earth's birthday, because it isn't the Earth's birthday.  It's my birthday.  On Earth Day.

I have one gift to add to my list of favorite gifts from students.  She's a mop top or whatever my students are calling them... and now they are popping up all over my classroom right now!

I love having an Earth Day birthday celebration since it's my birthday (any excuse for a party, really), but we got all excited about our reading lesson today and almost ran out of time!

So I threw in my Earth Day go-to... The Lorax.  You just can't have an Earth Day celebration without this guy!  The story fit PERFECTLY with our economics and ecosystem units that we are working on right now, so it was a great high interest lesson.

After our story, we did some reflecting with this prompt page and my kiddos were working really hard on providing evidence for their opinions and responses.

This lesson ended up hitting every topic we are working on right now, so it was a huge teacher WIN.

If you're looking to add some fun activities for your Earth Day celebration next year, I rounded up a few of my favorites (per usual RTL fashion).  I'm not a huge printable person when it comes to Earth Day activities because I feel like it kind of defeats the purpose...right?  Head on over to Pinterest to find Earth related resources, websites, and activities that are fun for the classroom (Project WET and Project WILD are really neat if you ever get a chance to complete a workshop with them!).

Follow Miss B.'s board Earth Day on Pinterest.

I hope you have a wonderful Earth Day... I'm hoping to gift myself a small lemon tree this year, but who knows.  

            

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So...Student Birthdays?

Someone please tell me I'm not the only one who forgets student birthdays...

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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