Father's Day Gifts

Father's Day 2012 has come and gone.  The Room 39 kids made their gifts in the last week of school.  Our mother's day gift was a beautiful necklace, made from a washer, a ribbon, and a decorative bead.  So, keeping in the same trend of diy gifts, we created a key chain for the fathers.  

Each student wrote their name with a Sharpie marker on one side of the washer. Is there any sweeter gift that one with your 6 year old's handwriting on it?

 For our Mother's Day gifts, the kids stamped their names.  Stamping just took too long for a last week of school activity.

Then, the students stamped "DAD" on the opposite side of the washer.  These stamps came from the Target Dollar Spot.  When I saw them, I got 5 sets, not having a specific task in mind.  After researching options for ink, we used STAZ ON ink (purchased at JoAnn's).

Key rings were purchased from a craft store as well.

To top off the gift, students created their own original cards.  We hole punched the corner of each card and attached the key chain with some curling ribbon.  Our father's received their gifts after the last day of school, so I'm not sure what the response was, but I'm guessing they were pleased to receive a practical, yet sentimental gift.

The Summer Bucket List

The last day of school has come and gone... and I'm now trying to catch up on the things I enjoy to do in my leisure time.  I plan on reading, blogging, and most importantly, spending time with my little girl and husband.

I said goodbye to my students last week and as my parting gift, I created a "Summer Bucket List" for the Room 39 kids.  

I have always given my students 2 gifts throughout the year- a Christmas gift and an end of year gift.  I purposefully give gifts at these times because the kids are getting ready to spend a large amount of time away from the routines of school.  I want to encourage them to keep their minds in some sort of "school" like mentality.

When I first began teaching, I was in a low-income school and my gifts were usually school supplies that students could take home and use.  I've kept in that trend, even when my students aren't as needy because I want the students to be able to "play" school, just like real school.

The bucket contains the following:

• summer reading program information and story time information from our local public library
• sharpened pencil
• 2 sets of addressed, stamped envelopes and cards (addressed with the mailing address for myself and our class paraprofessional)
• a piece of sidewalk chalk
• wedding bubbles
• 2 bookmarks

This bucket list is available on Teachers Pay Teachers as a freebie.  (I'm so new to TpT as an uploader, so anything I upload is free.)  Enjoy!