Memory Books.... Plan Ahead!!

I'm sure we all do something to commemorate our students' year.  My first year of teaching, I made each student a mini-scrapbook.  Yikes!  For the next few years I bought each student a photo brag book and filled it with memories.  That was super-easy!  It was also in the days of film, and parents helped me develop the pictures.

When I taught 5th, I wrote each student a letter over the summer and included 2 photographs:  one of the student and me; one of the whole class at field day.

As I continue to change and gather new ideas, I make memory books for my students.  I have done binders with page protectors.  This past year, I put everything in a plastic, 3-brad folder.  This works for me right now!

I planned my pages and many ideas during the summer, so I was ready to go!  Here are some of the highlights:

If you'll notice, my kids make the letter C of my last name.

This is their first day of second grade.  I also handed out awards the next to last day of school, so most of them put these in the front pocket.  I sure wish I could've gotten a picture on the last day to include, but yeah right!  Trying to get that done would've been insane.

I used a couple pages out of Blair Turner's memory book.

This is one of my favorite writing lessons.  It comes from Scholastic, and I posted about it here.  It's called "The Best Part of Me," and mirrors a book with the same title.  I displayed these for a while, and then stuck it in my file cabinet to include in the memory book!

Our ESL teacher had these hat papers.  I was convinced we'd use them somehow.  I mixed 2 Dr. Seuss stories; they wrote about the places they'd go.  Some were literal; some wrote about their goals.

This is a precious craftivity from The Teacher Wife.  I love to add thoughtful, sentimental products into their books.

We did a large life cycle unit that culminated in our museum night.  I thought it was appropriate to include their research essay.

In April, we did our poetry unit.  This is a sweet poem about themselves, "Where I'm From."

We also drew Van Gogh's Starry Night for imagery.  We used chalk and oil pastels.

It's also important to me to show their growth.  Our school data includes a writing prompt, a Fountas & Pinnell reading assessment, fact fluency, and a Big 20 (20 math problems that cover all concepts for the grade level).  I included beginning and end of the year assessments in these memory books.  I had to make a copy of each assessment, but it was worth it.  They were astounded at their growth.

And who doesn't love a picture collage of themselves?! =)

I also created filler pages:  students can draw a self-portrait and complete a writing sample per month.  I also included a memory page  You can find it here.