Classroom Volunteer Gift Ideas and a Freebie!

  At the holidays or as the school year is winding down, it's time to start thinking of ways to THANK your classroom volunteers for helping to make it such a great year. Maybe you are looking for some fresh gift-giving ideas. If so, I think this post is one you will enjoy!

I'm here today to share ideas for some fun, thoughtful and EASY gifts your volunteers will really appreciate (and a little FREEBIE too). 

If there is one thing I am good at... it's shopping! :) 
I've been on the hunt for my own special gifts that won't cost a bundle, but something my volunteers will really LOVE. Mostly, I just think about what I would like and hope they will too!!!

I visited Target, Hallmark, Walmart and Bath and Body Works for ideas. Take a peek at the rest of these finds, then read on to see how they might just be the PERFECT gifts!

After searching around on Pinterest and other places, I found some really cute themes for volunteer appreciation. 

Here they are... with a few gift ideas for each one:

• Burt's Bees Products
• Bee Household Items
• Bigby Gift Card
• Anything with Honey
• Flowers

• Garden Gloves
• Hand Lotion
• Hand Soap
• Gift Certificate for a Manicure
• Nail Polish

• Candy
• Baked Goods
• Gift Card: Dairy Queen or Orange Leaf
• Sweet Fragrance Items
• Cookie Bouquet
• Sweet Tea

• Stationery Set
• Personalized Notepad
• Blank Cards
• Pencil/Pen Set
• Recipe Cards and Box
• Planner

• Plant/ Hanging Basket
• Vase
• Garden Tools/ Planting Kit
• Flower Sugar Cookie
• Floral Themed Household Items
• Bouquet
• Flower Jewelry
• Floral Patterned Scarf

• Lemonade/Drink Mixes
• Tumbler
• Fruity Lip Balm
• Citrus Candle 
• Facial Mask
• Cooling Eye Mask
• Cutting Board/ Bar Items
• Sangria Mix

• Mug
• Starbucks Card
• Specialty Coffee Beans
• Cold Coffee Drinks

• Candle
• Body Lotion
• Room Spray
• Body Spray
• Shower Gel
• Diffusers
• Wallflowers

• Pitcher
• Beverage Mixes
• Outdoor Tableware
• Picnic Items
• Mason Jar Beverage Dispenser

No matter what your budget is... I bet your parent helpers would be thrilled to get any of these gifts! Some of these suggestions might even be great for your teaching partners as an end-of-the-year present.

No gift would be complete without a cute little TAG, so I made these Volunteer Thank You Gift Tags to share with all of you! They include each of the themes listed above.

Sometimes, we have MANY volunteers to thank like at a volunteer tea or luncheon. These black and white tags may be just what you need for an occasion like that! They can be copied on Astrobrights paper or cardstock.

You can get cutesy and tie them on with a ribbon or just tape them on your gift or gift bag.

Click {here} to download the freebie tags.

 Hope you like them!

For more ideas, including some REALLY inexpensive  ones, check out my Pinterest Board.

Feel free to Pin away here too and SAVE these ideas for when you need them!

Have a great finish to the school year everyone!

End of the Year Classroom Ideas: Second Grade Classroom Fun!

I seriously feel like I did one thousand things this week! I'm beat. But... it's our VERY LAST FRIDAY!!! Yippee! We had a rip roarin' good time this week with our end of the year fun stuff and actually worked in a few learning activities too! 

I was so excited to get home to check my mail all week. It's a long story, but there was no mail. At all. For weeks.

 But...look at what arrived just today!

Happy Happy! I purchased these pencil door signs from Tallahatchie Designs at Etsy to give as an end of the year gift for my teamies! I think they are going to love them. I love the colorful ribbons the best. They are all a little different.

If you read my last post, you know that we had something special planned each day for our End of the Year Extravaganza. 

Here are a few snapshots of our bubble day:

We also had a campout read-in, a movie day, an electronics day, outdoor picnic-style summer birthday celebrations, a princess on her way to the prom visit, a guest reader, an AR assembly and raffle, the PBIS prize cart, sibling visits and classroom switches and a board game day (just to name a few). WHEW!

A little at a time, while my second graders were having all of this fun, I was able to put the finishing touches on report cards, complete student records and get organized!

 I am feeling accomplished!

It might look like all fun and games, but the kiddos did actually do some work! One thing we did was to wrap up our science unit and put together our matter lunch bag books. This time I used red bags from Target! 

It's Pizza Box Keepsake time so we did that all week in stages. This year it all went so smoothly!  Three fifth grade students from my Science Olympiad team came down to assemble our boxes. Coloring the cover and completing the memory pages that go inside was done a little at a time during the week. On assembly day, I delegated project passing to a few students at a time. It was a snap since most projects actually had names on them this year! :)

So that's it for classroom stuff! 

Is anyone else completely exhausted??? It's hard work having fun (planning it too). This is my selfie version of "There is no tired like the end of the year teacher tired".   

Three more days folks and I am home free!

Favorite End of the Year Activities: Weekend Warriors Link Up

We all want our kiddos to leave us on the last day with the feeling that this was the BEST. YEAR. EVER. Special activities during the end of the year countdown will make the school year one the class will always remember!

