I call this "paper love" and have gotten lots of positive feedback from families.  One of my all-time favorite compliments was from a mom who popped in to say hi and shared: "Mrs. Henderson, the best thing you taught Tyler was how to love.  Do you know he still leaves me little notes on my pillow!"

I sometimes tell my students to take their "paper love" out of their backpacks and leave them somewhere.  It makes writing something more exciting, and then telling them to think of a fun place to leave their work makes it an adventure. 

You just need to get into a child's head for a moment to make things different and interesting.  Anything can become fun if you give it a new twist. Children enjoy mystery and making things for their families.

When I think of summer, I think of watermelons; and when I look at a slice of watermelon I see a smile.  This is a cute way to review small, medium and large too. 

For a refreshing and special snack time, ask a parent to donate a half watermelon and give everyone several chunks to munch on after they complete their card. 

Students can color in the seeds or give them a black stamp pad and make the card even more special by having them stamp their fingerprint in the middle of each seed. 

Have children add X's and O's for hugs and kisses and then sign their name on the green rind. 

You can either use tradition red and emerald green construction paper, or give them a choice of hot pink and lime green as well. 

You could also add the student's school picture next to their name if you wanted to, or take your class outside and photograph each child playing on their favorite playground equipment, with a big smile of course, and then have them glue the photo to the back of their watermelon slice for a nice end-of-the-school-year keepsake.  Click on the link to view/print the watermelon card

Patriotic Windsock: Since Flag Day is just around the corner, (June 14th) I like to toss in some red-white-and blue activities as well.  Did you know that Flag Day was first celebrated by a school teacher? It was a Flag Birthday.

Some teachers have a star as one of the shapes they study so this is a nice review of that.

A stripe is a rectangle and the windsock is a cylinder 3D shape, which is a report card standard for many.  I like to make several windsocks during the school year. 

It helps reinforce this concept in a fun way and helps children grasp the vocabulary word cylinder rather easily.

You'll need some yarn, a hole punch, stapler, construction paper, scissors and a glue stick to make this project. Click on the link to view/print the directions and pattern for a patriotic windsock.

Nature Alphabet Book: Your students should now know the letters of the alphabet if they're kindergartners, so why not celebrate and have a review by doing a nature alphabet book.

Run off my block letters and pass one out to each of your students.  Try to match up student initials with a letter, or put them face down on the floor and have each child scamper to pick one up and identify the mystery letter they will do.

Send the note home to parents explaining the project, or go on your own nature walk and have children collect things.  

Students can try and find things in nature that begin with that letter, look like that letter, or simply collect anything and collage their letter.

Mount each page on a different sheet of colored construction paper for each one, collate your class book and read it to your students. 

If you want to make it sturdier, cover the top of each page with a sheet of contact paper.

This makes a great keepsake that new students will enjoy for years to come.  You can do another nature book in the fall with your new students and compare and contrast the different kinds of things that they find. 

Click on the link to view/print the Nature Alphabet Book and note home.

When I went looking for things for my sample page, I found some huge leaves.  I decided to write notes to my students telling them that I hoped they had had a fun time on their walk. 

You could write LEAF LETTERS for any reason, or you could collect some huge leaves and have your students compose their own leaf letters using word-wall words.

Have A Super Summer!  Notes For Your Students:

If you'd like to send a note home to your students wishing them a super summer, I've designed 4 for you to choose from.  Click on the link to view/print them.  Student Summer Notes.  I also included 2 in the  June/July 72-page Apple Bytes. 

For more fun things to do, check out the Books of the Month for June.  I've got some fun things to do for Father's Day. 

The FREE easy reader booklet of the month is in the article after, it's entitled My Summer Senses, and the FREEBIE of the month is There Were 10 In The Barn.  Click on the link to check it out.

Whatever you're doing with your sweeties this summer, may it sizzle with excitement as you kick back and enjoy school being out.

As always, if you have a fun idea you'd like to share, I'd enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com