Another Year Is Over!

My students give me their favorite thing about Kindergarten and I write it up on the board.  This is one of the decorations for our graduation.

Yesterday was officially my last day of the school year.  This year has went by so quickly.  I returned to school with 3 weeks left after my maternity leave.  It was bittersweet!  Loved seeing my kiddos but hated leaving my lil.  

We always have a Kindergarten Graduation the last week of school.  Each K teacher puts it on in their classroom.  I like this because I can add what I want to my graduation.  Here are some of the things I do.  It seems like my classroom parents really enjoy it.

First I have my kiddos sit in the middle room so their parents can come in and sit.  Then once I know that every student has someone there, I play the graduation march song and the students parade out.  Once all the students are out and lined up at the front of the classroom, I welcome the parents and introduce the Kindergarten graduating class.  Then I tell the parents we have a poem to perform for them.

KINDERGARTEN Poem

From Little Giraffes.

K is for Kindergarten---hip, hip, hooray.
I is for imagination we use everyday.
N is for numbers--we know one, two, three.
D is for drawing, the best you can see!
E is for exercise to keep our bodies strong.
R is for reading books all day long.
G is for good friends. We made more each day.
A is for the alphabet we know how to say.
R is for remembering everything we learned.
T is for treats every Friday we earned.
E is for excitement. This year we've had some.
N is for next year. First grade here we come.

Each student or each pair of students say their part.  Then at the end of it all the students say, Yay!! First Grade!!!!

Next, we sing First Grade, First Grade.

This year I used this version, but there are different ones out there.

After we sing, then we sing another song. 

Make new friends,
but keep the old.
One is silver,
the other is gold.

Next, I have the students sit down on the carpet so they are nice and close to pass out awards.  I always start with the diplomas first.  I call each student up and shake their hand.  Some of the parents want a picture too so we pose for the camera.

After all the diplomas are passed out I pass out some other awards I have for them.

 Candy Bar Awards.  

Then, I play a slideshow that I make on my Macbook (iMovie) showing different fun learning adventures we had all year.  The parents usually need a tissue for this. 

 This year I used these songs: We're Going to be Friends, My Wish from Rascal Flatts, Linus and Lucy (LOVE Snoopy), and Let Them Be Little.

 

Next I go over their folder I make for each student. 

Inside the folder:

Grade Card
Make New Friends Poem with class pictures

Data Graphs from all year

Slideshow DVD

Then, I go over what I am giving to each students for my end of the year gift.

Go to Ketchen's Kindergarten to print the awesome tag.

You can get the tag from A Cupcake for the Teacher.  Thanks Teri for creating these.

Then I always give each students a penny.  This penny has the year they graduate Kindergarten on it.  There is a poem that talks about why I give them a penny.  I think it is super adorable.  I tape the penny to the poem.  I read the poem out loud to the students.

Last, I have another poem I read to the students.  I thank them for coming and allowing me to teach their child.

The graduation is always bittersweet!!  

On another note...

I saw this in the canal behind my house!  We have lived here for over 2 years and I haven't seen one in the canal.

Watch out! 

Instagram: wolfelicious.

End of the Year Ideas

I can't believe this year is already coming to an end.  It has went so fast and this time of year seems to fly by. We (each kindergarten teacher) puts on their own graduation in their classroom.  I like the way we do it because I can add my own tweaks to my graduation for my students.  We always sing 1st Grade, 1st Grade sung to the tune of New York, New York.  Find the song here.  Then I always have the students say a poem.  It is the spelling of kindergarten and each kid or group of kids get a letter and say a line to match the letter.  I can't remember where I got this idea from, but I love it.  It starts out saying K is for Kindergarten, hip hip hooray.  Then we sing Make New Friends while they are holding on to one another.  Then I added a Readers Theater called Hello and Goodbye that groups of students read.  Once that is all finished then I pass out the diplomas and other awards.

I have seen the candy bar awards before and liked them but I have never given them out before.  So, this year I thought since my class is SO incredible I would give out the candy bar awards.  I purchased them from TPT. 

I passed out graduation hats (coloring page) for the students to color.  Then they cut them out.  I then printed an 8 by 10 picture of each student and glued the hat on.  Then I got them laminated for each student.

I always try to give my students a little of something at the end of the year.  This is what I decided on.

I gave them a bucket fill with stuff.  On the shovel I wrote "I Dig You."

Inside the bucket...

 

Puzzle with a tag that says, "You have all the pieces you need for first grade." Graduation tattoos, graduation necklace, graduation ball, school id, Make New Friends Poem with all the students on it, ice cream bubbles, cut and paste graduation activity, and a dvd of the slideshow.  They also received their flower paintings to take home that we were working on in class. 

Also in the bucket is this orange piece of paper.  It has a penny taped to it of the year they are graduating.  The paper has a poem on it.  I got this idea from another teacher (sorry I don't remember who) that used it for graduating seniors.  I switched the ending around a little bit for my kinders.

 

 I also make a slideshow of all the pictures I take throughout the year.  I have learned to cut down on the pictures I take because I don't want the slideshow to be too long.  I then burn the slideshow and the other movies we made for the parents. 

Well, this was my end of the year graduation for my class.  What kind of things do you do?