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End of the Year

Your Cheat Sheet for Parent Teacher Conferences

Parent teacher conferences are coming up and they can be a little nerve-wracking. When you share so much with your students’ parents, you never know how they’ll respond. Just remember that as long as you come across as wanting the best for their child, they’ll appreciate whatever you say. You are a team!

I like to be as organized as I can and get everything ready about a week before conferences. We have to put in grades and get report cards printed, find examples of student work and get together any other important resources for parents so this time can be pretty busy! The sooner you’re organized, the better!

Here are some tips I’ve learned that will help you during parent teacher conferences.

Format of the Parent Teacher Conference

At my school, we have 15 minutes with the parents. I like to do most of the talking for 10 minutes, then take questions and then we bring the student in to showcase some of their work!

First 10 Minutes:

Explain Report Card

I use this time to explain the report card. This is their first report card so I explain standards based grading and what they’ll see on the report card. I also highlight a few of the standards in each subject category.

Discuss a Few Standards

I like to highlight what we will be learning this year in kindergarten. Since this is the only face to face meeting we have with parents (unless we schedule something else) I like to explain some of the learning they’ll see within the year.

Tell Student’s Reading Level

We use Fountas and Pinnel to assess students’ reading levels so I mention what level their child is. Most of the time, students at this point in the year are only a level AA (pre-reader) or an A. I mention where we want students at the end of kindergarten as well.

Give Parents Resources to Help at Home

I like to print out some resources of how parents can help their child at home in reading or sight words and explain how important it is that they help their child with their learning at home so it reinforces what we do in class.

Final 5 Minutes:

Time for Questions

I give parents time to ask any question they have that they might not want their child to hear, before the child comes in.

Student Joins

When the student joins, he or she shows their parent a few things they are proud of. I like to have their writing folders at the table because it shows their growth from the beginning of the year. I like having students run this part because they get so excited to share with their family what they’ve done in school!

Tips to Help Parent Teacher Conferences Run Smoothly

Make Note of Key Talking Points

It’s important to know what you are going to talk about in the conference. That’s why, I like to make note of what I want to be sure to say (both positive and negative) during the conference.

This year, I’m going to use Stephanie’s (Teaching Little Leaders) Parent Teacher Conference Forms. She includes everything you need to prep for your parent teacher conference! Check it out below.

Keep Everything for the Conference in a File

I like to use files for each student because they’re easy to pull and keep everything safe and in one spot. When you have so many conferences, it’s best to just have to pull one file instead of a bunch of different forms or documents.

*I even like to put a post-it on the front of the folder with the child’s name and when the conference is. Then, I put them in order by day and time.

Keep the Student Occupied

If your school is like mine and students join the conference at the end of the meeting, give them something to do while you’re meeting with their parents. I like to keep books in the hallway next to a chair so the student can sit and read.

Here are my tips and tricks for parent teacher conferences and I hope you find something that helps you out! What have you learned during your conferences? Comment below!

Create an Unforgettable Memory Book that your Students will Cherish Forever

As the end of the year charges full steam ahead, teachers are scrambling to find an end of the year gift for their students. Although, I love seeing all the super cute gifts and clever puns that teachers come up with for end of the year gifts, I’ve found that a memory book is the most meaningful gift that a student can take home at the end of the year. It is also extremely easy to create!

Memory books are such an amazing way for students to look back on their year, no matter what grade they’re in. This project is very low stress and super easy because I’ve been creating my students’ memory books from the beginning of the year. Each month, I keep special art projects, important writing or pictures that will eventually be bound into a book.

Memory Books

Organization

To stay organized throughout the year, I have a special drawer with files for each of my students. These files hold each student’s work that will eventually turn into their memory book. I start the files off with their first day of school writing and their drawing of themselves on their first day in kindergarten. Every piece of work I add goes behind the next. That way, when I go to make the memory book, I just pull the work from inside the file and all I have to do is bind it!

What’s Inside?