 The Weekend Warriors are here this month with a linky party to share some really neat end of the year activities. I can't wait to visit all of the blogs to get some new ideas to round up for my own list of fun things to do!

I'm here to tell you about my favorite EOY craft, a few fun indoor and outdoor activities and some easy to throw together, last-minute things I like to do with my class! 

Since we have not started our end of the year celebration yet, I will be flashing back a little (or maybe a lot).

These activities have always been a HUGE hit!

Let's start with my all-time favorite end of the year project. This one is from a giant leap backward in time!
This is what we made one year when I taught first grade:

 It's a class keepsake pillowcase!

 Every child brought in a brand new pillowcase. I created the class photo, poem and student names template and printed them on iron-on transfer sheets. Parent helpers did the ironing.

 Each student added their fabric paint thumbprint.

 The poem says:

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I count these thumbprints instead of sheep. 

And always remember the friends I made,

In Mrs. Moriconi's first grade.

I loved this class so much! :)
 The firsties on my pillow are college kids now. 
Wow! Stop that clock!

Now for some activities...

Here in Michigan, we make outdoor plans but always have an inside plan B in case we get rained out.

I'll start with some OUTDOOR FUN!

A favorite on a hot sunny day is a water balloon toss. 

 I am SO bad at tying balloons so we call on parents to come in to fill them. We pile the balloons up outside in big party tubs.

 Partners start close together and with each toss take a step backward until SPLAT! Afterward, we fill the tubs with water and let the kiddos go crazy with those big dollar store water squirter tubes. The teachers run for cover!

Some years, we schedule the ice cream truck to stop at the playground during our second grade picnic. 
 Kona Ice is usually a favorite around here.

 

Speaking of picnics, this year it will be a hot dog cookout!
 On the menu will be chips, watermelon, beans, brownies for dessert and lemonade. YUMMY!
We are going to have a lemonade tasting day and use this cute packet by my friend Aimee at Primarily Speaking.

I am so excited to try out these fun learning activities with my class!

 We do try to keep the last days mostly academic!

INSIDE, we always have a movie day. While the students are enjoying the show, the teachers get things like printing report cards done!
 It's a lifesaver! 

The children go to a classroom of their choice. We open four theaters, each showing a different full-length feature. 
We made tickets for the kids so we can still keep a normal class size during this time. 
Everyone enjoys some popcorn, Sprite and a large movie sized candy pack.

On the second to last day, we clean everything including the desks!  

To make our shaving cream fun more academic, I call out spelling words, math problems or a category of things for the students to write or doodle. 

Shaving cream must be a directed activity or we end up with more of a mess than when we started!

After the desks are cleaned, they get stacked and pushed to the outer walls.

 This is the perfect set up for LAST DAY fun!

One of the many things we do is to make a giant circle and play a round of hot potato and pass the beach towel! 

 When the music stops, the person with the towel is out. 
They step to the outside of the circle and watch the rest of the game!
 No one even minds being out! 

Then, we have a hula hoop contest!

Before we say goodbye with HUGS or HIGH FIVES, we take a trip down memory lane with a slide show of photos from the year. 
Then, we Go Noodle to HAPPY while dismissals are called so the teacher doesn't cry!! 
I do anyway. Every year.

This year we have added some new festivities because... believe it or not... it is MAP testing week. So, we are keeping the activities shorter, and easy to plan and manage.
I am calling it our end of the year extravaganza!

On Monday, the students are invited to bring in their electronic devices from home. On that day, some siblings are coming to spend the day in our room. They earned a reward ticket to do so! 

 On Tuesday, we will sign beach balls and then play with them outside. If the yearbooks are here, we will sign them on this day too.

Wednesday is bubble day. I picked up some one dollar bubble wands from Walmart. We are also letting the students CHEW GUM IN CLASS!!! They are getting Blow Pops!

Thursday is a campout read-in. The students spread out blankets and read by flashlight. 

The others I told you about but switcharoo day is when the students rotate through all 4 of the second grade rooms and we each do a different activity like a game, craft or experiment. They love having a chance to see another room and mingle with other friends. We number the students 1-4 and assign a number to each room.

After I made this schedule, we decided on board game day instead of switcharoo. 
This involves NO planning on our part, so it's perfect!  

 I'm also thinking of making glitter dough with the kids! Call me crazy... but it's a tradition we ran out of time to do this year.

This would be before cleaning time and then the mess would just... disappear! 
The custodians will never know. Ha!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you got a few new ideas here to use or Pin to save! 
Now, head on over to see what the rest of my Warrior friends are sharing on their blogs.

Please link up with us or leave a comment here with your favorite activity too!

:)

An InLinkz Link-up

Volunteer Gift Ideas and FREE Printable Tags

Hello everyone!

I'm just popping in to let you know that I am blogging over at Primary Powers today!

I'm sharing some SUPER ideas for volunteer appreciation gifts and this little FREEBIE I think you will LOVE!

Click {here} to head on over!

