Valentine's 2017

This is what I did for Valentines for the kiddos this year.

 Here's what I put inside.  No candy, just crackers.

The whales and bananas are from Hobby Lobby clearance last year.

Closing Week

Here we are in our final week.  Wow!  We enjoyed playing with favorite things and working in our yearbooks this week.

Last Day Pictures - One of the kiddos asked if we were going to do "last day of preschool" pictures like we did "first day of preschool" pictures.  Great idea!

Yearbooks - The kiddos were so excited to get their books this morning.  They eagerly "signed" each others books (by drawing pictures).

I like to make each kiddo (and myself) a yearbook with pictures of them self (beginning and end of the school year) and their classmates, class pictures...  I use the quick Japanese Stab Binding technique to create the books.

Science - Glow Sticks -  We were curious to see if a glow stick would be brighter in cold water or hot water.  We quickly discovered that a glow stick glows much brighter in warm water.  The kiddos liked switching the sticks back and forth between the cups.  The change occurred pretty quickly.  It was cool to see.

I saw this idea on this blog:  here.

Backyard - Parachute - We bounced balls off and then tried to keep them on, pretty fun!



Ms. Sara's Smart Cookies - They certainly are!  I was telling them this and a kiddo piped up and said:  "Yeah!  Cause I know dogs have 4 legs!"  Yep, they do!

I love these cookie necklaces!  The kiddos did too!  They were fairly quick to make and lots more fun than a certificate.  A circle of cardboard, with "frosting" and sprinkles (modge podge).

 

End of Year Gifts - I always like to send the kiddos out the door with a bit of love.   I find stuff at the Dollar Store mostly, but also all year long in the clearance bins.  Often I find my best stuff at the end of summer and just save it all school year long.

This year our Dollar Store had fans during Mother's day.  These were an instant hit with the kiddos in the dress up bin.  So I went right back to the store to snatch up enough for their gift bags.  The little bags I found 2 for $1 at Target.

 I've always got to give them a book!  Left:  A new find this spring and a quick classroom favorite.  Right:  This is my favorite book for my kiddos who are going off to Kindergarten.

End of Year Wrap Up

The end of the school year always comes with mixed feelings.  I'm guessing all teachers feel this way.  We're as excited about summer break as the kiddos are, but we sure are going to miss these sweet kiddos!

Yearbooks - Either because I'm crazy or I need another project to do (ha!) I make each of the kiddos a yearbook.  Their book includes a few class pictures from the year and favorite moments.  It also has a picture of each of their classmates with a space for each of them to draw something.  I also include their picture from the first day of preschool and one from the last month of preschool, so they can see how much they've grown.

I bind the journals myself, using the Japanese Stab Binding technique.  It's quick and easy and allows for any size I want to create as well as any number of pages.  I also create a larger one for myself so each of the kiddos can draw me a picture next to their photo.

The title page includes a picture of the kiddo (so with an easy flip, any kiddo can know whose book they've got) as well as the school year and name of the preschool (I'm a scrapbooker).

Certificate - I like to make a simple certificate to mark the year spent in preschool.  I don't do all the graduation stuff, just a simple celebration with the kiddos.  We eat cookies and work in each other's yearbooks.

Smart cookies - I found the sticker in the bottom corner at zazzle.com, here is the link: cookie

End of Year Gift - I love the chance to give a parting gift to my kiddos.  I hunt the clearance bins all year to find stuff.  Sometimes my best sucess is the dollar aisles at Target and Michael's or the Dollar Store.

My gift theme is always summer fun.  This year I found small sand toys at Target  and band-aids (Avengers and My Little Ponys).  I also love to include a book or two.  I get these from Scholastic with my bonus points earned all year (the kiddos heading off to kindergarten always get a special book about school).  Bubbles are a must (Dollar Store) and I found pinwheels on sale at Hobby Lobby.  My last fabulous find this year were snakes from a local museum gift shop.

Ms. Sara's Valentine 2015

This year for the kiddo's valentine, I found glitter glue in a 4 pack at Target's dollar spot.  Sweet!  Just $ 0.25 per kiddo!

Then I punched out a fry box (Stampin' Up) from scrap paper, added a few dollar store items (from packs of 6 or 12) and taa daa!  Valentines for less than a $1 a kiddos!

Some More on Week 1 of Christmas

Sibling Gifts - I love for the kiddos to be able to make gifts for their family and friends.  I want them to feel that thrill of giving a gift that you made yourself.  So for sibling gifts (and anyone else they want to make one for) this year we are making jingle necklaces. 

I tied a jingle bell (they choose the color) on a piece of festive twine ...

... and then they get to string on beads to decorate.  

 Then we slipped each necklace in an envelope for easier wrapping.

Then we wrapped each one and tucked them under our class tree.  They will take all their presents (and ornaments) home on the last day of class.

Doesn't our class tree look great with presents under it!

Reindeer Thumbprints - We made reindeer prints today.

 I showed the kiddos what we would be doing (above) and some of them created a herd!

More Parent Gift Plates - I always love seeing what the kiddos choose to draw....
This kiddo drew roller coasters.

This kiddos drew spiders (I labeled each one for him).

 This kiddos drew a snowman and a gingerbread man.

This kiddo drew a picture of his mom and dad holding hands.

Scented Pine Cone Ornaments - 

The Great Candy Cane Experiment - We wanted to discovered what happens to a candy cane as you eat it.  We put candy canes in bowls of water and watched them dissolve.  It took about fourty-five minutes to do so for them to fully disappear.  A much longer time than it took the kiddos to devour their candy canes.  Ha!

This is probably waaaay more pictures than you want.  But the process was so cool, so here ya go...

The kiddos were super excited when they finally dissolved.  They of course wanted to taste the water, ha.  They said it tasted good.

Santa Masks - These were so very cute especially when the kiddos poked their faces through!

Valentines - My gift to the kiddos

I decided to make the heart shape melted crayons that are all over pinterest right now, for my Valentine for the kiddos. 

My neighbor was cleaning out her basement and found a whole shoebox of crayons left over from her kiddos (who are now in college) and asked if I could use them.  YES!

I tucked the heart crayon I created into a valentine bag with a few candies.

Kiddo's mini Valentine boxes:

Chinese New Year - Take Out Box

Just for fun, I put together these take out boxes for the kiddos to take home at the end of the week.

 

I got the boxes, chop sticks, fortune cookies, and the snack all at our local Oriental Market.  The snake (because 2013 is the year of the snake) is from Ikea for fifty cents.

I just thought these would be a fun take home for the kiddos at the end of the week to help them celebrate on Sunday!