I try to keep at least one art project from each month. Mainly, these art pieces go along with whatever holiday or season we’re celebrating that month. I also include my students’ Star of the Week letter from their parents and any important writing or drawings. The front cover of their memory book is two pictures of the student: one picture on the first day of kindergarten and one on the (semi) last day of kindergarten. Of course I can actually do the last day or else the books wouldn’t be ready. I love using this as the front cover because you get to see how much they’ve truly grown.

Tips

Start saving art or important work right away
Face all the work the same direction one after another so it’s in order
Glue a background paper to any small art to make binding easier
Laminate the front and back covers to make book sturdier

You may need…

(Affiliate Links: by purchasing from these links I earn a slight commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my business.)

Do you create a memory book for your students to take home at the end of the year? I’d love to hear about your process! Leave a comment below.

My 10 Favorite Activities in Our Kindergarten Year

Kindergarten is a magical age where students walk into your classroom not having a clue what school is about and leaving knowing all the basics that will help them flourish in their next years. They come in maybe knowing one or two people and leave with a bunch of friends. They make leaps and bounds because they’ve had you as their teacher.

This year is my 4th year teaching kindergarten. Over these four years, I’ve found that I look forward to certain activities that I do consistently in my classroom. These activities are more than just teaching students the basics. They teach students to be kind, to celebrate milestones and to learn more about each other. Read what my 1o favorite activities are and let me know what your favorite activity is in the comments below!

In no particular order…

My 10 Favorite Activities in Our Kindergarten Year

1. Nellie

Nellie is a stuffed cow that my students take turns bringing home for a week. During their week with her, they take pictures and write in a journal all that they did with her. When they bring her back, they share what they did, with their classmates. After they share, their classmates get to ask questions about their time together. Then, Nellie goes home with someone else. I love this activity because I get a glimpse into my student’s home life. I get to see what kinds of sports practices they go to or if they have movie nights with their family. Learning even just a little something about my students helps me connect with them on another level.

2. Field Trip to the Farm

Every October, I take my students to a local pumpkin farm. During this field trip, we get to ride a tractor, learn about a pumpkin life cycle and pick out our very own pumpkin to take home! This is always our first field trip of the year and students are so excited! For many, this is their first field trip ever. I love seeing their bright eyes as they hunt for the perfect pumpkin to take home.

6 Things You Must Do Before a Field Trip

3. Classroom Birthday Celebrations

In my class, I celebrate birthdays in a special way by reading an important moment that has happened each year they’ve been alive. You can read more about my birthday celebration in this post.

4. Guided Math Centers

Some of my favorite times in the classroom are when I’m meeting with a small group, helping them out however best fits their needs. If you’ve read any of my previous posts you’ll know how important guided math is to me. If you want to read more about how this looks in my classroom or how to get started in your own classroom, click the links below.

Everything You Need to Know to Launch Guided Math in Your Classroom

How to Write Differentiated Lesson Plans to Use During Guided Math

Guided Math Centers: What are students doing when they’re not meeting with me?

How to Assess Student Learning During Guided Math (Standards Based Grading)

All Your Guided Math Questions Answered: A Collaborative Post with Sam Ripley

5. Elfie Kindness Letters

During Christmas time, I use Elf on the Shelf to encourage acts of kindness. Each day, Elfie, our classroom elf leaves us letters next to whatever crazy thing he’s doing! The letter gives us a challenge or task that we can do that day to spread kindness during the Christmas season.

6. 100th Day of School Celebration

I love having any excuse for a celebration and the 100th day of school is such a perfect day to celebrate your students! Every year, the first and second grade classes and I team up to have a huge 100th day celebration. We each have 3 centers in our room that go along with “100” and students rotate through each of our rooms. This is always a day where students feel so proud of all they’ve learned in the 100 days they’ve been in school.

7. Guided Reading Centers

Like guided math, I absolutely love my guided reading time where I get to meet with students at different reading levels. During this time, I get to really tailor the lessons to whatever support or challenge the students need. I love seeing the lightbulb go on during this time and being able to continually encourage growth no matter what level.

