Hello Sunshine: memory books

With the end of the year comes that sudden rush of things to do like print pictures, make scrapbooks, and put every single memory into a neat little package so we won't forget any of it. Sound familiar?

I've taught Kinder for a long time. I have spent my May evenings at the dining room table making ADORABLE (yes, they were adorable) scrap books for every single one of my children. They loved them, their families loved them, I loved them.

Loved.
There comes a time when we have to make a choice and this year I made a choice, and that was not to do scrapbooks.

I had 46 Kinders this year. The task was just too large. However, I did not lose my love for memories. I just had to change it up a bit!

This came by design (and a little by accident too!). I created this chalk painted "K" for the first day of kinder and took pictures the first day of school.

During the last week of school I took pictures again with the "K". The differences in my students made my heart leap!

(the glasses were added to keep us anonymous!)

Parents loved them too so next year I plan on making them, printing them, and maybe putting them in a little frame. I think it will be a nice keepsake from Kindergarten or any grade level for that matter!

Here is how I made them:

Get your grade level letter or number (or just print out a sign!) Paint with chalkboard paint.

Take pictures the first day and the last week.

I used the app A Beautiful Mess to create the picture collage.

It's super simple to use and the app is only 99 cents. All I had to do was tap the picture from my gallery and add it to the frame. I sent each collage to myself so I would have them on my computer at school.

So that's that! Even with printing and frames I think I will spend less on these keepsakes that I used to on scrapbooks. It only took me part of an evening to make 46 collages too.

Time Saver = Sanity Saver

Still want to record the memories? I put together a mini memory book to use during Writer's Workshop the last week of school. (I had already sent their journals home!) You can get a free copy of it HERE or by clicking on the picture.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bwy_8L1vfUHTWmdmb1l0Q0Z3UEk/view?usp=sharing

Thanks for visiting! I hope your end of the year is filled with sweet reflection of happy memories!

End of the school year? Already? Wow. This one really snuck up on me! It just doesn't feel like it could already be over to me! Sweetest. Class. Ever. They stole my heart in so many ways! Nonetheless, as I tell them - "I am a kindergarten teacher! NOT a first grade teacher, and you are getting far too big and too smart for kindergarten!". So as all good things do, it must come to and end, and new beginnings await. :o)

We wrapped up this week with many walks down memory lane. I love hearing them recall all of the

things they remember about what we learned and did! We read the big book "In Kindergarten" that we read the first week of school to take us back to the beginning and connect the content. Then we charted some of the things we remembered, to help us when we worked on our memory books.

Every year when I am doing all of the work to assemble memory books, and spending the time and money to print and organize the pictures I am reminded of why I always do it. They. LOVE. It.

All of my kids always have, but I think even more so now because having actual printed pictures is so novel to many of them now. Pictures are on phones and computers, but rarely in their hands to hold, look at, cherish, and most of all, keep.

So many sweet smiles, heartfelt thank you's and hugs. Bless. They melt my heart.

Our last day I had written a message for them (which they read), and we talked all about how people can feel so many different feelings all at the same time. They picked the feeling that was the strongest for them and jotted about it on a sticky note to add to our chart. Precious.

Then we sang, read our favorite books, played our favorite games (Sparkle and The Telephone Game), handed out awards, goodies, and DANCED!!