Class Birthdays

Renee here, from Fantastic First Grade Froggies.  Is it really August already?  I started back with kids this week and I am exhausted.  Today I thought I would talk about birthdays in the classroom.  I love birthdays almost as much as kids do, but with all of the food allergies I feel like I need to be careful with treats.  I want to be able to do something fun and worthwhile for everyone.  The first thing I do before school even starts is make up a simple goodies bag for each child.  This usually consists of a fun thematic pencil and eraser, simple.  I put them in a bag and make it look cute.  Then I stash the bags away so I won't forget where there are.  I just pull a bag out for each child on their birthday, easy peasy!

Since I try to limit sweets, I also let the child bring in a "birthday book."  This is a book the child brings in to donate to the class library in honor of their birthday.  I encourage them to bring a book from their own library that they are done with.  When they bring it in, we read it and then we put a label on the inside cover honoring their donation and birthday.  The kids love this and they flock to the birthday book bin all year long.  Click below for your own book labels.  Print on paper and tape on the inside cover or print onto shipping labels.

The last thing I wanted to share was summer birthdays.  I want to make it special for those kids with summer birthdays.  So instead of trying to cram a summer birthday celebration in during the last week of school (crazy, busy week), I always celebrate them on the 100th day of school.  I never forget and it makes it special for the summer birthdays.

How do you celebrate birthdays in your class?  I would live to hear some other ideas.