How to Create the Perfect Guided Reading Lesson

8. Hatching Chicks

Each spring, as part of my animal unit, I hatch chicks in my classroom. This has become a huge tradition and something that kindergarteners hear about from siblings and friends long before they come to my class. It’s such an amazing experience for students as they get to learn all about the life cycle and what living things need and then get to witness a live chick hatching in their very own classroom.

Hatching Chicks in the Classroom: Everything You Need to Know

9. Kindergarten Projects

This year, I gave my students a monthly project. These projects went along with some sort of theme for the month. For example, during their September project, students wrote an “All About Me” book. In April, our theme was culture so students learned about their culture and shared it with the class. These projects were so important because it got families involved in their child’s learning and through them, we were able to learn more about each other. Students were also able to show their creative sides and practice public speaking during their presentations.

An Inside Look at Kindergarten Projects Throughout the Year

Projects: An Alternative to Homework

10. End of the Year Alphabet Countdown

Last but not least, our end of the year alphabet countdown is one of my favorite memories each year that I teach kindergarten. Each day, we do something that goes along with a letter of the alphabet. For example, for D we had Dino Day and made dinosaur fossils out of salt dough! This countdown is a perfect way to celebrate the end of kindergarten and the transition to first grade!

An Inside Look at my End of the Year Alphabet Countdown

Do you have any favorite activities you do year after year? I’d love to hear about them! Comment below.

Prep for Next School Year with These 6 Organizational Hacks

As the end of the school year is approaching, teachers begin to think about next school year. New students, new decor and a brand new start to hopefully having your best year yet!

I don’t know about you but I spend way too much time over the summer prepping for the new year instead of taking the time to relax and enjoy the time off. These 6 organizational hacks have saved me time over the summer because I can do them before the current year is up. Here’s how I prep for next school year, while finishing up the current school year.

6 Organizational Hacks to Prep for Next School Year

Have Students Help with the Clean Up

My students love the opportunity to feel like adults and to be given any type of responsibility, including cleaning. I use this to my advantage when beginning to clean my classroom for the next school year. First, I have them clean out all of the things they use the most. They clean their chair bags, pencil boxes and tables. Then, once they’ve shown me everything is completely clean, I give them wipes (baby wipes work well) and give them a section of the room to wipe everything down in. They wipe down the bookcases (these get pretty dusty during the year), books, furniture, toys, everything! Your room gets clean and the best part is, they enjoy helping!

Pull Labels off

I label a lot of things in my classroom with my student’s names. Things like student files, bucket fillers, pencil boxes, etc. I take the time right before the year is up to take these labels off so I can reuse these materials for my next class.

Label Any New Materials for Next Class

This brings me to… label any of those materials for your next class. I’m really lucky and get my class list before the summer begins. Of course there are changes, but for the most part, my class is what it is by the end of the school year. For those of you who get your class list a month before or weeks before (does this happen?) you’ll have to hold off on this step until you get your list. However, you’ll be all ready to label because you’ve already pulled off the previous labels!

Organize, Tidy Up, Fill Up Your Teacher Toolbox

A teacher toolbox is all the craze for keeping your supplies organized. If you haven’t created one, read this post about the top teacher DIY projects to make over summer. And, if you don’t have one, this hack will work with wherever you keep your teacher supplies!

During the school year, I get a little lazy and tend to throw things where they don’t belong. This hack will take care of all the stuff that isn’t where it belongs! Take some time to go through your teacher toolbox (or however you organize supplies) and put things where they should be, tidy it up and fill it up! Filling your supplies up at the end of the previous year for the next year will be immensely helpful when returning after the summer! You already probably spend too much money over the summer to make your classroom perfect, don’t spend on supplies as well. Take care of that before the previous year is up!

Clean Out Old Files and Things You Don’t Use

Did you switch curriculum? Or figure out that something doesn’t work for you or your classroom? Have things you don’t use? Don’t hang on to it! Throw it out or give it to someone else! Teachers are known for hanging on to anything and everything because it may be of use sometime down the road. This sounds a little like hoarding to me… I am guilty of it as well and need to be better about letting go of things that I don’t use anymore.

