How Do You Celebrate Birthdays?

Hello All,

Here's a guest post that I was excited to share with the followers of Heidi Raki's blog....

I have a confession to make

....birthdays are not my favorite thing to celebrate...

 ....there...

I feel better!

So when I was in Walmart the other day and came across these treasures in the new school supply area....I thought they might help me make birthdays a little more special for my kiddos and a little more easier on me :)

Here's the idea.... 

~place birthday pencils and erasers inside the adorable (but way too expensive) pencil pouch...

~create "It's My Birthday" tag for lanyard...

On child's birthday, they get to choose a (pre-sharpened and ready to go) pencil and eraser from the pencil pouch....then they get to wear the birthday lanyard throughout the day instead of a sticker (that always fell off before lunchtime anyway)!

If you're at all familiar with Dr. Jean then you know what a  "spitfire" she is to watch during a conference/workshop !  

I've learned about tons of things from her.  

My favorite are her classroom cheers!  

However...

I was inspired by her YouTube video of some ideas for making birthdays special...

You can check out her blog post about birthday celebrations HERE.

I've created a "cheat sheet" to post near the 'meeting area' in my room so I remember what the words are to the songs and chants she talks about in her video.  

You can download a copy for your class by clicking on the picture above.

A friend of mine also said she remembered a teacher friend of hers making the day special with a candy bar and a note on the birthday child's desk waiting for them when they come in the room....Uhmmm...not sure I'm ready for THAT...but maybe a roll of smarties for being a year smarter today???  Might have to work on a tag or sticker for that concept...

Be sure to hop over to the Swamp and see if I can cook anything up !