Fun in First

A Teaching Blog by Jodi Southard

End of the Year

Summer Learning Chain

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I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking towards the end of the school year.  I always like to send something home with my students to keep their little minds working over the summer.  I have sent home activity calendars in the past, but wanted to make it a little more exciting this year.
I came up with the idea of a Summer Learning Chain using Astrobrights colored paper.
I printed a list of summer activities onto different colors of paper.  I used a huge variety of colors including my favorites of Blast-Off Blue, Solar Yellow, and Fireball Fuschia.
Each page has a different activity.  This makes it easy to cut and stack the activities for each student.
After they are printed, I can stack up all of the papers and cut the activities into strips using the paper cutter.
After the strips are cut, I will place a stack into a baggie for each student.
The students will be able to take these home on the last day of school.  Throughout the summer, they can pull out a strip and complete the activity.
As they complete an activity, they can tape or glue the strip into a circle and create a chain of activities.
Students will be able to see how long they can make their learning chain.
You can easily make up your own activities, but if you would like to download my set of FREEBIE activities, click HERE.
What a fun, and colorful, learning activity for this summer!
 This is a sponsored post. I received payment, trade and/or products from Astrobrights in exchange for promoting.  However, all opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I love.


End of the Year Book

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The end is near!  Can you believe it?!
I made this End of the Year booklet that’s a perfect keepsake for your students to complete during the last week of school.
 
I included a version for Kindergarten, as well as two separate versions for 1st and 2nd grade.  (One very similar to the Kindergarten version, and one with more space to allow your students to do more writing.)
 
You can check out this booklet by clicking on the picture below.
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/End-of-Year-Book-1856818
 


We’re Done!

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It’s officially summer break!  It’s Monday morning and I am not at work.  I got up early this morning, went on a run, watched the morning show, and drank coffee.  Pure joy!
I just wanted to do a quick update of how our school year ended.  Many of these pictures have been posted on my Facebook page or Instagram.
You can follow me here: {Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest}
The last week of school almost always involves very little sleep and lots of Walmart trips.  Please tell me that I’m not alone in this!
I spent two evenings ironing our end of the year t-shirts. {This is included in my End of Year packet.}
On the last day of school, I let the students go around and sign each other’s shirts.

 

I also put the character pinwheels along our sidewalk that morning.  I blogged about these here.  They looked so colorful and were a great way to brighten up the sidewalk.  It was REALLY windy though and some of them started to blow away.  I took them down before lunch so I didn’t have to chase any into the street.
We also completed Cara’s Memory Book.
I loved what she wrote for #5.  She is right too…she can definitely read fast like a cheetah!
On the last day, we had a classroom award ceremony.  We used Melissa’s Candy Bar Awards.
They were SO cute and easy!
Here are some of my firsties walking the red carpet to receive their award and character pinwheel.
I cannot even begin to tell you how much I will miss this class!  I had some amazing kiddos!!!
But, now I’m packed up and ready to enjoy summer.

End of the Year Gift Idea

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I know many of you will be finishing up this week.  We still have one more week.  The end is near.  Even though I am definitely ready for summer, it is always bittersweet to end another school year.
A couple of weeks ago, I was at Dollar Tree picking up some things for our Mother’s Day celebration.  I came across the pinwheels.  I have purchased these in the past and used them for reading.
This time I wanted to do something different with the pinwheels.  I decided to buy one for each of my students.  I wrote each child’s name on one of the petals.  Then on the remaining petals, I wrote character traits of that child.

I plan on putting these in the ground by the sidewalk outside of our door on the last day of school.  Then students will be able to take them home at the end of the day.  I think they’ll love reading about each other.  It’s a fun, feel good gift for your students.
 


Wrapping Up the End of the Year

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Today is my first official day of summer vacation!  We had a really busy weekend.  We had my daughter’s 5th birthday party on Saturday and then drove to Indianapolis yesterday for my cousin’s graduation party.  My girls are exhausted and they are actually still sleeping {at 9:15.}  That’s amazing!
Last week, we only had our students for 3 days.  {Friday was a teacher play work day.}  We had a very relaxed week and just did some fun activities and a lot of cleaning.  First graders love to help organize and clean.  They are so helpful at the end of the year.
We completed many of the things included in my End of the Year Activites packet.  My favorite was our class t-shirts that I have each of the students sign.

They love these.  The poem for the iron-on transfer is included in my packet.
We also completed this End of the Year Word Search.
Click on the picture above to download for FREE!
We also had a lot of fun drawing quick pictures to review our school year.
Again, just click on the picture above to download for FREE!
Last Wednesday, my brother came in to read to my class.  He is in the Air Force.  Him and his wife were in town last week.  He is being deployed overseas and leaves today 🙁 
My class loved having him read to them.  “Wow, a real-life Air Force Man” was my favorite reaction.
Then he stayed and suprised my daughter {the birthday girl} at school.
I hope you are enjoying your week.  I know I will.  Yeah for summer!  I have lots of things on my to-do list for this blog this summer.  I’m excited to get back into it, since I’ve been kind of absent for the last month. By the way, is anyone else having issues commenting on my blog?  I have had a couple people email me letting me know that it takes them to Facebook when they try to comment.  Any idea why?  Please send me an email if you have any suggestions or if you aren’t able to comment as well.  Thanks so much!

Summer Activity Calendar and End of the Year Activities

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Last year I posted a summer activity calendar.  I copied this calendar and sent it home with my students at the end of the school year.  I have had many requests to do another one for this year.  The activities are the same, but I have updated the dates.  You can download it for FREE below.
I also wanted to remind you of my End of the Year Activity Packet that I posted last year.
You can check it out by clicking below.