End of Year Book Exchange

Students celebrated our last day of school with an exciting book exchange.

A few weeks ago, I sent home a letter asking for book donations.  Students brought in old, age appropriate books, that they no longer wanted.  I spread them out all around the classroom along the window sills, along the desks, and along the tables.  

I put together bags for students to use to hold their new summer book collection.  I started their collection with two brand new books ($1 books from Scholastic), bookmarks, stickers, and a CD with our class photos.

Students lined up and took turns walking around the room and filling their bag with new (to them) books, one at a time.  

Students were excited to bring their summer book collection home to kick start their summer reading.

 How do you encourage summer reading?

Fun Beach Themed Day

Friday was our last full day of school so we decided to celebrate with a fun beach themed day.

Students spent the day participating in various beach themed activities!

Upon arriving, students greeted each other by saying, "Aloha."  They gave each other a colorful Hawaiian Leis.  I got a 6-pack of Leis at the Dollar Tree for $1.00.  What a steal of a deal.

Outside we played a fun game of Octopus Tag.  Students would line up on one side of the field.  One student was selected to be the Octopus.  They would try to tag students as they would race to the opposite side of the field.  Students who were it had to sit in the ocean (the middle of the field) and assisted the octopus in tagging other students.  Last student standing won and became the new octopus.

Have you tried GoNoodle yet?  GoNoodle has lots of child friendly brain breaks.  Today we danced to Wipeout and Surf's Up.

I actually stole this idea from Thursday's Field Day but it fit right in with our beach theme.  Students dressed up in scuba gear, life jackets, held a fishing pole, and then raced to the finish line.  Have you ever ran with fins on your feet?  Forget running, I can barely walk with them on.

Students brought beach towels, sunglasses, and a good book and read outside along the creek in the warm sun!

After a long and fun filled day students sat down to enjoy a crazy, cool, colorful treat:  Sweet Philly Swirl Italian Ice.  They loved the various flavors and delicious candy sticks to dip in it.

Lastly, students ended the day by blowing up a beach ball, grabbing a permanent marker color of their choice, and autographing each other's beach balls.

Graphics and background for this post are from the lovely Krista Wallden.

How do you celebrate the end of the school year?

Yummy Awards

Today was our 4th Grade Award Ceremony.  I don't particularly like award ceremonies.  Growing up, I was always the child who sat with her fingers crossed, hoping and praying my name would be called as each award was announced.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to see my students’ hard work and accomplishments rewarded.  However, there never seems to be enough awards to go around.  Our district has strict guidelines about selecting only one student for each award.  ½ my class is able to get one, ½ is not.  I can’t help but feel uneasy about the students who do not get the chance to shine on stage.  It’s uncomfortable and upsetting.

So, this year I decided that when we returned from the award ceremony, everyone in my class was going to get an award.

I found adorable Candy Student Awards from Reagan Tunstall on Teachers Pay Teachers.  I printed them off in black and white because our school no long allows printing in color.  Dollar Tree has a great selection of candies for just $1.00.

After the awards ceremony students came back to the classroom.  Surprise!  I handed out an award to each student.  Although they did not get to go up on stage, they were thrilled to get a candy treat along with their award.

Reagan's Student Candy Awards were a huge success!  Check them out on Teachers Pay Teachers!