How do you celebrate Birthdays in your classroom? Here are some of my ideas from Teaching Heart. To view more, go to:
http://www.teachingheart.net/Birthdayunit.html
Would love to hear your ideas in the comments.
Remembering Birthdays of Our Classmates:
Give each student a birthday cake cutout. Have them write their name and birthday date on the cake. Place tape on the back of each cake. Organize the birthdays in order on the board. Next, give each a large candle. Have them write the birthdays in order on the candle. Explain that candles burn. When each student celebrates a birthday the students cross out the name on their candle. This candle can be kept in the MOOSE notebook.
How we celebrate:
Discuss Traditions. Tell the children about the birthday traditions at your home. Have the students think of a tradition that is done on birthdays at their house. If possible have them find out where the tradition came from and how it got started.
Ways to Make Your Students Feel Special on Their Big Day
Buy a large birthday flag with a pole. When a student in your classroom is having a birthday, hang the flag outside the room on their day. This is an extra special greeting!
I let the student sit in my calendar chair during silent reading & when we sing happy birthday to them at the end of the day. They love this!
As a gift I give a certificate (you can download one that is on CD #1 by going to http://www.teachingheart.net/CDBDAYTAG.doc , a happy birthday present from Oriental Trading company, and I stuff an empty toilet paper roll with candy. I wrap the roll with birthday paper and place ribbon on each side of the roll to shut it. It looks very pretty. They are asked to open this at home.
Another idea that I have done is to ask the students to donate a NEW book to their class as an alternative to bringing in treats to share. They sign the inside of their book with their name and birthdate.
