Mother's Day

With Mother's Day quickly approaching somewhere in between regular days standardized testing, I have been trying to figure out what would be fun and not too time consuming for my 4th graders to make for their moms.  I started thinking about what my own kids have brought from school for Mother's Day the past few years that I enjoyed and was able to keep in my memory box. I loved fingerprints, handprints, poems (it was the same poem printed by teacher for each student), but all of that felt a little too "babyish" for 4th grade. One year, my son brought me a playdough creation. Another, something out of clay. I've loved everything my  kids brought home, but what made it difficult is that being a military family we move so much. Often things break. Personally, what I love the most and what survives usually in our moves across the country is anything laminated. So with that in mind, this year for Mother's Day I am going to have my students make an article for the "Mom's Gazette". They are going to draw their moms and answer a few questions about their moms. Then they will decorate it using color paper, newspaper and magazine cut outs and I will laminate it for them before they take it home. Students will also have an opportunity to share their work and what makes their moms special with their classmates. This template was easy to come up with and keeping in mind that several of my students come from all kinds of home situations, if they would prefer I will make a few versions available... "Grandma's Gazette", "Aunt's Gazette", "Nanna's Gazette". However, instead of pre-making these I will wait to see what they want to do first and will edit it in google drive before printing . That way it is special to them, not something that is pushed by me, and is available only if they would like. Below is a screen shot of my template. Email me if you would like a copy of the actual template and I will be happy to share. Here's my e-mail address: swanmom86@gmail.com 

What are you doing for Mother's Day with your students? I would love to hear your ideas.