Birthdays: Full & Half

I remember being in elementary school and getting so excited for when it was someone's birthday in our class.  It meant treats and celebrating that person...but mostly treats *side note: was a chubby kid/liked my food*.  I loved it when it was mine too but I was an August birthday which at that time meant SUMMER birthday so we would always celebrate it on my half birthday.  Nowadays, my birthday is normally the first week of school (or in this year's case the first day of school (suck)!

I always try to think of different things I can do to help make my student's birthdays special for them and still not take up too much time in our school day.  My favorite thing I like to do for them is a class book for them to keep.  Each student gets a sheet to complete and they have to write some nice thoughts to the birthday student.  It may be well wishes for their birthday or just some things they really like about the person.  I try to keep this pretty open (kids are pretty good at thinking of something).  Then at the end of the day I take all those pages and pop a cover on it and bind it together (or staple) and send it home with the birthday/half birthday student!

What is the birthday student doing while the kids work on their book?
I've done a few different things in years past.  I have a Happy Birthday Word Search that I let them work on while I give others about 15 minutes to complete their page.  Another option is just have the birthday sheet on the desks in the morning and have them work on it right away in the morning and anytime they finish early... letting them know you need to have it back by the end of the day.  This has worked out well too.  You just need to figure out what works best for you and your class and go with that!  You may want them to fill it out prior to this student's birthday/half birthday so it's not such a rush!  To each their own :)

Other things I do for my students is present them a pencil with a "Happy Birthday" paper balloon topper, a bookmark (Target bin buys), and a signed birthday certificate.  This year as a gift for my students I'm thinking about buying 25 or so boxes of crayons (when they are super cheap) with a little tag that says, "Have a Colorful Birthday" and then a few birthday coloring sheets.

I always try to make sure to make those half birthdays just as important for my kiddos as my full birthdays because I remember being the Half Birthday Kid (It kinda sucked).  But I'm a bit weird, I like all things I give to my students for their half birthday to actually say "Happy Half Birthday" which is why I started making up my own stuff for birthday resources.

Anyways, if you want to check out this packet click on the pictures below and check it out!  There is a Happy Half Birthday for every Happy Birthday Resource (in case anyone else out there is as weird about that as me).

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