Confession: we switched math curriculums two years ago and I still have files for the lessons from that curriculum, eek! These things take up valuable space in our rooms, so just get rid of it (or ask other teachers if they need any of it!)

Dedicate One Day for Students to Bring Remaining Work Home

My last hack is to dedicate one day for students to take everything home! I give my students a date to bring in a brown (or large) bag. This is the day that they take everything home. They take home their work, their art, their supplies, everything. Make sure you do this on a day where you know the rest of the days they won’t need anything. I do this usually the second or third to last day of school. We have so many extra activities those last few days that we’re mostly outside and don’t need our crayons or pencils anymore.

Those are my 6 organizational hacks that help me prep for next year and have saved me lots of time over the summer. If you do it now, you won’t have to worry about it later! What do you do to get ready for next school year?

An Inside Look at my End of the Year Alphabet Countdown

The ideas that teachers get from each other is beyond amazing! This year, my class participated in an Alphabet Countdown to count down the days to the end of our school year. I found this idea on Instagram through a brilliant teacher author, Alyssa Barnes from Mrs. Barnes Bunch (click here for the link).

This countdown is not only a student favorite but also a teacher favorite! Each day, my students looked forward to the letter of the day and I enjoyed getting activities set up for them so we could end our year together in the best way possible. When you buy this countdown from TpT, you get a version that is completely ready to print out and use and you also get a version where you can edit what the letter of the day is for. At my school, students wear uniforms so I took out the free dress days and substituted those days for another activity.

Alphabet Countdown:

A – is for Art. My students love doing art but rarely get the chance to be creative and do their own art project because usually they are structured lessons. For our first activity in our countdown, I had students use Q-tips as brushes and they got to paint whatever they wanted! I love the different things they come up with!

B – is for Bubbles. Bubble party! If you do not have a bubble machine.. invest in one NOW!

C – is for Chalk. This set on amazon was a great deal and came very quick through my Prime membership.

D – is for Dino. For our dino day, I set out scrap paper and students got to create any kind of dinosaur. This activity was one of my least favorites and I wish I had a different “D” word or I changed the activity. I’ve already gone on Pinterest to find different activities for next year.

E – is for Experiment. For our science experiment, we (tried) to create crystals from Borox and hot water. My example worked when I did a trial run but when the kids tried, the “crystals” didn’t stick. I really enjoyed doing this activity but it’s one where you need lots of help. My assistant teacher and I were running all over the place.

F – is for Flashlight. Turn off the light and have some fun! Some of my students made shadow puppets.. others just walked around with their light.

G – is for Game Day. Students brought in different games and during our free play time we got to play games that everyone brought in.
H – is for Helping Hands. To use our helping hands, we picked up trash around the school. It was actually surprising how much trash we found. My kinders were really happy to contribute to making the school more beautiful.

I – is for Ice Cream. Need I say more? Yum!

J – is for Jokes. Kindergarten jokes are either really funny or you don’t understand them at all. However, all the other kindergarteners seem to think they are hilarious!
K – is for Kindness. This activity was one of my favorites and really showed not only how kind these kids are, but how much they’ve grown throughout the year. For this, I wrote each students name on a large piece of construction paper. Then, students rotated the papers around the room and wrote something nice (or drew something) on each students paper. By the time we were finished, students had a big collage of all these nice comments from their friends. It melted my heart watching a child write that they liked another students smile.

L – is for Lemonade. I bought the frozen lemonade concentrate and students helped me add water and stir.

M – is for Move it, Move it Dance Party. Kidz Bop!

N – is for Neon. For our neon day, students got some glow sticks and made different shapes and accessories with them. We also had a dance party for some added fun!

O – is for Outdoor Adventure. Something I love most about teaching kindergarten is their natural curiosity to everything around them. I gave my students a magnifying glass and set them free on the school yard. Students loved looking at their play structure through a different lens, literally.

P – is for Popcorn
Party. Another crowd favorite!

