end of the year kindergarten class sorts and memory banner

Today was the day. Our last day of school! {Well, it's now officially 1:34 am, so give or take a few hours} I am excited to have time to share ideas with you this summer from this past year and ideas for next year. One of our end of year duties that we pull together is what we fondly call a "kid sort." Do you do this in your school, or have any input?

We create student profile sheets that are a tad bit of extra work, but something I consider a valuable piece to next year's teacher. While their report cards do give their first grade teachers a great understanding of their academic skills, our student profile sheets are "what I really think you should know about this student... at a glance." I understand the concept of not being biased on a student's achievement level, but in my experience sharing with another teacher, is caring. I share what is most pertinent, and what we write down is con.fi.den.tial, which is great. I can say exactly what I need to say, teacher-to-teacher.

{Click to download}

We bring these sheets to our kid sort in two piles - boys and girls. And each pile is ordered by strength in performance (not just ability). The sort starts with high girl into each pile from each K teacher, followed by high boy and we continue on down the list. Then we move any pairs that shouldn't end up together and d.o.n.e! It was a quick part of my day amongst the packing up, stuffing envelopes, passing out gifts, returning books, taking last minute photos, enjoying field day and filling out cumulative folders. But, I hope that perhaps this might be a tool we have recreated to line up with Kindergarten (we took out all the data and scores other grades have and really got to focus on K issues most often dealt with) that can be helpful to you. I also insert their school photos to give the first grade teachers the leg up on learning those names. (Wish we had that advantage!)

{click to download}

Need a last minute project? Have your kinders outline the bubbles with as many colors as they have crayons and then paint with watercolor to fill in each bubble. I take a picture and email them home on the last day! Looking for another option? Little Miss Kindergarten has a cute handprint poem that might fit the bill.

More Free Downloads
Free Addition Game
Free Valentine Cards for Students
Free Describing 2D Shapes Game

With all of my kinders "sorted", hydrated after field day, they each received a hug and their, "You're a first grader now!" affirmations. Sorted and sent off. Looking ahead with reflections in tow.

If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly.
- Leslie

*Free downloadable Thank You Gift included when you subscribe via email or RSS.

free download teacher planning calendar

Transparency is important, wouldn't you agree? Well, I am going to flat out tell you that I am personally excited to have seven days left of school! I just rearranged my classroom last weekend in order to give some new things a try before I put new kinders that need herding into the middle of it. Getting a feel for it this week has been amazing and I'm excited to share pictures with you over the summer months.

But, while I am excited about sharing that, you, my lovely readers are excited about starting your planning for next year! Okay, I am right there with you in getting our binders in a row so that way we can start our summers knowing what we've got it all in place! So, let me remind you of how I put together a planning binder for myself that is my sanity saver.

{Click here for the original and detailed post}

My binder is my plan book and holds everything that I would consider a "master" and need for planning, meetings and such. It has tabs that are specific to me and I change those tabs every year depending upon what I used, didn't use or found my self needing from the year before.

{2013-2014 PDF template}

It lays open so that I can always see at a glance what is coming up for the day and it contains my planning calendar that helps me scope out the entire year! That's it in a paragraph. Short. Sweet. Sanity Saver.

Thanks for reading! Here are 4 free planning binder covers. I've included different color palettes to hopefully find one that captures your attention.

More on Teacher Organization

Organizing digital teacher files
Organizing teacher materials for the week and quarter
Organizing room layout and teacher space
Organizing behind my teacher easel
Organizing for a substitute teacher

What kind of planning (or non-planning) do you like to do before you leave for the summer? Or are you a summer planner?

If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly.
- Leslie

*Free downloadable Thank You Gift included when you subscribe via email or RSS.

Mothers Day Handprint Poem

Flowers. I nearly almost always seem to kill them.
Right.
Anyone else able to relate?

So why did I think we could grow them for Mother's Day?
Ha!
Ha. (Not such a big laugh now that I've got to get something into gear.)

Well, truth be told we are sprouting some marigolds, but they are the teeniest sprouts. We are super proud of them, but they aren't quite what I had imagined blessing moms with. To the computer files I go! I have worked really hard at organizing my computer files over the past year to be faster than ever looking in a file cabinet drawer with all of my school stuff. I keep more digital files and pdfs than I'll ever even consider keeping in paper copies. I tend to hit the "print" button to our workroom copier way more often than I'll grab a copy of something and take it with me to the copy room. More often I just go to pick up my printed copies.

Last year we created a simple hand print butterfly for Mother's Day. Click. Click. I ran off 24 copies on 11x17 construction paper. Problem solved. We begin by writing "Happy Mother's Day" at the bottom and writing our names and the date on the back. I pull out the paint and my kinders get to decide how they want to paint their hands. Two prints and we're good to go!

click to download

Mother's Day? Adorable sprouts that we cared for and loved. Hopefully they last the summer. A laminated hand print picture for mom. Hopefully they last a lifetime.

Hopefully they last the summer. A laminated hand print picture for mom. Hopefully they last a lifetime.

If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly.
- Leslie

*Free downloadable Thank You Gift included when you subscribe via email or RSS.