Summer Pen Pals

 

This simple idea will encourage your students to keep reading and writing through the summer!  

Before the end of the year have each student bring in two stamped envelopes.  (Or just two stamps if you already have envelopes.) Show them how to write their address on the front of each. Then collect the envelopes.  Of course, they'll all be curious about these envelopes, but don't tell them anything yet. Let the excitement and curiosity build a little!

Later, or the next day explain to the students they are to read a book this summer.  After they read the book they'll write a letter to a friend to convince them they need to read this book. They will place the persuasive letter in one of the envelopes and mail it to a classmate.  They will also put in the second envelope that has their own address on it.  The second envelope will be used by the receiver to write a return letter!

I've written more detailed directions you can download here.

Do you have a favorite activity for the last few days of the school year?  Link up your blog post about that idea. (Blog posts only, please.)

An InLinkz Link-up

Here's Your Backstage Pass to a ROCKIN' Year!

As the end of the year approaches teachers are looking for ways to keep students entertained, engaged, and focused until those last days of the year. This year I have chosen to do a rock-n-roll theme to end the year. It's a fun theme and I use the phrase, "You are all rockstars now!" 

One thing that I have noticed is that the month of May can be the most exhausting month for teachers. With to-do lists that are miles long, students with a ton of energy, and teachers who are just plain worn out! I have created a fun behavior management activity that will help with the behavior so that you can focus on getting things done faster so you can get rest easier!

Rockin' Behavior is a classroom management activity where you first print and prepare all parts of the Rockin’ Behavior Memory Game provided as a freebie in my TPT Store. Think of 8 different classroom prizes that the class would love to earn. Write each prize on the back of two different numbers. Now the class works on earning the letters R-O-C-K for making great choices, helping their classmates and following he classroom rules. Once they earn the 4 letters then randomly choose a student to pick two numbers and see if they are matching prizes. If they match I reward the class the following day and if not they start over spelling ROCK again. After beginning this last Monday, we have already earned the prize, PEN DAY. My 2nd graders were in heaven on Thursday when they each got a color pen and got to use it all day instead of pencil. 

Isn't it the little things that make them happy?

In addition, later this month I will be having my kids make the Rockstar Memory Lapbook. These lap books will be wonderful ways to keep those memories of 2nd grade and reflect on the past. Please watch the short video to watch how the lapbook is assembled and visit my TPT store to pick up the lapbook for your end of the year memory making!

Later this month I will also be showing my ROCKSTAR theme bulletin board showcasing our 2nd 

grade memories. I can't wait!!!

End-of-the-Year Class Books and Keepsakes

As many of you know, one of my favorite mentor texts to use in my classroom is

There are so many ways to use it in the classroom!

One of my favorite ways is to use it for these fun

End-of-the-Year projects.

The Important Thing About XXX Grade

Have students thin about the most important things about being in this grade, as if giving advice to incoming students.  Next, have them complete the frame and illustrate.  Bind into a class book and share on the last day of school, AND save it to read to your new students the first week of school next year.  It will become a favorite in your classroom library, especially if you do it over several years.  It is so fun to compare them!

The Important Things About US!

For this one, have students think about how they want their classmates to remember them.  Then they complete the frame and illustrate.  I always make copies of the completed pages, along with the autograph pages, into keepsake booklets for each student.  They can have their friends autograph their books.

I have also used their text and added photos of each child to make a slideshow, and copied to DVD's for the kids.  See Caitlin's post here about how to create slideshows using SmileBox.

You can grab either one of these files for free, this week only, by clicking on the images above.  If you miss them as freebies, you can find them in my TPT Store.

For more End-of-the-Year ideas, visit our Pinterest board.

Follow Hello's board Hello Sunshine - End of the Year Ideas on Pinterest.

Summer Break Count Down

The end of the year is coming too soon!  I only have 12 days left with my sweet kiddos.  Luckily, I am looping up to 3rd grade with them next year and I couldn't be more excited!

Do you need a fun and motivational activity to get you your kiddos to the end of the school year? I made a banner to help us count down the days to Summer Break!  On the back of each pennant is an activity for us to do that starts with each letter.  

Last year, I used my Silhouette to cut out the banner and the letters.  Then, I printed the activities on labels and stuck them on the back.  I used an arrow to help keep track of what day we were on.

This year, I made a digital banner and added a behavior management piece.  

Each day leading up to Summer Break, they have the opportunity to earn a letter and the special activity that is written on the back.  Every morning they start with four suns on the board.  Depending on how they behave, they can either lose or earn suns.  At the end of the day, if they have all four suns, they will earn their letter.  Of course you can modify this in order to meet the needs of your class.  I've done variations of this behavior management activity, and when I have a really difficult class, they only need to have one sun on the board to earn their reward.  Whatever works for you!

