end of the year
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Felt Tassel Decoration
I’m all for decorations that can be used more than once. I made this cute felt tassel garland in colors to match my preschool graduation set, and it’s durable enough that I can put it away with my decorations and pull it out again next year. This will be adorable on the refreshment table! It was incredibly easy to make, and super cheap too, so of course I had to share how I did it! It only took felt, cord, and a hot glue gun. The amount of felt you need will depend on how long you want your garland to be. Mine ended up being approximately 3 feet long…
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Graduation keepsakes for your students
Preschool graduation is one of those special occasions that you want to mark with a keepsake, especially because many your kiddos won’t actually remember it 10 years from now. I’ve rounded up a few fun ideas that won’t break your budget! Have you been keeping journals all year long? (Preschool Daze has a great how-to) Ask your students if you can write them a letter in their journals and send them home at graduation. Download my End of the Year Memory Books and help your students fill in their memories. Bind them with each child’s portfolio pages or work samples for a one-of-a-kind gift. Makes shirts for each student, they…
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Preparing preschoolers to transition to Kindergarten
The end of the school year is so full of ceremonies, parties, and silly photos that it all goes by in a whirlwind. This is an overwhelming time for any preschool teacher, but it’s even more overwhelming for those little ones. They keep being told that next year they’ll be a big kid and go to kindergarten, and from their perspective, that’s a lot of unknown. What will their new school be like? Will their new teacher be nice? How will they get to school? Will they get to see their friends? Do they still get to play with their favorite toys? Where will they keep their things? All of…
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It’s THAT time
It doesn’t matter when Easter or your Spring Break falls, whenever it is that you come back from that particular break – or long weekend, it inevitably dawns on you tit is now time to think about graduation. Whether you love it or hate it, preschool graduation (or even end of the year parties) tend to be quite the production. It’s the perfect time to showcase all of the hard work that the children have done throughout the year but organizing and displaying said work is, in itself, a lot of work! One of my most popular posts is Everything You Need to Host a Preschool Graduation, so I thought…
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5 most popular posts of 2015
It’s time to look back and the past year and think about all we’ve done, and what we would like to accomplish next year. I thought I’d take a minute to share the 5 most popular posts of 2015 here at Preschool Ponderings to give you a little inspiration: Get to know me better in September Currently Learn how to make covers for your pinboards in A Pinterest Tip for Teachers Check out some great Stores that offer teacher discounts Explore ideas for Informal Assessments in Preschool Start planning with my First week of Preschool Lesson Plans I always think it’s interesting to look back and see which posts you all…
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Snack ideas for your Preschool Graduation celebration
Every Preschool Graduation that I have been a part of during my career has had some sort of snack component, which works out well for me because I love to bake. I always want to make something for the celebration, but I also usually encourage parents to bring something to share as well. Some of my celebrations have been very well-attended, and I can’t feed that many people by myself! I always appreciate the parents who offer to bring drinks and paper products, that makes my life so much easier! I also love it when someone brings a fruit salad or a veggie tray, they are always welcome among the…
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Preschool Graduation Decorations
I’ve learned that when it comes to decorations for preschool graduation, less is more. This is a problem for me because I LOVE to decorate, but ultimately, too many decorations cause more stress that necessary because they take time to put up, time that I just don’t have on graduation day. I keep my decorations minimal by reminding myself that what parents really want is to see their children. This helps me focus and prioritize when it is time to decorate. I try to make sure that the ceremony space, where the children will receive their diplomas looks nice, but not busy. Parents want photos of their children, not photos…
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Everything you need to host a Preschool Graduation
Yup, it’s that time of the year, time to start planning your preschool graduation ceremony. Do you do the same thing every year? I like to switch it up and plan something new and special every year, but of course, that means I have to plan something new and special every year! So over the last few years I’ve put together a template of sorts that makes things just a little easier. I include the same elements; Introduce the students Read a letter to the graduates Read an inspirational story Present class awards Handout diplomas and then each year I just swap in a new letter to the graduates, a…
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End of the Year Memories
Hopefully you still have a couple of weeks before you have to think about preschool graduation (can it really be that time of year already?!) but I wanted to share one of my favorite activities for the end of the school year because it takes a little time to complete. Last year I created a Preschool Memory book for my students to record their favorite things about preschool, and some all about me information. These pages become a great way to show off all of the skills that they had learned throughout the year. I added their portfolios and a letter from me, then bound it all. It was a…
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Time to say goodbye
In a couple of weeks my pre-k students will start kindergarten. We had a graduation ceremony in May because some of my students stay for the summer, while others do not, but now that it’s time for all of them to go, I really want to do something to send them off. I’m planning a pizza party, because really, what 5 year old wouldn’t want a pizza party. Other than that, I didn’t really have a lot of ideas, so I turned to Pinterest, which of course, was full of inspiration. Our kindergarten send-off isn’t for a couple more weeks, but here are a few of the things that I’m…