Q – is for Quiet Time. A teacher favorite. One of my favorite life savors when students need some serious chill out time is the meditations for kids on YouTube. During our Quite Time, I put one of these meditations on and students got to relax and listen while on the comfort of their pillow.

R – is for extra Recess.

S – is for new Seats. I let my kindergarteners pick their own seats for the end of the year [insert shock face here] We’ll see how this goes…

T – is for Treasure Tell. Students brought a special item to show and tell to their friends. Then students could ask questions about their item. Kindergarten questions: “I have something like that at home…” – Me: “That’s a comment, not a question!!” (after almost every “question”).

U – is for Under the Table. Again, am I really doing this with kindergarteners?

V – is for Victory. During this day, we played four corners and some other games outside.

W – is for minute to Win it. I had to find a way to incorporate my favorite Minute to Win it Games! Read more about this here for on my End of the Year post.

X – is for X-change autographs. HAGS

Y – is for Year End Sale. Cleaning day aka my favorite day! This is when we take home all our supplies, workbooks, art, work, etc… Students also grab wipes and wipe EVERYTHING in sight.

Z – is for Zip your backpacks and Zoom off to summer. Teachers will be zooming to their couch to binge watch tv and drink wine (and not feel guilty about it because we can sleep in! Hurray!)

Do you count down to the end of the year?

End the Year Strong with These 5 Resources

May is one of my favorite times in the school year. May is the month when you can taste how close summer is but you are also enjoying the time you have left with your babies. It’s the time when you reflect on where your students were when they came to you and how much you’ve taught them in order for them to be successful in their next year. This is the time where you come out of your January through March slump when days just feel like they drag on forever and you can’t even imagine the end of the school year. May is when our California hot, sunny days last into the evening and when everyone’s mood seems a bit brighter. As our year comes to a close, I often think about how blessed I am to be doing what I love and making a difference in little human lives.

Throughout the few years I’ve been teaching, I’ve compiled a bunch of end of the year activities to end the year as strong as I started and to enjoy the last bit of time I have with my class. Here are some of the resources and activities I’ve found throughout my journey.

Activities for the end of the school year:

1. Memory Book – Throughout the school year, I keep various art projects (specifically monthly holiday art projects) and writing pieces to eventually create a memory book for my students to take home with them at the end of the year. I also take a picture of them with my “First day of kindergarten” frame on the first day and the (close to) “Last day of kindergarten” frame around the last day of kindergarten. These pictures, art and writing show their growth throughout their year in kindergarten. I bind it all up with my fancy binding machine and give it to them on the last day of school.

2. ABC Countdown – While I was scrolling through Instagram, I found a fantastic resource called the Alphabet Countdown. Each day represents a different letter and we count down all the way to “Z” where we Zoom off to summer! This teacher has created one countdown that you can take and use right away and created an editable version where you can add your own days! At my school, students wear uniforms so I changed a couple of the dress up days to make it work for my school. So far, my students are loving this countdown and it has given us something to look forward to as we end our year together.

3. Awards – Each year, I go through these awards I purchased on TpT and give an award to each student in my class. We have a whole ceremony where I describe the accomplishments of the student and present their award. They look so excited and proud when they hear their name and everyone claps for them.

4. Minute to Win it Games – These games are a SUPER fun way to end your year. I usually do these in the last week or so. This is a free resource from TpT which makes it even better. My favorite games to play are “Cookie Face”, “M&M Race”, “Flip it” (your kids will thank you when they’re in college for this one) and “Bouncer” (another college favorite).

5. Cleaning Day – I’m always so amazed when I ask my kids to get a wipe and clean because it’s like once they have a wipe in their hands they want to clean every surface. My kids even get in fights about who is cleaning what area. So they love cleaning with wipes but when I ask them to clean up their toys from free play or put their supplies away it looks like a disaster area – it’s ridiculous! Anyway, once we’ve put all our workbooks, contents of our pencil boxes and whatever else children hide in their chair storage, I get out the wipes and let them go to town on everything in the classroom.

How do you end the year in your classroom?