Mother's Day isn't just for Mothers

Mother's Day is a special day, but can also be a sad day for some.  Some have lost their moms, some don't see their moms, some want to be moms, and some are moms to babies in heaven.  This can be a tough day to navigate in the classroom as well.  However, I do still think it is an important thing to discuss and acknowledge with your students.  It's ok to reach out to families ahead of time to ask if there is a special person or maybe more than one that students would like to honor for Mother's Day.  It doesn't have to be a mom.  I have had students make gifts for moms, grandmas, aunts, step-moms, or family friends.  I try to normalize the idea that all families are different and there are many people in our lives who love us and who we love too.  

To help navigate this holiday in the classroom, I made this little pack last year and I just LOVED how it all came out with my kids.  They had so much fun making these things for their special people in their lives and I had a lot of moms and family members share how much they loved reading them.  

This pack includes this craftivity where the flowers flip up for students to write.

       

The pictures are a little blurry so here is what my kiddos wrote:

I love you because...

*We make Tie Dye together

*You take me to Denny's

*You cuddle with me

*You love me no matter what

There is also a flower shaped gift book with 3 different versions.

*After I go to bed my mom always tweets on Facebook.

*My mom loves when I change my sister.

*My mom does not like to do laundry.

*My mom is the best at cleaning.

*The best thing my mom cooks is bacon - Yay!  (Haha!)

*My mom loves when I give her breakfast in bed.

*My mom spends lots of time texting.

*My mom does not like when I spill my drink in the car.

*My mom's favorite thing to do on the weekend is to sit around the house.

And finally, there are some printables included too.

I love my mom more than I love...

*video games (that's saying a lot for some kids)

*my toys, because my mom gave birth to me.

*cousin Amy because she doesn't let me do anything.

*cookies because I love my mom and cookies, but I love my mom more.  

You can find this Mother's Day pack in my TpT Store.  

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Now a quick question for the moms who are reading this....

Which phase of motherhood are you in right now?  Are you in the early phase with little ones where you just adore each and every little moment because it's all new and exciting?  This next image makes me think of my littles ones.  

Or are you in a later phase in motherhood where you are looking back at those moments?  Maybe older children who might be a little more difficult or maybe your children are all grown and out of the house?  This next image made me think of my tween/teen kids (I have 4 daughters total).  

There are so many moments of struggle and doubt as a mom, but then #10 where we, MOMS, would do it ALL again is just so true.  Motherhood isn't perfect or easy --- definitely not easy --- but it IS worth all the moments!  Happy Mother's Day to the moms reading this!

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Let's not forget the dads and other special males out there.  

I also have a Father's Day pack in my store to check out.  

These two packs are conveniently bundled in this money saving bundle:

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have fun creating Mother's Day gifts with your students. 

To All the Moms

Today, friends, I just wanted to share a few sweet and also funny links about Mother's Day.  It's coming up you know and I love when I find things like this to share.  I've been collecting these as I come across them and now I just needed to pass them along.  I took a little screen shot for each one and if you click on it you can go right to the sites where these are.  

First up is for the moms out there that are reading this.  When I found this touching post I knew I had to share it with other moms, especially moms with daughters.  It's just so sweet!  

This is from the blog Confessions of a Stay at Home Mom.  

Next up is a funny video.  Moms will definitely appreciate the sarcasm in this one.  It's from Youtube but there is also an article that goes with it.  I tried to directly link to YouTube but for some reason it wasn't working.  So I will link this screen shot below.  

Finally is this list of things we forget to thank our Moms for.  I'm always a sucker for a Top Ten type list, and this one is so true.  You can click on the title below to read it.  

Now raise your hand if you need to leave the computer and go call your mom.  Me too!  

So in the spirit of all things MOM, I finished this little pack for Mother's Day and it's on sale for the next 2 days.  

This pack includes this craftivity where the flowers flip up for students to write.

       

A Flower shaped gift book with 3 different versions.

And some printables.

 Wishing you all a Happy Mother's Day!

Spring Centers in Action and Mother's Day

I wanted to finally post some pictures of the Spring Centers we've been using in my room the last couple weeks.  These centers were so much fun to make, and the kids LOVED them!  

There are a total of 10 centers in this pack: 5 Literacy Centers and 5 Math Centers.  I tried to take pictures of all of them, but I forgot two.  Sorry :(

Here are the Literacy Centers:

Antonyms

 Short Vowel Sort

 Contractions

 Compound Words

 Creating Sentences

 And here are the Math Centers:

Fact Families

 True or False Equations

 Equations with Missing Numbers

 Match Addition and Subtraction Equations to their answer

 Roll, add, and graph

(This one was my favorite, and definitely the favorite of some of my kiddos too!)

This week we are working on our Mother's Day craftivity and a book to give to our moms.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish it quickly enough to get it up for sale, but hopefully it is something you will be able to get next year.  

And by now I'm sure you all know that TpT is having a Teacher's Appreciation Sale.  I know I'm excited to go through my wish list and find some great buys.  I've been adding quite a few items to it for a while now and tomorrow is just the day to start shopping!!!

If you are looking for some fun activities for the last few weeks of school, then you might want to check out my End of the Year pack.  

So hopefully you will have some time to shop a little too over the next couple days.  

Don't forget to scroll down and enter my 200 follower giveaway.  The ONLY thing better than shopping is winning something for FREE!!!!  

So happy shopping and good luck!!!  =)