Open House Ideas for Teachers: Weekend Warriors

Are you getting ready for an end-of-the-year open house? Maybe your school, like mine, welcomes parents with a back to school night in the fall. No matter when your open house is, this linky is for YOU! The Weekend Warriors are joining together this month to bring you all sorts of helpful and creative ideas to make your parent night *SPECTACULAR*! 

 I am here to share lots of ideas that I hope you can use for either a fall OR end of the year parent night. Be sure to PIN these to your Pinterest board and SAVE these ideas for whenever you need them! You can find all of the links to the freebies and projects shown here at the end of the post!

You're having company! Of course, you want your classroom to be as tidy, organized, colorful and cheerful as possible. Create a welcoming environment and a great first impression! It sets the stage for a wonderful evening! Try turning on a few lamps for mood lighting or getting a fragrance plug-in to make your room feel more like a home. 

Before parents enter the classroom, the first thing they may see is a bulletin board in the hallway or outside of your room.
 Here are two cute and very easy to prep ideas! 

Students might write about a few favorite things they learned during the year! 

For a back to school bulletin board, have students write a recipe for a successful year! 

 Once visitors arrive at your classroom, invite them in with a welcome sign! 

On a table near the door, have handouts, sign up sheets and other important things like donation requests :) available. I copy these signs on bright cardstock and display them on an easel stand.

Avoid awkward moments for yourself and parents that arrive early by giving them something to do! Parents can write down their hopes for the year, complete a Thinking Map about their child, or make a happy note or bookmark to give them. 

On your table or at the student desks, you may want to have out some memory booklets from current students or former students. In the past, I have had a few students from the previous year make an extra copy to have out at open house in the fall. Parents will love to see the expectation for work quality by exiting students and it also gives them a peek at the fun times ahead!

Another way to give parents a peek at the year is to have a photo slide show running on the SMART Board as parents enter!

  I set out classroom photo albums of years past too so parents get a sense of my teaching style and the activities I like to plan. I even decorate one of these All About Me Tee posters from Really Good Stuff so they can get to know the teacher better too!

Open house is the time for kiddos to SHINE! Want a creative way to showcase student work at parent night? 

 Have your students make a pizza box portfolio!

 Inside these boxes are all of the special projects and work samples that my students are very proud of! The boxes are a super keepsake that parents just LOVE! 

 If you are one of the lucky teachers (HA!) that gets to give an informational presentation, you might like the help of a PowerPoint to display on your SMART Board. Sometimes the excitement of it all can cause an enormous mental block, so this is a nice way to summarize information in a very professional way. 

With a PowerPoint, it is also easy to print handouts for parents that were unable to attend the session. This file is EDITABLE, so you can type in what you need to include. I already typed in a bunch of ideas in the slides to get you started! 

 Even though you are organized and all set with super ideas, you might still get the open house jitters especially if you have to SPEAK (choke)!!! The SINGLE most important thing to remember during any kind of parent night is to just be wonderful YOU- knowlegeable, enthusiastic, genuine and sincere.

Everyone loves a gift! At the end of your evening, send your visitors home with a small token of your appreciation. You can search my Pinterest board for some cute ideas for things like a bag of Pop Rocks or popcorn to thank them for "popping in". 

 But why not also send something along that will reinforce the learning in your classroom or for use over the summer??? Consider sending practice kits home with parents at open house. You can prep some game boards, flash cards, sight word lists and all sorts of goodies and just bag them up! Throw in a fun Smencil, a cute pencil sharpener, a book, a bookmark, some dice, game markers and you have a SUPER thank you gift!

Teachers Pay Teachers, Teachers Notebook and Educents are great places to find materials for your grade level. Check out places like Geddes or Oriental Trading Company for fun trinkets for your take home bags! I guarantee they will be a big hit!

I like to give my parents a little business card or fridge magnet with my classroom phone number and email so they can easily find my info when they need to contact me. 

I made these cute pencil shaped business cards from clipart by Creative Clips and just typed in my contact info. You can design your own cute cards at Vistaprint. 

  Wrap up the evening and leave your guests with something to think about like a special quote, a touching poem or... a bit of humor! 
 I'm sure you've seen this funny before...

SMILES!
 So when your parent night comes around, KEEP CALM and HAVE FUN! I always have to remind myself that parents don't really care so much about the fluff, or the specifics of the curriculum as much as they want to leave with the feeling that their child will be or has been loved, challenged and excited about school! 

    Thanks a bunch for stopping by for this edition of the Weekend Warriors! I hope that you found some new ideas here to make your open house a *night to remember*! 

Links to Resources

 You can find all of the printables to make a Pizza Box Portfolio {here}.

You can find The Write Stuff pencil craftivity by A Cupcake for the Teacher {here}.
Download Cooking up a Great Year by Miss Kindergarten Love {here}.
The parent wishes signs and slips from Funky First Grade Fun can be found {here}.
Grab my free welcome sign {here}!
  Open House table signs freebies are {here}!
You can download the Back to School Night PowerPoint presentation {here}!
 Free photo DVD covers can be downloaded {here}.
My blank bookmark patterns are {here}.
Pop Rocks treat signs from Cupcake Cutiees Party can be purchased {here}.
All About Me posters are available {here}.