These are the activities I came up with.  Feel free to use or adjust any of these activities.  Some letters took a little extra thought and creativity to make work.  :)   

S - Sidewalk chalk {I bring a bucket of chalk from the Dollar Tree and let them go to town on the playground.}  
U - U need a brain break {enter GoNoodle!}
M - Mind games {hangman, memory, and other random games}
M - Mystery Box {I bring a special treat in a box and have them guess what it is using only yes/no questions.  It is usually something tasty!}
E - Extra Recess
R - Read outside {I let them bring their library books and my books, then we read around the courtyard.}

B - Bubbles {I bring them bottles of bubbles from the Dollar Tree and let them play.  One year I made homemade bubbles with dish soap and used pipe cleaners as the wand.  It was cheap, easy, and fun.}

R - Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament

E - Eat a treat {again, I bring in something special and delicious!}

A - Airplane contest {I provide the paper, they design their own paper airplanes.}

K - Krazy dance party {Blast some Kidz Bop and let them dance away!  Freeze dance is one of our favorites.}

! - Ice Cream Party! {I bring the ice cream, they bring the toppings!  If I'm adventurous, we make ice cream in a bag and use some of Cara's fun activities.}

You can download yours for free here!

Wrapping Up the Year With Hello Sunshine

As you may have already guessed from the title of this post, our theme this month is wrapping things up for the end-of-the-year.

To join in the fun, just grab this button to include in your post:

...and nab this handy template to organize your end-of-the-year

 ideas, activities, links, and books:

(To use this template, save it as an image to your computer.  Use it as the background for a power point page, use text boxes to add your info, and then save your whole new creation as a PDF and/or as an image to include in your blog post.)

Next step:
Link up with us!
(Please link directly to your Sharin' a Little Sunshine post url to keep things easy to find.)  Product links within a post are fine, but please no direct product links.

And the optional-but-awesome final step is to visit other linked-up blogs... and leave some love!

Hang in there!

The end is in sight!

An InLinkz Link-up

Creating an End of the Year Slideshow for Your Students and Families

Happy Sunday, everyone! It's Caitlin, from The Kinder Garden, here to kick off the month of May here at Hello Sunshine! Our theme this month is "Wrap it Up!" and we will be sharing ideas and resources for the end of the school year.

All year long, I take photos of my students in the classroom, at school events, on field trips, spirit days, and everything in between. My team always makes an end of the year slideshow to show to our students' families at our kindergarten promotion ceremony; and it never fails that after every show we always have multiple parents asking how they can get their hands on a copy. Now, it would cost a fortune to provide DVDs of the slideshow to every parent, not to mention hours spent burning and creating all of the discs - and ain't nobody got time for that!

The solution to this problem came to me two years ago when an e-mail crossed my inbox from a company called Smilebox!

Smilebox is an online program you can download to your computer and use to create photo slideshows, invitations, greetings, collages, and more! Their basic program is free to download and use for anyone who wants to use it - but did you know that they give a FREE Premium subscription (normally a $48 value) to teachers? All you have to do is click HERE and submit your application for the Smilebox Teacher's Toolbox by filling out the information box on the right hand side of the page.

In a few days, you'll get an e-mail from them letting you know that you're in! They'll send you a link and a password to download your free subscription, and then you can start creating! They have tons of adorable school-themed templates to create a photo slideshow. I just drag and drop my photos into the sidebar and you choose what order you want your pictures to appear in the slideshow. You can add music, text, captions, and more to make it personalized for your class!

It's so easy to create! Once I finish creating it, I e-mail it out to all of my parents. I can't tell you how many e-mails I have gotten back from them thanking me for sharing photos from the year so that they can look back at them any time they want to see all of their memories from the school year. Just the other day, I got a notification that someone had viewed their slideshow... from 2013! It's the gift that keeps on giving for years to come!

Teacher Appreciation Week from Educents!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

There are so many AMAZING teachers that have impacted me as a learner and as a teacher!  In grade school, I had the best teachers, EVERY.SINGLE.ONE!  High school and college teachers and professors prepared me to be a grown-up out in the world on my own.  I am forever grateful to each and every one.

Here are three reasons why I am thankful for educators:

1. They helped me become who I am today.
2. They shape lives every day.
3. My teacher friend have made ME a better teacher!

Education has such an impact on ourselves and our little ones. Educents is here to help you pay it forward. In honor of Teacher Appreciation week, Educents & Peekapak have teamed up to provide your favorite educators with a gift basket worth over $40, which includes a FREE $10 Educents Gift Card & 3 months of Peekapak lesson plans (3 digital storybooks, 12 in-class lessons & 12 at-home activities) that teach Character Education and Language Arts.

So, whether it's your mom, your classroom teacher, your neighbors, or another special human being who taught you important lessons, thank them by giving them a FREE gift basket, on Educents!

Fill out the form here to send this freebie to an educator you know.